That link has a '5' at the end, so ditch that to get to the page if you're trying this out.

I tried adding various comments, insights, support, etc. But I don't see it showing up in the text? I also don't see any other insights highlighted either. I tried clicking the 'HiLite' button in the lower left corner, but that doesn't seem to work. I'm probably just missing the obvious, but any help would be appreciated!

1. Leaf::1244069801
2. Leaf::1244176467
3. Leaf::1244595362
4. Leaf::1245240564
5. Leaf::1244240065
6. Leaf::1245367452
7. Leaf::1245353712
8. Leaf::1244174855
9. Leaf::1244218428
10. Leaf::1244218428

Notecards are needed. Five notecards with a description of the project displayed at each of the five bays (listed above). Veeyawn can record the audio tracks, I can then upload the audio tracks to my server (unless another location is preferred) and an audio button at each bay can point to that particular audio file.

A button panel has been added to the Wikitecture Image Display. An image of this is posted at this URL: http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?ID=379410 (link). The image there shows the button panel along the bottom of the Wikitecture Image Display.
Four buttons will let users

1. receive notecard
2. receive landmark (for project displayed in that "bay")
3. play/pause slideshow
4. listen to audio stream message

That button panel is a first draft. The style of the button panel can reflect the final design of the booth…who's got that?

Would any other options be useful for a visitor to the Wikitecture booth? There is still time for adding a fifth/sixth button, if needed.

1. one for the 2.0 experiment,
2. one for the 3.0 (Nepal) project,
3. one for the 4.0 (Alabama) project
4. one to describe Wikitecture
5. maybe one bay for the booth itself too

The image display would advance automatically (slideshow effect), with a unique notecard available at each bay from a notecard giver.

I have submitted a "Wikitecture Image Display" object to the Wiki-Tree with these features:

• Three prims; two of these display images, one creates a solid background.
• The two image display prims fade in, fade out (alpha); alternating the display of textures.
• The next texture in order (as found in Contents) is pre-cached on bottom of parent prim.
• Touching the display pauses the slideshow, with slideshow resuming automatically after 60 seconds.

"Touch to restore slideshow advance" will be added next.

To activate: Drag textures from Inventory into Object (parent) content tab, then reset scripts in Object (Menu > Tools > Reset Scripts in Selection)

Varying Image Aspect Ratios could be accomodated (a suitable script is already in the object); but, each image's ratio would have to be entered manually (i.e., in the image's name, then parsed).

Theory: If you would open the permissions on some of the images you submitted in the "pool of images" leaf - and then pass those few to me - I could prepare the next version of this display with appropriate images.

Thanks for the submission! It would be best if you submitted that 'spinning sphere' to the wiki-tree as another spouting leaf. I can meet you inworld to help you or you can follow this how-to http://studiowikitecture.wikidot.com/how-to if you want to submit it yourself.

Eitherway, i think you should. It seems people follow http://www.studiowikitecture.com/SL6B/ just as much, if not more than the Wikidot.com site.

Let me know if you need help.

Regards, Theory.

Perhaps if each person takes a few pictures or short clips of themselves building their contribution, we could join them up together (in the true spirit of collaboration) and make a video which would also be displayed in the booth. It's great to advertise the work of the Studio Wikitecture project but we don't have to concentrate on the past, the collaboration is happening now so let's all do our part to record and promote it. Also, if each time a new leaf is added to the tree from now on, take a picture so we can see it grow via snapshots/video too (if this is not already the case?).

Personally so far, I am a fan of build no. 1244240065 by Veeyawn Spoonhammer as a booth area. But also think the tree design in Omni's build no. 1244218428 is fantastic! Merger?

Indeed, my intention was to include a couple a 'starter set of images', but alas, haven't got around to it yet. For the most part, the lion's share of images i was going to pull from the following links.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/studiowikitecture/sets/72157604038184909/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/studiowikitecture/sets/72157615872431941/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crescendo/sets/72157618920836440/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crescendo/sets/72157604068411379/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crescendo/sets/72157604068319315/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/studiowikitecture/sets/72157604540317069/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crescendo/sets/72157603562121333/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/studiowikitecture/sets/72157604534068450/

I, for one, would like to learn what images are recommended by Theory and Keystone. Maybe a starter set of images could be submitted with a tree leaf; then, they could be worked into any of the other designs…and other images could be suggested at that time.

• The stage seating, podium, and red-fade backdrop have been returned.
• The missing pieces of the large molecular model have been restored (thank you, Omei).
• Seats now have sit target scripts.
• Seats have been raised away from their shadow textures (previously, sitting on seat bottom resulted in buried feet).
• Seat-back position was adjusted to be square with seat bottom.

(First image submitted shows position of this leaf on Wiki-Tree.)

I am curious to know if you have met with any U of A faculty and or students who are going to use these classrooms?
if so how familiar were they with the SL platform, and its tools?

What do you think?

Keystone suggested that I take a look at the design and lend some spit-shine to it… I'm a SL user with about 5 years of building experience. I generally know how to make a good build great as far as polishing goes.

The design as is is pretty good, I'd say, there's just some minor corrections I'd make… I'll make a new copy and show/submit it once I've finished.

Basically, if we're going to be designing in SL, certain things need to be done to make it really wow any passerby/users…

1) Shadowing. Most users in SL don't notice this until it's shown in a really nice build. The eye prefers seeing shading in order to really know the depth of an object… SL's no different. Shadows and edge darkening of textures need to be applied to make the build appear more realistic.
2) Prim alignment - this is a biggie. Mis-aligned prims break the immersion and make the build look thrown together. Building to a grid and using rounded numbers for prims help with this immensely.
3) Texture-flicker - this is a bit of a technical term… basically when two prims are overlapping exactly, the two textures will "fight" for rendering. The result is a lot of flickering noise on the build. I saw a few areas where this was happening.

Basic misc. stuff, really. Just needs polish. I really like the axis of movement you guys have designed between the two structures.

I'll be ripping the build apart and putting together a polished versino very soon to help out :)

Ideally, I think it should be built into the classroom shown off to the side in the design - so perhaps taking a copy of that classroom into inventory, then building out the interactive classroom inside of it and submitting it as a new leaf would be the most efficient way to incorporate it?

Thanks!!! KB

6 classrooms—-multiple platforms seems like an answer.

how do you create a new space! —high quality simulations "good design" focused on the needs of the SL classroom can enhance immersion.
a space that is not comfortable looking in SL amplifies the "deafening silence" and mediocrity that is the norm in Second Life.

Comfort with a capital C- is a RL psychological phenomenon that we obviously need in order to continue using the SL platform.

an amphitheater seating arrangement automatically signals- lecture/presentation setting.

Architecture?

A scale model of one of the great halls of the U of A campus is ample architectonic representation,
to give students and faculty a shared sense of place and familiarity.

the University Logo is all that is needed to link the virtual classroom with University of Alabama.

The SL classroom can be a departure from traditional architecture. something NEW!
specifically because our needs in "the virtual dollhouse" are very different from those in RL.

I want to leave the class feeling that i have been in a beautiful place!

I want to be mesmerized. I want to come back!

Students attend class
from home or other remote locations.

SL is well suited for distance learning.

it seems that our internet connections and graphic cards are not keeping up with our techno needs?

keep it simple! tweak it as you go along!

"i am a noob at settings but i think any computer user could tweak the graphics settings in under a minute!

1.edit
2.preferences
3.graphics
4.reduce the graphics settings for faster fps
5.turn off other applications

Start with the basics as students develop and discover new skills and knowledge in SL.

Instructors and students can evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used
and make necessary adjustments.

The most successful meeting and classrooms i have experienced
are open outdoor settings with "easy access" and an open atmosphere
nested on the ground or up on a platform.

Creating a simple yet Comfy space is key!
Note the capital C for comfort- or "affirmatively good simulation"

Bold (set on full bright) signs that say "class in session" will serve to alert avatars passing by.

Note on content delivery

keep it simple… low lag, low "tech" "lol"

Note on text delivery

copy and paste text from a notecard
and or use voice

Note on image delivery

Upload the textures of the day's course materials and drag into
Slide show/movie object/s that work well are avail free at:
look for the second freeware Centre on your left as you enter the building.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island/44/222/33/

Instructors can also use a simple yet effective technique: drag and drop textures to a blank prim.

for examples of basic types of presentation screens or cards visit:
Geology, Geography, CTLT, GIS, Hydrogeology, ISU, Illinois State University, University, Neosome, Science, Education:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Geo%20Island/187/195/501/

There are many presentation examples out there.
Try an in-world search for university or library or tutorial.

So far, it seems as though the group has, with good reason, determined that those specific guidelines (except prim and land size limits) are less important than providing potential solutions to their broader challenge, which was to 're-invent the virtual classroom,' and answer all of the other questions that were asked: "what, exactly is a virtual classroom?", "In what ways should a virtual classroom be similar to a classroom in real life? How might they be different? How can the virtual architecture best serve the students, staff and community who use it?"

"What should we be building" is really the problem statement from the beginning. If we knew exactly what we needed to build, we could have been finished on day 1.

I think the Wikitecture community responded to this challenge with lots of brilliant ideas, and did a great job at providing possible answers to those questions. There is already such a vast array of ideas, designs, discussion and technology solutions offered that it takes several hours just to review everything this group has come up with so far.

Based on the designs with most votes, and in reading each of the comment fields and forum threads, I think we can see some very preliminary consensus building around the following main ideas - none of which were derived arbitrarily, but through careful consideration:

• Having 6 classrooms side-by-side on the ground plane of this size won't work, and couldn't really serve a functional purpose - never 180 avatars at once, noise problems, interruptions, etc.
• At least 1 classroom - or perhaps just a commons space, or perhaps a larger open auditorium, should still be included at the ground level
• based on the popularity of Azwaldo's 'interactive classroom' concept, it seems there is consensus that the design should include interactive elements - interactive podium, raising hands, etc.
• individual classrooms - perhaps themed around math, science, etc. or customized by students and faculty can be located as flexible sky platforms as needed - more private, more flexible

The style of the architecture is still up in the air, and we don't know exactly how the interactive technology will work, or how/if platforms are used - but I do think we have some kind of consensus building, however broad it might still be.

Anyone else have a general take on how/if/what consensus can be distilled from what we've come up with so far?

I think we should present these assumptions/consensus to the client in some way shape or form, and hear their feedback, so we can move forward with more confidence that we're on the right track.

Any thoughts?

It's been way too long now for me to create decent minutes of the meeting. But the jist of it was this.

What does this phase mean for those designs and ideas that didn't make "the cut". Are the people who created those designs "out of the running"?

And the answer was absolutely not. Studio Wikitecture is not supposed to be a competition between separately developed designs to see which is the best, or the most popular. It is an attempt to collectively create one design which is better than any one that a single participant could do on their own. To do that effectively, designers need to be able to identify the merits and flaws in others' designs as well as their own, and then attempt to create a new design that is better than any of its predecessors.

So if your design wasn't one of the three that was selected for the next round, choose the one that is closest to what you think it should be and improve it. If the result is a radical change, so be it.

The original design statement was :

* We need six classrooms with ample space for student (30 avatars)
* The disciplines we may house in the rooms include: Science, Mathematics, Art, English, Social Sciences, and Music.
* No more than 800 prims total
* Occupy no more than 5,000 square meters
* The architectural style is open to the group’s discretion.

Only the first two statements really describe an objective, and the first was immediately recognized as being impractical, given that an SL sim can't reasonably support more than one 30-person class at a time.

So what should we be building? What SL activities should the design support? Simply the convening of a large class? Or also other related activities, so that the building has a chance of being a dynamic center of activity for U of A students and faculty. My own vision is the latter. There should be spaces that support small discussion groups. Spaces where profs can deposit their lecture slides and students can review them, or perhaps take a copy to be studied somewhere else. Social spaces where students can just hang out.

Ideally, we'll get some input from the U of A sponsors. But even in the absence of that, we should try for more consensus on what the build is for.

More specifically, any prim that has the mandatory script but doesn't have permissions properly set could emit a radiating particle stream to make it easy to find. Although prims without the mandatory script aren't as easy to highlight, the mandatory script could make all prims with the script glow for 10 seconds or so, allowing the user to scan for any prims that aren't glowing.

As our December 11th deadline approaches, we need to establish some milestones and are asking that everyone submit any and all preliminary design concepts they may be working on by end of day Saturday, November 22nd.

We will then ask everyone to cast all of their votes by end of day Monday, November 24th.

That will give us a clear picture as to which ideas we should move forward toward further design development in the weeks ahead.

Since the ideas behind Wikitecture are to brainstorm and design with the group, as well as modify and refine each other’s contributions, we would like to let everyone know that the winners of the $1000 (L$250,000) will be restricted to those final designs that incorporate, to some obvious level, the ideas and designs voted forward in the Nov. 24th voting round.

For example, although someone might submit an entirely new design after this first voting round, the design will not be eligible for the $1000 distribution. We only do this to encourage the community to combine the best ideas, and to riff off each other’s ideas throughout the project’s schedule. In this way, we are trying to avoid a traditional competition where best ideas found in the running up designs are never incorporated in the final, since only one design is chosen as the winner.

Wikitecture process seeks to improve on that limitation by selecting the best designs early, and allowing the community to combine those into something greater than those individual ideas were on their own.

Other than that, thanks for contributing so far and as always, let us know if you have any questions!

It sounds like the discussion is moving toward a more individual experience of the media pod (or at least what is streamed through the media display). An avatar approaches a pod, begins the media presentation or stream in whatever manner is decided upon, and proceeds to watch that stream independently of other avatars. This method is ideal for the asynchronous use of the virtual classroom as anyone can access it at different times to learn the same information.

I am wondering about a more collaborative exchange which could take advantage of some of the social qualities SL has to offer. For example; once a particular lesson or media stream begins, it might be nice to have an easy way to find out which avatars are viewing that same information. The individual could then open an IM channel to that person to discuss what is being shown if they have any questions or comments on the material. This might allow for spontaneous study groups to form between avatars viewing similar material within a parcel.

Another possibility is to automatically generate a dedicated IM channel (or sub-group) tied to the media being displayed which would allow you to communicate directly with other members watching that particular media.

"You have just opened the media package titled 'Intoductory Calculus.' Currently 3 other members are watching this media. Would you like to join the chat group 'Introductory Calculus' to share questions or ideas with the group?"

This would help to differentiate the virtual classroom experience from students simply accessing the given URL outside of Second Life. This is, of course, negated if we design each pod as dedicated to a particular media stream where anyone occupying that pod would obviously be watching the same material.

It works with you clicking the object that controls the feed, then you enter the url needed, and it converts it to a usable string for the parcel media settings.

I am in the work to make a socalled "phptube" that means, you can run your very own youtube on a webserver, taken you have the massive space needed *grin*

I will post the php code aswell as the lsl code in the script forum.

Edit: Added link.

"The QuickTime steam … can be different for every user on the parcel"

This is good news. Individual study pods can have one seat, two, or thirty-two; and, there may be a reason to provide these in combination (though I have not thought of it, yet). Next stop: the pod page

The choice between a grid of many display parcels, or a more traditional arrangement of one screen being viewed by multiple users (with each user potentially seeing something different on the screen) should be based on architectural considerations, not technical constraints. Personally, I would favor a few small "individual study" rooms with one screen and a handful of seats. Rather than being restricted to playing things the professor put into the display unit, the user's could bring their own content objects to the room, (typically, provided by the instructor for whatever course they are taking) and play them there. Of course, an instructor might well put a "course content dispenser" near the display, so that students could pick up the content conveniently, but other instructors might prefer some other mechanism for distributing content items to students.

1- Utilizing our own scripting talent within the group (I personally have very little)
2- Hire scriptors ($)
3- Encourage scriptors to participate to boost their individual or company's exposure to the public (portfolio booster)
4- Only utilize very basic scripts within the project and describe additional functionalities though associated visual aides or text.
5- Utilize no scripts and describe all functionalities through associated visual aides or text.

I guess this partly depends on what level of finished product we are presenting (fully functional prototype or just a proposal to be implemented at a future time)..

Is there a unique need for certain types of objects? In meatspace, a science course will often have use for laboratory facilities. In a virtual classroom, experimental investigations will either be simulated (also excessive, IMO) or lay outside the scope of this challenge.

Is a particular arrangement of seats more effective for a lesson in science than with History? Do certain textures or shapes lend themselves to learning the scientific method, as opposed to learning mathematics?

This question reminds me of the need for a virtual classroom design to provide ample space for rezzing lesson-specific objects; but, that space can be the same size, and have the same location and design, as with any other subject area.

Personalization of a learning space might best be accomplished by the instructors themselves. Am I overlooking something?

Around Dec. 3rd might also be a good time to discuss presentation format (For example.. a general template for images, associated diagrams, videos, animations, or whatever time allows) and to begin textual description(s) as well. In my opinion, it is always a good idea to start this as early as possible- this way we know what areas of the design to focus on when considering how it will be presented.. could save us some valuable time toward the end.

We may also want to delegate particular tasks to individuals for efficiency's sake - or - create a running list of tasks toward the end that individuals can sign up for. It always helps if someone has a given task to begin with - even if they hand off a rough version for someone else to complete.

-General presentation template
-Image production
-Image refinement
-Image captions or general textual description
-Associated graphical or diagrammatic descriptions (maybe a set of scenarios to describe how the classroom is utilized)
-Video/animation production

Another option is to simply concentrate on a single video presentation with minimal associated images. This would reduce the need for long textual descriptions, complicated 2D diagrams, and supplemental descriptive images (though this contains its own complications as well).

Just some food for thought..

This is just a proposal - subject to the groups opinion, but what if we adopted the following timeline:

Ask everyone to submit any remaining preliminary or schematic design ideas by next Friday, November 21st.

Ask everyone to cast all of their votes by Monday, November 24th.

Ask the group to take the best ideas within the most popular designs and begin synthesizing them into more collaborative design ideas - moving a little closer to 'final'

Everyone stops submitting new designs on December 3rd.

The group casts all their votes on the best design submitted to that point by Saturday Dec. 6th.

We then use the remaining 5 days before the Dec. 11th deadline to refine and polish the final design. Contributors can take the design we've chosen as 'final' and rebuild or retexture or otherwise polish the final design to make it the highest quality end-product we can collectively achieve.

Sound like a plan? Anything I'm missing?

I think the motivation for having 6 individual classrooms didn't come from a desire to have all 6 active at one time, but in having a 'themed' environment for each of the subjects they put forward - Science, Mathematics, Art, English, Social Sciences, and Music.

Working within those 'themes' is an area I haven't seen the group take on yet, and would look forward to contributions that take a look at why we should, or should not, build themed environments for these fields.

One suggestion made was that we include a holo-rezzer that includes each of these 6 themes - and the instructor can choose which theme to activate before class starts. This might not be the right approach, but it illustrates just one way in which 6 different classroom environments can still be achieved within the guidelines.

We are missing an important component and that is a web 2.0 social network element that should complement the RL and SL 3D virtual environment. Even though none of us has introduced this element so far (I assumed it was obviously implicit) I propose that we introduce this component (it is also virtual you know, allthough not 3D). When looking at Azwaldo´s menu driven parcel media manager (or whatever its called) I saw that he was also implicitly assuming there would be the use of wepages and other media inworld, but as Bjorn suggested, in general, it doesnt make much sense to go inworld to access offworld stuff that is easier to access offworld. We have to apply a variance of Occam's_razor in the sense that: all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best. And use SL for those things that cannot be better used offworld. In the case of media like videos, it is not the same to watch it in a web 2.0 environment in a flat computer screen as it is to watch it inworld in an inmersive 3D environment; this later option, allthough providing the same information visually, provides a much richer EXPERIENCE, an as proposed in my/our classroom model this experience would/should be complemented with 3D objects in each cubicle. 3d objects that can be touched, moved, studied, that could contain information, that could be animated, etc to enriche the EXPERIENCE and enter into the brain through more means than reading or seeing a video.

"…is this virtual classroom simply unrelated to the physical classroom in any sense? "

Will the U of Alabama instructors be logging in to SL with students, while they are assembled in a classroom in Alabama? I have posted this question in the "University of Alabama Questions and Feedback" category in this forum (link).

"Does the virtual classroom then become a primary means of communication between professor and students.. and is this a good thing?"

If one considers the use of a virtual classroom as the primary gathering forum for a distance learning course, then I would say "Yes" (many educators in SL are focused on that approach, primarily).

So far, I count three scenarios being discussed by this group:

Group activity space

Synchronous use that is also concurrent with a gathering in First Life; an extension of the traditional classroom for specific activities

Group meeting space

No concurrent meeting in First Life; the primary gathering forum for a distance learning course

Instructional kiosk

A learning space that provides various types of instructional content; engages the learner individually, asynchronously

A virtual classroom could be designed as an asynchronous, on-demand learning center. (Students would be engaged individually with media, notecards, weblinks, text chat, etc.) Would any of the participating UofA instructors make use of such a design, if one is provided?