[UAUG] meetings of this users group

[Richard K Miller]

On Jul 23, 2008, at 4:21 PM, Wade Preston Shearer wrote:

> On 23 Jul 2008, at 16:07, Jeremy Robb wrote:
>
>> Why would you think it was creepy?
>
> Well, I'm not quite sure how to articulate it, but the whole thing  
> seems creepy to me. I have nothing wrong with pretend and playing  
> games, but it's just weird. Perhaps it's the graphics. In regards to  
> this though, doing more than just recreating seems strange…  
> conducting business or holding a meeting through that medium is  
> weird. You mention being able to have face time, but it isn't your  
> face… it's some character you've designed with a mouth that doesn't  
> sync up to you as you talk (I assume… I have never used the  
> service). It seems especially weird to meet your teacher in a space  
> like that (same as having them as a connection in MySpace (once  
> again, assuming how things work… I've never used the service) could  
> imagine seem inappropriate to some.
>
> I love technology (that's what I do for a living) and love the idea  
> of a professor having virtual office hours (that would have been  
> awesome back when I was in school—I worked full time and could never  
> make it during professor's office hours), but it seems like a video  
> conference would be both more natural and more effective. I guess  
> everyone doesn't have a web cam, but I'd definitely rather chat  
> textually than "meet you in a virtual place."

You ought to visit the "Mormon" island sometime. I've gone in every  
several months and they have built it out significantly. There's a  
Tabernacle where you can listen to actual General Conference, visitors  
center with the Articles of Faith and other material, BYU Hawaii, and  
more.

This two-part article has screenshots:
http://www.mormontimes.com/ME_index.php?id=1437
http://www.mormontimes.com/ME_index.php?id=1448

As does our blog:
http://blog.moregoodfoundation.org/146/what-is-second-life-and-why-should-it-matter-to-mormons
http://blog.moregoodfoundation.org/159/update-on-second-life