Blog #15

Tim Long

Professor Crawford

Eng Comp 1

19 April 2010

Beam Me Up

Space or the final frontier, both of which are synonyms to describe the black place when we look up at night. What about space makes people so interested? Could some people be attracted to the stars or maybe others are more interested in the solar system. I know that space interests me because it is the location of the most powerful source known to man, the sun. There are many ways to view space here on earth. For example we can view space from a telescope, space dome, or even Second Life.

On April 19^th, 2010, I went to one of the premier art galleries in Second Life. My avatar and I saw many creative pieces of art at SmarterEarth. SmarterEarth is an island in Second Life, where avatars can go to view many different art galleries and exhibits. However the best exhibit was the Solar Space Exhibit. The exhibit involved many amazing space experiences. When I clicked on the exhibit from SmarterEarth, Dante Arlington(my avatar’s name) teleported immediately to the space tower. From the space tower, there are many extravagant sights to see. The space station was illuminated by the bright stars and sublime solar systems that a viewer could see in any direction they looked. Everywhere Dante went there were sparkles and various colors of violet, yellow, indigo, and green. In the middle of the space tower there is a circle. If you go to the space tower face the circle and look up. When this happens you should see a floating bus. The space tower is a must see if you are looking for something extraordinary and different.

Dante on the space tower viewing a sun of a system.

Blog #14

Our asignment is for our group to creat a newspaper/newsettler for Second Life. The topic our group decided to do is "Things you should know about Second Life". We choose this topic, because we all agreed that this was the topic we all could contribute a great deal of information. My task in the group is to be a writer as well as Dean and Mike. Daniel's job is to be a writer and editor.
My first article is in the format of an interview. I am going to interview my peers to get a general idea of to who you need to know as students when you first are getting started in Second Life. My next article is in a 1st person format and the topic will be why Second Life is important. My last article will be a review of a live performance. The article will include me going to an art gallery/exhibit in Second Life and then reviewing the experience. I will achieve all of my task of writing the articles by going into Second Life and traveling to many places in order to get the information I need to complete my articles.
In orde to follow the four principles of knowing your audience, satisfy your audience, consider the audience, and remimber you purpose I intend to write articles that apeal to the student body and professor. I will keep my articles formal while trying to find a way to apeal to my audience. It will be a hard task, but in order to get it done will need to spend a lot of time in Second Life.

Blog #13

Today in class we went online to look at some example of newspapers and heralds of Second Life. It very interesting to see how Second Life newspapers compared to each other and then see how they compare to real world newspapers. All Second Life newspapers a similar in the face that they all have many pictures. For example one newspaper our class visited had over forty pictures. When a newspaper has a lot of pictures it draws readers intention to that article. Whenever I saw an interesting picture that caught my eye I felt compelled to read the article.

Another similarity is that all the newspapers online today seemed to write about interesting topics going on in Second Life. Topics such as gossip and crime. This is interesting because these are topics that I would not expect to find in the virtual world. Todays experienced gave me many ideas about what kinds of articles I want to write for our group newspaper. All around I'm glad we took class time to look at examples of Second Life newspapers. Because the experience showed me an overview of how our group wants to set everything up. My favorite part out of all the newspapers we viewed was the comics.

Blog #12

Today in class we went on another virtual field trip in Second Life. This time we went to a fighting gym. It was a new and interesting experience. At the end of class all of the students in Second Life took a group picture, which was pretty cool. When we arrived at the gym it was a huge building. By huge it had a lot of ceiling space. The gym did not have very much floor space, which made it crowed in the gym.

One interesting feature of the gym is that it had to boxing rings. Two people could actually box for free if they wanted to. However we were not able to figure out how the controls work. In the gym there was also an octagon which an MMA fighting cage. Visitors could not fight in this cage. In the gym there was a punching bag and a speed bag.

My favorite part of the gym was the octagon. Because the octagon was surprising I did not expect to see it. The gym was very hands on when it came to boxing. Any visitor who came to the gym were able to throw down which is different. It was a good experience going to the gym, because it was yet another thing I did not know was in Second Life. When I realized that there are gyms in Second Life it made me think, what else is in Second Life?

Blog #11

Today we incorporated a topic sentence in our position paper. In class we had enough time to discuss, from the book, how to form a topic sentence. However we did not have enough time to work on the assignment in class. In class I knew I was going to work on the topic sentence for my first body paragraph. My first body paragraph is about comparing actual rape to a rape in Second Life. In class I thought about opening with a question.

On my rough draft I ended up using a question as my topic sentence. My topic sentence went as follows, "How is an avatar able to rape another avatar." I do not think this is a good topic sentence I know it needs some revisions. I think I am going to change the topic sentence above in to a statement instead of a question. Then follow up with that same question latter ing the paragraph. The classroom experience went very well today.

Blog #10

Today in class we went on many virtual field trips in Second Life. Our class went to many interesting places. My favorite out of all the places we went was the Barcelona Island that Pircilla took our class to. I liked it because I thought the island was designed very well. What I mean is it was designed like a tropical paradise. I do not know what Barcelona looks like but visiting the island in Second Life makes me want to see someday in real life.

Some particular things I liked about the island was that there was a diverse set of people on that island. For example I walked up to one group of avatars and they were talking in Japanese in the chat boxes. Also I walked up to another group and they were communicating in Spanish. Another aspect about the island I liked was the plaza in the middle of the island. The plaza was filled with shopping stores and hair salons. Then there was a beautiful beach that surrounded the island.

On the island my favorite part was when the sun started to set. In Second Life it was quite a site to see. It was amazing how an avatar and creator can view real world happenings in a virtual world such as Second Life. On the island there were a lot of drinks that visitors could choose from at this tiki bar on the beach, which that was my first time seeing drinks in Second Life. The only bad thing about the island I did not really enjoy was the fact the only two people, I think, could dance by the beach. Although other than the dancing I thought the island was very enjoyable.

Blog #9

My partner for this exercise was Daniel Barbosa. We both chose to use the question method for our introduction paragraph part of our essay. Each of us helped one another by giving feed back. I remember that my question was very broad and had to be more descriptive for my introductionI helped Daniel with the organization of his introduction. I gave him feed back that he needs more information and points in his introduction.

I enjoyed the exercise. It was very helpful to get another point of view rather than my own on my essay. The exercise was useful, because my partner gave me feed back that otherwise I would of never thought about. Although I wish we would of had more time to work together. In order to develop a better introduction. However thanks to this exercise my introduction is stronger than it would be without the exercise.