Society and Information Technology in Second Life

Wednesdays, January 9 - July 30, 2008, 4-6, SLT/PT, 7-9 pm ET

on Berkman island in Second Life - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berkman/114/70/25

 Course homepage - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

 

Instructor: Scott MacLeod (not on Harvard's faculty) = Aphilo Aarde (in Second Life)

http://scottmacleod.com/papers.htm

 

 

 July 30 2008 Soc and Info Tech Class transcript

 

[16:37]  Metamer Heliosense is Online

[16:37]  Mirt Tenk is Online

[16:37]  Andromeda Mesmer is Online

[16:37]  JenzZa Misfit is Online

[16:37]  Connecting to in-world Voice Chat...

[16:37]  Connected

[16:37]  Metamer Heliosense: Looks like he's back online.

[16:37]  You: Sorry - lost access - not sure why

[16:37]  Gareth Otsuka is Offline

[16:37]  You: I did post the first part of the transcript

[16:38]  You: here - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/July-30-2008-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript

[16:38]  You: So we've already examined aspects of the multi-linguality of this university.

[16:39]  You: But in aiming signficantly to benefit the

[16:39]  You: third and fourth worlds

[16:39]  Widget Whiteberry is Online

[16:39]  You: multilinguality is key

[16:39]  You: and, in terms of wiki,

[16:39]  You: I see two interesting examples,

[16:40]  You: both affiliated with Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society

[16:40]  You: wikipedia, which is in possibly 50 languages

[16:40]  Metamer Heliosense: Aphilo: what, for you, is the "fourth world"?

[16:40]  You: and Global Voices Online. org which aggregates blogs

[16:41]  Andromeda Mesmer: I would like an exact definition too, please. I have a vague idea of what you mean.

[16:41]  You: from all 200 countries, I think, with moderators, to share views from on the ground.

[16:41]  You: Yes -

[16:41]  You: I've argued, following Professor Manuel Castells,

[16:42]  You: in previous classes, that the Info Tech revolution

[16:42]  You: rewrites global geography

[16:43]  Claryssa Schmidt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_Developed_Countries

[16:44]  You: by making those groups who don't have access to the I

[16:44]  You: Internet and who live in poverty the fourth world

[16:45]  You: so whereas one previous way of conceiving of wealth differenation around the globe

[16:46]  You: was to see the 1st world as having access to resources, and with a certain standard of living

[16:46]  You: the third world as being the poor world, with little hope for change

[16:47]  You: IN many cases, the third world now works on computing technologies for the 1st world, but the fourth world is excluded from this.

[16:48]  You: More than 2/3rds of the world's population still lives on the land, and through agricultural production.

[16:48]  You: So, in terms of multilinguality

[16:49]  You: Global Voices Online's 200 countries - and many of these blogs are translated (with associated costs) - as well as Wikipeda

[16:50]  You: *Wikipedia, which entries in multiple languages, are part of

[16:50]  You: a consensus knowledge production in each particular language

[16:50]  You: - I'm not sure how many of these 2. 5 million Wikipedia entries

[16:51]  You: are translated - are examples of ways to engage multilinguality.

[16:51]  You: And MIT's One Laptop Per Child - which is engaging about 9 developing world countries

[16:51]  You: to start -

[16:52]  You: Rwanda, Ethiopia, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, USA (Birmingham, Alabama), Uruguay, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, & Papua New Guineau

[16:52]  You: and which I would like to envision focusing on to start in Global University

[16:53]  You: are indicative of specific expressions of multilinguality

[16:54]  You: Degree-granting is complicated as we're envisioning this Global Unviersity now.

[16:54]  Gentle Heron is Offline

[16:54]  You: In that it's potentially for everyone and engages

[16:55]  You: both MIT's OCW and OLPC project, as well as Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society's classes, over the past 1.5 years, starting with Charlie Nesson, Gene Koo and Rebecca Nesson's "CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion"

[16:55]  Dnate Mars is Offline

[16:56]  You: in the fall of 2006 - see the Global University wiki under courses

[16:56]  You: http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com

[16:57]  You: it would be easiest to engage an already existing academic structure, over, say a 10 year horizon

[16:57]  Michele Mrigesh is Online

[16:57]  You: to begin offering credit and eventually degrees, to already matriculated Harvard or MIT students, studying abroad, for example

[16:57]  MS Hawker is Online

[16:58]  Gentle Heron is Online

[16:58]  You: and then add degree-obtainining possibilities to these studnets

[16:58]  You: only through digital technologies, but this isn't really open

[16:59]  You: so I think this question would work out over time

[16:59]  You: But I'm curious how you think we might address this question.

[17:00]  You: How could we make this an open university to everyone, with degrees, using MIT OCW as the standard for

[17:00]  You: academic work?

[17:00]  You: (Charlie Nesson at the Berkman Center is

[17:01]  JenzZa Misfit is Offline

[17:01]  You: - wrote me a few weeks ago saying " i am not a fan of credit and degrees"

[17:01]  You: but I'd like to leave open the possibility of this).

[17:01]  You: Thoughts?

[17:01]  You: Metamer, Andromeda, Rain, Claryssa?

[17:02]  You: How to offer degree-granting for free - to those who want it and do the work?

[17:02]  You: Yes, Metamer

[17:02]  Metamer Heliosense: Could you attack the problem from both ends?

[17:02]  Dena Dana is Online

[17:02]  JenzZa Misfit is Online

[17:03]  You: {And open the conversation to all of the Berkman Cetner, for example) :) as well

[17:03]  You: For example, Metamer?

[17:03]  Bjorlyn Loon is Offline

[17:03]  You: Start with open University and with degree granting and then bring them together?

[17:03]  Metamer Heliosense: OCW seems to offer information generally, while some closed accreditation seems necessary for the discourse of "for credit" to get off the ground.

[17:04]  Metamer Heliosense: Yes.

[17:04]  You: Makes sense

[17:04]  Metamer Heliosense: Especially if they are offered through the same or similar institutions

[17:04]  Metamer Heliosense: it would be much easier to work towards a middle ground.

[17:04]  You: yes - I think only Open University UK offers degrees online that I know about

[17:05]  You: and not for free -

[17:05]  You: Yes, Metamer - that seems sensible to me, and to open the possibility for future development

[17:06]  You: Harvard College already gives edcuational opporutnities for free

[17:06]  Metamer Heliosense: One thought: if you've already prepared a lecture for a class in the real world,

[17:07]  Metamer Heliosense: it's usually fairly straightforward to deliver it a second time.

[17:07]  You: to undergraduates who meet financial criteria, and who meet Harvard's standards.

[17:07]  Metamer Heliosense: The additional costs to an individual instructor are relatively small.

[17:07]  You: Yes, Metamer - I think starting with 4 undergraduate classes at Harvard, and 1 graduate class, say in the Law School, and then putting

[17:08]  You: a camera in each room for already matriculated students living around the world

[17:08]  You: , and adding a graduate student instructor for interactivity

[17:08]  You: would make this especially easy.

[17:08]  You: Agreed -

[17:08]  You: Let's take a break now

[17:09]  You: until 20 mintues past the hour :)

[17:09]  You: See you in ten minutes!

[17:09]  You: I'll post the transcript

[17:11]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/July-30-2008-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript

[17:14]  Kymsara Rayna is Offline

[17:15]  Robyn Proto is Online

[17:16]  Kymsara Rayna is Online

[17:17]  Robyn Proto is Offline

[17:19]  You: Hi

[17:19]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi

[17:19]  You: What are you making, Rain?

[17:19]  Metamer Heliosense: Hi

[17:19]  Rain Ninetails: :)

[17:20]  Patrio Graysmark is Offline

[17:20]  Rain Ninetails: Just seeing if I can make someting outside the sand box here!

[17:20]  You: Looks like you can, in part :)

[17:20]  Jagger Valeeva is Online

[17:20]  Rain Ninetails nods!

[17:20]  You: So, we've looked at degree-granting a little.

[17:20]  Rain Ninetails: small wooden boxes anyway

[17:20]  Rain Ninetails: :)

[17:21]  You: ...but we might envision other forms

[17:21]  You: :)

[17:21]  You: starting a University from scratch, for example

[17:21]  Patrio Graysmark is Online

[17:21]  You: Or engaging a consortium of great universities

[17:21]  You: such as

[17:22]  You: MIT, Ivy League Schools, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, Oxford, T.U.M., Sorbonne, L.M.U., Juilliard, Cambridge,

[17:22]  You: which would be already global

[17:23]  You: in a sense, and might widen a relevant student body

[17:23]  Metamer Heliosense: Aphilo: how many of those school have centres similar to the Berkman (some sort of internet and society group) at them?

[17:23]  Froukje Hoorenbeek is Offline

[17:23]  Metamer Heliosense: It strikes me as those units might be most receptive to this idea.

[17:23]  You: Good question - I think Stanford has one.

[17:23]  Metamer Heliosense: I know there's one at Oxford.

[17:24]  You: Quite - or, also, by engaging Harvard's Bekrman Center - find out

[17:24]  You: also engage some of their networks at other great Universities

[17:24]  Metamer Heliosense: Nice

[17:24]  You: Yes, Oxford Internet Institute would be a great contact

[17:25]  Metamer Heliosense: There's NEXA. I know there's a group at Univ. of Toronto.

[17:25]  You: It's individuals particularly receptive to such possibilties

[17:25]  You: Thnx - I'm not very familiar with them

[17:26]  You: that would be helpful to contact

[17:26]  You: Other suggestions?

[17:26]  Metamer Heliosense: I'll send you info.

[17:27]  You: One benefit of such a consortium would be the offering of classes to a very wide variety of course possibilities.

[17:27]  You: ... which would be fantastic for students pursuing specialized knowledge, but

[17:28]  You: also in terms of providing access to a very wide faculty, eventually, for degree possibiities.

[17:28]  Sean18 McCarey is Online

[17:28]  Metamer Heliosense: Another possible avenue would be Universities that aren't necessarily the great universities, but whose bread and butter is distance education.

[17:28]  Eme Capalini is Offline

[17:28]  You: Yes . . . Open ingthe possibility for degree granting seems

[17:29]  You: most likely in the context of one exsiting academic structure

[17:29]  SamBivalent Spork is Offline

[17:29]  Metamer Heliosense: If you could find a way to have two of them jointly offer a class...

[17:29]  You: almost effortless, should there be administrative support, and ann openness to changing some historical practices (not too radically:)

[17:29]  Metamer Heliosense: it might set a useful precedent, administratively.

[17:30]  You: For example, Metamer?

[17:30]  Patrio Graysmark is Offline

[17:30]  You: MIT and Harvard offer a specialized computer science class together?

[17:30]  You: Or Oxford and Harvard?

[17:30]  Metamer Heliosense: Let's say you had two universities that do distance education (Royal Roads and Athabaska, say).

[17:31]  Metamer Heliosense: Exactly.

[17:31]  Patrio Graysmark is Online

[17:31]  Metamer Heliosense: Or two schools that are already set up to grant degrees at a distance.

[17:31]  Metamer Heliosense: Across the pond is event better. :)

[17:31]  Metamer Heliosense: even better. :)

[17:31]  You: That would be great, and would build on the many implications of the Internet, in terms of networking.

[17:31]  You: :)

[17:32]  You: An international network has great merit

[17:32]  Metamer Heliosense: Have there been any joint talks series internationally (without credit)?

[17:33]  You: I think that University of California's 1 campus system, all fairly independent, in terms of admissions, I think

[17:33]  Metamer Heliosense: Say a Berkman/OII co-production... :)

[17:34]  You: *11 campus system, offers an interesting model for a kind of consortium approach, as well as public education

[17:34]  You: Do you know of any Metamer?

[17:34]  You: I suspect there have been numerous colloquia and dialogues,

[17:34]  You: although I can't think of any examples presently.

[17:34]  Metamer Heliosense: I think that multi-school videoconferences are relatively common.

[17:35]  Metamer Heliosense: But I haven't heard of any being presented using SL as a medium.

[17:35]  You: And lectures, and classes /courses for credit?

[17:35]  MS Hawker is Offline

[17:35]  You: Nor have I

[17:36]  You: I think that this global university sikie

[17:36]  You: *wiki - would also

[17:36]  You: create a far-reaching archive of courses, over potentially 1000s of years.

[17:37]  You: ... if Cambodian school teachers, Ethiopian farmers, and Sorbonne professors could

[17:37]  You: all post courses

[17:37]  You: The need for server space over time could be potentially enormous

[17:37]  A group member named JenzZa Misfit gave you Cecilia's at Muse Isle (59, 162, 28).

[17:38]  You: for google video like storage, as well as virtual world archiving, especially of class creations.

[17:38]  You: I don't know how the web archive might do it . . .

[17:39]  You: But such resources, as a kind of University Linux OS, could be far-reaching and wondrous

[17:40]  You: that ever expands with courses about anything imaginable

[17:40]  You: including what I've called harmonizing courses, such as yoga, watsu (water shiatsu - originating at Harbin Hot Springs) as well as acupuncture,

[17:41]  You: and other healing courses

[17:41]  You: and also Ph.D.-related ones, Medicine, Music (both Western and Indian classical, with instrumental training possible), Veterinary, Law, Electrical Engineering as degree courses

[17:41]  Metamer Heliosense: With the proliferation of laptops, it also opens up the possibilities for students to attend a lecture in real life and SL simultaneously.

[17:41]  You: I think it will be possible to teach techniques in Second Life, for example, about bowing for violin, with time

[17:42]  You: Perhaps not as optimal, but possibly complementary

[17:42]  Metamer Heliosense: Such that if you are already holding a lecture in real life, it would be easier to mirror participation into the SL lecture space for those not physically present.

[17:42]  You: Absolutely - but has Harvard Law disallowed laptops in classrooms?

[17:42]  You: I understand that was an issue in the fall of 2006

[17:43]  Metamer Heliosense: Mmmm. I seem to remember something like that as well.

[17:43]  Metamer Heliosense: I sat in on a violin master class conducted by broadband video this weekend.

[17:44]  You: Yes, but as a way to generate courses for already matriculated students living abroad, cameras in classrooms streaming into Second Life around the world seems like it would work well.

[17:44]  Metamer Heliosense: It was surprisingly rich in interactive possibilities.

[17:44]  You: Yes - and avatars may become quite animated and facile

[17:45]  You: So , degree granting, might take 10 years, as I envision it,

[17:45]  Patrio Graysmark is Offline

[17:46]  You: to develop just for a few people - but to do so on an institutional wide basis, might take longer,

[17:46]  You: perhaps because people would like to have hindsight

[17:47]  Metamer Heliosense: Would you imagine the great universities would be quicker and more agile in adoption, or would less known schools be more likely to take risks?

[17:48]  You: I imagine one school would that was exploring the future would adopt most easily, but

[17:48]  You: *rather than many

[17:48]  Davidorban Agnon is Online

[17:48]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[17:48]  You: but that this might lessen the chances for an open, free university for the developing world

[17:49]  You: What do all of you think?

[17:49]  You: If an already free University - say in a Scandanavian country offered courses online

[17:50]  You: for free and openly, perhaps this would be very extensible . . .

[17:50]  Metamer Heliosense: How would you deal with it if it were wildly popular...?

[17:50]  You: but how to open up highest quality Universities to the developing world for free

[17:50]  You: is an interesting question.

[17:51]  Harper Beresford is Online

[17:51]  Metamer Heliosense: I heard on the weekend, for instance, of an accounting class in China with 50,000 enrolled students.

[17:51]  Jagger Valeeva is Offline

[17:51]  Metamer Heliosense: Apparently grading assignments was a major hurdle.

[17:51]  You: I think dividing up classes, and some moderation for each subject matter, and for each language would have merit.

[17:52]  Daisyblue Hefferman is Offline

[17:52]  You: We've explored the possibility of making course material as automated as possible, and

[17:52]  You: while this might mitigate the remarkable benefits of great teaching

[17:52]  You: it also favor auto-didacts who can learn on their own

[17:52]  You: I'm thinking, for example,

[17:53]  You: of "Immune Attack" from the Federation of American Scientists

[17:53]  You: which teaches about the Immune system using a kind of video game

[17:53]  JenzZa Misfit is Offline

[17:53]  You: to ap students and beginning college students - it's in the wiki

[17:54]  You: and I think this and all of this technologies will develop in far-reaching ways in the next decade

[17:54]  JenzZa Misfit is Online

[17:55]  You: So, in a sense, this is already underway - http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com

[17:55]  Michele Mrigesh is Offline

[17:55]  Michele Mrigesh is Online

[17:56]  You: but needs much development, such as wiki technology like wikipedia's, server space for people to start posting video courses, translators, a foundation to fund what might cost billions of dollars over time

[17:56]  Davidorban Agnon is Offline

[17:57]  You: Wrtiing grants to foundations will help further this realization process.

[17:57]  Andromeda Mesmer: There's another thing we should consider -- and that is cost -- costs are going down. For example, one of the SL designers spends some of her time elsewhere - says that the "land" there is incredibly cheap -- site due to Open Source.

[17:57]  You: Yes, Open Sim will allow people to develop there own course environments, and link them to Second Life, but

[17:57]  Andromeda Mesmer: Cost of "land" could get to be a trivial amount - not the 1200 US$ for an island ...

[17:57]  You: costs will still be great . . .

[17:58]  Andromeda Mesmer: Labour costs - artists, content creators -- some of them want to be paid, others not -- like designer Arcadia Asylum.

[17:58]  You: To close, Global University is a far-reaching

[17:59]  You: idea that will take more organization, but may be as helpful

[17:59]  Daisyblue Hefferman is Online

[17:59]  You: and open as many possibilities for group knowledge production as

[18:00]  You: wikipedia, as well as carry on the conversation, knowledge-oriented

[18:00]  You: and open-ended, that started in ancient Greece and contiue for generations into the future.

[18:01]  You: there's a lot of opportunity for rich creativity that such a Global University offers

[18:01]  You: I hope we'll engage it, and explore fully more innovations as they occur.

[18:01]  You: Thanks for attending, and let's keep in touch.

[18:01]  You: Questions? Thoughts? Observations?

[18:02]  Metamer Heliosense: Let's say I was teaching a class, and wanted now to mirror it in SL, as a pre-cursor to this structure.

[18:02]  Metamer Heliosense: Where, as an instructor, would I start?

[18:02]  You: Thanks so much for participating! Tuesdays, starting Aug 26 from 3:30 -6:30 "Society and Information Technology"

[18:02]  You: we'll start again.

[18:03]  Claryssa Schmidt: thanks Aphilo

[18:03]  You: Great question.

[18:03]  Metamer Heliosense: And maybe allow some of my students to attend from home, some of the time.

[18:04]  You: One easy way to start would be to record a series of lectures, post them and the syllabus and related material, including how people might participate interactively, and for a credit, to the web

[18:04]  You: at http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com

[18:04]  You: Of course, if such a professor is teaching in the autumn, they could just put a camera in their classroom

[18:05]  You: and ask a graduate student instructor to engage conversation-wise in office hours, for example, in a virtual world. Absolutely

[18:06]  You: Bye Claryssa and Rain!

[18:06]  Andromeda Mesmer: Canadian TV news -- CBC -- had an item about one of the colleges where the professor was teaching online - students loved it.

[18:06]  You: :)

[18:06]  Metamer Heliosense: Bye Claryssa, Rain!

[18:07]  Free Radar HUD v1.1 by Crystal Gadgets

[18:07]  Metamer Heliosense: Andromeda: do you remember the particular school?

[18:08]  Andromeda Mesmer: It is in Brockville, Ontario. The students said -- if they were sick, no danger of spreading their flu -- and if they were snowed in -- again, no problem.

[18:08]  Metamer Heliosense: That's fantastic.

[18:08]  Andromeda Mesmer: Brockville -- to the best of my recollection.

[18:08]  You: I'll explore that example. Thanks

[18:09]  Metamer Heliosense: I'll check that out as well. Very interesting.

[18:09]  Andromeda Mesmer: IIRC, it was on CBC news and over a year ago.

[18:09]  You: So thank you again.

[18:09]  Andromeda Mesmer: wintertime.

[18:09]  You: {I'm visiting friends, so must go>} Let's keep in touch.

[18:10]  Metamer Heliosense: Thanks, Aphilo!

[18:10]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/July-30-2008-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript

[18:10]  Metamer Heliosense: Bye for now.

[18:10]  Rain Ninetails: thanks :)

[18:10]  You: Bye for now :)

 [18:10]  Andromeda Mesmer: For sure - thanks for conducting this series again, Aphilo.

[18:10]  Metamer Heliosense: Very stimulating.

[18:11]  You: You're welcome :)