A new (beta) viewer has been released for Second Life. This online social environment has kind of faded from view, but it is hard to maintain attention in the rapidly changing Web2.0 world. I don’t know. I still don’t get it. The potential is certainly there for interesting simulations, but a) I seldom encounter something I see as an improvement over other web experiences that rely less on the artificial, b) I think Linden may understand the interest of many individuals in adult content and fail to respond in a way that would make Second Life a suitable educational environment, and c) the overhead of movement, learning skills, and the use of knowledge of each to create a caste system does not impress me. I would rather see students engaged with each other and with the real world around them via other far easier to use tools.
I do like to see advocates make what they can of technology opportunities and I do think we need to explore some options. My biggest concern is the adult content – at present it seems futile to invest time when the money to be made favors adult content rather than educational experiences. Compare what Linden facilitates with Apple’s recent decision to remove questionable apps from the iPhone/Touch store. These seem to be very different business decisions made by two companies.
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