Life.

Almost 3 years ago, when I started using Twitter, most people were baffled by my enthusiasm.  Granted, I experimented with just about every social media platform springing up like weeds at the time (a student of mine even wrote a poem about it), but Twitter definitely became my social media BFF.  Now, just about everyone I know is on Twitter – and, yes, I’ve commented that it’s like Elaine’s overrun with kids from Jersey – so I’m truly surprised when I read tweets, posts, and comments that separate virtual from real life and note that if you’re on the former, you must not have much of the latter.

Of course, using social media to make this point is definitely ironic to a Marshall McLuhan fan like myself.  Putting that aside, I return once again to what I like to call the Howard Stern response: If you don’t like what I’m saying for whatever reason, don’t read what I tweet, post, and write! [If you need to exit the blog post, please do so through the exits at the top of your browser.]

We all know by now that successful social media is a conversation.  Users gain very little value by broadcasting – even experts and celebrities talk with their followers on occasion.  My real issue with the virtual vs. real life argument is that they aren’t separate: virtual activity enhances real experience and vice versa.  If you’ve used any social media platform successfully, you’ll know the benefits of meeting like minded folks online then following up in person.

I could recount my experiences on ravelry or with local business people, but most likely, the people whose viewpoint tend toward multiple lives rather than one enhanced life don’t read blogs like this one … so I’m probably preaching to the choir.  However, there’s one platform used by more and more educators I come in contact with through social media and regional conferences that make me wonder if I can only go so far socializing online.

That platform? Second Life.

About two years ago, a group from Yale visited the school where I teach and spoke with a few teachers and students about ways to use new media tools to teach various subjects, in their case journalism.  The group discussed Second Life at length, and I admit I hadn’t tried the platform at that time.  So I tried it.

Meh.

Now don’t think I was turned off by the game like interface.  I like video games, I teach Flash game creation on occasion, and didn’t do housework for 3 weeks last fall when we discovered Metal Gear Solid 4.  Minecraft? Wasted lots of time there too.  I also love William Gibson, and Second Life seemed to carry all the cyberpunk promise of his early books.

Here’s the first problem: I get motion sick.  Unreal Tournament makes me want to puke every time I play it.  Most first person shooters have that effect on me.  Flying in Second Life, while not quite as nausea inducing, is something I have to keep to a minimum, but I can teleport, and being a Star Trek fan, I like that.  So we can file this under minor problem.

Major problem: Why am I sitting around talking with a bunch of avatars of people I could be conversing with through iChat, Twitter, Skype, or a variety of other options?  Meeting with other people used to be called a conference call, and now with Huddle on Google+, everyone has access to video conference calls.  For higher ed instructors, there’s lots of online classroom applications with backchannel chat and other goodies we K-12 folks can only dream of.

I will pause to admit I’m not a big fan of video chats; if you follow me on Twitter, you know I didn’t realize I had an old ratty t-shirt on the first time I used Facebook video chat with @cortland (good thing we took our online professional interaction offline so he knows I’m not always a slob).  Video requires grooming effort that I sometimes just don’t want to make in order to converse. Just ask @mswas about our years of Yahoo IMing – about an hour in I generally announce “I have to take a shower now – brb”.

So maybe the avatar I could use in Second Life would always be skinny, spiffy, sport pink hair and run like the wind in high heels.  Trust me, the fun would end when you met me.  There are teachers out there who rave about the experience, but I’m not convinced, at least not yet.  As a teacher of 16-18 year olds, though, I can’t see how a true virtual world like Second Life will enhance teaching and learning in the real world as opposed to platforms that support virtual and real interaction like social media.

I know there are teachers out there using Second Life, and @kjarrett expressed an interest in using it with his elementary students.  Are businesses using Second Life in some innovative manner I neglected to note? Have I missed something vital in the Second Life interface? Can anyone share with me how I can use Second Life professionally in a manner similar to social media … or am I destined to keep dreaming of a William Gibson experience…