First contact 2

This is a shot of a first attempt at building in Second Life.

Lulu Minnelli invited myself - Lyberty Republic - and Scottish Hawker to Planet CLTAD, where she has very generously given a group of us some space for a 3 month period to see what we might do together. This has come along at a great time - Scottish Hawker and I are embarking on a small Learning and teaching research project, where we hope to build up enough skills to take a small group of students into Second Life and consider the possibilities for studio based practice and also think about the kinds of research questions it throws up by being in there - in world.

Scottish Hawker unfortunately couldn't make a workshop in London (he was delivering a workshop on uses of the VLE), so, with my much more limited skills, I attended the seminar at CLTAD in London, which introduced a group of us to some of the basics of being in Second Life - it really is a whole new world and felt a little strange on the first visit; like it would be to most new places, except this isn't like any place I've ever been - I don't even spend much time in 'gaming' worlds. Today, going back in for an hour, and meeting people that I 'knew', was a very different experience. It's strange how happy you can feel when in amidst the newness, you see an avatar that you recognise or that recognises you and sends out a message. I remember several years ago attending a conference in New York - it was heaving with people. As I walked along a street just off Times Square I heard someone call my name. I walked on, as I thought it couldn't be me - I didn't know anyone in NY. It came again, louder and more frequent. I stopped this time and there, across the street was a friend from Islay - Islay! A small island off the west coast of Scotland! She knew I was there in NY at the conference and came looking for me! Second Life meetings felt a bit like that today - you look for and find one another.

From the workshop, it was clear that so many people have experienced a shared skepticism from others about the virtual and Second Life more specifically, so being around a group who were open to the possibilities was incredibly refreshing and reassuring that the obstacles you might experience, are actually (sadly) the same across locations, institutions and individuals.

There's a lot to get your head round for sure, but like anything new, you've just got to try it and see where it goes. We had giant forms hovering in space, rotating, changing scale, colours - even with very basic skills, things are happening that prompt more specific questions to help take interests forward. It seems true - you do need to go 'in-world' to get your head round what this might do and offer.