scholarly journals Third Places Take First Place in Second Life: Developing a Scale to Measure the ‘Stickiness’ of Virtual World Sites.

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wade Halvorson
Keyword(s):  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
Quantum Leap ◽  
Ghost Towns ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Virtual World Environments

The objective of this study is to examine what drives visitor retention in successful businesses operating in online virtual world environments. The study draws motivation from increasing anecdotal evidence reporting on high profile corporate brands withdrawing from operations in Second Life - citing low visitor traffic as their motivation. Early adopter corporations that established business operations in Second Life did so anticipating benefits from the new technology akin to the quantum leap made when they embraced the World Wide Web. While disappointingly low visitor numbers left many virtual world operations looking like desolate ghost towns, there are businesses enjoying active repeat customers. Drawing on Oldenburg’s Theory of Third Place, this study seeks to quantify the reasons for high customer retention in successful virtual communities. To this effect, a questionnaire is developed and administered by a team of avatar researchers who interviewed over 250 avatars in Second Life. Website stickiness measures are reviewed and applied to virtual world sites. Conclusions are drawn and future research directions proposed. 

Gamified Self

2016 ◽  
pp. 304-327
Author(s):  
Rachelle DiGregorio ◽  
Harsha Gangadharbatla
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
Over Time

Gamified self has many dimensions, one of which is self-tracking. It is an activity in which a person collects and reflects on their personal information over time. Digital tools such as pedometers, GPS-enabled mobile applications, and number-crunching websites increasingly facilitate this practice. The collection of personal information is now a commonplace activity as a result of connected devices and the Internet. Tracking is integrated into so many digital services and devices; it is more or less unavoidable. Self-tracking engages with new technology to put the power of self-improvement and self-knowledge into people's own hands by bringing game dynamics to non-game contexts. The purpose of this chapter's research is to move towards a better understanding of how self-tracking can (and will) grow in the consumer market. An online survey was conducted and results indicate that perceptions of ease of use and enjoyment of tracking tools are less influential to technology acceptance than perceptions of usefulness. Implications and future research directions are presented.

Using Virtual World Technology as a Faculty Development Tool in Higher Education

2012 ◽  
pp. 149-160
Author(s):  
Linda W. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Faculty Development ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Faculty Perceptions ◽  
College Faculty ◽  
Teaching Tool ◽  
Development Tool ◽  
Virtual World Environments

Higher education institutions are constantly challenged with the task of educating a technology savvy generation of students. Colleges must be able and ready to meet the needs of these digital-age students. What are the perceptions of college faculty of using virtual world technology as a teaching tool in the classroom? The purpose of this chapter is to explore how virtual world environments can be used as a faculty development tool in order to encourage the use of virtual worlds as a teaching tool in the classroom. This chapter references research from a mixed methods study exploring college faculty perceptions of the adoption of virtual world technology into the classroom, which in turn, provides insight to the willingness of higher education faculty to adopt this type of technology. In addition, the final section of the chapter includes a suggested guide on how to create a virtual world faculty development workshop based in Linden Lab’s Second Life.

Virtual Worlds for Science Learning

2010 ◽  
pp. 263-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mick Grimley ◽  
Trond Nilsen ◽  
Roslyn Kerr ◽  
Richard Green ◽  
David Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Constructivist Teaching ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Relevant Theory ◽  
Future Research Directions

This chapter proposes that the use of virtual worlds for science education is warranted and fits well with contemporary learning theory in the context of constructivist instructional approaches being desirable and that learners learn best when they are engaged in active mental processing. Over recent years, games have become increasingly social, supporting massively multi-player online game experiences and then evolving into virtual worlds, such as Second Life, which show significant promise for educational uses. This chapter introduces the field of virtual worlds, and then discusses relevant theory and research. The authors describe the potential of virtual worlds for education by emphasizing how they can be leveraged as an effective tool for constructivist teaching techniques. In addition, the authors present some of the literature that supports their use for science education. This chapter concludes with practical concerns and some possible solutions in the context of future research directions.

Enhanced Interaction in Mixed Social Environments

2009 ◽  
pp. 146-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Oliverio ◽  
Dennis Beck
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Strategic Learning ◽  
American University ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Virtual World Environments ◽  
Enhanced Learning

We introduce the term ‘mixed social environments’ as a strategic learning construct to augment student interaction when utilizing virtual world environments such as Second Life in the classroom. While an increasing number of institutions are investigating the use of virtual world environments for enhanced learning, at present there are at least three major areas that are underdeveloped: interdisciplinary research, documentation of best practices, and exploration of the use of mixed social environments. In the spring of 2007, a new interdisciplinary research seminar addressing these aspects was offered at a large American university. We present an overview of the resultant learning artifacts, outcomes, and research questions in hopes of helping to inform best practices, expand interdisciplinary research, and assist in the design of future mixed social environments for enhanced learning.

Second Life and Access for the Disabled and Homebound

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-151
Author(s):  
John W. Traphagan ◽  
Katherine Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Internet Technology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Care Managers ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
E Learning

Internet technology has opened up new vistas for the creation of communities in virtual environment. Research is beginning to emerge that focuses on the use of virtual communities in areas such as e-learning and the potential for use of virtual worlds for both therapy and community building for individuals who are disabled, homebound, and isolated. Second Life, which is a product individuals can join free of charge, has the potential to function as a tool to help care managers and others to work with disabled and homebound individuals in the process of creating social interaction. This article explores Second Life and offers some suggestions for future research in this area.

Use of Videos in Teaching and Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Amanda Elizabeth Smith ◽  
Dai O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Computer Literate ◽  
The Impact ◽  
British Sign

This chapter outlines the experiences of the authors when using video technologies in creating resources for teaching British Sign Language (BSL). The authors outline their own experiences of creating resources for teaching and how the increasing availability of video technology and video hosting websites has impacted on their teaching practice. The chapter outlines some practical stages in creating online video resources for the teaching of sign language, and also how to ensure that less computer literate students can engage with this new technology. The authors conclude with some suggestions about future research directions to measure the impact and effectiveness of such resources and technologies and call other teachers of sign languages to explore the potential of these approaches for themselves.

Instructional Design Meets Politeness Issues in Virtual Worlds

2013 ◽  
pp. 123-148
Author(s):  
Yueh-Hui Vanessa Chiang ◽  
Diane L. Schallert
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
New Learning

Attempts at incorporating emerging and innovative instructional technology, like virtual worlds, into educational settings requires efforts to understand new discourse patterns that may develop and bring in a learner-centered instructional design that takes the affordances and constraints of the new technology into consideration. These efforts can contribute to an effective and positive learning experience for learners. Drawing upon observations of different types of learning activities held in Second Life, an increasingly popular virtual world, this chapter aims at initiating a discussion interweaving the concerns for politeness, reflecting learners’ psychological needs during their interactions with fellow learners and technology, with considerations of instructional design in a virtual world as a new learning context. Such a discussion has the potential of more effectively exploiting what new immersive environments can offer for learning.

Communication and Education in a Virtual World

2012 ◽  
pp. 121-136
Author(s):  
Lorri Mon
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Personal Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual World Environments

Education within Second Life frequently recapitulates the “sage on the stage” as students sit their avatars down in chairs in the virtual world and listen to or read an instructor’s lecture while watching a slideshow. This conceptual article explores alternative active learning techniques supporting independent and collaborative learning within virtual worlds. Within Second Life, educators can utilize a variety of scripted tools and objects as well as techniques of building and terra-forming to create vibrant virtual personal learning environments and learning experiences that are engaging and responsive to individual learners. Issues of embodiment in an avatar are discussed in terms of social presence, and student learning styles are considered as well as approaches to problem-based learning, games, role play, and immersive virtual world environments.

Ethical harm in virtual communities

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastiaan Vanacker ◽  
Don Heider
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
The Self ◽  
Caveat Emptor ◽  
Norm Violation ◽  
Online Environments

This article analyzes under which conditions ethical relevant avatar harm occurs in virtual worlds. The authors argue that this is most likely to occur when there are some norms of acceptable behavior in a virtual world and when players see avatars as constitutive to their identity. Other than online environments characterized by a ‘caveat emptor’ approach, Second Life is governed by certain norms of acceptable behavior. While Second Life inhabitants do not see a need for an additional code of ethics for their community, they do have notions of wrong and right behavior. However what exactly constitutes norm violating behavior and ethically relevant avatar harm is often times contested, as the example of online reactions to an avatar upskirt gallery in Second Life illustrate. Players who see their avatars as extensions of themselves are more at risk of ethical harm when a norm violation occurs than players for whom their avatar constitutes an entity distinct from the self.

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