In "real life" (what's that?!), I'm a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. I'm studying a mix of computer science, communications, psychology, and fine-art. Most of my focus is on computer science and programming, particularly with graphics. I have been working on a research project in Second Life. It started as a final project for a class, turned into a summer job as a research assistant, served as my "senior design project" last semester, and now I'm continuing as a researcher.
I would like to extend an offer to talk to anyone interested in what I have learned about conducting academic research in Second Life.
I have used tools such as:
Second Life source code
Camtasia and Fraps for screen video recording
LibOpenMetaverse and C# for creating computer-controlled avatar connections
PHP/Flash/Ajax/websites for gathering questionnaire responses
Second Life viewer by LL, Snowglobe viewer, Emerald Viewer
MATLAB for pruning, analyzing, and visualizing data
BioGraph Sensor suite for physiological sensor data collection and analysis
The list goes on, but those have been the key pieces of my project.
Our experiments have focused on studying human motion and interaction, but I'm sure the things I've learned could apply to other fields and interests. I'd be happy to help anyone get started with a project of their own!
Shameless plug: I'm still running experiments of my own! Visit this location for details or to register to participate at an upcoming experiment time (there are two times available right now, but this will change as I schedule more). http://slurl.com/secondlife/Satarin/139/240/77