[SLED] Second Life Educators

[DoctorMike]

1) Hack SL client by trapping specific port traffic - requires client to use unique ports for text, or stripping out.

2) Attached object that spits text to XML - requires an external XML server to receive text then convert to speech

3) Lindens release SDK - requires miracle.

Others?

[Jeff/Farley]

When I read Nick's and DoctorMike's posts, I'm struck by how they embody the Second Life spirit, grounded in the premise that users/residents make their own worlds. Building an accessible sim, hacking the client, attaching an object...these would certainly be rolling up our sleeves and making things happen.

As much as I dearly love that quality of Second Life, and of the people I meet there, when I think of first steps, my thoughts run more along the lines of defining the problem. Without a good shared understanding of the problem, I fear that our solutions may not be as good as they could be. What's more, it may be difficult for us as a group to understand each other's proposals if we have different understandings of the problem we're trying to solve.

I have some ideas about how I might define the problem, of course. But right now I want to see what others think about how we should get started.

Jeff/Farley

[Jonathon Richter]

Hello,

My name is Jonathon Richter - I'm a Research Associate at The Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE) at the University of Oregon. I am very interested in collaborating with you on developing assistive technologies for supporting visually impaired and other disabled students in Second Life and other MUVE's.

I concur that we ought to frame the problem in terms of the various affordances that Second Life as a medium allows its users - indeed, the benefits of SL over other types of learning media are precisely the selling points as to why we want accessibility to these incredible learning environments, yes? So, first - documenting the various affordances and the skills/inputs required to successfully navigate the media and receive said benefits is crucial.

Also, I think we should get to know one another. This endeavor - to create accessibility tools for disabled users (teachers/learners) of 3D learning environments is a burgeoning "Community of Practice" (see Etienne Wenger's work on this topic for starters). In essence, any different levels of expertise and practice, centered around an evolving, yet ever more closely agreed-upon language and series of "best practices" will transpire as we zero in on creating successful innovations here.

Finally, I think we need to develop capacity to sustain our efforts. We should gather resources: a group of programmers, educational technology researchers, Second Life advocates, high-end users, ... and Lindens - and interested target population consumers: blind people willing to assist us in advocating for the need for, developing, testing, and implementing our desired solutions. I would also urge the group to expand the definition of what is we aim to accomplish - this effort shouldn't be limited to efforts to provide accessibility for the blind: this should be about accessibility for all (blind, deaf, learning disabled, physical, etc.). There are a number of institutions and federal guidelines that would concur with this wider definition/notion. We need individuals to lend time, expertise, equipment, and space to the collaborative effort: we need money for that - through grants, foundations, and sponsorships.

Check out CAST http://www.cast.org/ -- The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standards (NIMAS) are of particular interest to this group -- note that NIMAS are now part of IDEA and must be implemented as of this year, 2006, to be in compliance with federal regulations. This, of course, only applies to text materials NOW. ... but 3D environments should be next, in my opinion.

Here at the University of Oregon's Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE), home of the Center for Electronic Study and the National Center for Electronic Supported Text, we would like to invite everyone to collaborate with us on creating the necessary capacity for a U.S. Dept of Education Office of Special Education Programs SteppingStones (phase I) grant proposal - in probable partnership with the folks at CAST/NIMAS to develop solutions in effort to begin developing accessibility standards for 3D learning environments like those that have been developed for text and print-based materials.

We are confident that we have the experience researching educational technologies for students with disabilities, a national network of EdTech research professionals - particularly those in the area of students with disabilities - and a number of other resources to bring to bear on the issue.
What we are hoping to find are programmers, other university research units, disability specialists, and Second Life (MUVE) and advocates for students with learning disabilities to create the rich community that will be necessary to fulfill this dream.

Please contact me at jrichter@uoregon.edu or 541.346.1630 for more information about this grant initiative or to discuss ways in which we might be able to help.

I look forward to participating in this forum and hope to hear from some of you soon.

Thanks,

Jonathon

[Jeff/Farley]

There's a slogan in the disability-rights movement that goes "Nothing about us without us." I second Jonathon's point that it's important to include members of the "target population." Otherwise, we risk indulging in an exercise that's more paternal than helpful. We could start a new discussion thread on who should be involved, where to find them, etc.

Also, to me, documenting affordances sounds like an excellent suggestion. "Begin with the end in mind," as Stephen Covey would say. A good description of what SL enables people to do will help us see both the challenges and opportunities.

I feel compelled to offer one caution, though. Maybe it's not necessary to say this. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking this way. But my hunch is that it's important to express those affordances in human terms.

I'm not sure how exactly to explain that. But it comes from my anticipation that in Second Life, as in real life, accessibility my require accommodations that are not solely technological. In fact, I would not assume that our mission is to develop adaptive technology.

Sustainability concerns me, too. I had mixed feelings about moving this discussion to a forum. With the email list, the discussion goes to the people. Here, people have to come to the discussion. On the one hand, this forum provides an archive and an opportunity for more in-depth discussion. But it's also easy for good ideas to get forgotten here. How to build an effective and enduring community of practice? Mmm. Sounds like another thing that could use a discussion thread of its own.

A list of applicable standards world wide, with annotations showing how they pertain to Second Life, would be helpful in lots of ways, I think, and material for yet another thread.

Later this weekend, I think I will prime the pump on a thread where we can introduce ourselves.

One more thread we may consider would be a discussion of the scope of our endeavor here. Like Jonathon, I think there's a lot more worth considering than just visual disabilities. However, for those who want to incorporate SL in their coursework now, people with visual disabilities are the folks to most likely and most severely get excluded. It could be a project-killing hurtle. So I would like to see some ideas for how to envision or define this effort in a way that would embrace the larger view, if possible, without sacrificing focus on the immediate need.

What do you all think?

[Carolina Keats]

I just found this forum while researching for a grant to support the educational efforts at SL. I am working with the SL Library and the SL Medical Library, and one of the things we'd like to do is outreach/assessment of the info needs of support groups in SL. We agree very much with 'nothing about us, without us' and welcome discussion, suggestions for free resources, and heads-up about what we are loosely calling medical support communities at SL.

[iloveauto0]

[Deanna Lancaster]

I've just begun really exploring Second Life as I've had problems in the past, and I've just come across this post. I work with students with special needs and my main job is to make accommodations for them using technology. I am very interested in this and would love to be involved. CATE and CAST are very good resources and I use them frequently.

I do want to make a few points, however. I noticed that you are focusing on students/individuals with visual impairments. However, i think that there are students with all sorts of disabilities that could benefit from second life, in many ways. I would love to speak with other educators as to their feelings about using SL with individuals with Learning Disabilities (as this is a difficult to get through) and possibly even Physical Disabilities. There is a lot that could be done with social skills as well, at least the language involved.