Second Life Historical Museum

Often when I am wandering about in second life doing something mundane like helping a friend choose some shoes or looking for a texture to cover my latest attempt at building and I see something imaginative, or someone says something perceptive that makes me step back a moment and see SL as something big. By big I mean a technology that could either develop into a 3D web or be a precursor to another technology that becomes a 3D web.

I am sure every resident has moments like these. Moments when you see the sheer fantastic possibility of Sl and because it is bigger than any individual life bigger than your self you quickly get swept away in wonder. Particularly with SL’s fifth birthday just passed there are moments when there is a sense of pixel by pixel the community is making a history.

I was in this mood when I encountered the Second Life Historical Museum which aims to to chronicle and preserve the history of Second Life. This display is well worth browsing as the notecards dispensed are interesting and informative.

It is good to poke about, but more importantly I found comfort in the idea that some residents are interested in documenting the development of this world.

That said probably the most useful and easily read resources are online in the form of wiki web pages. This timeline of second life provides a basic back story for anyone wanting to understand some of the history and a social history is also on the Second Life History wiki
Second Life Historical Museum SLURL http://slurl.com/secondlife/Phobos/217/166/33

SL Learning Center and Tutorials 2 Go

What many people don’t realise before they come in world is that in Second Life there are loads of ways to learn to build, create things like clothes, animate your avatar, renting a home, buying land or starting a business. When I was new what I did not know is that there are many venues offering free lessons and loads of help to assist residents who want to develop in world skills to do so all likelihood somewhere in Second Life there is someone running a class on. As soosn as I discovered this I was attending everything possible!

Last night I had the good fortune to bump into Lady Hathaway who runs the SL Learning Center. The SL Learning Centre also has a website but you really need to visit it in world to have a sense of their service. The learning environment is designed to teach relevant Second Life skills. That is right you attend classes in Second Life and learn second life skills but for many a live class can be a problem. If like me you live in Australia often (not always but often) you are off earning a living when the main classes are being held or when you are very new you feel embarrassed when you cant keep up with the rest of the class. This is where tutorials come in to their own.

Next door to the Learning center is Tutorials 2 Go who have developed a range of tutorials to suit all levels. They range from Easy to Challenging and are colour coded accordingly. There are over 120 different tutorials to choose from and more added regularly.

There are also a few free tutorials so you can see what the quality of teaching is before you buy. You need to join the group and have your group tag active you to pick up the free tutorials.

Each month there is a competition for students who display what they have built.

To use the tutorial you simply rezz it. It is like a large slide show and you simply work your way through it using the forward arrows.

If you need to review a piece of information simply use the back arrows

SL Learning Centre SLURL

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Learning%20Pond/128/128/22