Second Life

Second Life is a simulation of the "real" world, allowing for real time interaction to take place virtually. There's "money" available to buy "clothes" with, you can change the look of your representative character, you can fly for easier transportation, and there are different islands with various themes. A great deal of educational institutions are beginning to use such games to teach their students, now; especially since it is free and much more efficient than traditional means which require the cost of facilities and greater professor wages. This week's lesson explained whate SLURLs were within this gaming world. They are like hyperlinks within the context of a 3D environment since they almost literally take you to site you wish to see, in an environmental setting. As always occurs when new technology is created, new problems are also formed. Such is the case with dilemmas such as this. A recent virtual divorcee plotted revenge when she hacked into her virtual ex-husband's online game account and staged what some have called a "virtual murder". This poses the question of how seriously we should handle hacking and whether or not it should be considered a crime when seemingly, no one was harmed and no legitimate property was stolen. The consequences are huge: up to 5 years in jail with a fine of $5,000. It also raises awareness of the dark reality that may result from living virtual lives. In the second article, we see new moral conflicts being created as one decides things such as: whether it is actually considered an affair if it takes place entirely online versus in reality, and whether prostitution could be seen as illegal if it only exists virtually. The third article tackles the legitimacy of occupancy in an online world. As in-game money can be converted into real-life cash, musicians and other artists looking for even more ways to make money are finding themselves performing on Second Life. One such musician, Grace Buford, earns up to $10,000 a year through tips alone.

This final article was of particular relevance to my future artistic career in context of the game Second Life. In the art profession, it becomes one's own responsibility to find one's market. While I value the opportunity it offers other artists in displaying their work in an easily accesible public realm, I don't think that I would ever be interested in making money off of my work in this way. While the quality of the virtual environment in this game is way ahead of its time, based on the videos I have seen, it is still not high enough quality to display one's work to its greatest potential. Also, this method could only truly be appreciated by two dimensional artists, while most of my own work is sculptural or installational. I can, however, value this game for its innovative techniques in opening new markets for displaying artwork; and it inspires me to find other less traditional spheres in which to introduce my work.

Surprisingy, there is already an art magazine that celebrates the artwork discovered in the Second Life game called SLart. This article even identifies several SLartists who have made names for themselves in the virtual world. One of which being FilthyFluno, or abstract artist and curator Jeffrey Lipsky in reality. When not managing his CounterpART gallery at the Munroe Center of the Arts, Fluno is overseeing Artropolis in Second Life, where he and 15 other online artists collaborate to create virtual works of art. Cylindrian Rutabaga (Grace Buford) and Komuso Tokugawa are just two of the influential Second Life artists found in FilthyFluno's art colony. Below is a picture of Jeffrey Lipsky's avatar and his abstract paintings.

Gaming, Teaching, and Learning

Marc Prensky's article, What Kids Learn That’s POSITIVE From Playing Video Games, aims to counter the popular cultural belief that video games are a "mindless", fruitless choice of past time for many of our youth. There's also the argument that it may in fact harm them psychologically, as the messages are often claimed to be highly negative in that they instill violence or apathy. Prensky states that no matter the message, the act of learning is constant throughout as a player makes continual decisions during game play. The most important thing to focus on is the content of the game, what the child learning about. He divides the levels of learning during game play among How, What, Why, Where, and When/Whether. To begin with, learning how to use computers or other game devices is an essential and profitable skill that results. They also become aware, at this level, of the things they control and can thus recognize patterns. It allows one to play out reality, to try different scenarios they may choose to carry on into real life. In the What phase, the player is starting to understand the concept of rules, which often takes place through trial and error. This is directly related, as Prensky very aptly points out, to the scientific process. And, using the rules one lives in the game indirectly causes the player to also reflect on the rules that also exist in one's own life. Why can be explained through game strategy. This is one of the more obvious learning experiences; video games are even used by the military in teaching war tactics. Where is taught in the game through the cultural environment it places one into, especially in learning cultural ideals of leadership or achievement. When/Whether is entirely subjective and represents the moral decision making process of the player. A game allows several scenarios to take place in which the plaer must make a choice, often between evil and good, and to learn the consequences of those actions.

I have always had an intimate connection with strategy and time management games. Games like these- games that allow you to operate your own business, games that give you clues to lead you on your way to catching a criminal, hidden object games- have always been and probably always be very influential to my lifestyle. I can definitely see myself continuing to play these games well into the future, and gaining immensely from them. Strategy and time management games will help me to (1) understand time contraints and what is doable in a certain span of time, (2) learn that there are consequences to not meeting those deadlines, (3) push myself harder and learn to fend off procrastination, (4) simulate high stress situations without complications of reality, and (5) realize my true interests by allowing me to dabble in different environments according to various game themes. As the artistic profession is often self-motivated and overseen, it is immensely important to grasp the concept of having a deadline when there is no one there to constantly watch over you. And for that same reason, it is important to have a firm grasp on basic business skills. Most people are not going to advertise your artwork for you, or pay for your materials, or calculate costs versus benefits for producing a certain work. You have to learn to network, keep track of your own books, and find your own demographic to sell your 'product' to. I'm looking forward to strengthening my business and logic skills through the continual help of these games.

By far one of my favorite games as a child were the Nancy Drew games. The very real and terrifying situations that were simulated in these games offered a truly unique and intuitive learning process. One often had to work out elaborate logic puzzles, learn to ask the right questions when interviewing subjects, and come up with quick, clever uses of objects on hand (a la MacGyver). There were consequences to not being quick enough on your feet. You could not go on until you finished a particular mission or spoke with a certain suspect. And, as each Nancy Drew game is so artfully themed, you are allowed to experience different environments and develop particular interests through the in-depth simulations.

Distance Education

Distance Education aims to teach students that are not physically present using technological tools. This thought dates back to 1728, where distance education first began at the University of London. Charles Wedemeyer is said to be the front runner for modern distance learning with his creation of AIM, the articulated instructional media project which used new communication technologies to teach those his distance students. This change in emphasis to online classes has been greatly increasing as of late. The five types of distance education are correspondence (via mail), internet (synchronously- real time, or asynchronously- with a delay), telecourse (via radio or tv), CD-ROM, and mobile learning (via hand-held device or wireless server). Online Education is described by a physical separation between student and teacher, with a connection simulated by the internet. Blended education combines these methods, alternating between face-to-face meetings and online ones. Virtual Education is offered completely online. Two types of systems may be used: CMS (content management) or LMS (learning management). The former uses computer software to manage, edit, and publish content. The latter uses software tools to manage learning interventions. Its advantages are that you are allowed to work at your own pace, it's flexible, it incorporates multimedia applications, there's no travel time, and it allows for greater universal access. The disadvantages are seen as its cost, the lack of online security, the radical change from traditional learning methods, encouraging audience self motivation, lack of socialization, and keeping track of attendance and participation.

I plan to use distance education everyday of my artistic career. I cannot fully express how appreciative I am of websites like eHow, Instructables, youtube, and sculpture.net for their insight and explanation of various processes. Since projects often take you into places you never knew you'd go, it's necessary to call upon the help of other experts; thus the artist remains a student for life. The cheapest, most efficient, and direct method to fulfilling this requirement is through the help of informal distance education in its virtual form. The websites I just brought up are incredible in their variety of delivery methods. They include written and pictoral instruction, video and oral instruction, and even forums for direct discussion of a particular issue one may be having. The only issue I can imagine facing from this method of education is the greater amount of research time put into finding a reliable source from which to learn from. You have to wait for responses on dicussion boards and you have to make sure that any how-to guide you are watching or reading is in accordance with the exact process you wish to learn about.

I highly recommend sculpture.net whenever one is facing a dilemma having to do with materials or project ideation. I like this source most for its connectivity to real, live people, with the ease of access of virtual distance education. There have been a few times where I placed a post with a very specific issue -like trying to cast very fine, delicate materials- and gotten 4 to 5 various methods within hours. The community is made up of sculptors from all different media backgrounds, willing to offer their expertise among their corresponding areas. This variety, and the point system that rewards all those offering sound advice to the asker, combine to create a highly successful system of cooperative support beneficial to all those involved.

Open Source Software

In this week's lesson, it was pointed out that Open Office would be an excellent, free alternative to Microsoft Word; and that sites like SourceForge offered more of this kind of free software. We were encouraged to think about how such applications would contribute to the welfare of low budget schools, since free software means students will be able to experiment with a lot of different programs they probably wouldn't have been able to before because of their expensive alternatives. While I do think it is an incredible new concept, I also think it is essential for the student to become well acquainted with the "authentic" programs they will be highly likely to face in the future. For example, in a digital art class, it is important for the instructor to use Adobe programs and not the free applications found on SourceForge, simply because those programs are most likely not to be used in their future experiences with this field and adobe programs are. But, when a teacher is experimenting with a software, it should be encouraged that they use these fantastic free programs. There's no point in getting a cheap knockoff of Word, either, because all young professionals should know how the ins and outs of this essential  tool as it continually adapts itself and becomes increasingly useful to the user's needs.

In my field of art, there is a lot more photo editing, vector illustrating, website making, or any other technological process than there ever was before. Because of its high prevalence in my chosen area, I feel that it is important that I stick to Adobe softwares. Their files are the standard when getting your work printed, they really do have more options than alternative programs -especially with cropping, they are high quality files, and I use it everyday I go to class, making files much more easily transferable between the lab computers and my laptop. Using programs like GIMP would only lead to confusion when I go to the printer's, or class; and simply trying to relearn another complex editing software can create chaos at first, let alone attempting to continually swap between the two programs.

Sometimes, I believe cost does supersede the need for big name software. For example, there is a popular program used in my field of art -sculpture- called Maya. Maya is a 3D rendering program that allows the user to create virtual maquettes of their sculptures before creating the actual object. The file can even be sent to a 3D printer, where it is realized in reality layer-by-layer with the use of ink and acrylic. Amazing, right? That's why it costs up to $3,000 (student priced at $1,300). I cannot, as of now, see myself using this program so much to accost for that huge price tag; but there is an alternative program called Blender that does most of what Maya can- for free.

 Using Maya

Using Blender