Some of you may remember the Vision Quest from last year. It was launched in conjunction with Helen Keller Day and the arrival of Max the virtual guide dog. Max is a tool designed to help the blind and visually impaired get around and function in Second Life. Creating and giving presentations about that first Vision Quest taught us a lot about what works and doesn't work in virtual space. It also gave us a renewed appreciation for the power of story to touch the heart and change attitudes. And of course the Reluctant Quester made his debut as he worked his way through the Quest.
This year's Quest promises to be equally intriguing and entertaining. It's set at our new Virtual Guide Dog Center where you will embark on a series of explorations using Max. You will also get a chance to do a variety of creative and collaborative exercises that will be collected and shared on Helen Keller Day (Saturday June 19, 2010) and preserved as part of an
ongoing Story Garden and Display at the Virtual Guide Dog Center.Here are the particulars:
WHEN: The 2010 Vision Quest begins Saturday, June 12 at 8:00 am SLT
WHERE: The Virtual Guide Dog Museum and Information Center on Storybook Island:
HOW: Participants are encouraged to join the "Adventures in
Vision" group so that instructions on how to complete the sections of
the Quest can be sent to them each day. If you don't have room for a
group, visit the Vision Quest Center each day to pick up instructions.
LENGTH: The Vision Quest will run from Saturday June 12 through
Thursday June 17th. Friday, the day before Helen Keller Day, will be
used to gather submissions and prepare them for presentation on Helen
Keller Day.
Questions? IM Jenaia Morane in Second Life or email her at: Jenaia.Morane@gmail.com
It's hard to believe that an article like the one written by Jeff Young for The Chronicle of Higher Education can get published, but published it was. The piece is especially annoying because the author was on the Uncle D Story Quest with a group of 12 students from Northwestern University. Not only couldn't he walk, sit, fly, or teleport, but Mr. Young was oblivious to the excitement, enthusiasm and praise being expressed by the students. Clearly they were learning and having a great time doing it. Why didn't Mr. Young notice?
Anyway, we, like so many other educators tried to post to the Chronicle's web site but got an error message, so decided to share our thoughts and comments with you here (see below).
We would also like to encourage you to send Mr. Young a personal invitation to attend the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (www.vwbpe.org) being held this year on March 12 and 13. The conference has already received over 150 proposals and is expected to attract more than 5,000 avatars. Perhaps if Mr. Young gets enough invitations he might rethink his remarks ;-)
Mr. Young's E-mail: jeff.young@chronicle.com
Comment on Young's Piece
I am sitting here reading Mr. Young’s article with a mixture of amusement and dismay. Amusement because he obviously did not do his research, and dismay because it is clear that despite having been on the Uncle D Story Quest with 12 of Northwestern University’s brightest and most articulate students – all of whom were raving about the Quest and asking how they could contribute – he didn’t seem to notice the learning that was occurring right under his nose. Of course that might have had something to do with the fact that he couldn’t remember how to touch objects, teleport, turn on his music or media streams, or participate in group chat. This despite repeated offers of help from myself and the students. I mention this not to embarrass Mr. Young, but to point out what anyone who has tackled Second Life knows – you cannot fully appreciate or participate in the wonders of Second Life until you have some basic skills under your belt.
Frankly, it seems both unprofessional and disrespectful of Mr. Young to write a piece that is so patently inaccurate. Had he bothered to interview any of the dozens of educators or students who are using Second Life with great enthusiasm and success, he would know that there is remarkable, groundbreaking work being done there.
Finally, I would like to personally invite Mr. Young to attend The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference on March 12 and 13, 2010 (http://www.vwbpe.org/) where dozens of the world’s most highly respected educators (including Karl M. Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll, authors of “Learning in 3D, Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration) will be sharing their thoughts, experiences, and projects in virtual reality. Perhaps this will give him a more realistic and informed view of what is really happening in education in Second Life.
P.S. In order to participate in the conference you will no doubt want to brush up on your Second Life skills Mr. Young. If you would like some help, feel free to IM me (Jenaia Morane) or e-mail me at jenaia.morane@gmail.com. You will need to be able to sit down and type into chat at the conference ;-)
When asked about Second Life, a friend of mine likes to reply, “Someone turned my computer off while I was in Second Life, and I’ve been here ever since.” I like to say that on October 29, 2007 I stepped into and through Jenaia, infusing her pixels with joie de vivre and the breath of my dreams. Though movement was a challenge, and the default helmet hair made me laugh, there was something very familiar about the whole thing – about stepping into an avatar. The rules were new, the tools a little different, and my abilities both curtailed and enhanced in enticing ways. But the basic premise was the same – the essence of my Self was taking on and expressing itself in a new form, which by the way, is the definition of an avatar:
“Avatar or Avatāra is Sanskrit foṛ descent, from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses over - an incarnation in human form; an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person."
That’s also why the experiences of Jake Sully, the disabled veteran and main character in the blockbuster film AVATAR spoke so powerfully to me. In the movie, Jake is connected to and able to control and express himself through an avatar via a sophisticated contraption that links his mind to that of his avatar (not unlike the connection I make to my avatar via computer, the Web, and the Second Life interface). Once “connected,” Jake is freed from the limitations of his disabled body and able to run, jump, climb, etc. using his avatar’s body. More importantly, he is able to step outside the bounds of his ordinary existence – the beliefs, priorities, and cultural values that shaped him – into the world of another race.
Anyone who has spent time outside his or her country of birth, or even been asked to do business regularly with people from another culture, can tell you what an eye opener “difference” can be. The ten years I spent living and working in Japan taught me not only a new language – which required adjustment of both grammar and thought processes based on gender and social status – but a whole new way of seeing myself, my country, my values, and even my body. I went from being just an ordinary American female going about the day-to-day business of living to being an anomaly, a curiosity, a gaijin (foreigner). This was the gift that Jake received as well – a gift that allowed him to step outside his role as a soldier, tasked with the job of infiltrating “enemy territory,” and come to know, appreciate, and ultimately fight for the survival of another race.
It’s also important to note that the shift in perception works both ways. Stepping out of your country of origin, and seeing it from the perspective of another, very different culture is both intriguing and disconcerting. Though I could and would never want to become Japanese, my basic assumptions about the world were challenged and reshaped enough by my experiences in Japan that I will never be “wholly,” or more accurately unquestioningly, American again.
To my mind this is the wonder of both AVATAR the movie and the opportunity to “be” an avatar in Second Life. In both you are reminded of two fundamental truths:
* Differences, while scary, disconcerting, and occasionally genuinely threatening are opportunities to see both our world and our selves in new ways. They are challenges to our reality and a reminder that reality is subjective – that there are many ways to see and be.
* Perceived differences merely mask the underlying truth that we are all in this together. Or, as James Cameron put it when he accepted his Golden Globe award for best director, “Avatar asks us to see that everything is connected – all human beings to each other and us to the earth.”
The opportunity to explore and learn from our differences while using our collective intelligence and creativity to address the challenges we face is what makes life as an avatar in Second Life so exciting. We not only have access to a community of residents from around the world, but the space and tools to engage in meaningful exchanges - dialogs, discussions, storytelling, poetry, music performances, art exhibits, etc. - that allay fears, build empathy, and help us understand that what we share far outweighs our differences.
The only real question now, is whether we can move past the rather formulaic and drama-perpetuating model Cameron has employed in AVATAR, i.e. the struggle between good and evil. What if we think of Second Life as a combination playground and classroom? What if we look for ways to engage with one another that address the differences and conflicts but encourage empathy, understanding, and collaboration? We can still have our heart stopping, adrenaline pumping chase scenes with the ravenous, saber-toothed beasties chasing our heroes and heroines, but at the end of the day I want to be able to say, “I see you,” when I look another creature in the eyes, don’t you?
As I sat down to review and make some sense of 2009 the image of my friend trying to stuff her cat Poncho into his cardboard cat carrier kept coming to mind. The box, while sturdy, was no match for Poncho’s 16+lbs of feline outrage. He spread his legs in all four directions, unsheathed his claws, and yowled piteously.
Some ten minutes and multiple scratches later, all of Poncho was finally in the carrier and my friend went to find her purse and keys. “Watch him for me will you?” she said as she left the room. “Don’t let him get out.” Right.
The next thing I knew a tiger striped paw thrust itself through one of the large round air holes in the carrier. At the same time Poncho gave a mighty shove, bending the folded cardboard sides of the lid so that he could get most of his head out one side. Trying not to hurt him, I pushed gently on his nose until his head disappeared, only to be snagged by one of his frantically waving, scimitar-sharp claws. “Come back!” I squawked, “He’s escaping.”
Trying to come to terms with this year has been a bit like trying to wrestle Poncho into his carrier. It’s a poor and uncomfortable fit and many of the “boxes” I would typically use to define my experiences simply don’t work. The pieces keep popping out or reappearing in new and challenging ways.
Take the topic of HIV/AIDS for example. As 2009 got underway, I was collecting and preserving the stories of those dealing with the disease for Karuna – the NLM-funded island devoted to HIV/AIDS. By the time May rolled around, I had been asked to take over as Coordinator of the island. By mid-June, I had begun crafting a Story Quest with my TVWSP co-founder Marty Snowpaw designed to de-stigmatize the subject of HIV/AIDS. By August, the Quest was complete and we’d shot a short film for presentation at the 2009 SL Community Convention in San Francisco. Following SLCC, we premiered the film in Second Life, began a series of appearances on SL talk shows, and hosted dozens of tours of the Quest. Meanwhile, we’d begun construction of a huge story tree on Karuna where we planned and held the World AIDS Day ceremonies on December 1.
None of these facts begins to capture the many and varied learning curves involved in the scenarios I just described. Not that we’re complaining. I know I speak for Marty too when I say we felt more alive, excited, challenged, and inspired than ever before, but 2009 did teach us some important lessons:
People Will Surprise You
That might seem obvious, but we were repeatedly caught off guard in both disturbing and wonderful ways. For example, our work was completely ignored by one group with which we had a close connection, but embraced by another. A professional colleague, with whom I’d worked long and hard to bring a dream to fruition, backed out without explanation the day before the project was due to go live. Then there were the folks who appeared as if on cue to offer encouragement, support, and guidance. They listened to our ideas, dropped money on us when we needed it most, and volunteered their time, energy, expertise, and creativity without hesitation. They include (in no particular order): Pathfinder Linden, Nazz Lane, Jeanne White-Ginder, DR Dhalgren, Jordon Keltz, Charles Mountain, Saxet Uralia, Jokay Wollongong, Panacea Luminos, Judi Newall, Madcow Cosmos, Lorin Tone, Karin Pixelmaid, Gwenette Writer, Robin Mochi, LoriVonne Lustre, Maggie Marat, Brent Werber, Mike Burleigh, Christina Ushimawa, AWM Mars, Millay Freschi, Verde Otaared, Bri Gufler, Dulcie Mills, Lorelei Junot, Dusan Writer, Brotherkeeper Snowpaw, Sheila Yoshikawa, Cylindrian Rutabaga, Sawyer Quixote, Pookie Gufler, JeremySlick Kidd, Emmy Emerald, Christian Sandell, ChrisG Techsan, Jennette Forager, Sledge Roffo, Rob Walker, PK Oleander, Divad Gravois, KevinRB Techsan, Sunn Thunders, JenzZa Misfit, Jewel MacMoragh, RickA Techsan, Quadrapop Lane, Qyhat Harbour, Jordy Moorlord, Mankind Tracer, Bill Whiteberry, Suzanne Graves, Shellina Winkler, Solkide Aeur, Ariella Languish, Raevn Rhiadra. Alexxa Laval, Ignatius Onomatopoeia, Jonah Zenovka, Lilian Schacter, and Samia Bechir.
Stories are Powerful Stories have the power to take us into one another’s worlds, help us empathize, understand, and dispel mistrust and fear. They are at the heart of community and the work we are doing to forge and grow them here in Second Life.
Second Life is Much More Than a Technology Platform Marty’s 30+ years in television and film, plus the gratifying response we have had to the interactive and immersive elements of our Story Quests makes it clear that Second Life is ideal for both production and distribution of amazing content.
Stories Told as Story Quests Rock!
We’re prejudiced of course, but the response we’ve been getting to the Uncle D Story Quest has been overwhelmingly positive and humbling. It’s clear that once a Quest is launched it begins to take on a life of its own, generating new ideas, story threads, and communities of interest that extend far beyond Second Life.
We’ve Got Work to Do The more we reached out and talked to folks about stories and community – about the idea of moving from what Dan Pink would call an algorithmic system to a heuristic one – the more we realized that a new way of being and interacting in the world is upon us and we want to be part of it.
Thank You Last but not least, we would like to say thank you and offer a song of hope and inspiration to those who have helped make 2009 special. It is sung by Second Life singer and songwriter Grace McDunnough and is entitled simply, “Wish for You.”
Thank you all for making 2009 a memorable year. We look forward to sharing 2010 with you!
Hoping
to slip into Canada unnoticed, John E. Lester (aka Pathfinder Linden), flew from
Boston viaLinea Aerea Nacional de Chile through Santiago, stopping at JFK then on to
Toronto's Pearson Airport. Hiding his bright yellow eyes with dark sunglasses
and with a large Matrix-style coat covering his wings, he slipped
surreptitiously into the Reluctant Quester's (aka Marty Keltz's) Subaru Forester.
RQ and Path were on a mission. Long
known for its global domination of animation, and coincidentally Ms. Frizzle's
birthplace...they were there to foment revolution...and make machinima, easily
produced in Second Life, the animation tool of choice. Down with MIA, 3D Max,
flash and Pixar, relocate Linden Lab to Hollywood, feign an offer to Jeffrey
Katzenberg, get the expected turn down, and give Path the job as studio head.
RQ would supervise script development.
Anticipating future glory, Path clutched
RQ's Emmy, smiled conspiratorially, and allowed himself to be photographed in
front of a poster of Indian In The Cupboard. The next time he would hold an
Emmy it would be his and after that maybe even an Academy Award.
By now
I'm sure many of you have put two and two - errrr voice and paw - together and
come to the conclusion that Cice is more than a therapy dog and Jenaia is fond
of slightly off-color canine jokes made at the expense of her fellow homo
sapiens. The
thing is - and this is where it all gets intriguing and fun - taking on and
embodying the persona of Cice has let me do three very important things:
1) Step
outside the assumptions we make about who and what matters in life.I mean let's face it.To a dog what matters most is physical
comfort, unconditional love, and food - not necessarily in that order.As Cice I am not the least bit impressed by
a person's credentials. What matters is his/her willingness to be present,
engaged, and open to "play."By "play" I mean tossing judgments to the wind and allowing
oneself to romp with new ideas and people.
2)
Reevaluate what and how we choose to learn.Cice's outrage at the way RQ was treated as a child in school was
genuine and legitimate.When you have
the opportunity to step out side a system and see it with fresh eyes - the eyes
of a creature whose life is defined by comfort and love - its problems become
abundantly clear.Any system that
rewards conformity and punishes difference; that expects everyone to learn
exactly the same things in exactly the same way, and demonstrate that learning
using exactly the same tools is seriously flawed.Moreover, it is asking for trouble.We need difference; we need alternative perspectives; and we need
to be challenged to step outside our assumptions.This how we grow both as individuals and as a species.
3)
Serve as a sounding board and emissary for stories. The stories I've heard as Cice - first as a therapy dog helping
the disabled find their way in Second Life and later as RQ's companion - have
amazed and humbled me. More
importantly, they have taught me the value of experiencing the world through
another's eyes. Once you enter
another's story - seeing, feeling, touching, and hearing his/her reality - it
is difficult to judge, and even harder not to care.
Then
there is the whole process of dreaming up, building out, and co-creating
stories.The day we had our first
group of explorers go through the Uncle D Story Quest was pure delight.We watched as they delved into Uncle D's
life - reading his journals, listening to his phone messages, watching his TV,
and teleporting to other parts of Second Life - and fielded questions as they
arose.Even more exciting was to hear
folks talk about ideas for stories, letters, photographs, and even technical
information they could contribute that might make Uncle D and his struggle with
HIV/AIDS more meaningful and real.They
were learning and teaching one another and us right before our eyes! What more
could you want from a learning environment?
If
you'd like to tackle that question, please consider joining Cice, (aka Jenaia
Morane, aka Jena Ball) and her ever reluctant companion Marty Snowpaw (aka
Marty Keltz, aka The Reluctant Quester) at the SL Education Roundtable being
hosted by Ignatius Onomatopoeia at 2:30-3:30 SL Time (PST) Tuesday, November
3 on the Montclair State University virtual campus in Second Life. We will be talking about the power
of story and Story Quests to transform the landscape of learning.
This Tuesday will be a watershed moment for the
Reluctant Quester. In January Marty Snowpaw (aka Marty Keltz, aka The Reluctant
Quester), will be all of one year old.However, since one year in Second Life (SL) is roughly equivalent to 12 years
in physical reality,I am confident I will
not need a booster seat in order to sit at the grown up table, i.e. the Second
Life Education Roundtable at the CHSS Amphitheater for their SPECIAL 1st
of the Month Meeting.There my business
partner Jenaia Morane (aka Jena Ball) and I will the "Special Guests"
discussing "The Virtual Worlds Story Project."
What a challenging journey this first year has been,
particularly since at first I could only take baby steps.Intimidated by the PhD's and educational
elite of Second Life, I mostly lurked at the first roundtables I attended last
winter.Gradually, however, I found my
voice at those meetings, made friends, and started beating my small if noisy
drum (remember, I was an infant) about learning differences vs. learning
disabilities, about content on SL being more important than technology. The teenager
I was quickly becoming also did his best to provoke hot debates about whether
SL is exclusively a technology platform and/or amedia
platform. And you can imagine how my hormone
fueled opinions about assessment and standardized tests were expressed (thanks
AJ for your patience and understanding).
None of these reactions will come as asurprise if you have read my blog posts, seen
TVWSP's film, The Life and Times of Uncle D, or had the chance to
immerse yourself in the Uncle D Story Quest. For Jenaia and I, MUVEs are just the delivery system, like radio,
television, and motion pictures. The magic lies in real-time storytelling,
dialogs, settings, and character (avatar) development…stories, stories and
stories.
Oddly, but not surprising to me, Tuesday will be like a
homecoming, a trip back to my high school, junior high, and elementary school
years.This
time, however, I will be coming through the front door and am being invited to
sit in the teachers’ lounge. While President
of Scholastic Productions, I got a tasteof
what I couldbecome and what I could accomplish,
but it was only a taste. Ironically in the virtual world of Second Life, I am
finally able to sit down at the tableand truly
savor the main course.
Both Jenaia and I have had several arguments with folks who were insisting that Uncle D was/had to be a real person.
It's an argument I often have with myself, though not about
Uncle D. I know that Jenaia made him up. My question is, am I the physical person, the Reluctant Quester, Marty Snowpaw, or one or two of the other
anonymous avatars I have created?
Will the real Marty Keltz please stand up....?
It leaves me in awe of just how powerful storytelling is... how awesome
Second Life is. To read my thoughts on this, see the post entitled, "Is it Real or is it Memorex?"
Histories remembered or imagined. Some that come to mind include, Historical Fiction,
Roman a Clef, The New York Times, and my grade 9 American history book entitled, America Makes The World Safe for Democracy.
We find truth in emotional resonance, in empathy, by feeling, not by thinking.
Write stories. Write your story. Project and personalize. Real or
imagined, take the Story Quest and meet Uncle D, and more than likely
you will meet yourself. Neat huh?!
There she is, Ms. Frizzle. She was born just about
the time I had my first heart attack. This is the actual frame that the animation team
sent me in the hospital. I was 50 years old so it was a shock, especially to me
since I believed I was indestructible.
You may wonder how illiteracy is connected to heart
disease. Even then I noticed that many of the obsessive over achievers I knew
had had similar public school experiences and failures. We struggled with the same
boogey-men, the same self-doubts and fears of being exposed. It was Mrs.
Himber (http://tinyurl.com/yg5bntj), after all, who
knew the real Marty Keltz - dumb and dumber.
The Magic School Bus was
the first animated series to appear on PBS - yes before Barney (no comment). Who
would have believed the kids loved it and it was about science? Girls loved it,
and even started to think maybe they could be scientists like Ms. Frizzle. It
was a revolution - entertaining, engaging, and educational. Second Life offers the same opportunity, with more possibilities
for engagement and immersion, but now personalization, and wow even co-creation.
Which brings me back to the Reluctant Quester and The Life and Times of
Uncle D. It is another animation first, inadequately described as machinima. Watch
the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-7ZzR6o9hk and bring tissues. It's magical movie making, all produced and shot in Second Life.Ok, I am biased, but I think this is also a revolution,
and will prevent heart attacks - no seriously. What happens when kids love to
learn? Some decide they want to be scientists. What else could we do with this
model? Story Quests made me into a writer. Take the Quest and see what it does for you…(sign up at www.tvwsp.com).
I have been doing so much questing that I lost enough weight
to be able to wear my leather sleeved baseball jacket from the Charles in
Charge series we produced while I was at Scholastic Productions.
Scott Baio wore a similar jacket in practically every
episode of the series.It ran for four
years then was rerun to death. Scott was ageless, and while already in his late
twenties, could still play TV’s first male babysitter.
RQ is not ageless, and while the jacket fits again, I feel
as out of place in it now as I did back then. I always felt a little guilty
wearing that jacket. Yes, Scholastic Productions developed and co-produced the
series with Universal Studios on their storied Culver City lot. And yes, I was
the President of Scholastic Productions, but you have to remember I’d also been
pulled around the classroom by my ear in the third grade
(http://tvwsp.typepad.com/tvwsp/2009/07/the-reluctant-quester-fesses-up.html),
and was still illiterate in the fourth (http://tvwsp.typepad.com/tvwsp/2009/07/the-reluctant-quester-grade-four.html).
Coming into the studio to watch the very first episode of Charles
in Charge being taped was an out of body experience. I was there, but was a
stranger in a not so strange land. I had seen this all before, watched
productions get shot, but up until then had never seen one of our own being
taped in front of a live audience for broadcast in prime time on the CBS
Television Network. Woohoo!
I had no feel for – no way to relate to - this experience…no
way in. I was, as I had always remained, back in Mrs. Himber's class staring at
the Metropolitan Reading Exam, unable to read the sample questions.
These days RQ is writing, taking pictures, co-creating story
quests, and telling his own story here.In the process, he is healing scars and allowing me for the first time
to taste and enjoy my own unique talents - celebrate what is different about
me.
