Facilitation in Second Life

Last Thursday, I got up infront of the class and talked about my job as a facilitator. I also mentioned that we are facilitating part of an offsite in Second Life. The details keep rolling in and today I've been tasked with creating a "how to" for attending a meeting in second life. We aren't sure how many people will have microphones for Voice Chat, so we are going to rely primarily on text chat. I'm getting headset from the company so I can at least present through voice, but I can't deny that I'm pretty nervous. I'm familiar with Second Life, and feel like i'm out of the novice stage, however, to get my avatar ready for prime time with directors and a few vice presidents, i'm not that comfortable with. The things I need to prepare is our Vote box. Part of our team created a box where everyone who wants to participate must collect a ballot from teh box by clicking on the box and collecting the ballot. Any person who has a ballot can also call a vote. This happens by posting a note int he top right hand corner. It will display the question and the vote options. This isn't a sophisticated vote, but more of a "yes" or "no" or rank order type vote.

My job will be to make sure the avatars are able to communicate with my facilitating avatar and that everyone can see the presentation materials (which will be in Second Life as well). Additionally , I need to supply a CONOPS, (concept of operations) on how to attend a meeting in Second Life.

The challenge we face is that we do not allow Second Life at work. Therefore, we are relying on personal computers and people sitting either at designated lab sites, or in their homes paying attention while we bumble our way through a meeting.

Additionally, a developer on the team has created a space for happy hour. He created a pool table, a bar and darts to play in our simulated happy hour.

I have to admit, i'm not exactly thrilled at the propsect of embarrassing myself in front of a lot of potential bosses. This will take a lot more work than traditional methods, and i'm afraid of what the attendees will experience. Many of them have never been to Second Life before...I know a few of them are having their kids help them during the offsite...

More to come on my adventures on teaching second life.

Proposal Template

Did anyone use the template for the proposal? I didn't even know it existed!!

Wiki while you work

Already, one in four U.S. corporations employs some manner of wiki, according to market analyst IDC. By 2009, Gartner, a tech consulting firm, anticipates that will bump up to one in two.....

Does your Corporation use Wiki's in some capacity? If so please leave a comment.

Wiki while you work

Wikis,” based on the Hawaiian word “wiki wiki” for “quick,” are online communities that encourage users to collectively write and edit articles, and even override and delete other contributors’ work. The end product can be thought of as a community’s shared knowledge.

As my team is doing wiki's as the technology de jour: here are a few sites regarding wikis while you work (my piece of the presentation)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20011277/site/newsweek This article discusses how wiki's are invading the workplace and even conservative organizations like the United Nations.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19999898/site/newsweek/ This is a Q&A with Jimmy Whales, founder of Wikipedia.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8300420/ wiki abuse in the LA Times... As this technology is just reaching the corporate world, we have had wiki's for many years now. More to come...

Second Life Chat

I find it very strange that when we talk about something in class, I end up doing it in second life with co-workers. I'm sitting in a meeting right now and we are talking about real chat in Second Life and i'm the only one in the group who can't voice chat, its almost as if i'm deaf in second life! Looks like i'm going to have to buy a mic!

Group Project

As a reminder-Group project is composed of individual papers that you present in a group. Our project is Wiki's. Our team name is wiki racers. Our topics are Wiki's in the work place, the ways people use wiki's and the technology involved in wikis. Ok, the end.