Campus: Second Life Classes Enter SL

There are some new Residents in Second Life, as part of the Campus: Second Life program for this semester.

There are currently 3 classes either in or getting ready to enter SL. Each class has a unique name so you'll know when you run into one of the students. As part of the Campus: Second Life program, they have some land on a temporary basis to use as a 'headquarters' for the class to meet. SL gives these students a remarkable opportunity to be part of an amazing virtual experience, rather than just reading about it. However, it isn't our intention that the community be 'guinea pigs' for study, any more than you would be if an anthropologist or sociologist were asking you questions in real life. In either case you are free to participate in the conversation or not, as you choose.

Each class will be in SL for this semester only. They are:

The Pitt family, from the University of Pittsburgh. This is a Freshman class looking at ways that digital technology has affected the way people communicate.

The Walkabout family, from the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. This course is part of the Speech Communication curriculum, and the class is learning about online community.

The Fraggle family, from USC is a communications class studying MMOGs, and are are specifically focused on online gaming and gaming culture.

I've explained our policies on posting chat logs, and asked the professors to make sure all their students are familiar with the Community Standards.