Rachelville

The story of Rachelville and all that the 'worker's' of Rachelville do amazes me. After class on Wednesday, I've become officially hooked on Second Life and all that it offers. Second Life brings together people of all walks of life, in ways that can't be done without the internet. It's a great education tool, as long as it is used as a method to further good things in society then I am a firm believer that Second Life should be used to educate and interest. When I went in Rachelville earlier today, they've decorated for Halloween. Go on take a look. I love the pumpkins.

For my Outreach project, I'm going to be creating a MySpace page as a promotional tool for the IPL. I have to iron out a lot of the behind the scenes riff raff, i.e. what email address to use when I sign up, password, what kind of information the IPL wants on the page. I don't want to step on any toes or do anything that the IPL doesn't deem as important or necessary. I want this to turn into something that helps them out and I can't wait to get started. I've spent lots of time locating as many of the libraries on MySpace that I can, and I have plans of creating a Group for the IPL and inviting people to join. So I have to email Dr. Mon to see if she knows who I should contact about logistics, and then time to have fun :)

I wanted to write that normal chat lectures irritate me because I find myself not being...well me. I don't speak up in chat classes, where in a normal lecture, I'm usually the one to answer all the questions. I have afear that all these people will see what I'm typing and deem me unimportant or unworthy of their attention. Which, of course, logically would not be the case. But, in Second Life I felt a little more comfortable being me, or mellyrosie. Even when I wasn't looking at what other people where looking at (which is totally me in real life as well, I have a huge problem focusing) I still felt more, well, more a part of things than I do in the BlackBoard chat rooms. I dont feel involved enough, even throughout the whole degree program, and for learners like me I dont know that I would recommend the online route. I try to make a conscious effort, at least in group discussions to not be the silent member. I attempt to make my voice heard. But it is frustrating for someone who is usually so vocal to feel almost as though they have lost their voice. Lost all means to communicate what they are feeling. I hope other professors try to explore other options, like Second Life, because it is certainly a valid form of communication.