I haven’t tried this yet but will later and will update the post with my impressions, but as the video demonstrates at the link above, this tools could greatly enhance the ability to, of course, back up your work (I wonder what it does with the scripts contained in the objects you backup???), but also serve as a semmingly very easy tool for distributing content to users - either paying or in an opensource model. Will post more as I learn.
After just receiving a tweet from @carolrainbow about Wordle which is a
is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
I checked out the presentation by Tom Barrett, and then made my own Wordle of this blog, very nice way to visualize text and the whole process to tweet, to prezo view, to Worldle blog about 20 minutes.
Cybertech News ran a post reporting on the company GreenPhosphour which is working on bringing 3D data into virtual worlds. They are currently using the tool for drug discovery and development.
“Green Phosphor’s product is called Glasshouse, and it is a gateway which can take a database query or a spreadsheet and place a 3D representation of it into a virtual world. Users can see data, and drill into it; re-sort it; explore it interactively - all from within a virtual world.”
But as reported in the post the capabilities of data visualization are many:
“First off I believe that visualization of money in/money out could have turned authorities on to the fishy accounting Enron was up to, and caught them earlier. Perhaps better visualization would have revealed Madoff’s ponzi scheme as well. It’s a matter of seeing the big picture; money must come from somewhere and be tied to intrinsic value at some point. My third example is similar, but rather than money in/money out it is about energy in/energy out. I believe proper visualization of the process for producing ethanol fuel, including energy cost of fertilizer, would reveal the uselessness of subsidizing cornbased ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels.”
Now imagine being able to walk through, and interact with financial reporting data, via XBRL brought into virtual worlds like Second Life - the possibilities seem endless. Glasshouse is now in public beta, I plan on trying it out soon and will certainly report back with visuals of XBRL data when that happens.
Ernst and Young is running a test with Second Life in which they created a virtual warehouse to run their trainees through. They found among other things that the trainees using the virtual worlds were more nervous in their decisions than a group using traditional training material. They argued this was a positive result in that trainees using traditional material were often overconfident in the skills they acquired, implying I think that Second Life training was more realistic - as one might expect.
The article mentions the start up costs in terms of time to orient the trainees to Second Life and the hardware issues, more of a reason to use Second Life more in students college classes I think so that they will be prepared to use these technologies when they leave.
It seems as if my fall 2008 class not only caused a spike on the number of avatars coming to Really Engaging Accounting on Teaching 4 in Second Life, but also created a spike in the absolutely wonderful, time and sanity saving New Media Consortium registration and orientation process, click over to the post.
Well, as my last post indicated I’ve been negligent in posting here, but I hope to rectify that as the semester proceeds. Today’s post is really to serve as a baseline marker on my sanity to look back on as the weeks and months flow by.
As of the last count this morning I have 929 students registered for my financial accounting course at the University of Central Florida. I have had 75 new and returning avatars visit Really Engaging Accounting in Second Life™ just this past week and class starts today! I’ve had 111 students register their names (real, Second Life™ and Twitter) already. I will spend this week giving an orientation for as many students as I can on the use of the tools I’ve built for them. I’ve asked and received permission to use CPA Island 2 as an overflow area in case Really Engaging Accounting is not accessible from avatar overload.
I am currently taking a wait and see approach (crazy huh) to determine how the students use SL and when. It could be that they all use at different times. Though at any one point I expect it to be very busy, hopefully the load will not overburden the sim. If students are unable to log-in because the sim is full, option 1 will be to use CPA island 2. If that’s not enough, option 2, using my private land will kick in, and if that’s not enough I will most likely let students opt out of Second Life (but so far that’s my last resort).
Well feel free to leave comments wishing me luck, or recommendations for good cocktails to get me through the next 4 months.
While I’m gearing up for another semester of financial accounting, I wanted to share some recent presentations I’ve made and interview given related to Second Life. Last week I had the pleasure to do two presentations related to the work I’m doing with Second Life™ at the American Accounting Association 2008 Conference in Anaheim California.
The first presentation was for the 17th annual Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies and I presented some initial results of student perceptions of engagement related to their Second LIfe™ use and it’s impact on their performance. I have a lot more analysis to do and will be presenting a more detailed analysis at the upcoming Second Life™ Education Community Convention taking place September 5 - 7 in Tampa, Florida this year in conjunction with the Second Life Community Convention. I will post details of that after the session, but for those interested will post my slides from the AAA below.
My second presentation was given as part of the Conference on Teaching and Learning and was geared to how I used Second LIfe™, Twitter, Camtasia Studios, Meebo, Jing, and Concept Maps in my course. Whew that was a lot to over in 40 minutes! The slides for that are provided below.
Lastly, I was interviewed yesterday by CDB Barkley from the New Media Consortium as part of their Studio One series (follow the link for other interesting interviews). I mainly focused on the use of NMC’s orientation island which I’ve discussed previously in this blog and my plan on bringing in over 700 students this fall into Second Life™ (in just a few weeks, which says quite a bit about my lack of blog posting this summer).
Well it’s been a busy few weeks, but the real fun begins in 2 weeks as 700+ students enter begin using Second Life™, I promise to keep everyone posted with greater frequency.
On Sunday April 20,2008 I conducted an interview with a business owner in Second Life. Below is the transcript from that interview. I spoke with Cathy Ryder from Ink Blots which is a tattoo parlor located in Second Life on the Luck of the Irish sim. The interview turned out to be very informative. I learned that the accounting for a business in Second life is done by the actual website itself. The area of Second Life that controls of the accounting for the businesses are called the Linden Labs. Linden is the monetary unit used in Second Life, right now it is about 260 Linden to the US dollar. The business owners receive their financial statements from the website. The website tracts all of the purchases and keeps track of the owners inventory. It’s actually very beneficial to have the website performing the accounting for the owner. Linden Labs keeps track of all transactions, receives cash from the consumer, delivers the good to the consumer, and pays the owners the appropriate amount of Linden . It’s a true exception to the rule of separating operations. While the possibility for fraud is still possible, it is highly decreased because of the reduced possibility for human error or human deception.
One of the issues she brought up with the website performing all the tasks is that the owner is at the complete mercy of the website. If the website malfunctions the owner looses all of its business that it would have had in that time span. One instance in particular that was discussed during the interview was the fact that sometimes the server is overloaded and cannot process the Linden properly. Cathy has seen some businesses in Second Life actually go out of business as a result of this issue. So it is defiantly something that Second Life needs to address and try to improve.
Another possible problem that may occur in Second Life can be associated with all aspects of the internet. With having all of the transactions occurring between virtual users and accounting transactions being sent virtually there is a very real possibility of hacking. There are always layers of security to protect against hacking, like encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection devices, incident response procedures, and audits by external specialist, but the possibility still lingers.
Cathy’s business is extremely profitable. She pays nothing to generate her tattoos, they are created in Photoshop and she uploads them to the site. One of the expenses in her business is that it cost 10 Linden to upload a picture. She stated out doing the tattoos for fun and it turned out she was really good so she decided to try her luck at running a business in Second Life.
If I could go back and ask Cathy more questions I would definitely be interested to know exactly what things are listed on the sheets that Linden Lab provides to the business owners. I would also like to know how often the sheets are provided to them, weekly, bi-weekly, etc. All of the information I obtained during the interview was very informational and helpful. Before this class I was not even aware Second Life existed. Now i have a character(that now has a tattoo!!) in a virtual reality world that i can take anywhere i want, anytime i want and be whoever i want, and i have to admit im a little hooked. Second Life seems to be popping up everywhere I look now, Just the other day I was reading an article on how Al Qaeda has been linked to Second Life. I think that it is a wonderful learning tool when utilized properly as Dr. Hornik has fully demonstrated and hope that i continue seeing thses types of tools used in my future education courses.
After being (somewhat forcefully) immersed in the world of Second Life, I’ve come to appreciate the huge potential that virtual worlds hold. This is why I focused my line of questioning on that very subject when I interviewed Lou Mourelatos, Vice President of Business Development at The SL Agency. Providing innovative marketing/advertising solutions, The SL Agency is capitalizing on the increasing interest in virtual worlds, working with many big name corporations and NGOs.
Through the interview, Lou has provided surprisingly thorough insight into his business, and the business of virtual worlds in general. Beyond this, he gave detailed information on the accounting procedures he employs. The questions I asked are as follows:
1.What first led you to pursue a business related to Second Life?
TheSLAgency understands the potential for Virtual Worlds and how they bridge geography, enable unique experiences, and expand the imagination of its participants. That being said, we knew we needed to be in this space as the future of ‘digital dwelling’ looks more and more promising. TheSLAgency looked at several virtual worlds and found Second Life to contain a nice balance of ease-of-use verses functionality / audience. Understanding that Second Life, from a marketer’s perspective, should be used as a tool…and not a pool:
2.What are some of the companies you’ve worked with? What type of services did you provide?
TheSLAgency has successfully executed various types of marketing services for The Ontario Public Service, Nestle Nesquik, The World Bank/IFC, and MIRA Publishing to name a few. Services range from 3 to 6 month branding/messaging programs to live conferences events, recruitment drives, brand interaction, author readings/discussion, display media and virtual brand ambassador programs.
3.Why should companies consider expanding into virtual worlds?
The common denominator for all virtual worlds is the memorable & emotional experience they provide. When you can engage a consumer for upwards of 30 minutes, provide an interesting (read non-boring) training vehicle, or cost-effectively bridge geographic bounds via Virtual Meetings; it is difficult to overlook the value that VW could provide.
4.What advantages are there in marketing within virtual worlds, compared to more traditional means? What are the disadvantages?
Having a footprint in a virtual world allows for a unique brand experience and provides that emotional connection – this is an already establish goal of traditional advertising. A brand can engage their message target much more effectively and creatively via 3D content that is dynamic and innovative. Doing so builds brand affinity. From the business / corporate perspective; Virtual Worlds can enable branch offices from around the globe to meet, chat, and visualize ideas without paying hundreds of thousands in hotel & travel arrangements.
One may look at the non-standard metrics as a disadvantage to Virtual Worlds. Second Life for instance is not unlike the world-wide-web in 1995. It’s still new, adopted “only” by a few million users (compared to overall internet users) and still has many milestones to reach before it’s completely like the internet we know today. Content development in almost any virtual world is typically propriety, although in Second Life, content can be developed by anyone who learns the basics of the built-in toolset. This slight learning curve, coupled with any lack of “community management” can leave your consumer-targeted Second Life space devoid of visitors. This is what many 2006/2007 brand entrants into SL fell victim to: a poor understanding of the community, it’s wants/needs, and dreams.
5.What are the chief problems, if any, that you encounter when pitching the idea of marketing in Second Life (specifically to big name businesses)?
Some businesses fail to make the connection and see how Second Life can forward their message / brand experience. We haven’t found this to be unique to large or small businesses. A similar song has been played when CMO’s and VP’s were being pitched to budget a public website. TheSLAgency believes we are at that point again where innovation tentatively hangs up in a “why do we need this” meeting. Surprisingly enough, most businesses are intrigued, and excited about the value Virtual Worlds can bring to their brand; however, some are overly cautious, while others are willing but fail to do the proper planning.
6.Do you find that it’s becoming easier to make the case for business in virtual worlds?
There has been a surge of interest in finding & implementing business solutions within a virtual world such as Second Life. We say ‘finding’ as each approach to leveraging virtual worlds for agoal should be done analytically and carefully planned out. No solution is cookie cutter and truly visionary corporate representatives understand this.
7.What is the future of marketing in Second Life?
We see an heavy push by the business world to be involved in Second Life . Recruitment and Training are the top reasons why business-centric (non-consumer) companies inquire and work with TheSLAgency.
8.What do you see in the future of virtual worlds in general?
While it is difficult to see the future; we do see a inevitable expansion of Virtual Worlds into everyday life. This “mainstreaming” will come about when the general populace overcomes the stigma that was first associated with the internet. E.g.being “plugged in” to a virtual world.
9.Are there any other virtual worlds you’re looking at for your business? Any that interest you otherwise?
While our developers have been prototyping in several other virtual worlds; we enjoy working with Second Life due to its flexible functionality.
10.Finally, what method of accounting do you use? (Accrual, cash-basis, or “I don’t know – ask my accountant”). How do you account/keep records for transactions?
A single point of “cash” is utilized and budgeted out to the required departments. Since this leg of our business is done primarily in a virtual world, we primarily use the linden dollar to pay all but high-level employees and fund development projects when not done in-house.
Relatively speaking, accounting of SL Transactions is rather easy. Each month SL enables you to download a record of all transactions. Mind you, some transaction sheets can be thousands of entries long and require a fair amount of man-hours to process. A service-based QuickBooks template, as well as a basic understanding of spreadsheet software is really all you need.
