Are you brand new to Second Life?  Or an old hand looking for a new experience?  Starting on Tuesday, December 11, we will be offering introductory tours, workshops, and classes in Second Life open to everyone.  Here's the short list of events through the end of the year:

Tours of the virtual museum (meet in the Museum Lobby)

Dec 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 at 11am

Introduction to Building in Second Life (meet at the Sandbox Dome)

Dec 13, 18, 20 at noon

We will also be holding regular weekly meetings, open to everyone, every Friday at 10am.  These meetings will be held by the fountains outside the virtual museum.

All of these times are PST/LST.  To find The Tech in Second Life, search for "The Tech" in the Second Life map.  If you would like to receive notice about these events in Second Life, please contact Avi Marquez to join the Tech Exhibit Designers group.

See you in the virtual world!

But that's not what this post is about. I appreciate that Second Life is complex, frustrating, and has a very steep learning curve (but it makes great snapshots :)). Toward that end, I'm developing a set of classes and programs to welcome collaborators into Second Life and work with you from the perspective of museum/design work. I'd like to know...

    * What's the biggest barrier keeping you from getting into Second Life?
    * What might entice you to enter?
    * Would you be interested in single events (i.e. a one-hour how to build session) or a multi-session program?
    * Would you want events scheduled during the workday or after? On your time or on a fixed schedule?
    * What kind of support would be most useful to you? Documents, people, videos?

In particular, I'm imagining creating a multi-session program that would take you from a first time experience in Second Life to a place where you would feel reasonably comfortable building, prototyping, and working with others in that environment. I do believe there's a professional development incentive here (especially if you can be "in class" with other awesome museum folk), but I also understand that everyone is busy and the desire to learn has to be balanced against the need to finish tasks.

My plan is to offer a smattering of classes and times in December, and then start more formal programs in January. So let me know what you think, and I'll integrate it into the planning! And if you want to be a test bunny for any of this, please get in touch.

Posted by Nina Simon at 8:53 AM