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.

blog #8

Reflection
In Second Life I went to Democracy Island. Democracy Island is a really interesting place, because users can go there and set a booth. In these booths people can talk or present about any topic they so choose. This island was created so people could express their thoughts about the present day issues or topics. The island was not created to persuade avatars, but on the contrary it was created to inform viewers about any certain topic. Democracy Island is set up like a town hall where avatars can meet and socialize with other avatars.
On the island there were many different pages that consumers could click on. One of the things I quickly clicked on a screen that said “info” and it was a fundraiser requesting money for cancer patients. The fundraiser was through the American Cancer Society and the organization gave some basic information about how much money they raised although the statistics where from 2005. After the fundraiser webpage I went to the future salon. The future salon is where a lot of the discussion takes place about any topic that is posted. When I went there was really nobody on the island so there was not a topic posted to discuss. The “info box explained how the future salon is for monthly discussion and topics can vary from new technology to political debate.
Some interesting facts about the island include the architecture. One building of the island was built to be a court house. The court room in the court house was set up exactly like how a court would look like in the real world. Something strange that happened, however was a lot of these spiny things started spawning from the ground. At first they started spawning in one area then it moved all around. There were so many of them that I had to move from that area of the island.

Blog #7

Presentation Evaluation

Our team is team number one and we presented about commerce in Second Life. The presentation started out with Dean, the team captain, informing the audience about the major corporations investing into the Second Life market. Then after Dean, I presented. I was very nervous and I think that is why I did a poor job on my aspect of the presentation. I did have well documented information, but I was unprepared to present. The reason I was unprepared is because I usually practice before a presentation, but I did not for this presentation. I spoke about an interview with the chief financial accountant.

There were a lot of positive things about our presentation that overcame the negative parts of the presentation. The positives were, our group did bring the proper information. Our group also used all of the time for the presentation. One negative about our presentation is that we did not ask a lot of question to help the class discussion. Another negative is not everybody was ready to present, because we did not meet as a group before the presentation. Since we were the first group to present, our group really did not know what to expect.

Overall, for the first group to go we did well. For the next group presentation however, our group needs to be better prepared. We can accomplish this by meeting outside of class before the presentation. We can also come up with specific topics about the general subject we are talking about in order to get organized. There was definitely a high point of our presentation, which was at the beginning. As the presentation went on the energy of the presentation seemed to go down, which is some thing our group needs to work on.

Blog #6

Tim Long

Professor Crawford

English Composition I

18 February 2010

Annotated Bibliography

Komin, Bob. Interview. CNN Money. Dec. 2006: 1-4.

Bob Komin is the CFO of Linden Labs. From the interview, viewers can gather the linden dollar is a floating currency. A floating currency is not a fixed amount when consumers try to exchange linden dollars; this type of currency depends on how the market is doing. Komin also speaks about managing the money supplies. The economy is growing so fast that Linden Labs is having trouble supplying money for the Lindex. Komin then explains that there are three ways that Linden Labs help mange the money supply. The first method is Linden stipends to premium users. The second method is Linden Labs is able to actually sell linden directly on to the exchange. Finally the last major method Linden uses is “sinks”. A sink is a Linden fee, for example if a user wanted to upload a file they have to pay a sink. Koman concludes the interview by expressing the demand for the Linden dollar is based on the growth of the use of the world and growth of services provided determine the value.

The source is reliable, because of the person being interviewed is, the chief financial officer of Linden Labs. Therefore it is his job to know the financial matters of Second Life. The research is not based on a biased opinion but rather on statistics, which can not be biased. The facts are well documented, but the interview took place in December of 2006. The information one can gather from the interview is substantial, however it is dated which could be misleading. The source is both scholarly and popular because of the network that did the interview.

Blog #5

Tim Long

Professor Crawford

English Composition I

18 February 2010

Annotated Bibliography

Rosedale, Philip. Interview. Second Life w/Philip Rosedale. Internet Television. The GigaOm Show. 25 June 2008.

In the interview Philip Rosedale explains the basics of “Second Life”. Then Rosedale explains how Second Life is growing so fast that it is hard to meet the demand of the users. Therefore the demand of the consumers is creating a frustration for the customers of Second Life, because Linden Labs can not work fast enough. Rosedale also addresses how Second Life’s concurrency rates have been at a steady increase however the consumer statistics for new users has seem to stop increasing. The statistics start to balance out for the new consumers, because of the users who get on Second Life and stay on for a few months then decide to quit using Second Life. It seems more and more consumers do three months then quit, but the long time consumers seem to be putting more hours into Second Life in that case, boosting Second Life’s economy. Rosedale also explains why businesses should stick into Second Life and he explicates how a good reason is the growth of the economy, which is bringing a half a billion dollars annually.

This interview source can be very informative, in which case makes this source reliable. Another key factor of the source is the fact that Philip Rosedale, the person being interviewed, is the founder and CEO of Second Life. This makes Rosedale a reliable source, because he knows more about Second Life than any analyst or critic. However this also makes his information very biased, because Rosedale is always trying to sell Second Life to potential consumers. The source itself is not a popular source or scholary, because it is an informal interview. The interview takes place with the primary interviewer, Chris Albrecht, and a secondary interviewer, Wagner James, who is a person in Second Life. The interview was don on June twenty fifth, 2008. This makes this interview almost two years old so the statistics are a little out dated.

Blog #4

Summary of Wired Travel guide: Second Life

The webpage covers many topics about Second Life such as, the history of Second Life, economy, fashion, and Locations. When the author writes about the history of Second Life it is very interesting, because the writer compares alot of American History with how Second Life began. A good example of the comparison is the tax revolt which Linden Labs started taxing the users of Second Life for there creations. In conclusion to the taxing, the users revolted by creating a lot of crates of tea everywhere and posting signs on Second life that say "we are born free: taxed to death". The comparison is of the Boston Tea Party that happened in American history. Second Life's economy seems to be growing rapidily according to the data on the website. Many more users can be found starting a business and making a profit according to the information on the webpage.
Locations in Second Life are also growing very fast. As an avatar the users are able to fly around and teleport to anywhere the consumers want to go in the virtual world. However the author warns potential users that some places in Second Life can be violent or sexual. As far as transportation goes not only can consumers fly and teleport, but there are rocketships, sailing ships, and many more creative machines for transportation. When the writer gets to fashion, the author gives many places where users can shop for clothes, body parts, and hair. The author also describes how consumers do not have to be humans or even there same sex in real life. Overall the Website's information was useful, because there is a lot of tips and many topics.