Science thrives in virtual worlds

I haven’t visited the MetaVerse (=Second Life or Twinity) for a very long time, despite the possibilities for education that I have always envisioned. And I’m not the only one. An interesting example is the Department of Digital Media at Leeds College of Art’s investigation of Second Life and other Virtual Worlds for Art and Design pedagogy, led by Annabeth Robinson, AKA Angrybeth Shortbread in Second Life. Another education project in SL is Exploratorium.

A probably better application for e-learning applications, especially with large audiences in VR is Teleplace; for a while I participated in a project (e.g. here), but this project (not Teleplace itself) has stopped due to lack of money.
Now there is another interesting science-project in Second Life: SL residents Desdemona Enfield and Curious George work on a virtual-reality visualization that classifies stars, galaxies and quasars according to their colors, brightness, distance and morphology.
George Djorgovski (Curious George in SL), Professor of Astronomy and founder of the Virtual Observatory, talks about his ideas in this podcast to Alan Boyle and Robin Snelson.

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  • The Aesthetics and Beauty of Knowledge

    Shih was the opposite of facts and raw information; shih was the elegance of knowledge, the insight and skill to organize knowledge into meaningful patterns. As an artist chooses colours or light to make her pictures, a master of shih chooses textures of knowledge – various ideas, myths, abstractions, and theories – to create a way of seeing the world. The aesthetics and beauty of knowledge – this was shih.

    – David Zindell, The Broken God, 1993

  • Geek Attitude

    The attitude thing is about flexibility, portability, creativity, sociability and jamming (ran out of suitable “ity” words!). It’s about improvising – in the practical and musical senses of the word; not getting tangled in boundaries and the “right” way to do things.
    Definitely the only way to travel.
    Martin Delaney – “Laptop Music”.