What can I do for G30
students?
My first idea was a tour. I am not comfortable enough to use my own voice
to give a tour, but here is an outline that I might want to use if I ever was
to give a Avatar Psychology platform tour. The platform has kept changing and I
have always noticed something new so I need to update my tour before I give one
so visitors and G30 students can have the most current and up to date tour.
Here is my outline:
Welcome to Avatar Psychology Platform. My name is Elle Mexicola. I
am senior and my major is Psychology. I became a Second Life resident in Spring
2009.
Introduction:
The Avatar Psychology Group in Second Life was founded by UH Manoa
instructor, Dr. Leon James (Madra Kiranov in SL) in 2009. Each semester Dr.
James directs students to do projects in SL to help them discover and
understand human behavior in the virtual world. This is a platform where you
can experience various settings and learn about the course materials outside of
the classroom and textbooks. Some of the work in the platform is collaborated
with Dr. Diane Nahl. If you would like to receive further background
information about the professors, for Dr. James, please visit his online book: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy29/avatar-psychology-g29.htm
, for Dr. Nahl, please visit this website. I am here to introduce you and
assist you with your first experience in the platform. In case of technological
problems, please go ahead and make a landmark here (go to World, then select
Create Landmark Here, you will see your newly created landmark in your
inventory, under landmark). Also if you have not joined the Avatar Psychology
group, please do so (go to Search, click on Group tab, type Avatar Psychology
in the box next to Find, do not forget to check both PG content and Mature
content box, once you found the group click on View Full Profile, you should
see a button which says Join L$0). I am going to start the tour. Please follow
me.
The first stop is the Avatar Psychology area. When you look around,
you notice there are many posters. Most of them are touchable and have floating
signs to let you know that they are touchable too. When you click on them, it
would take you to a specific section in Dr. James's online book. Please look
around and try clicking on some of the panels to see where each of them take
you to.
Now Let's move to the magic carpet area. As you can see here is a
poster, which has the instruction to getting a magic carpet that serves a
important tool in Second life. Each of you will need it to go through the
tunnels. As you can see, there are posters you will find as you go through the
tunnels. Your task will be answering each poster by riding the magic carpet and
writing a report about them. There are six stages of self-witnessing.
One of the things you want to be careful about the magic carpet is
when once you go off of the platform. Most of you will probably feel lost in
the sky and stop using the carpet. But, stopping the use of the carpet means
that you’ll leave it in the sky. This can consider as a form of littering. I
left my magic carpet without noticing it and Dr. James told me to take it. I
had a hard time finding where it would be, but I noticed (after one week) that
the magic carpet tells you where you left it in your chat window! The chat
window tells you where you lost it (exact numbers of where is it) and you can
use Map or the numbers you see on your screen to search it. But it is not an
easy process especially when you are high up in the air; you will need to wear
Flight Feather to assist you to fly high. The best thing you can do is not to
detach your magic carpet in the sky. If you got lost, you can use your HUD to
guide you where the platform is or, you can guide yourself by knowing the three
numbers where the platform is (194,187,314).
Across from the tunnel area, there is a Driving Psychology area and
the platform that Monile and I made in the summer. Our task was basically building
a model that has tunnels and making signs necessary for it. Kaomea designed it
as a letter, UH (you can see UH from the sky) and I put six different signs
with the help of power point, which was given by Dr. Nahl. It has six steps of
self-witnessing and some useful information that helps you with your SL
experience. Please try my exercises when you have time :) Let's go back to
the center of the platform. There are few more posters and power points that
you can explore. There are two power points that have pictures from the
meetings for the UH SL campus opening party and pictures from the party. There
will be events that everyone can participate and learn about out newly created
campus and SL skills.
Lastly, Kaomea designed this area. She made a classroom area, power
point organizing area, and place where students can experience various vehicles
and improve their skills.
This will be the end of my end of tour. It was a general tour but if
you have questions, I am happy to answer them :) If not, then please help yourself
to explore and experience more about the Avatar Psychology platform! If you
would like to know more about Dr. James and his studies, please visit his
online book: .
Thank you
Elle Mexicola
Things I Noticed while
Creating Outline for the tour:
Teleport Station
I used teleport
station for the first time. I thought it will take me to Dr. James's selected
places, but it turns out that the teleport stations are within the UH system. I
assume it still is under construction because I could only go to three out of
eleven destinations. I ended up at the COE rooftop and there were not teleport
stations, but I had landmarks so there were no problems coming back. It was
sort of strange to see my avatar teleporting. When I usually use the teleport
feature, the SL window shows a black screen and teleporting process with a bar.
But Teleport Station actually shows the avatar transporting and it looks
painful! I took picture of my avatar while teleporting I got scared because
what if my avatar was to get trapped while energizing? Maybe it is just my
computer that seems to require extra power to teleport... but I am bit worried.
It might be
difficult for the first time because I type slowly and not ready for unexpected
questions about commands and basic movements. I can probably assist Mac users,
but I do not know much about PC. But I think my anxiety and nervousness will be
much lower than giving a tour in real life. I give campus tours at school (it
is part of my job) and I get nervous because of my pronunciations and grammar.
But if I am able to give a tour through virtual world, I will be feel more
comfortable and relaxed (I do not like to be in the center of attention) and I
do not need to worry about the errors of my pronunciations (if I only use
chatting).
Other activities I came up with:
I have never
planned activities for class so it is quiet challenging for me to come up with
six weeks worth of activities. But two things I defiantly would recommend G30
students to try is decorating and planning a party and making power point
slides. Decorations can be a bit challenging but you can practice inventory
skills (organizing), teleporting, and bit of building. I also enjoy making ppt
slides and basic posters. I am still learning about how to put LM and floating
letters but I feel achieved when I see what I created in SL. It does not
require many skills, yet it is something that newbies cannot do. I also learn
to be patient, open minded to learn new skills, and never give up. Sometimes,
simple tasks can give you a hard time. For example, giving permissions to the
objects gave me headaches more than ten times during the summer. Sometimes, I
re-build the entire poster just to find out what I am doing wrong.
My feelings and ideas to G30 students:
G30 students
will have a great time. I cannot imagine having a large amount of students
participating in SL. I believe you can discover, teach and learn from each
other a lot in SL. I started off from being only with myself to having a classmate;
Monile but the small difference made a great impact and motivated me. Also
meeting Dr. Nahl, Sam, and Amanda gave me more supports and comfort. Maybe it
is just me who enjoys working with others and making connections with other
people. Because of the social interaction situations, I cared about how my
avatar looked (in a professional way). I tried my best when the assignment and
chance was given, because it is a different type of class situation. You will
never meet with your professors or classmates in RL, I care about my performance
more than I would in usual class situations. There are times I got addicted to
find freebies and did not manage my time well but I overcame with my addiction.
I analyzed myself why I was addicted to finding freebies because I cannot
afford to buy new clothes and hair cuts as much as I would like to. Nothing is
free in RL and SL is becoming that way too. When I became a resident, I did not
see much of lucky chairs or lucky boards (they have an alphabet and have
certain time to routine the alphabet, if the alphabet matches with your name,
then you will receive the gift) and most places would offer at least one free
gift. I joined many groups so that I can receive free gifts (mostly clothes,
hairs, and accessories). I did couple of treasure hunting to get freebies too.
There are numbers of distractions in SL so you need to regulate yourself. But I
was fulfilling what I was not satisfied in RL through SL. But I overcame my
addiction by realizing that the satisfied feeling is only a momentary thing,
and does not really solve how my emotions in RL.
AVL - Picnic dance party
8/15/2009 2:00pm (SL time)
Today I joined the picnic party - dance
party at AVL. Before the party, I was excited because I thought we would be
doing treasure hunt. As soon as I got there, I found out that the treasure hunt
was actually tomorrow. So I joined the dance floor to meet the librarians.
First fifteen minutes, I felt comfortable because there were only four of us
dancing on the floor. Adra was helping me to join the circle, but I could not
feel fully comfortable. Soon after that I found out people are from different
states. If they are to do such events in RL, people have to fly to a different
place, and borrow a place to set up a dance floor, etc. It cost way too much.
This is one of the beauties of SL. People can get together without time barriers,
and it has a low cost to maintain such an event.
Adra introduced me to a few librarians
and they were very welcoming. It seems like they knew each other for a long
time and it was hard for me to understand what is going on. 20 minutes after
the party, dance floor was full. I stopped to say "hi" to people,
because there were too many and I assume mostly everyone knew each other. I felt
very awkward and could not say much. Again, Adra tried to help me out to join
the circle, but I could not break out of my bubble. I sent IM to Kaomea to see
if she wants to stop by, but she was busy. It felt so much different from the
UH party. I felt very lonely and helpless. But, not everything I did or felt
was negative.
I observed the party decorations and I
thought it was amazing. The decorations (picnic area) done by volunteers looked
really organized and professional. As an outsider, I felt the party was for the
librarians to celebrate the launching of the party. There are many librarians
who worked hard to set up the event so I assume the party was for them to get
together and celebrate each other’s achievements. As the party goes on, people
were talking about their daughters, jobs, and injuries, etc. I felt there was a
huge age barrier. I heard that somebody was giving tour for AVL so I wanted to
ask that person what is the key to be a good tour guide in SL. But I could
not... I was not comfortable enough to ask what I wanted to ask that nobody
else would be interested in the chat window and it would be weird if I sent IM
to that person on the side.
Overall, I think I was being really shy
today. I do not know why.... Sometimes, it takes while for me to figure out
what everybody is talking about or even I know what everyone is talking about,
I do not know how to respond to it. I do not want to say it is the language
barrier, I think chatting has their own style and I am not used to that kind of
style, especially in a huge group. I just found out that there was a costume
requirement! I checked the AVL website to see what time the treasure hunt
begins and it says that "wear your cut-offs and flip flops and come to
dance!" I thought Adra was dressed casual today and I was thinking there
is a theme for the party, but everybody else seem like they did not know... I
realized that it's always good to check their website to see if there is an additional
information. Treasure hunt begins tomorrow 8/16/2009 and there is a closing
party on August 30th at 2 pm SLT.
New picnic places I
visited after receiving the notecard:
1. Tiniest Picnic
Welcome to the Tiniest Picnic!!
Brought to you by the Agriculture, Pet HEalth, and Animal Science
section of Alliance Virtual Library.
2. Government Document Picnic
There are many great ideas and decorations all over the infoisland.
I learned a lot about the poster designs too. I cannot wait to see the visitors
to hang out in the Sports Collection picnic area J I spent a good amount of time to make
the signs so hopefully everyone will like it!
Other things that came to
my mind:
Short Cut Commands:
I noticed that there are many short cut keys that help you to move
around in SL. The site I found has various video clips that will teach you the
short cut commands. I thought it would be helpful for G30 students to watch the
video as part of their orientations J Here is the link to the site:
Second Life - Have Your Avatar Moving & Grooving Using Keyboard
Commands:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/16019/second_life_have_your_avatar_moving.html
Corn Field:
I was searching for the secret commands in SL. So far, people
consider the advanced menu as the secret command (Ctrl+Opt+D for Mac). But while
I was searching for that topic, I found an interesting place called, "The
Corn Field" - "The Corn Field is a The Corn Field is a region of
mythological status where once naughty avatars were sent to
think about what they had done. "The corn field" is a vast star-lit
field of corn and was cut off from communication with the rest of the world (a
reference to the classic Twilight Zone episode, "It's a
Good Life").
It is located at
the North-West tip of Orientation Island 1 and closed to the public. Perhaps
one day the prison will be open for viewing? (Second Life Wiki) People consider
it as a virtual prison. I thought it is an interesting idea that Lindens
made. I also found people blogging about their one-day experience in the Corn
Field. The blogger did not seem like he was taking the situation seriously. I am
not sure how often Lindens send people there and what kind of troubles they
caused in order for them to get stuck in the place like prison… I am interested
in abnormal behaviors and aggressions in the virtual world. So I will briefly
discuss about the situations that I thought could lead to dangerous
situations.
My thoughts on Aggression and dangerous
situations in SL:
I encountered an
interesting situation during the UH Manoa Second Life campus opening party.
There was a guy who was invited to the party from a member of UH system. He has
nothing to do with UH Manoa and I do not know how old he is or what he does. I
did not have the chance to look at his profile. I was listening to a
conversation (in chat) that he said he could destroy the party if he wanted to
do. This can consider as a type of aggression. Thankfully he did not actually
initiated in such a horrible action, yet his thoughts scared me a bit. I always
have this fear of someone trying to destroy the place or my avatar or put
restriction on my avatar if I responded to a stranger and did not give him/her
what she/he wants or my action (pushed her accidently etc.) upset her/him
regardless of my intension. I was introduced to a HUD that has some useful
contents and some that I am kind of afraid to use or I am scared to know that
somebody else can use the same tool as myself (e.g put a person in a
cage).
The example I gave earlier about the
stranger at UH party, he only showed low level of aggression and we would not
know if he was serious or joking at that moment. He was not acting out at the
party. He just stood there and was having conversations with people. In the
virtual world, it is hard to tell and comprehend other people's thought
process, emotions, and behaviors because you can only get limited impression
based upon their appearance, what he/she said and the avatar's action and
behaviors. In other word, you can never tell what other people are truly
thinking or feeling. Such idea does not only apply to the virtual world
situations, but there are even less hint of aggression in SL than in RL.
There have been numbers of studies
have been done by psychologist on aggression. According to the social cognitive
theory, a person can become more aggressive after observing and then imitating
a model that is acting aggressively. Once you attend to such aggressive
behavior, they are likely to stay in your memory and also likely to repeat such
behaviors again. Another theory is the psychoanalytic theory, a subsequent
decrease in aggression should occur through catharsis as one releases
aggressive drives safely in symbolic rather than actual experiences. The study
is done by Hall and he suggested that drive reduction should occur when a
person participates in a fantasy experiences that allow him or her to
"drain off" dangerous aggressive impulses, a primary human drive. In
a game, one can kill another person symbolically.
These are some
of the studies that have done to describe aggressive behaviors, but how about
in terms of game or in the virtual world situations? Few things I remember from
taking Developmental Psychology class, there are huge influence on children's
aggression through television and games. Our generation is heavily influenced
on information technologies thus the potential of avatars wanting to release
their aggression such as destroying our UH party.
We are able to
avoid the worst-case scenario by setting the party only for the UH systems or
students and professors from outside of UH system. Maybe we can set up a check
in entrance where somebody can keep track on who came to the party. I am sure
such the worst-case scenario won’t likely happen, but what if it does happens? When the earthquake hit Hawaii, nobody was
prepared for it. SL residents should always be prepared ready for anything that
comes their way, just because it is a virtual world does not mean you should
leave your guard down. First thing you can do to protect yourself is to
purchase the mysti tool HUD. I think SL
will be a great environment for learners to experience and explore things that
they would not be able to do in RL. I have never experienced dangerous
situations, but if it does, then I think it will cause a lot of stress. That’s
why we have HUD to sort of protect us and keep eye on people around you. I am
sure Lindens have more tools that can help you to protect yourself.
Self-witnessing Report:
It is always
hard to communicate with instructors when you are doing an online course or
classes that does not have any in-class time. I could not manage the proper time
to meet up with the professor in SL, which gave myself difficulty on figuring out
the solution for my problem. When I was
making the posters/signs for the Sports Collection, I had a hard time figuring
out what I was doing wrong that was causing my professor to fix the sign. Also
I was able make the first sign without any problem, but my task was not only
creating the sign, I also had to decorate the area too. It took me at least
three days to come up with the idea of making another sign/poster. Before that,
I only focused on looking for sports related decorations through xstreet.com. I
was happy when the new idea came across my mind and I am glad that I made
another poster. But I am bit disappointed at myself. When I looked at the other
picnic places, they look amazing (especially their signs and posters) and were
matching with their theme. I wish I was more creative and talented in art in
order to make good signs. I realized that more practices are needed.
Here is the
situation:
1.
Task: To create signs for the Sport Collection
and put LM and notecard in it.
2.
Specific Problem: I made the signs, but I was not
giving right permission so that Adra could not put LM and notecard in them.
3.
Type: Persistent, Urgent
4.
Emotions while tying to fix the problem: My
frustrations and stresses were not only coming from creating signs. I think
overall I was really stressed out about classes and work so my mind was not
clear to come up with the right solutions.
a.
Frustrated – 10
b.
Mad at myself – 10
c.
Urgent – 10
d.
Feeling helpless – 10
e.
Stressed out – 10
5.
How long it took to solve the problem: I think it
took around two days. Because I worked on it (I actually re-built the sign) and
had to have Adra to take a look at it.
6.
Emotions when the problem was solved:
a.
Relief – 10
b.
Disappointed at myself – 10
c.
Boost in my self confidence – 3
d.
Afraid – 8
e.
Scared – 7
7.
Comments: The best solution for this situation
was for me to try and put the LM, notecard, and floating words. I really do not
know why I did not try to do that. I assumed that it required special scripts
and I did not have them. But I could always get them from Adra’s posters!!!
Again, I was not thinking straight. I was really stressed and it is hard to
realize what I am doing wrong right away. If I was working with another
student, then I probably was able to talk out my problems and come up with
different solutions, but unfortunately I was working on them by myself. I felt
highly embarrassed and hesitated to ask help from Adra because she’s helped me numerous
times when I face difficulties and problems. I wanted to show that I am able to
do it on my own.
Sometimes I wish
I could talk to my avatar and give her directions so that she can help me to
solve problems too lol Especially I did not have the permission to build signs
in the Infoisland so I had to build them from a bit far away and move them from
there to the area where I want to display my posters and signs. First, I felt
bit irritated by the small extra processes, but I got used to them after a few
hours. I think I learned to be more patient and enjoy the assignment or project
more. I spend couple of hours to find the decorations and sometimes the process
is time consuming. I was happy to have the opportunity to help decorations and
creating signs because I am able to learn about new skills and able to meet new
people in SL. When I first started SL in Spring 2009, my report was based on my
observations on residents and places I visited. I had a hard time understanding
the self-witnessing report too. But this summer when I started interacting with
other students and professors more, and worked on more projects, I was more
experience and skilled at writing self-witnessing reports.
I realize that I
need to have different points of view to in order to observe my behaviors and
others behaviors. It is complicated to think that what you see in in-world is
avatar and you interact and explore with others through your avatar. There is
“you” behind your avatar and you are controlling them, which means that who you
are, your personalities and your behaviors reflect the behavior of your avatar.
However, there is an opposite effect too, which your avatar’s behavior can
influence and transform who you are. I also noticed that people invent new
identities that are different from who they are in RL, People can look at the
avatar as part of themselves or reflections of who you are, yet you can also
look at them as idealistic versions of yourself and not as part of you or
reflection of who you really are.
I consider my
avatar as part of myself, which is why I care about her appearance and would
like to learn new skills so when people see my avatar, I want others to know
and think that I am an experienced yet well-rounded avatar and not a newbie.
There is a lot
more to learn and explore in SL. SL is changing every day and every minute. I
would like to keep my eyes open to this new virtual environment and keep up
with the newest updates in our educational field.