DISQUS

Have you looked at OpenSim yet? http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you look around you will find a few educators already using it, like these guys: http://www.openhabitat.org/

To set up a publically available region you would need a web host and a someone with a bit of technical nous, but it's not insurmountable. There are new free and commercial hosting grids popping up all the time - http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Grid_List
, but I'm not sure they have the security/safety you would like for educational use.

It's only a matter of time before someone sets up an education-specific grid.

You should also be able to set it up on a school server without too much hassle if you only want local students to access it. You can actually run it on your own computer too (although you don't get multi-user access then... but it's good for practicing building skils offline).

Word!

Radical? Yes. But at least you have the cojones to call a spade a spade.

Power. Control. Authority. Coercion. This is what much of the education system is still about. And it's these terms which are strangely missing from many of the discussions about "progressive" education.

So what's the dirt on 'The Making of Mini Baku' being removed? Do you have Slashdot power Lowell? :-)

Gobsmacked! Is there some "Worst Reporting on Second Life" award going at the moment?

Linden Lab need to clarify this, but from my reading I'd say that camping chairs are exempt as there is no wagering going on. You have to put money in for it to be classified as wagering.

I couldn't get in because of computer problems, but would have loved to ask Ticky why they chose to focus on the more sensational and controversial aspects of Second Life and didn't pay much attention to all the positive uses, such as the educational, non-profit, health and business uses (as you point out).

I don't think it was a very balanced report at all. All the interesting, creative and useful spaces they could have shown and they showed shot after shot of avatars dancing in nightclubs. I've never seen so much dancing in a report on Second Life!

You are not alone... I had no idea I we could reply to the emails either! Cool.

I expect to see an Aussie BBQ and an Aussie Dunny on there - http://bloghud.com/id/3792 :-)

There is at least one Australian uni with a SL presence - the University of Southern Queensland has an island called Terra incognita - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Terra%20incognita/1...

Senator Andrew Bartlett will probably do it at the drop of a hat - he's a keen blogger - http://www.andrewbartlett.com/.

Oh, I see... that's how you did it!

Head... done... in! :-)

Hey... what would happen if you took photos as you pivoted around a focal point, such as yourself, and then stitched them together?

I think the result would do my head in! :-)

I've never used the Alt-Zoom machinima camera... maybe you could use that to set up a rotating camera.

btw - that's a link to my YouTube videos, not yours! :-)

Boy you are having fun with Autostitch! :-)

I didn't even think of using it on SL photos. What a great idea! Have you experimented with zooming in and zooming out to see if you can minimise the wide-angled lens effect to get a more even panarama?

Not there is anything wrong with doing it the other way for artistic purposes, but if you got it looking realistic you could then create those wrap-around VR panaramas inside a cylinder. Then you'd be inside Second Life inside Second Life!

Now you can indeed blog from within Second Life - http://bloghud.com/.

My belated 2 cents - Second Life itself won't be an OS - as others have pointed out it's too centralised and proprietary.

But I do think it's definitely the precursor of the 3D web, and maybe, just maybe, the precursor of a future OS.

And it's just recently hit 2 million accounts, double the one million mark hit less than 2 months ago.

It's definitely going to be something!

Yes, Second Life's own apes banging on the grid is pretty hilarious too!

Not as funny as the Bloglines Plumber! (courtesy of .CK)

You don't actually leave your body in world when you log off... it disappears completely!

Hey Bee! Welcome to Second Life! You won't be sorry! Okay... you will get frustrated with the performance problems like we all do, but I think you will be thrilled with the educational possibilities. :-)