News Conference: Second Life

At a press conference Monday June 8, an announcement was made stating that Washington State University has made its first entry into virtual world space expanding its presence to a global audience.

This virtual program, also known as Second Life, is a 3-dimensional replica of Pullman campus, according to Edward R. Murrow College of Communication website. This new campus can be used for long-distance degree programs or for students and instructors to communicate via the virtual world.

“I think next year will be very telling on what works and doesn’t work with this virtual world,” said Brett D. Atwood, an assistant professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.

Second Life will be used in WSU classrooms as early as August. Several other universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Stanford have already begun to use virtual programs, according to Edward R. Murrow College of Communication website.

It is a little ahead of the curve, and old computers might have some problems uploading this program, but as soon as facilities are updated and students get faster computers, this will be very vital to education, said Atwood.

Second Life can give students more opportunities to collaborate and communicate via the virtual world. It has the chance to expand communication and social engagement through a network never yet experienced.

Second Life is unique because people around the world can log on and attend lectures through voice enabled technology, said Atwood. It also allows for collaboration in architecture or science programs and it can be used for simulated environments such as a schizophrenia environment, so that people can understand mental inflictions. Second Life can even be used as a way to re-create physical art into visual art.

With so many educational purposes, Second Life has become a phenomenon at WSU. This virtual world also allows people to purchase virtual items to customize their appearance. People can create their own identities to express who they are, and represent themselves how they want to be seen.

One criticism of this program is that Second Life is a superficial and artificial representation of the real world. Another criticism is that it might further isolate human beings, and decrease face-to-face communication.

About fifteen years ago, people thought that e-mail would take away from verbal communication, but instead it has allowed people to communicate more frequently over long distances, said Diane L. Carter, a graduate student and teaching assistant at WSU.

“Second Life might be able to open up new opportunities to connect with people that we originally might not have been able to communicate with,” said Carter.

Even though there are criticisms to this new found virtual world, it has the potential to open doors into new dimensions of communication. It has the ability to further evolve communication and enhance education. Second Life could possibly be the most successful communicative technology since e-mail or the cell phone.