Late assignment: activity 8 / Trabalho atrasado: actividade 8

Due to a complex couple of weeks, only now have I been able to find a few minutes for Activity 8 in the MUVEnation course: "Draft your own micro-learning induction session". Here it is.

From the Global Kids Connect curriculum, I chose the topic Getting Around: Taking A Closer Look. I believe this to be something many people miss while experiencing Second Life, and a critical skill: being able to view in detail objects and people, without having to walk or approach anything.

So the basic idea of this assignment is to come up with an activity to help put in practice the following skills (or "powers", in Global Kids' terminology):

• Using the computer keyboard to focus, zoom and pan
• Using the camera control feature to focus, zoom and pan

The idea is to make a sort of treasure-seeking contest. Create several containers, progressively more convoluted, with a different object or letter inside. Then several students will have to try and find those objects/letters, and take snapshots (if they know how - following Global Kids' curriculum, at this stage they don't) or simply noting down on paper what it is.
The first "container" would simply be a panel in front of the object; then two panels; then a box; then a closed box (yes, one can use the camera controls to see inside); then these can be combined with small - very small - objects, for use of the zoom controls; and finally, there could be rocks on top of objects, or sheets of paper, or boxes within boxes.

Star Trek + Monty Python... perfeito

Concordo plenamente com Cory Ondrejka: este vídeo é espantoso!

Second Life: average users/hour - média de utilizadores por hora

I usually see people approach Second Life statistics in terms of its ever-increasing number of registered users or number of users that have logged in during the last 30 or 60 days.
The first number is irrelevant. People that try out SL and then quit don't usually bother to try and delete their account (I don't even know if there is a way to do that!). Thus, it's only natural that this number is always growing.

The other numbers are more useful, but not without issues: while a sudden surge in media-led interest could make them increase ocassionaly, looking at them over time does provide a clear picture of whether the platform (and the world) is increasing in use or not. Yet, one person can own several avatars, so one can say that an increase in these numbers of users merely reflect the increase in the number of avatars owned by each user.

However, there is a stat that I am puzzled on why it hasn't been used more often. If one takes the number of hours spent by users in-world (which is found only in the spreadsheets that Linden Lab makes publicly available, not on Web pages), that is much more enlightening. Users that log in for a few minutes to check out and quit hardly make an impact here, unless there is really a HUGE surge. And, in principle, even people with several avatars are only in-world with one of them at a time (yes, I know that this is not necessarily the case, but using several at once is not really a common situation).
Since "hours in-world" isn't a clear stat for people not following Second Life, I've decided to translate it into a more meaningful stat: average users per hour.

Basically, I divide the total number of hours spent in-world in a given month by the number of hours of that month (24*number of days - and yes, I've considered leap years).

This stat gives you an idea of how many people, on average, were logged in simultaneously at any given time in each month. And this is quite useful, since it is a measure of the liveliness or at least of the crowding of the world. It's the commitment of users to SL that is making it unique, and that's not so easy to replicate.

As you can see, the numbers through August 2008 are looking quite good. And while there are no more recent data to be found on the site, Tateru Nino has leaked out the figure of 37 million hours for October. That is in line with this graph and results in 49,731 average users per hour for October 2008.

I'm expecting these figures to grow for November, since every time I've logged in I've seen from 40,000 to 75,000 users, except yesterday for some hours, when the login servers were down.
Costumo ver abordagens às estatísticas sobre o Second Life em termos do seu número sempre crescente de utilizadores registados, ou do número de utilizadores que acederam ao serviço nos últimos 30 ou 60 dias.
O primeiro destes números é irrelevante: as pessoas que experimentam o SL e se vão embora não costumam ter o cuidado de apagar as contas que criaram (nem sei se há forma de o fazer). Assim, é perfeitamente natural que este número esteja sempre a crescer.

Os outros números são mais úteis, mas também têm alguns problemas: embora um súbito interesse de origem mediática os possa fazer aumentar ocasionalmente, a observação destes ao longo do tempo fornece uma ideia clara do aumento ou não do uso da plataforma. Só que uma pessoa pode ter mais do que um avatar, por isso é possível argumentar que estes números de utilizadores são apenas um reflexo do número de avatares que cada pessoa vai tendo.

Há contudo um dado estatístico que me questiono quanto a não ser usado mais frequentemente. Se pegarmos no número de horas que os utilizadores gastam dentro do mundo (que se encontra nas folhas de cálculo que a Linden Lab disponibiliza publicamente, mas não nas páginas Web), esse valor é muito mais esclarecedor. Os utilizadores que acedam apenas por uns minutos para experimentar o SL e saiam dificilmente aqui terão impacto, a não ser que haja um ENORME aumento súbito. E à partida, mesmo quem tem vários avatares só está com um deles no mundo de cada vez (sim, sei que pode não ser assim, mas usar vários avatares ao mesmo tempo não é propriamente uma situação comum).
Visto que as "horas no mundo" não é uma estatística clara para as pessoas que não acompanham o Second Life, decidi traduzi-la numa estatística mais fácil de interpretar: média de utilizadores por hora.

Basicamente, divido o número total de horas utilizadas num dado mês pelo número horas existentes nesse mês (24*número de dias - e sim, lembrei-me dos anos bissextos).

Esta estatística dá-nos uma ideia de quantas pessoas, em média estavam a aceder ao mundo ao mesmo tempo, num qualquer momento de cada mês. E isto é um dado bastante útil, pois trata-se de uma métrica de quão "vivo" (ou pelo menos quão preenchido de gente) está o mundo. É o empenho dos utilizadores no SL que o vai tornando único, algo que não é assim tão fácil de imitar.

Como se pode ver, os números até Agosto de 2008 têm bastante bom aspecto. E embora não tenham sido disponibilizados dados mais recentes no sítio Web, a Tateru Nino deixou escapar o número de 37 milhões de horas utilizadas em Outubro. Este valor está em linha com este gráfico, equivalendo a uma média de 49.731 utilizadores por hora em Outubro de 2008.

Para Novembro, conto que estes número aumentem, pois sempre que tenho entrado tenho visto de 40.000 a 75.000 utilizadores, salvo ontem durante as horas em que os servidores de início de sessão foram abaixo.

Vamos fazer um ginásio!

Começou por estes dias um projecto novo, em colaboração com Ensino Secundário: no âmbito da disciplina "Área Projecto", quatro alunos e uma professora de uma escola em Resende vão criar um Ginásio Virtual em colaboração comigo e com o meu colega Paulo Martins (SL: Gud Gaudio). E vão descrever todo o processo num blogue.

Para podermos ter adultos e adolescentes a colaborar legitimamente no SL, proceder-se-á da seguinte forma: a professora criará 5 avatares (um para ela e um para cada aluno), ficando de posse das senhas de acesso. Desta forma, tudo decorrerá em ambiente controlado: o espaço lectivo delimitado pelo horário das aulas da disciplina, com a presença da professora.

Third Assignment (part 2) - Coming in to land / Terceiro trabalho (parte 2) - Vir até terra

Well, off I went to Orientation Stations, at Dore. I liked the opening space. There was a clear sign to change the avatar's appearance - an important recommendation to students, as various sources tell us (e.g., this recent paper).

Inside, a rotating SL sign will provide a nice, short text (making it more likely to be read). It explains the basics on how to accept an offer from a picture, change appearance and use the inventory.
I'm not so sure that the hand is a nice idea, though. One of the users I've met asked me what the hand was supposed to mean. He hadn't thought of clicking it!

The question, coming out is: where to go? A seasoned RPGamer will look around and see a "Changing your appearance part 2" sign to the right, but there should be an arrow or other indication to support the user when he/she exits the house he/she was in.


I believe some users may simply walk straight ahead, through the open, inviting, gates.


However, this was nicely planned: if a user does so, the hike is short: some stone steps descend near the water, and the landscape below is visible, but some well-placed wooden boards will prevent the avatar from falling into the water. There is water all around, so the most likely situation (for less-adventurous avatars) is that the user strolls back into the courtyard and finds the remaining signs. Perhaps there is something to be learned here (we can only find out by studying the users' behaviour): instead of making sure the user always follows a path, let him/her stray a little, but taking care to avoid situations where confusion may set in.


One problem coming back, though: one of the steps is too high, the avatar won't climb it just by moving forward. Oops! I could have made an effort to see what would happen if the user tried to go around, but inevitably he/she would fall into the water and lose some notion of what to do, so I'll skip that: changing the height of the step is all it takes to correct this! (By the way, the next step need correction, too.)


So, going to the left, once we re-enter the nice Japanese-looking complex, we'll see houses about "chatting" and "Changing your appearance part 2". Nice. (C


The chatting house is particularly neat: the notecard is very short, as it should be, but selects the main points: pressing Enter, typing, and Enter again. And a helpful parrot is provided so users can have a feedback even if no-one else is present!


At this point, a few new users stepped in. One was a first-time Australian, the other a Canarian that was first-rezzed in June.
They were quite lost, I'm afraid. I suppose notecards aren't the best option, then. Or the rotating green hands. I've helped them out in the basic stuff, including IM, teleporting, flying, creating landmarks, alt-clicking, and then I sent them to the NMC Orientation, since at least that has worked out for a few of my friends and students.


Moving on... this location proceeded with a room on Alt-Clicking and another on dragging objects, and then you had to explore. I came to face doors, but they were closed. I opened them, but I suppose that users that don't click on spinning green hands probably won't click on closed doors, too.


Inside there was a nice exhibition of Japanese art and several empty rooms, so I gather this space is used for classes or mentoring sessions.


A funny thing is that the "Flying" sign and its green hand are on a rooftop, turning away from the pathway. So if users followed have been at the Alt-Click house they will now be able to use that to read the sign. Even if they don't, they can click the green hand to get instructions on flying. Nice!


And if people do fly... well, plenty of stuff in nearby parcels to start exploring.
I think I'd add just a couple more things - which I had to use with the new users I met: how to IM me through the Search panel, in case they get lost, and how to use the map to teleport.


But it is a nice place to learn, even if not as rich in content as NMC!

Trying to chat with students/teachers at RL Student Orientation Area, Campus (172, 90, 24) / Tentativas de conversa com alunos ou professores

Well, I should have tried yesterday, when several people where present.
Today, only one, which after ignoring me for a while basically let me know that she was quite busy trying to complete homework, so it wasn't a nice time.

But it was indeed yet a confirmation of the basic nature of the space: a sandbox/project area, not an actual orientation zone for new users.
I gather this is used for supervised introductions, where a teacher supports the students, possibly while all are physically present in a classroom - but this is just a wild guess at this stage.

Third Assignment - Coming in to land / Terceiro trabalho - Vir até terra

Well, the text said:

Select two orientation spaces that you will analyse, from the list below:

• Orientation partly interactive, Virtual Ability (135, 124, 23)
• RL Student Orientation Area, Campus (172, 90, 24)
• NMC Orientation (107, 114, 39)
• Orientation Stations, Dore (32, 99)

So I chose the RL Student Orientation Area at Campus, and the Orientation Stations, at Dore. Basically, my reasoning was that I was already acquainted with NMC Orientation, and other members of my work group had looked into Virtual Ability's from the post I've seen in the course forums. So I picked the path less treaded.

For starters, I will not fly nor use Alt-Click until I am instructed to do so in an obvious way. No point in burying that information in the middle of a notecard. Most people coming in to SL want to start right away, and if they were patient enough to read notecards and long instructions (something any seasoned RPG player does, but that's a small subset of the population), they wouldn't have any trouble in virtually any orientation island.

Here is what I'm seeing, reporting as I go.

The arrival is nice. There is enough candy to make it pleasant, and the sign "Welcome" | "Touch for Notecard with Instructions" is clearly in front of you, at a decent height.
The tribal sounds are nice, too, but if I recall, people will probably have them off. So perhaps a sign (with a picture) showing newbies how to turn music on would be in order?



One issue is that if you move forward (which is only natural) you'll be travelling AWAY from the main area. You'll find a stone with a painted skin saying "Tour SL: Touch for Notecard", and that seems to be a task for students, but I wonder how many miss the small text?



Pretty soon, the newbie faces a "No Entry" area, and probably doesn't know where to go, because if he/she turns around, all to be seen is vegetation and lots of confusing elements:



Assuming people go to the right, they will end up facing the work area:



But if they go to the left, they will be facing another "No Entry" and a steep wall. Eventually, they will reach the work area.



In the work area, a nice touch is that a plain sign offers advice on lag problems (ableit perhaps "slow" would be a more generic name for non-English speakers). The notecard text is short and readable, ableit technical, as one would expect.



If you start by the left side you'll find a couple of boards for posting pictures, which is nice. but the instructions are way higher then the default zoom. It's worth remembering that people at this stage probably won't know how to zoom, and most definitely won't know how to Alt-Click.



Another example is at the corner of the work area: a readable sign says "DO NOT build with this prim". There is smaller green sign that say "(...but please try clicking on it!)", but how many newbies will be able to read it without Alt-Clicking or zoom?
Also, note the overall confusing panorama that you see from the work area. Would you know where to go, if you weren't someone with initiative?



Going all the way back, I tried to go around the work area, into the rest of the area. But soon after, I was stuck (literally) below a blue car. My head was stuck there, I couldn't move easily. An overall idea from this is that sandboxing should be a restricted zone, not the entire parcel.



Getting rid of that, I went forward, and found out that the most visible element (a terrace) wasn't accessible from where I was coming:



Around I went, again, and came across a pond... which I fell into (remember: I haven't learned how to fly yet).



I think I've got the overall idea fo this location: use it alongside a mentor or experienced user, not on your own. Just now I've found a chair. It was saying "Sit", so clicked it and it said:

".Zugzwang Adirondack 2: Andabata Mandelbrot, say '/1 Hide' to hide me, or '/1 Show' to make me show. Or just right-click and sit on me to use me."

Why would I want to hide a chair? Nevertheless I tried saying it (notice that I still hadn't said anything, so I needed to know that I should press Enter to open the chat line), and nothing happened. Eventually, I reached the end of that long line of instructions and sat on the chair.
Of course, I was left to my devices to notice the new button to get up, that the SL client produces.

Another example: in the middle of the screen in the first of the following photos, it says "touch sculpture to change". Can you see the scupture? I swear I clicked often on the black cube, until I noticed the thing lines in the sky and realized it was a wire sculpture! Then it changed, and the next one was something more obvious, but I'm not so sure the wireframe one should be part of this.



Turning to the terrace entry, it is a narrow staircase. I have no problem climbing it, but I'm sure newbies will not have the same opinion. Well... at least there is a deep pool in front, ready to welcome those less able to coordinate their new avatars!



And so I reach a small auditorium, with some billboards suggesting blogs, and other information, but all in the same vein: you should first take part in a class or mentoring session about how to use SL, only then should you look into this. This in general feels like a souped-up sandbox.

There were always one or two people there, so in the next post I'll tell about my experience chatting here.

A new project / Um projecto novo: SL MegaTransect

Every once in a while, I come up with new ideas that I set up, not knowing if I will be able to pursue them.
But at least my new initiative is recorded here: SLMegaTransect.
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De vez em quando tenho ideias que inicio, sem saber se as conseguirei levar por diante.
Mas aqui fica registada a iniciativa: SLMegaTransect.

In 1999, J. Michael Fay initiated a transect through the Congo Basin, which I followed with keen interest through the National Geographic Magazine: he called it the MegaTransect, and it lasted 455 days.
Today, I decided to initiate a long transversal trek of the Second Life® world, and in honour of Fay's epic effort, I have decided to call it Second Life MegaTransect - or SLMegaTransect (thus the blog address and name).
Will I have have the stamina, endurance, and resolve to pursue this, daily or at least two or three times a week, relentlessly? Only time will tell...

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Em 1999, J. Michael Fay iniciou um transecto através da África Central, que acompanhei com muito interesse através da revista National Geographic: chamou-lhe MegaTransect, tendo durado 455 dias.
Hoje decidi iniciar uma grande caminhada tranversar do mundo virtual Second Life®; e em honra do esforço épico de Fay, decidi chamar-lhe Second Life MegaTransect - ou SLMegaTransect (que é de onde vem o nome do blogue e o nome da minha iniciativa).
Será que terei a energia, a resistência e a determinação para ir o cumprindo, dia após dia (ou pelo menos duas ou três vezes por semana), implacavelmente? Só o tempo o dirá...

Guitarra portuguesa electrificada

Fiquei a conhecer hoje o grupo Henrique e Sinfonia, que pelos vistos já existe desde, pelo menos, 1999. Guitarra portuguesa electrificada e tocada com palheta, acompanhada de forma moderna. Interessante! E na Fonoteca de Lisboa é possível ouvir excertos das músicas de uma edição de autor.

Second Assignment: The story of my first steps in Second Life / Segundo trabalho de casa: a história dos meus primeiros passos no Second Life

Yup. It was a national holiday in 2006: April 25th. Funny enough, this is "Liberty's day", so perhaps one can make some kind of connection between that and my "entrance" into Second Life.

In many ways, it was a better experience than what any novice finds today. I entered this world through the orientation method of the time: I was on top of a hill, and albeit with a default avatar, it was indeed the feeling of being "born naked" atop a mountain and descending into the world proper. On my way, plenty of signs, indications, and even people helping out. Other people, also new to Second Life were coming down all the time.

I followed the indications as they came up. I tried out the avatar editing platforms. And moved on! At the time, anything would be adequate, but I did find my blue-hair elven look adequate. A little bit balding on the front, at the time.

And so down I went, until I got fed up with the tutorial indication and simply flew away, met people, saw places... and wherever I went, I saw more and more things to do.

And this was it. No "magic moment", no "fantastic memory", nothing in particular... just... the feeling of space, of new things to discover, of a new world to be in. And things picked up from there.

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Pois é. Foi num feriado nacional, em 2006: o 25 de Abril. Tem graça, é o "Dia da Liberdade", pelo que talvez se consiga fazer aqui algum tipo de ligação entre isso e a minha "entrada" no Second Life.

De muitas formas, foi uma experiência melhor do que a que um novato tem hoje. Entrei neste mundo através do método de orientação da altura: estava no cimo de um monte; e embora tivesse um avatar predefinido, era de facto a sensação de "nascer nu" no cimo de uma montanha da qual se descia para o verdadeiro mundo. Pelo caminho, muitos sinais; indicações; e até pessoas a ajudar. Mais gente, também nova no Second Life, aparecia a descer.

Segui as indicações à medida que apareciam. Experimentei as plataformas de edição de avatar. E segui em frente! Na altura, qualquer coisa servia, mas já então achei que me ficava bem o meu cabelo azul e ar élfico. À época, com umas entradas.

E assim fui descendo, até me fartar das indicações de tutoria e simplesmente ter voado para longe. Encontrei pessoas, vi lugares... e aonde quer que fosse vi cada vez mais coisas para fazer.

E assim foi. Nenhum "momento mágico", nenhuma "recordação fantástica", nada de especial... apenas... a sensação de espaço de coisas novas a descobrir, de um mundo novo onde estava. E assim fui andando, as coisas foram-se sucedendo.

Inauguração da Utopia Lisboa

Este fim-de-semana foi inaugurado um novo espaço no continente Utopia Portugal: cincos sims dedicados à cidade com Lisboa, com direito a concertos em variados espaços da nova cidade, por artistas nacionais e internacionais. Parabéns, Utopia!

Gestão de salas...

Este ano, como no ano passado, faço a coordenação dos projectos finais de licenciatura e de mestrado em Informática e TIC. Embora a maioria dos alunos os desenvolva em computadores pessoais, há alguns que precisam de máquinas ligadas em permanência à rede (para servirem de servidores Web, geralmente). Temos uma sala para isso, e de vez em quando dá jeito saber de que computador se está a falar.
No SL, na ilha da UTAD vou mantendo actualizado um modelo da sala. Muito mais do que numa fotografia ou num PowerPoint, ajuda-me a perceber a situação.
Nesta fotografia, um aluno que está na sala física entrou também no SL para me confirmar as posições das máquinas e para as acertar em conjunto comigo (eu não estava perto da sala física).

Aluno em Israel

O Luis Gens, mestrando, está por estes dias em Israel. O trabalho dele e do colega Hugo Alves visa apoiar organizações voluntárias através de software para telemóveis. E no caso específico dele, a organização inspiradora foi a Machsom Watch, que visa passar regularmente pelos postos de controlo fronteiriços entre Israel e os Territórios Ocupados da Palestina, para detectar situações de mais complicadas de infracção dos direitos humanos. Estas mulheres - pois trata-se de uma organização inteiramente feminina - fazem-no diariamente, e usam os seus telemóveis para contactar os responsáveis militares e políticos para tentar desbloquear ou resolver as situações que detectam.
O Luis está a registar o dia-a-dia num blogue, que vale a pena seguir.