Announcement: Second Life English Community Discussion - Invitation - Important, Please Participate In This Discussion

[KipYellowjacket]

To: Second Life English Community

Hi everyone,

Below are a few things I'd very much like to discuss in the coming days/weeks via forum (http://slenglish.ning.com/forum/topics/announcement-second-life), Twitter (http://twitter.com/kipyellowjacket) & in-world meet-ups (to be held @ http://slurl.com/secondlife/VIRTLANTIS/171/91/581), etc. Input and feedback from the entire SLE Community is strongly desired.

Discussion Points:

- SIM Prim Sharing & Launchroom Use
- Community Holodecks & Coordination
- Voluntary SIM Support Fee

SIM Prim Sharing & Launchroom Use

- - Background Info - -

In order to free up prims for all launchroom owners and community members, there is a need to periodically assess whether items which have been placed on the SIM (in launchrooms, etc.) can be taken back into the inventory until a later time (when actually needed). Freeing up additional prims can also help to ensure a more lag-free SIM experience, which benefits us all, including first-time visitors.

The approach to "prim management" on the SLE SIM has thus far basically been one of self-regulation, apart from the sending out of occasional "please-free-up-some-prims reminders". Other SIMs choose to manage prim use by allocating a certain number of prims to each parcel, but from our experience, having an imposed prim limit has often been a burden to individual launchroom owners - due to inability to rez larger or multiple objects when needed, for example. Moreover, the SLE SIM makes use of "advanced virtual reality systems", a.k.a. holodecks, whose functionality can become impaired, i.e. scenes render incomplete, when the below land parcels have imposed prim limits.

For the sake of getting back to the roots a bit (taking a trip down memory lane), "launchrooms" were originally conceived of to fulfill the desire to provide foreign language teachers meeting/teaching space on a SIM with a finite number of prims (15,000). The inventory was viewed as a kind of "portable resource bag", and it was suggested that a launchroom could potentially be used as:

a) a public or private group meeting point
b) a "launch pad" for off-SIM activities, i.e. learning activities on other SIMs
c) a place for pre or post- assessment of off-SIM activities
*d) a location for "stationary lessons", i.e. lessons which solely take place within the launchroom space and do not involve teleporting

*All teachers should feel more than welcome to hold "stationary lessons" in their launchrooms. These classroom spaces were only coined "launchrooms" to encourage teachers to see all of Second Life as representing "the classroom" and to avoid making them feel like they had to confine their activities to their launchroom space - after all, as you know, SL has so much to offer!

Launchroom owners were (and still are) encouraged to make use of the space in whatever way desired for the teaching of foreign languages and related subjects, so as to not limit creativity and freedom - but also asked to be somewhat minimalistic in terms of their prim use (when possible), so as to allow others to make use of the available prims.

- - My Question(s) To You - -

=====>>> Do you agree that self-regulation is the most attractive approach to managing SIM prim use? If so, how can we improve on what we are doing? If you are not a fan of self-regulation, what other approach would you suggest?

Community Holodecks & Coordination

- - Background Info - -

There are a total of 3 community holodecks on the SIM at the moment which can be made use of at any time by any community member - Second Life English group tag need only be active. In order to ensure that all the holodeck scenes (including larger more prim-intensive scenes) can be properly rezzed, the overall SIM prim availability needs to ideally be at least 1500-2000 prims.

Many people have recently expressed interest in making use of the holodecks, especially the builder's holodeck (http://slurl.com/secondlife/VIRTLANTIS/171/91/581), in the coming weeks/months. In order to ensure holodeck availability, it seems it will be necessary to begin coordinating their use a bit.


- - My Question(s) To You - -

=====>>> What do you think about requesting that use of holodecks be reserved by posting it as an event on the community website (http://www.slenglish.ning.com/events)?

Voluntary SIM Support Fee

- - Background Info - -

As most of you already know, the Virtlantis/SLEnglish SIM (including facilities and ongoing support) have always been free and unbureaucratic to acquire/make use of. The aim, to put it in a nutshell, has been (and remains) to act as a free and simple resource for language teachers and learners in SL - to be a kind of springboard for language learning activtites in SL by providing ongoing resources, connecting learners and teachers, and promoting a variety of in-world foreign language facilitators and "language learning groups".

However, on a more personal note, the monthly SIM fee (110,000 Lindens minus other SIM investments) has been taking a toll on me and my family in the last few months. Thus far, community members have only been asked to consider donating Lindens from time to time, and the introduction of any sort of fee, i.e. a launchroom use fee, has never been pursued as a desired option.

Pretty much everything about Second Life English, including group sponsored events (past team-teaching events, etc.) has always been free. As my own personal financial situation has recently become a bit more limiting, I feel the need to ask for a bit of help. I have the following proposal and would very much welcome your input and feedback.

- - My Question(s) To You - -

=====>>> As I would rather avoid introducing any sort of mandatory fee for launchroom/SIM use, I suggest a kind of "voluntary support fee" which would be paid on the individual launchroom owner's own terms, i.e. when he or she is able to do so. A donation/tip object would be placed in each launchroom to act as a reminder of the need to donate monthly - and a desired donation amount of $10 US per month would be recommended.

This would mean that launchroom owners would be encouraged but not required to pay a monthly launchroom fee of $10 (approx 2500 Lindens) - but that any and all donations less than $10 would also be happily accepted. I am personally able to continue to cover a percentage of the monthly SIM rental fee, and will undoubtedly continue to invest in new SIM facilities (additional holodeck scenes, tools, etc.), but help with paying the main SIM fee is certainly needed at this point in time. This proposed solution will only work with support from the community, so please do let me know what you think. I am all ears and open to all ideas, suggestions and feedback.

You are welcome and encouraged to leave feedback here in the forum, via e-mail, Twitter, or Skype, and at in-world meet-ups, which will soon be announced.

Forum Discussion: Here! --> http://slenglish.ning.com/forum/topics/announcement-second-life
Feedback/Questions Via E-mail: [e-mail]
Feedback/Questions Via Skype: kipyellowjacket
Feedback/Questions Via Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kipyellowjacket
In-world Meet-ups (to be announced): http://slurl.com/secondlife/VIRTLANTIS/171/91/581

Thank you for your time and support!

Kip Yellowjacket

[Pawlus Twine]

I fully support Kip’s suggestions. In general, Kip has been doing a wonderful job for SLEnglish and for all of us. Thanks, Kip :)

I myself do not have any students. I do not teach in SL as for now, I am more focused on research (writing a book on SL as a language learning environment). I love to be part of SLEnglish and join others in their events on Virtlantis, or guest-co-teach occasionally (non-profit). I also love my small piece of land where I have started and am planning to develop some learning/teaching tools to be used in the future… low prim hopefully… :)

I agree that those who make money teaching on Virtlantis should absolutely share some percentage with Kip. Others would donate? Good idea. I cannot expect any refund from my university in Poland (:, but shall absolutely add my little-bit to donate our Sim. Honestly, I would feel uncomfortable not doing so, knowing that it all comes from Kip’s private money (I did not know that before).

As for the holodeck classes/meetings, I think it is a good idea to schedule them on Events. The advantages seem obvious:
- will preserve from possible ‘collisions’ with other events,
- relieve Kip from controlling the schedule etc.,
- be good for all of us to know how active Virtlantis is, especially in the case of open meetings.

Best to Kip and ALL, Pawel

[Lawrence Crimmins]

I agree with the voluntary fee.
Regarding the 'self regulation' I personally do not think it works but is the better of two evils as the alternative takes a lot of admin.
The holodeck issue is related to the self regulating point-a lot of people have a lot of prims on site-(houses for example) but I never see much activity.
Also Why are English lessons on SL free? You are just undercutting the market and driving down wages

[Lawrence Crimmins]

Excuse me-the last comment is off topic and could be discussed in another thread;-)

[KipYellowjacket]

Hi Goodday,

Thanks a lot for the input and understanding regarding the voluntary fee. Please find below my replies to your other comments. Thanks again for the feedback!

You wrote:

"Regarding the 'self regulation' I personally do not think it works but is the better of two evils as the alternative takes a lot of admin."

=====>>> Regarding the alternative and the additional admin work, I definitely agree. I haven't experienced much in terms of increased admin work since making all parcels group owned. The decision to "group-own" the parcels actually came about while troubleshooting some griefer incidents recently. As I had previously given many launchroom owners "full ownership" of their launchroom, I was unable to change certain parcel settings to counteract and/or remove the griefer actions/objects minus their help. This essentially meant I needed to contact the owner of each affected launchroom and request their assistance. Making the parcels group-owned has so far only proven advantageous - in my mind at least, and I've not heard any comments, complaints or concerns since the parcels became group-owned - at least not since the community discussion on the topic: http://slenglish.ning.com/forum/topics/important-launchroom-owners.

Moreover, I'm now once again able to do any needed maintenance or settings changes to the parcels as needed, as is each launchroom owner. This is particularly helpful to me and others when trying to help a launchroom owner with parcel media, SLoodle configuration, etc.

Regarding the community's ability to self-regulate, I am optimistic. Although it has only been a matter of days since I first posted this discussion topic, several launchroom owners have already approached me about their understanding and willingness to check their launchroom for unneeded prims - to rethink their use of the launchroom space, etc. SIM prim availability rose in a matter of hours after posting the discussion here on the community website - was really great to see the response! I suspect we could all use a reminder from time to time regarding prim use, which I'll gladly continue to do via group notice, etc.

To help increase the number of available prims, I recently removed the Teacher Wall and other random objects, e.g. trees, etc. I'm open to any ideas on how to be even more minimalistic - have often had to reassess what I wanted to drag out of the inventory in the past. Hard to resist the temptation to just pour the entire contents of the inventory onto the SIM floor...so much interesting stuff... :))

You wrote:

"The holodeck issue is related to the self regulating point-a lot of people have a lot of prims on site-(houses for example) but I never see much activity."

=====>>> The presence of houses on the SIM was an attempt to achieve a bit of balance between this desire for a minimalistic (prim-happy) SIM and the desire for a sense of community environment and SIM aesthetics. All home owners have always expressed their willingness for the homes to be used by the entire community. They are "social spots" which everyone should feel free to make use of.

You wrote:

"Also Why are English lessons on SL free?
You are just undercutting the market and driving down wages"

=====>>> None of the lessons which take place on, off or in any way via Second Life English should be seen as "Second Life English lessons", and much of the teacher activity on the SIM involves research and other activities. There are also several teachers / launchroom owners whose SL activities and launchroom use is pending but felt the need to go ahead and reserve some space. SLE has been advertised as being "a resource and not a school" for some time now so as to avoid giving any sort of impression that there are group/school organized pay-for courses. Whether individual teacher lessons/activities should be free or charged for has always been left up to the individual teacher/launchroom owner. SLE will (and has) gladly promote individual teachers who wish to charge for their lessons and has taken a sort of middle position on this topic of in-world lessons and remuneration. My own lessons have thus far always been free, because my main interest has been exploring the medium and helping to build a sense of community, but I also understand teachers who see it as a viable platform for pay-for lessons. I suspect you're right about this being another topic and perhaps deserving its own discussion thread. Think it's actually been debated a bit elsewhere in the forum here. I'll see if I can find the link.

Many thanks again for your feedback!

Have a good day, :)
Kip

Any lessons that a teacher chooses to teach on or off the SIM

[Morgen String]

Hi Kip, hi everyone!

I agree that users should help supporting the sim's expenses. As I am using SL for the first time, before my institution thinks about paying for something, I have to show them educational experiences that work and that SL is a valuable tool for education. Nevertheless, I can support at my own expenses a 10USA dollar per month during some time.

I also would like to thank Kip for all the help and support.

Cheers,

Angelina

[KipYellowjacket]

Hi everyone!

Quick update - sorry for the delay on this...

As most of you already know, donation boxes have recently been placed in each launchroom on the SIM. The donation script/tool which is currently in use displays the due monthly amount and updates the total collected amount each time a donation is made. This means it actually does not matter which donation box you use, it all gets sent to Kip Yellowjacket in-world.

Just FYI: Donations can also be sent directly to my avatar via my in-world profile. Only disadvantage here is that the total amount donated would not be automatically updated to reflect the "total amount given", so I sort of prefer use of the donation box - helps with transparency and helps people to see the success of each month's donation drive.

Please just let me know if you would like me to place your donation box elsewhere. I realize some teachers collect donations from their learners/students, and I would not want to confuse anyone. The purpose of these donation boxes is mainly to enable launchroom owners to support SLE via a monthly donation, but I realize that some students may inadvertently drop Lindens in the "SIM donation box", thinking he/she is donating to a teacher. If you feel like this is happening, please let me know and we will work out a solution - donation box can even be removed from launchroom if desired.

Hope this helps to clarify some things!

Oh yea, almost forgot... Just FYI: I am asked to pay SIM tier on the 15th of each month. I can probably manage to cover the amount myself should most want/need to donate towards the end of the month, but ideally speaking, most donations would come in prior to the 15th.

Please just let me know if you have any further questions about anything or if I have neglected to answer questions/reply to discussions. I do my best but sometimes overlook things...;)

Thanks again for participating in this discussion. I'll likely send some group notices in the coming weeks/months to try to get more people to add their 2 cents.

Kip