Second Life Evaluation at Hamilton College

With all the attention that the media has been giving Second Life lately, questions about use of Second Life at Hamilton College are coming up. Below is some information that may help answer some basic questions that people may have.

Second Life is being evaluated by ITSST, and is not currently officially supported by ITS. We are interested in exploring how Second Life can be used academically, but the faculty members and/or students should understand that any projects that we take on at this point in time are considered to be experimental, and that users could experience situations such as loss of data or Second Life suddenly not being accessible. Therefore, Second Life should not be considered for "mission-critical" communication or directly associated with grades. Any requests for use of Second Life should start with a conversation between ITSST.

Some potential uses of Second Life include communication (both text and audio), virtual poster and video exhibits, science simulations, and simple 3D design. Second Life has a virtually unlimited number of other potential uses. Some uses are much more resource-intensive than others.

Second Life can be a challenging environment for new users. It is therefore advisable that any faculty member or student who is interested in using Second Life consult with a technologist in ITSST prior to making any decisions about how appropriate it is for their intended project.

Second Life can be accessed on the Macs in the MPC using six available USB drives. More drives can be made available if necessary. Draft policies for use of Second Life at hamilton College are available here.

If using Second Life as a presentation tool or resource, it is very important to have backup media in case the Second Life grid goes down. It is possible to record Second Life to video using an third-party recording tool (FRAPS), but this process has only been tested on the Windows platform and requires additional cableing and considerable customization of sound settings.

Currently, the Macs in the MPC do not support voice chat. This may be due to the version of OSX being used on those computers, the hardware of the machines, or a combination of the two. initial testing with iMacs indicates that voice chat will work once the new computers are installed this Summer.

I would like to stress that though we are very interested in hearing from faculty regarding potential uses of Second Life for evaluation purposes, no teams in ITS should be expected to provide any official support at this point in time.  Individuals requesting support for any use of Second Life should be referred to ITSST.  Please email me at crosenfi@hamilton.edu with any questions.

Thanks,

-Carl