I am speaking at the 45th UKLA International Conference Making Connections: Building Literate Communities in and Beyond the Classroom.

Here’s my abstract – come on along if you are in the UK and interested

Inside the mind of Macbeth: Understanding and interpreting literary worlds in a virtual environment.

Angela Thomas

University of Sydney

Virtual Macbeth was designed to demonstrate how we might best use the affordances of virtual environments for Education. Shakespeare’s Macbeth reimagined in Second Life provides an adaptive bridge between classic texts and new media technology.  In the virtual, the abstract can be made concrete, and complex poesis and abstractions of Shakespeare’s verse can become embodied, elusive, visceral, and affective. The poetic use of metaphor, image and symbol that permeate Shakespeare’s language is brought to 3D life using the online world as a discursive design space where visitors experience the motivations and emotional journey of character, and explore and make personal sense of the universal themes of Shakespeare.

In this presentation I will demonstrate Virtual Macbeth and discuss the way the design of the island allows students to explore aspects of narrative theory, literary criticism, drama theory, gaming theory and digital culture. In particular, I will highlight the deep potential of virtual worlds for immersive, experiential and student-centred learning. I will also explain how Virtual Macbeth is designed for engaging the participatory and co-creative potential of new media – something young people are embracing in out-of-school contexts but yet to be adequately utilised in classroom contexts. Here, students have opportunities to remake, co-create and  mash-up Shakespeare,  thus participating in  cultural exchange,  creative expression, online community discourse and educational outcomes.

Kim Flintoff and I did our NMC Symposium on Creativity in Second Life session this morning. Our session introduced the concept of educational drama and involved setting up a context and doing some role-playing. Here is the abstract again for anybody who missed it:

Teaching On the Second Life Stage: Playful Educational Strategies for Serious Purposes

Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Conference%20Center/64/193/22

Angela Thomas (aka Anya Ixchel), University of Sydney

Kim Flintoff (Kim Pasternak), Edith Cowan University

Theatrical spaces have historically been places used to teach, purge and shape culture. For over a decade, virtual reality has offered a new kind of theatrical space; now, with the rise of social networking spaces, many more people are using the potential of the web to perform, critique and comment on cultural issues. Second Life provides a new and exciting space where students can explore issues that are both personal and global in significance. Teaching strategies which incorporate dramatic and theatrical components are perfectly suited in the Second Life environment for engaging students in playful but meaningful reflection on such issues. This session will involve participants in role-playing, reflection and discussion. Participants will also be encouraged to brainstorm the possibilities of incorporating such strategies into their own educational programs.

We set the drama in a fictional Second Life future, one in which the company of Linden Lab had outlawed anything M rated and above. Setting the drama in a fictional place, space or time allows people to reflect on significant cultural issues from the safety of that fictional distance. Learning can take place somewhere in the space between the fictional and the real.

We provided an open letter to the Lindens set in 2009 for participants to read. Here’s a copy of our letter:

Open Letter to Linden Lab Staff

February 20, 2009

We, the undersigned, are concerned about way Second Life has moved away from its grassroots principles of freedom of expression and participatory culture into a sanitized Disneyland state. We recall in 2004 when Phillip Linden proudly, enthusiastically and energetically espoused his philosophical stance about Second Life:

“So SL poses a new question… what if the online environment offered you MORE freedoms than the real world, in just about every way. I assert … that we might therefore actually behave better in such a place. We might learn faster, interact more deeply, and therefore become better people, at least on some levels. Little has been written about this. I am asserting that this will only occur in an environment in which the freedoms are not a laundry list of experiences, a-la-Disneyland, but instead a fundamental ability to express yourself; these are the real freedoms. I am saying that if you have more freedoms, in an expressive sense, you might have better or at least more complex behavior.” (Philip Linden, Second Life Herald Interview, June 21, 2004)

Indeed, during the first three to four years of Second Life, citizenship grew to several million users precisely because of the liberties and creativities found in such an “infinite possibilities” standpoint. People entered Second Life for a multiplicity of purposes, and its success today is directly related to the opportunities provided by user created content. Collaborative creativity on a global scale was never so exciting and exhilarating, and you might even recall that in 2007, the ground-breaking educational innovators at the New Media Consortium held a symposium on creativity in Second Life.

Yet since early 2007, there has been a steady decline in the freedoms enjoyed by and afforded to our citizens. First of all, advertising and signage related to certain sexual practices was outlawed. Soon thereafter, all casinos and houses of gambling were removed. In early 2008, there was crackdown on all explicit sexual practices – the furry avatar was removed as an option at log-in, and all Gorean sims were shut down. By the end of 2008, all known sims and clubs that offered simulated sexual practices were removed without warning.

But by far we, the undersigned, believe that the most debilitating move on Linden Lab’s part is the new TOS policy issued in January of this year, 2009, to remove all M rated sims and M rated content, even in citizen’s private homes. With 30 million users, all over 18 and adult, we cannot understand this move to reduce Second Life to Disneyland, which serves only to stifle the creativity and personal freedom of expression out of each and very one of us. Second Life is no longer a deeply compelling place for us to live, to work, and to do our business. We therefore call for an immediate return to the terms of service as set out at the beginning of 2007.

(NOTE: THIS LETTER IS FICTIONAL AND DESIGNED FOR ROLE-PLAYING PURPOSES)

Then we gave out role badges (student, teacher, parent, admin) and participants worked in small groups to research a position they would take in response to the letter.

Then we held a TV press conference – the poster advertising the TV press conference had the title: “Disneyland or Jurassic Park: What kind of Second Life do YOU want?” This involved the presenter (Kim) speaking to representatives of each group, while the roving reporter (me!) took commentary from the streets and questions from our studio audience.

At the end people had to submit votes for whether or not they would also sign the open letter to the Lindens.

These are the strategies we used:

• Text as starting point
• Group in-role research and discussion
• Role-play (teacher in role, questioning, mantle of the expert)
• Decision / Conscience alley

If we had time, we could have also done the following:

• Teacher in role as the “expert” – the teacher could hold a town hall meeting where Philip Linden (the teacher or a brave student) comes to hear what people have said and talk to their concerns
• Writing in role / photography in role – students could write a fictional blog post about the press conference – either collectively, or individually, and include a snapshot they took
• In groups, students create a still image of themselves in the future, to depict what the outcome of their letter was by 2010

The 50 minutes to an hour was nowhere enough to do the subject justice, but hopefully it was sufficient for people to get a taste of how easily and effectively drama and role-playing can be employed to stimulate research, discussion and enthusiasm about a topic. And it was fun – I was laughing a lot and had to toggle my voice off, especially when Corwin Carillon, that rebellious chain smoking anarchist, came to do his “vox pop” soundbyte Thanks to everybody who made this session such a pleasure!

I guess everybody will be blogging about voice in Second Life over the next few weeks. The latest download released has voice fully enabled, and despite my initial experiences with the trial grid being frustrating, I had an amazingly positive experience with the new version.  Last night I tried it out with friends and fellow bloggers Jerry, Sharon and Alja.  I should disclose that I have met Jerry and Sharon in “real life”, they are fellow Australians, and I’ve been enjoying a renewed enthusiasm for Second Life since they joined (I wonder if other people experience peaks and slumps in their enthusiasm?).  I’ve also talked through the live streaming function a number of times for conferences.  So the thought of voice wasn’t in any way intimidating, and didn’t threaten any sort of fictional persona I had going on (I think these are the two main concerns reported to date).

All four of us experienced technical difficulties to begin with, and I have to say getting it working is not for the faint of heart or the (like me) easily-frustrated-when-technology-doesn’t-do-what-you-want.  But after maybe an hour or so, it was all sorted out and we’d launched into a full scale party, with Jerry playing his fiddle (Jerry is an incredible musician!), all of us dancing, and lots and lots of laughter.  Jerry has a photo and a great write-up here. It was lovely to hear Alja’s Slovenian accent and to learn how to pronounce her name properly!  We had a few other people come and go – one guy was practising his English on us – and it was all wonderfully entertaining.  It was fun to share the experience at an entirely new level – so much so that when one of my other friends came along who didn’t have voice enabled, we felt terribly sorry for her because she was missing out on all the hilarities.

I think voice will offer the opportunity for much more full scale immersion, interaction, and engagement. And now that I have such a fantastic experience I can easily see it revolutionising communication.  The only negative thing I have to say about it is that personally, I found it exhausting after a few hours had ticked by – it was quite intense and I couldn’t multitask like I usually do.  Trust me, being chatty and engaging for hours at a time can be draining, especially if you’re more naturally an introvert.  I look forward to seeing how others are experiencing it.

This collection of five 30 second Public Service Announcements were created in Teen Second Life by Global Kids after school program, the Virtual Video Project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation and developed with the support of the Museum of the Moving Image. These were the first videos created by the students, to learn the basic of creating machinima around social issues. Their final project will focus on child soldiers. Read more at http://www.HolyMeatballs.org

Fantastic! These kids are talking about new media through new media – and fortunately for teachers of young people everywhere they are sharing what they’re doing and how they’re doing it on youtube and their group blog.

This is the proposed book cover design for my book!!!  Yay!!!  Finally its *almost* here.  I am very excited now to be this close

I’ve fallen in love with these “Devil-wears-Prada” fashionistas from the Second Life fashion house, “House of Lu” and their label: Paper Couture.

Their work is a bit edgier than most of the popular SL fashion houses, and whoever is behind it has enough snarkiness to make them amusing. But their work consists of some lovely hand drawn textures, very distinctive, and based on current “real” fashion trends and is quite inexpensive.

I really love the artistry behind their work – look, here are some of the designs from their Spring collection:

I keep getting media requests related to comments on SL fashion and mostly I talk about avatars and identity, but there’s also a real sense of the SL fashion community growing in creativity and diversity, which is a wonderful thing.

Here I am in two Paper Couture outfits – they are probably so last season, but then I dress for amusement and not for keeping up with trends.

Hey… this looks like a FAB conference!!!

This is great news for me and other people using SL for delivering lectures, communicating with students, or conducting business in SL.

Interestingly though, there has been a lot of discussion about how the addition of voice might threaten / shake / call into question people’s digital identities.

Here are some quotes:

From PacRimX:

Discussions on the SLED listserv have already popped up about voice masking. The Reuter’s Article states that some think the “magic circle” will be broken if you pair real voices with virtual avatars. I can’t imagine, in an education setting, how this would be a negative thing. The one group that will definitely be impacted by the adding of voice support are the virtual red light services on the main grid. Those masquerading as their opposite sex will definitely have the covers pulled back, and be exposed for who they really are. I guess we will finally find out if the demographic numbers of male and female players are based in reality or fantasy.

From ZDNet News:

One of the groups most likely to object to it is those whose gender identification in-world is different than in the real world. And that’s because it would be startling for some to hear a male voice coming from a female avatar’s mouth, or vice versa.

From Fred Fuchs (SLED list):

Voice can give away age, race, gender, accents, national origin, etc. Some resist voice app integration because they believe voice will make SL less inclusive.
Those who come into SL and always use voice will miss part of the experience.
It’s hard to narrow down.
Text chat is slower than voice. The extra time allows people to be more introspective and thoughtful.
It’s harder to monopolize the conversation in text chatting. Those without loud voices and assertive natures can participate more fully. That’s why meek, but creative people can do well in SL.

From the SLED Project:

This will break interesting ground for Second Life, and has already angered part of the virtual community, stating that it will shatter part of the illusion of the virtual world.

The most interesting aspect to me were the people who were already discussing voice masking – or creating a digital voice to match your digital persona, if you didn’t want to use your own voice. Would people be inclined to spend hours creating the perfect voice using such technology, the same way they (including me!) have spent hours creating an avatar to project their digital persona? I’ve already thought about my own digital voice print – I think I’d select the dulcet husky low tones of Ella Fitzgerald! Fred Fuchs from the SLED list already claims he has the perfect voice masking software. So I am thinking that the addition of voice will have an enormous effect, one way or the other, on our virtual identities.

I never stop being surprised at the talented fashion designers for the avatar. The combination of creative skills and technical skills is something I really admire, and the women I know making it a full time business venture are doing very well indeed. Fashioning the avatar is a significant part of SL culture for most women I know. It feels extravagant, luxurious, frivolous, and purely indulgent to spend a few dollars a week buying hair or skins or shoes or even glamorous gowns for one’s digital persona… and yet it is totally addictive. Again, the idea of being art, wearing art, and feeling that a sense of your aesthetic identity is projected through your avatar makes it compelling to explore.

Here is my very first attempt at constructing my avatar in December, 2005:

and here I am now, some 14 months later:

I think this reflects my development from “newbie who thought it was all a bit of a game” to somebody who now uses Second Life for aspects of both my professional and social life. Second Life still has its fantasy elements, and is definitely a lot of fun, but it is only a game in the sense that life and reality is also a game.

And for anybody interested, the first and third images here show me wearing my favourite fashionista’s latest gown – Nonna Hedges. Nonna told me today her business is going so well she has dropped her price point BY HALF!!! I think this gown makes me look like the rose in my blog banner which I photographed when I was in Armidale in 2005.  I remember seeing the roses in Armidale and rushing to capture them with my digital camera at the time.  I felt the same way when I saw Nonna’s gown.  It is art.

I realise this is very old news but while I was away in Tasmania for the Summer, I missed out on a ton of amazing events in Second Life. One of them was the screening of Four Eyed Monsters on Sundance Island in Second Life.

Here is a synopsis of the movie:

They have four eyes, two mouths, eight limbs that wrap around themselves. It’s disgusting!” Arin says, as we see images of couples throughout New York City. “But I can’t help but envy them.”

Arin is a wannabe filmmaker and highly inexperienced with love, despite the fact that he spends most of his time editing wedding videos. In one of the most populous cities in the world, he is alone and tormented by the beautiful women he sees everywhere. He turns to the Internet.

Susan is an art school graduate working as a waitress and suffering from a lack of inspiration. She receives a message from Arin, but since she’s tired of dating, especially online, she suggests that he should just stop by her work.

Arin is too shy to introduce himself. So instead, he follows her home without her knowing and emails her pictures of her mundane daily trudge. She is intrigued.

They decide to meet up, but in an attempt to keep their interaction interesting, they make a pact to not speak to one another. As their romance develops, they only write, draw, email, text, have sex, instant message, and make videos for each other. No talking.

Susan’s creative clouds begin to lift, and Arin’s dry spell has ended. Unfortunately, a new world of more complicated problems is discovered, and they are forced to deal with intimacy as they meld together and create a monster.

And here is the trailer:

Some of my friends in SL went to the screening of the film. Here are two machinimas made about the event:

What is really interesting is the way the film makers have developed a video blog and used myspace, youtube and other media to market their film. The series of videos tracks the news and progress of their film, the awards they have won, and the people they have met, places they’ve been along the way.

In today’s news update video podcast, the film makers share the details of the forthcoming DVD release, which will include as extras all of their video blog videos.

I can’t wait to see the movie myself – and the whole series of events surrounding the film is fascinating, covering so many of the issues about new media literacies and youth culture that I research and write about.