The Disruptive Power of Second Life

The Disruptive Power of Second Life

1. How is Second Life a disruptive technology?

According to Dr. Thornburg (Laureate, 2009), disruptive technologies are those which may surface without warning, change the way things are done, but have the same functionalities of an old technology while functioning more efficiently.

Second Life, launched in 2003, enables users to interact in virtual worlds, play games, travel and socialize in real-time with user-created personas, called avatars. Second Life is considered a disruptive technology because it surfaced rather quickly, applying technology to create virtual worlds which have the potential to replace traditional computer games, and change traditional face-to-face and distance learning.

Second Life Tutorial

http://secondlife.com/whatis/

2. What technology or innovation did it replace?

Second Life enhanced the video gaming technology of the past. It allowed the user to become more involved in the process.The 3D effect made the technology more realistic.

3. How many years do you think Second Life has left before another emerging or disruptive technology replaces it?

Linden Lab cooperated with IBM in 2008 to pioneer an open virtual world grid, where users' avatars would be able to travel freely between Second Life and OpenSim virtual worlds. OpenSim offers institutions greater control over their virtual worlds and greater ability to make backups of and share their virtual assets using XML-based archive formats (Livingstone, n.d.).

                           Virtual World Watch

4. What are the social benefits of Second Life, and what might the social implications of virtual worlds in your industry be?

People are able to trade and make purchases with the Second Life technology. Second Life gives companies the option to create virtual workplaces to allow employees to virtually meet, hold events, practice any kind of corporate communications, conduct training sessions in 3D immersive virtual learning environment, simulate business processes, and prototype new products (Wikipedia, n.d.)

http://www.modohisland.com/thwakk/pbs/what-is-second-life.html . In education, Second Life offers a great opportunity for virtual experiences.

References

Hologram on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7fQ_EsMJMs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRck4hpWRKs&feature=related

Livingstone, D. (2011). Second Life is dead, long live Second Life? Retrieved from

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume46/SecondLifeIsDeadLongLiveSecond/226180

PBS. (2009). What is Second Life? Retrieve from

http://www.modohisland.com/thwakk/pbs/what-is-second-life.html

Thornburg, D. (2009). Evolutionary technology Vodcast: In Laureate Education, Inc. Emerging and future technology

Virtual World Watch. (2011). Jim Scullion's contribution to snapshot #10. Retrieved from

http://virtualworldwatch.net/snapshots/

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Second Life. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life%23Education

Tag:  Second Life Harvard

Rhymes of History

Rhymes of History

 The Camera

    

          Man has always been fascinated with his image. Early man was able to view his reflection in water. Over the years he learned how to capture and save the image.

          "Photography" is derived from the Greek words photos ("light") and graphein ("to draw") The word was first used by the scientist Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. It is a method of recording images by the action of light, or related radiation, on a sensitive material (Bellis, M., n.d.).

          Alhazen (Ibn Al-Haytham), a great authority on optics in the Middle Ages who lived around 1000AD, invented the first pinhole camera, (also called the Camera Obscura} and was able to explain why the images were upside down. The first casual reference to the optic laws that made pinhole cameras possible, was observed and noted by Aristotle around 330 BC, who questioned why the sun could make a circular image when it shined through a square hole (Bellis, M., n.d.).

          The camera has evolved over the years from early experiments to the digital cameras of today. What does the new technology rekindle? It rekindles man’s desire to record history in pictures.

Reference

Bellis, M. (n.d.). History of photography: Advancement of the camera. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography_3.htm

Cameras: http://inventors.about.com/od/weirdmuseums/ig/Illustrated-History-Photograph/Camera-Obscura.htm