My '2nd life'...at RMiT

My avatar roaming around a virtual RMIT design studio in '2nd Life'...

This photo (above) is a snapshot of my foray into the virtual 3D world of '2nd Life'. The use of this sort of technology in an educational setting is being promoted and utilised by academic institutions, including our own (as you can see in the picture above, I visited an RMIT design space in '2nd Life'). This video on Youtube (and this one) are quick introductions to the software's potential in an academic setting, as seen by converts. However, there are also parodies of the software (here) and a certain healthy scepticism within the real world of '1st Lifers' to keep things in perspective...

Regards the question of whether Web 3.0 is 'pie in the sky' or not...I would probably have to side with Tim Berners-Lee, simply because of his credentials ('founder of the World Wide Web', director of W3C)...here's his article if you want to read it. I think the 'semantic' web, and the ever greater pervasiveness of technology in our lives is pretty much inevitable...here's to the future!

Jay Walker's amazing personal library...

Just wanted to post the link to an article about this incredible personal library...

im, skype and voip...

I've used IM's in the past, but I think everyone just uses 'messenger' on their iphone these days don't they, or Facebook? In a recent 'livewire' (The Age) article, when asked which method of instant communication they prefer, most people still responded text/sms over chat. A recent 'Insight' (SBS television) episode touched on this: young MSN chat users complained of spending too much time online waiting for their friends to 'arrive'...however many companies are now utilising chat facilities to interact with customers (who don't want to waste time waiting in a telephone queue)...including RMIT University library.
I've used Skype to conference call with interstate colleagues (and VoIP is sort of ubiquitous now, as all the University telephones use it)...