Second Life ™

I have to tell you, I haven’t been this excited about a workshop in SL in quite some time.  One of the tasks I’ve set forth for myself is to become more versed and creative in using SL as a photographic medium.  It’s just I need a little prodding in that direction and Riptide Furse was just the person to do that!

He offered the workshop three times during the course of the day, 10 a.m. SLT, 11 a.m. SLT, and 12 noon SLT to accomodate as many people as possible.  No presenter or slideshow for Rip…oh no, this was a ‘get in and get dirty’ kind of workshop.  No sooner had we assembled outside the DEN in SL HQs then he gave each of us a FollowMe HUD — BTW, these ONLY work if you DON’T click on ‘ignore’ when the message box pops up (yes, that would be me! LOL I had to IM people to TP me over to where they were — I was just having toooooooooo much fun with what Riptide was showing us and didn’t want to leave!).  We managed to teleport to five different locations during the course of our workshop — sims I had never visited before so that alone was a treat in and of itself.

But here’s the lowdown:

• click on ‘World’
• click on ‘Environmental Settings’
• click on ‘Environmental Editor’
• click on the ‘Advanced Sky’ button
• in the ’sky presets’ dropdown, explore the various settings

We also checked out the various options under ‘Advanced Water’.

I couldn’t wait to play we my new tools.  Below you’ll see exactly what I’ve done with some of the presets:

1.  preset: Sailor’s Delight

2. preset: Incongruent Truths

3. preset: Gelatto

4. preset: Foggy

Now go out and give it a try yourself. Submit your best before and ‘tweaked’ after photos. And if you have a favorite spot to take just the right photo, please share.

What an amazing workshop by Augustine Writer!  Before I get into the wrap-up, let me just say that Lor and I met up with Augustine on Tuesday to get him set up with a Zebra presenter, helped him upload his slides, showed him how to put his slides in the presenter, got him a DEN t-shirt, and set him up with voice.  All I can say is that this is one fast learner! 

Augustine started off by showing us the new view of Discovery Education’s portal/hub.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The new ‘poster child’ is none other than our very own Justin Karkow!  Check out the ‘Home Resources’ tab along the top.  You might want to share that gem with your parents at Open House.  The ‘Home Resources’ provides parents and students with resources they can easily access without the use of a username/password.  Check out all it has to offer.

I was busy listening, taking pictures, and writing notes (there’s GOT to be a way to ‘capture’ voice in SL — my life was sooooo much easier when it was all chat based and I could grab the transcript! LOL) so here are the highlights of the workshop:

• If you’re doing training, there’s now a ‘Get Started: Step-by-Step’ that you’ll want to direct your participants to
• If you’re a STAR DEN Educator (and if you’re not, what are you waiting for???) you will have access to MediaShare
• DEN has partnered with Wilkes University and this fall they are offering two graduate level courses: Digital Media in Education and Digitial Storytelling
• Be on the look-out in your e-mail in-boxes for the Friday weekly updates
• There are new titles in D.S. - Time Warp Trio, Bonehead Detectives, and Grosslology (just to name a few)
• By the end of 2008 there will be an additional 1,000 titles added
• In the Builders section of the website you can now add up to three items to the Writing Prompt and all prompts now allow the embedding of web 2.0 widgets into the Builders
• Other things to look for in the redesigned website: Live Chat, Buddy Lists, and Forum Avatars

You can view the slideshow here.

Here’s all I can say…..CLEAR YOUR CALENDAR OF ALL EVENTS THIS SUNDAY!!!  Riptide Furse has been gracious enough to lead a workshop on ‘Wild and Wonderful Second Life Photos’ this Sunday (September 7th).

So you’ve got the hang of how to take pictures in Second Life (that would be me), you know how to send a snapshot, you know how to save to an external location, you know how to save it within Second Life (yup, that would be me again).  But you have yet to create those shots that when you wander around Flickr and view some of the Second Life photos you just sit back, your jaw drops, and you go, ‘whoa’ (yup, that would DEFINTELY be me! LOL). 

This is not a beginners workshop.  Meet right on time so you can be whisked away to a place to show off your SL picture-taking skills.  During this time you will learn how to easily get the best colors and even some really cool different looks for your photos.  You won’t believe how easy this.  Having said that it’s easy, you should keep in mind this is not a beginning photo class.  You should already know how to take SL pictures. This workshop is offered 3 different times on
Sunday.  We leave for our photo adventure from DEN HQ right at the top of the hour so don’t be late.

TIMES: 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m. SLT (1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. EST or 12 p.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m. CST)
Here is a sample of what you will be able to do after this workshop.

http://flickr.com/photos/krossbow/sets/72157607116958401/show/with/2828556593/

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/secondlife/2008/09/04/taking-awesome-pictures-workshop-sunday/

DATE: SUNDAY September 7, 2008
WORKSHOP:Wild and Wonderful Second Life Photos
PRESENTER: Riptide Furse
DESCRIPTION: This is not a beginners workshop. Meet right on time so you can be whisked away to a place to show off your SL picture-taking skills. During this time you will learn how to easily get the best colors and even some really cool different looks for your photos. You won’t believe how easy this. Having said that it’s easy, you should keep in mind this is not a beginning photo class. You should already know how to take SL pictures. This workshop is offered 3 different times on Sunday. We leave for our photo adventure from DEN HQ right at the top of the hour so don’t be late.
SLT TIME: 10AM 11AM 12PM SLT (1PM 2PM 3PM EST or 12PM 1PM 2PM CST)
Here is a sample of what you will be able to do after this workshop.

There is somethings SERIOUSLY wrong with the title of this post!  Can anyone guess what that might be?  Huh?  Huh?  It’s ‘THAT’ word — ‘September’….ugh.  I remember VERY clearly sitting down at my computer writing a post entitled, ‘Mark Your Calendar - June Events’!  Where did the time fly?  For those of you already back in school the DEN in LC hopes you had a great start to the school year, and for those of you (like myself) who will be getting back on Tuesday, the DEN in LC wishes you all the best.  And to start off your school year, why not mark your calendar for the following Wednesdays (and some other days) for some fabulous workshops:

DATE:  September 3, 2008

WORKSHOP: New Discoveries for a New School Year

PRESENTER:   Augustine Writer (Lance Rougeux - RL)

DESCRIPTION:
Come learn about all the new ways Discovery Education is connecting you and your students to a world of learning.  We’ll start by highlighting the new features and content available in Discovery Education streaming and then showcase some major programs Discovery and its partners are working on for educators and students across the country.  We’ll wrap up with a sneek peek inside the DEN for 2008-2009 including website upgrades and other free opportunities for educators to connect with each other.   
SLT TIME: 5:00 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

*****

DATE:  September 10, 2008

WORKSHOP:  STARS Shine Bright - Ideas for Tech Integration

PRESENTER: All STARS are invited to come share!

DESCRIPTION: STARS come share how the beginning of your school years has started. Share ideas for tech integration you will be implementing now that school has started.

SLT TIME: 5 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST)

*****

DATE: Sept 16, 2008 (NOTE:  This is a  TUESDAY)

EVENT: Project Aware

Description and time to follow

*****

DATE:  September 17, 2008

WORKSHOP: Making Your Second Life ™ Easier

PRESENTER: Celestia Cazalet

DESCRIPTION: This is the third in a series of workshops in which Celestia will introduce you to free programs and websites that can enhance your Second Life(tm) experience.  This week’s topic: Scripting tools.  Learn the basics of the Linden Scripting Language.  Come prepared to share your own discoveries, as well.  We’ll meet in the sandbox.

SLT TIME: 5:00 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

*****

DATE:  September 24, 2008

WORKSHOP: How to Present in SL

PRESENTER: Beth Kohnke and JuliaAnn Mills

DESCRIPTION:  We are members of a global network of educators and it is time we begin to share our expertise and experiences with others.  In this learning experience we will look at the basics of how to present in SL and some of the options and tools to aid in presenting.  We will also discuss how to find a venue to host a presentation and ways to advertise.  This workshop was a success when it was offered at the beginning of the year.  Even if you attended back in January, you DEFINITELY want to join Beth and JuliaAnn again as they bring us up to speed with all the tools now available to presenters in SL.

SLT TIME: 5 p.m. SLT (7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST)

It was a small, but enthusiastic crowd that met beside the sandbox for this week’s Wednesday Workshop. Second in a series of workshops conducted by myself (Celestia Cazalet) to introduce SL residents to RL tools that make building easier.

This workshop covered the remarkable 3D program, Sculptypaint, which was created by SL resident, Cel Edman. This program allows you to build a 3D object in RL, then bring it into real life in the form of a sculpted prim.

What is a sculpted prim? Regular “prim” objects can sometimes actually be many prims linked together to create the desired shape for furniture, flowers, sculptures, stairs, you name it. With sculpted prims, the prim takes the shape of a map of sorts that has been created in an outside program and brought in world.

In this workshop, we started off by learning how to make a flower. You can see Knowclue Kidd’s beautiful creation here. Then we experimented with dropping random textures into sculpted prims and finding out what we got

Petlove had this dramatically beautiful prim lurking in a texture file in her inventory.

As always, you can download the powerpoint presentation I used below. It doesn’t tell you everything I said, but you may be able to work your way through the program with it. My goal for these workshops is to encourage everyone to run with it! Try making your own wonderful creations. Experiment with dropping files you already have in your inventory and see what comes of it. The picture below is the result of me dropping the file from one of my slides into a sculpted prim. Have fun with this awesome venue of creativity!

Download the powerpoint here: Sculptypaint Powerpoint.

OMG!  Halfway through August already!!!  WHERE has this summer gone?  And will I make it through the rest of my ‘SL Summer To Do’ list before I go back to school?  For some of you, this Wednesday’s workshop will enable you to check off another SL task.  For those of you who are somewhat familiar with SL, but wanted to take your avatar to the next level have we got a Wednesday Workshop for you!  Newbie 102 - Avatar Makeover with Faythe Fouroux (now here’s someone that I would LOVE to have as my personal shopper!).  Here’s a sampling of what Faythe will be covering: Mastered walking?  Doing alright with flying?  Know what TPs and LMs are?  Then you are ready for an Avatar Makeover!  Lose that newbie look and personalize your avatar to fit who you are.  Join Faythe as she explains how you can make over your avatar!  And just in time for our Gala next week!

SLT TIME: 5:00 p.m. SLT ( 7 p.m. CDT, 8 p.m. EST)

NOTE:  We will meet in the Tower room up the elevator or use this landmark to take you directly to the workshop.

The new DEN HQ tower was home to tonight’s workshop featuring QAvimator, the free app that allows you to create animations for your avatar. Around 30 avatars sat around the circle as Celestia Cazalet (cough, cough - ME) walked them through the very basics of using the program. Celestia warned everyone that working with this program may mean hours and hours of attention if the animation is detailed. Participants learned how to move the parts of their avatar’s body and form an animation. They also learned how to upload it, play it, and place it in a pose ball or other prim.

I personally enjoyed when I showed everyone the animation the presentation outlined - Lor Fredriksson came up with the perfect name for it - “the diva”. Although I’m going to have to work on it a little more, I have to agree - it does look perfect for the diva look!

After the workshop, many of the participants vowed to work on new animations and show them off at the DEN. Emmo Wei already made a “yes” animation that nods an avatars head when used - great job! Emmo then changed into a tiny avatar and became Lor’s new little friend.

As promised, you may download the presentation (sleasier.pdf). It is just pictures, but still it gives you an idea). I’m also listing a few good tutorials for you to visit in case you missed the workshop. One very important thing I mentioned in the workshop that you must remember, save your file as a .bvh file or else it will not upload for you!

Mermaid Diaries - Creating Poses Part 1 - this is the first tutorial I used when learning

Torley Linden always has great video tutorials and is much better at explaining QAvimator than I - check this out:

Take a bite out of Shark Week. Don’t miss an episode! We are very excited about Shark Week and have planned several activities at the DEN in SL.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/sharkweek/sharkweek.html

What do Whale Sharks, Hammerheads, Mako Sharks and teachers have in common? They can all be seen at the DEN in Second Life “Swim with Sharks Underwater Scuba Adventure” on Monday July 28th at 5 pm SLT (5pm PST, 7 pm CST and 8pm EST)! Everyone who pre-registers will receive a complete Scuba Diving outfit with equipment for free. (If you miss the pre-registration you can still participate however you will not get the free equipment.)

Yes, you heard it here, the DEN in Second Life will be journeying to the depths of the ocean with “http://www.padi.com/padi/default.aspx” PADI (Prof. Association of Diving Instructors) as our guides. Our underwater adventure will begin with a fun scavenger hunt on the Dive World Sim (complete with prizes of course), continue with our journey to the ocean depths with our capable and knowledgeable guides from PADI and then end with celebratory dancing at the Tiki Bar. It’s going to a be a wonderfully fun learning experience and we want you to join us!

Even if you have never set foot in Second Life we can help you! Please sign up for a dive time “http://densl-sharkdive.wikispaces.com/“. (If you need additional help getting on the island please indicate that on the wiki and we will contact you for a time.)This is a great opportunity for you to get involved with the DEN in SL and see just what kinds of things are possible in Second Life. We hope to see you all there soon!

Event: Swim with the Sharks Underwater Scuba Adventure
When: Mon July 28
Time: 5 pm SLT (5pm, PST, 7 pm CST and 8pm EST)
RSVP: Pre-register by Sat July 26th http://densl-sharkdive.wikispaces.com/

Remember Shark Week begins on the Discovery Channel at 9PM EST on July 27.

It’s ‘technically’ Sunday although I’ve yet to go to bed and awaken to a Sunday morning.  Last minute deadlines and packing for the trip to the DEN Leadership Council Institute in Silver Springs, Maryland are making my ‘to do’ list rather long.  I figured I’d check one item off, a ‘Gentle Reminder’ post, so here it is:

Don’t forget to join us this Wednesday for a Newbie 101 workshop presented by our very own, very talented (drumroll please…) JessieMarie Flanagan!  That’s right folks, while four members of the DEN in SL LC will be in Silver Springs, JessieMarie is stepping up to offer this fabulous workshop.  Are you new to Second Life?  Come join JessieMarie as she takes you on a tour of the functions of the various menus and toolbars, you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions, and who knows? a shopping trip just might round out the evening!  (Oh, oh…Laelia may have to cut her Wednesday evening activities short to jump in-world for that part! LOL)

PLEASE NOTE:  THIS WORKSHOP IS SCHEDULED ONE HOUR LATER THAN NORMAL

6 p.m. SLT (8 p.m. CST, 9 p.m. EST)