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Abstract and Manuscript Management System - Abstract Detail |
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| Speaker: | Gordon Clark |
| Title: | Science in a virtual world |
| Topic Group: | Benchmarking and Looking Forward |
| E-mail: | Gordon.Clark@npl.co.uk |
| Co-Authors: | Ray Taylor, Arni Simon-Hart |
| Abstract: |
Second Life is a three-dimensional, real-time virtual world, allowing people to interact with each other as ‘avatars’. All the content within Second Life has been built by the users, and there is a thriving economy based on the sale of user-built objects. Second Life is an example of Web 2.0: built around social interaction and user-generated content. Other examples of Web 2.0 include large websites such as Facebook, Flickr and Wikipedia, but there are many low-level activities such as blogging. Increasingly, students and employees who have been using Web 2.0 personally and for their studies, will expect to use it in their professional capacities, seeing it as a positive enhancement. Increasingly, researchers and science educators are using Web 2.0. Researchers make good use of the collaboration tools and knowledge transfer possibilities, while science educators exploit the interactivity and immediacy of Web 2.0. An instance of this is the nuclear reactor model being developed in Second Life as a joint collaboration between the UK’s National Physical Laboratory and the USA’s University of Denver. As well as educating the casual visitor, classrooms associated with the nuclear reactor will be used in the training of students and professionals. In this seminar, the author will speak from within Second Life, giving live demonstrations of how Second Life is being used by researchers and educators, including meeting and interviewing in-world residents who have been instrumental in developing science collaboration and training within Second Life. |
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