Darcy's+Journal

===Darcy's JournalI went to a conference in March on Health Information Technology for Nurses. One presenter was using Second Life in amazing ways. She was in a wheelchair in reality, and in Second Life, she could fly! Through her I was introduced to some utilization possibilities, created my Avatar, and then blitzed through to the end of the term. Now I am just getting back to the Second Life undertaking. Sometimes this computer and all that it offers makes me feel like I am brainless! Getting through glitches and tech service help truly makes me want to go back to my smith corona and carbon paper! My project may just be an exploration of this social media and its potential uses.=== June 27th - deadline for project proposal. I have hemmed and hawed. Finally sent off the e-mail to Robin Ashford for some tips on getting more literate with Second Life. She is temporarily at a conference, so I am left to my own resources. Figure I'll play around in Second Life for an hour, then write the proposal......It may include second life, it may not!?!? June 28th - As I was flying around, trying out various searches in SL, I left "stillcreek artful" unattended. I was being harrassed by other avatars! Dark figures, creepy. I can't remember how you escape that phenomena.......... July 5 - My visiting 21 year old daughter asked me if I had some stationary. She wanted to write a friend a letter! I went to the drawer where I keep stationary, and realized I hadn't opened it in at least a year. Letter writing. Gone with the smith corona and carbon paper? July 5 - resource for project [] from article byDiane Skiba in Nursing Education Perspectives - March/April 2009. Also remember to check out resources in EDFL wiki about second life. for 3rd discussion [] one more I have collected over 60 references and resources to work that others are doing in researching the use of Second Life both for educational and other purposes. You can review my list of resources at: http://del.icio.us/mcksean/secondlife July 10 - I often cannot get access to the worlds that I search in second life. I am not comfortable moving around, but I will continue to try. I visited the "Mayo Clinic" to see how some general education about diabetes was set up. I can still move forward with my project with all the leads from various resources, even if I do not master the movements of Stillcreek Artful in a few weeks. I am cutting my almost 59 year old self some slack. I never was attracked to pinball machines, video games, etc. And I only started texting a few years ago out of necessity to communicate wtih my 21 year old. July 12 - Yeah. computer updates installed thanks to Josh N. in IT and I think I am good to go with Second Life Viewer 2! I'll be back later on to report on progress. July 15 - article from campus technology gives secondlife high marks for educational purposes. I have had trouble accessing some places, I guess I have to pay...? Going to log on and see. July 16 - I have spent many hours between Second Life and Tech Services on Campus. Even though they claim second Life Viewer 2 should work on my computer, it doesn't. I have to stop the quest at this point(because i am not going to go out and buy a new computer to finish) and carry on with my research in a more conventional fashion. I am not discouraged, just refocusing. July 18 - N. Carr writes: "the risk of using search for online research is that everybody gets led in the same directions to a smaller number of citations which, as they become ever more popular, become the destination for more and more searches." How did we live before we could do these fabulous searches? And just keep digging back thru the stack......just don't read what is on top. And go to a different dicipline and search through different search engines.....perhaps Carr is being contrary just for the sake of healthy dialogue. To change the topic to final project - I am looking at this new virtual world, opencobalt.org. should I upload it and try it out? July 25 - even though this is the day I am supposed to be posting my final project, I am just now connecting with Robin A. and hope to visit her on the Portland campus next week so we can enter SL together. This will be helpful as I continue to explore the potential for the future. July27 - attempting to import slideshow of fam trip to San Diego.......[|San Diego] I think it is too big? I will try another way-just pictures, no slideshow:[|San Diego] That's 5 grandchildren under the age of 5! DeeDee and G-Pa love every minute of it! July 29 - I had a very informative one on one session with Robin A at the Portland campus. I have learned enough to know that I cannot let up on moving the nursing department toward some type of Second Life experience. I also learned that Second Life know-how does not come in a crash course. One must work with the system and learn its ins and outs. So this class introduced me to layers of the techno-world that need further exploration. I appreciate the introduction. ([[file:///Users/dmize/Movies/final take 5/final take 5.mov|final take 5.mov] ([[file:///Users/dmize/Movies/final take 5/final take 5.mov|final take 5.mov]]