Update 12-12-11: While my interest in technology and education remains, I have since refocused my research to what is done outside of the classroom environment via social networks. Yes, still online and mediated through technology, but still....a slight deviation, shall we say? Hehehe....
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As a researcher looking into the use of technology in education, I found SL to be a very interesting and engaging format, albeit one not free of complications, but one serendipitous and organic in nature. Deliberately or not, in Second Life (SL) I have come to enact those very same stances that define me in real life (RL): I am a learner in both.
I must admit that I entered SL with a sense of arrogance, thinking primarily of what could be derived from it’s many forums for my own needs in RL. Initially, ignorance veiled my view of the function of SL for many of its residents. I can't ever know what motivates individuals, or collectives, to enter virtual worlds, however, I no longer approach SL strictly as a game, or even a simulation, but as an organic, shifting, and evolving forum where people learn to do things in cooperation. Where people, through communities of practice, become friends. Consequently, I find that the people behind the avatars enrich my life by sharing their experiences and knowledge much the same way friends do in other social networking sites. SL provides a public sphere where life, first or second, can be enacted in multiple ways, through multiple lenses, by all its residents.
So...herein I intend record my thoughts as they pertain to what I know in RL, as they evolve to include what I have come to know about SL. I write to not forget.
