injenuity

Last Thursday I attempted to log into my Second Life account during my Show and Tell session and was unable to connect.  I assumed it was because I was a few versions behind, and so I completed the update and tried again, without success.  I thought maybe I was using the wrong password, so I changed the password, tried again and still could not get in.  I submitted a help ticket and received the following response:

Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting Linden Lab support regarding your issue.

The reason you cannot login is that your account has been cancelled.  The reason it was cancelled is due to the outstanding balance on the account which was not paid.

I can reactivate the account for you, but unfortunately all of the inventory, land and Linden dollars on the account will be gone.

If you would like me to do this, please reopen this ticket.

If you have any further questions you can contact myself or one of my colleagues.

Regards,

Shaun

Linden Lab support

Back in June, I changed my account from premium to basic, so was surprised they suggested I owed money.  I wrote to @fleep, the SL goddess and wondered what she thought.  She contacted the concierge for Chilbo, as I am a resident, and was told I had to contact the help desk myself.  She was able to see my avatar information, so we assumed it had not been deleted.  I replied to the original help request and received this response:

Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting Linden Lab support regarding your issue.

Your account was a quarterly account, and you failed to downgrade before the fee was due.  That is why there was an outstanding balance.

As mentioned before all of your land, inventory and Linden dollars on the account will have been deleted as the system to does this automatically.

I can reactivate this account for you, but you will have to pay the balance due on the account.  If you would like me to do this, please reopen this ticket.
If you have any further questions you can contact myself or one of my colleagues.

Regards,

Shaun

Linden Lab support

I decided just to call and see what would happen.  I was quickly connected to Bruno, who advised me I had downgraded my account on 6/15, the same day my quarterly billing occurred.  Since there was no longer a card on the account, it did not clear.  They tried for 7 days, and since they couldn’t obtain payment, they canceled my account.  Apparently, there are many levels of cancel, and your stuff is not deleted all at once.  He advised me it may all be gone, or there could still be lindens and inventory available.  He could not make promises.

Bruno told me I had to pay the $22 in order to get my avatar back.  However, he could not promise I would have my inventory, or even my more than $14,000 Lindens.  I admit, I was laughing too hard to even communicate with him.  I asked if he realized he was holding my cartoon hostage!  He told me that life was funny and Second Life was even funnier.  I paid the $22, logged back in and discovered all my inventory in tact.  That’s right, I didn’t lose my octopus family, my ball gowns, rocket launcher, beagle, fancy hair, alien eyes or bulletin board.

It really got me thinking about how SL is used in education and how we can trust building materials and storing them in SL.  Much of what is created there cannot be transferred to any other platform.  Educators put hours and hours of work into developing objects and content in-world, but there it remains.  I didn’t have any important content in-world, but can imagine how much stronger my shock would have been if I had.  I primarily have used SL from the social side, and it has been one of those social objects I value, as I participate in learning it with other educators.  That is why I paid the ridiculous fee to restore my account.

I don’t think I really want to support instructors through anything similar.  How can I ask them to invest time and effort in something that isn’t translatable or transferable?  How can I ask them to give up their creations this way?  Not only that, but it is so much easier to develop and share open resources on other web platforms.  I still haven’t given up on SL, but I’m going to need a lot more convincing before I lead others there.  I’ve now been studying it for almost two years, and still have that uncomfortable feeling.

I think this social networking thing we have going on is more about brain chemistry and less about technology. We are making social connections, but I feel we are also making new internal brain connections, stimulating endocrine production and by nature, changing our personalities. The visual and audio cues we feed off create new impulses that access parts of our brain we may not have previously engaged. I would love to see studies on this. I am interested in finding out if these new connections leave other portions of our brain unused, and how that will affect our future development.

When our chemistry changes, our face to face social interactions change as well. Our bodies naturally react to the new hormonal balance and it affects the way we associate with the world around us. Some of us, myself included, are more open to new personal connections. Others, more enabled by the power of connections, turn to bullying and harassment. I used to describe myself as shy and introverted. In the last year or so, I have become comfortable in social situations. I still fear before I arrive, but once I am in the company of others, I am fine.

I have noticed others who have had similar experiences, where social constructs have to be re-established and relationships evaluated.  I have seen people with fears of public speaking, stand up before a large audience and not flinch.  I have seen shy singles find their dream companion. I don’t think this is a new phenomenon.  I think we are just beginning to witness the effects of long-term social networking.  We need to examine the people who began the networking in the late 80’s and early 1990’s with IRC and BBS systems.  I would be curious to know how they feel their earlier networking influenced their current social habits.

I was in a workshop on Second Life this week where the presenter spoke about how students take ownership of their avatars. They feel a personal connection and that leads to higher accountability for quality of course work.  They take ownership of their content in more substantial ways than they do in a traditional course.  Later that day, I was in Second Life and mentioned this to Fleep, who agreed and shared more about the community she is currently building to help educators and other newcomers establish themselves in world.  She feels this is one key to future success in world.  I believe her!

I have spent time in Second Life for more than a year.  I’ve bought and sold land and rented an apartment.  I never connected with other people, until now.  And now, I can feel the chemistry.  I get excited when I make a new social connection.  I look forward to seeing if people left garbage in my Second Life house, almost as much as I look forward to checking my RSS feeds.  It’s exciting to me to post on Twitter that I’m in SL and then see who joins me.   The technology simply facilitates the people connections.  I can’t think of another way to pull together a group of like-minded, friendly people with no advance notice.  I enjoy the new brain chemistry and I think it has a positive impact in my off-line life.   It will be interesting to follow others who haven’t been networking online as long as I have.  I would like to observe whether the chemistry occurs equally for those new to networking as it does for the seasoned veterans.  I’m also curious about long term effects, based on level of engagement with social networking.

When I began researching virtual worlds a year ago, I had difficulty finding the value for educators. In all my research, the best examples I could find, were those involving social activities and communications studies, such as Sarah Robbins’ rhetoric classes. While there were stellar examples of scientific simulations, I couldn’t see the pedagogical value in them. I have struggled to support education in virtual worlds, made even more difficult when people realize I wrote the trends analysis they frequently reference.

In the last few weeks, I have discovered a side of Second Life (SL) I had not previously explored. In all my research, I never used it as a place to meet with people I already know and associate with outside SL. Our State Board has purchased an island in SL and I have volunteered to participate in the development and management. I have held back, not wanting to give a harsh opinion or influence the potential growth. We have attempted a few chaotic meetings, but nothing I would consider a success. This week we will be running a workshop for faculty and I’ve offered to help facilitate. At the same time, Alec Couros will be introducing his grad students to SL and conducting a tour.

With so many familiar participants, I jumped back into SL and was suddenly struck by the difference in my perception while experiencing the virtual world with others. I’ve met with a few other network friends in SL, but usually it was a short meeting with a particular purpose. The recent activities have all centered around exploring and learning. I have been amazed at how quickly we have been able to share our SL knowledge and ramp up our in-world skills. Cindy picked it up and became a pro in one day! I think the new voice features have helped me transition my opinion and realize there is potential value in SL for learning.

One of the greatest things I have found is that it continues to strengthen the bonds between the members of my network. Rob Wall began examining these connections and I proposed that part of the development of these connections was our link to others who have met in person. I also believe our connections are strengthened when we connect with others through multiple media. Last night George Siemens invited the network to join him in a new tool, Chatterous. We had a light hearted conversation about how this was another dimension strengthening the network bonds.

I truly feel our connections are reinforced when we participate with the other members of our network on multiple planes. While I initially struggled with the idea of having to log into several platforms to communicate with an individual, I now recognize that these different tools allow us to learn more about our online colleagues and discover additional connection points. So many of us are isolated in our physical work environments, with very little connection to others performing the same work. I’ve previously likened Twitter to working in cubicles. Adding in richer tools, such as SL, seesmic, utterz, Chatterous, photophlow, dimdim, ustream and others helps to create a better simulation of a traditional work environment.

Now we are more than just cube-mates. We’ve had water cooler conversations, attended meetings together, gone to the company picnic, shared in the white-elephant giving at holiday parties, commiserated over management and infrastructure and celebrated our success stories. I can now add Second Life to my pool of social tools that add value to the professional relationships I have worked to create in my online network. I will give it a second chance and try to explore and publish more options for learners.