Judith Molka-Danielsen

Designing oral participation in second life – a comparative study of two language proficiency courses

The following paper presents two stages of an action research project involving two oral proficiency courses held in the virtual world Second Life. Course 1 was conducted during the Autumn of 2007. Based on the experiences of this course, we redesigned many aspects of it in order to improve student activity in terms of oral participation and gave the course again in Spring 2008. By analysing the recordings of four 90-minute sessions, two from each course, we were able to measure student participation based on floor space, turn lengths and turn-taking patterns, and in the study we discuss how different changes in design may have contributed to more favourable outcomes. Results seem to indicate that meaning focussed task design, which involves authenticity and collaborative elements, has a direct impact on learner participation and engagement. Furthermore, our results seem to suggest that technical and social initiations into a complex environment such as SL are important factors that have to be worked into the course design.

eParticipation: Designing and Managing Political Discussion Forums

eParticipation is the extension and transformation of participation in political deliberation and decision-making processes through information and communication technologies (ICTs). The most commonly found examples of eParticipation systems are political discussion forums. Although much of the discussion of these technologies is conducted in the eGovernment and eDemocracy literature, political discussion forums present a distinct set of design and management challenges, which relate directly to information systems concerns. In this article, we use the overview model of eParticipation of Sæbø, Rose, and Flak to structure a critical review of the existing literature to identify key challenges for designing and managing political discussion forums. We offer a contribution to theory in the form of a descriptive model of political discussion forums in their social context, based on a literature review of relevant literature. The explanatory potential of the model is illustrated by analyzing D:mo, a Norwegian political discussion forum. Based on the review and the case study, we offer a contribution to practice by suggesting a set of guidelines for the design and management of political discussion forums.

Virtual worlds: A new opportunity for people with lifelong disability?

The use of technology and the Internet in our society is increasing. In Norway, for example, about 85% of the population use the Internet monthly (Gallup, 2008). There is every indication that this number will increase, based on the current development of a new IP-address system to handle the IP shortage we will encounter (Tseng, Lee, Kung, Chou, & Chen, 2005). People use the Internet for a range of activities including private and business purposes, and in particular for maintaining and developing social contact (di Gennaro & Dutton, 2007). Indeed, communication through social networking sites where the main focus is on creating and maintaining friendships is increasingly important to individuals, including young people (di Gennaro & Dutton, 2007). Online social network sites such Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are used for sharing information about day-to-day life with friends and family, and for connecting with strangers who share the same interests (Subrahmanyam, Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008). With the help of an avatar—a three-dimensional online character that is created in the virtual world to represent the user and can be personalised in the greatest detail— social interaction with strangers and friends can occur in virtual worlds, like Second Life. Being equipped with both a first and a last name, the avatar can be seen as an embodiment of the user’s real self within a virtual world. Virtual worlds

Social Affordances for People with Lifelong Disability through Using Virtual Worlds

In the information age, information and communication technology (ICT) is an asset for supporting people with disability to participate and be included in society. Research indicates that virtual worlds may help this group to gain independence and improve social participation. The aim of the present research was to explore the role that virtual worlds play in facilitating people with disability to experience a self-perceived improvement of social participation, independence and well-being. Using qualitative methods our results indicate that people with lifelong disability perceive that they reach a larger and more diverse network through the use of virtual worlds. Based on identified Quality of Life factors, we found that people with lifelong disability perceived that they obtained increased independence, social participation and well-being. The social affordances offered by virtual worlds are promising for improving these identified factors. This area of research warrants further empirical investigation to understand the implications in a broader social context.

Sympathy or Strategy: Social Capital Drivers for Collaborative Contributions to the is Community

Despite growing interest in delineating the social identity of Information Systems (IS) research and the network structures of its scholarly community, little is known about how the IS community network is shaped by individual conceptions and what motivates IS researchers to engage in research collaboration. Using an exploratory theoretical framework that is based on three dimensions of social capital theory, we examined 32 years of scientific co-authorship in an international IS researcher community. We formulated propositions to empirically examine the multi-level relationships between personal drivers and the resulting complex network organization of the IS community. Our propositions are refined with qualitative interviews and tested using a survey. This process revealed a collaborative research culture with several individual dispositions, including a strategic structural focus, a cognitive focus and a relational focus. These exist among actors displaying a range of differing behaviours such as active engagement and passive serendipity. Our study indicates individual differences at the conception stage of engaging in academic collaboration impact on the resulting network-level configuration. We identified that regional preference, maturity life cycles and lack of small-world properties highlight the important role of senior members as structural backbones and brokers within the IS community.

Exploring the Role of Virtual Worlds in the Evolution of a Co-creation Design Culture

A culture of co-creation in the design of services and products has emerged in global societies based on the recent pervasiveness of social media. The concept of co-creation design constitutes that individual members of communities engage in and contribute to products and services creation, along with organizational members. A relatively recent type of social media platform has been the availability of virtual worlds for co-creation design. Virtual worlds offer a three dimensional, interactive, persistent virtual environment for social interaction and collaborative design of content. This paper explores the concept of co-creation design in social media. Further it examines what more can be done with virtual worlds and how these can contribute to the evolution of the co-creation design culture. Finally we outline research questions and suggest a methodological approach to the study of cocreation design in social virtual worlds.

Application of the 3D Multi User Virtual Environment of Second Life to Emergency Evacuation Simulation

Virtual reality technologies have been used to simulate evacuation and training exercises. Sometimes it is chosen to simulate the entire environment. However, openly accessible 3D multi user virtual environments (MUVE) such as Second Life offer new opportunity for emergency evacuation simulation and training exercises. Our article presents lessons learned from the development of a model in a university building and trials conducted in evacuation simulation within Second Life. While human behavior differs from reality in simulated environments, we find that training exercises in Second Life did have real value.

An Experienced Austrian Educator's View on the 3-D Skills Implemented to Design and Integrate an Alien Mystery in OpenSim

With their playful game-oriented nature, virtual learning environments can form constructive ecosocial settings for enacting game-driven collaborative tasks that have real pedagogical, learning, and teaching implications. Even though multiple studies have been undertaken in virtual learning environments, there is a dearth of studies on the constellation of complex interrelated skills and knowledge that second or foreign language educators integrate in actual situated contexts to design and offer task-oriented game-driven learning activities. Building on Comptons 2009 framework, this study investigates the complex set of technological, pedagogical, and evaluation skills that an expert Austrian educator, Franziska integrated to design a multifaceted game-oriented plot in the virtual village of Chatterdale in OpenSim in order to engage thirteen-year-old Austrian and Norwegian high school students in oral interactions during three slightly different task-oriented quests to solve an alien mystery. Data analysis of an interview, reflective comments on a wiki, and follow-up emails indicate that the design and integration of an epistemic game in praxis forms a collaborative endeavor involving the integration of a set of complex and multifaceted sets of skills and knowledge. The study investigates the skills that emerged during two stages, the planning, preparation, and student training stage and integration stage. The findings of this study can be used to broaden the pedagogical discussion on the skills and knowledge that second or foreign language teachers need to acquire and apply to design successful playful task-driven learning quests in virtual learning environments.

Teachers' perceptions of virtual worlds as a medium for social inclusion for adults with intellectual disability.

Abstract Purpose: The aim of this research was to explore educators’ perceptions of a virtual world Second Life TM as an environment for social interaction and social inclusion for the Norwegian adult students with intellectual disability that they supported. Method: Five educators who supported a total of 10 adult students with intellectual disability in computer classes in community Adult Education Centres participated in individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a content analysis. Results: Participants were positive about Second Life although they did not perceive that it offered a successful context for social interaction or inclusion. They identified a number of benefits to using a virtual world and for students participating in virtual world research. Barriers identified included language, literacy, and technology issues along with the complexity of participating independently in a virtual world. Conclusions: Some people with intellectual disability can use virtual worlds but the skills required need additional research. Virtual worlds may provide a stimulating, safe, and exciting context for a range of activities but the level of support required by many people is high and consequently expensive. Implications for Rehabilitation Educators can use virtual worlds such as Second LifeTM with people with intellectual disability as an enjoyable medium to experience new activities and gain feelings of independence. People with intellectual disability can use Second Life with support and those with good literacy and computer skills can be trained to use it independently. Technology support is needed as virtual worlds are not easy to use for those who have problems with literacy or with speaking or reading English and if the virtual world platform is not stable, the ensuing problems with sound and/or images can be frustrating. Further research is required to explore how virtual worlds could be used to expand teaching programs and allow individuals to build on independent and new experiences in the virtual world safely.

Designing Virtual Collaboration Environment for Distance Learners: Exploring Socialization as a Basis for Collaboration

This study investigates perceptions of university college students towards a virtual collaboration environment and explores the concept of support for socialization as a necessary basis for a collaborative writing task. The paper describes distant students’ experiences of communicating and collaborating in a virtual world. The conceptual analysis is comprised of the theoretical perspectives of socio-constructivist learning and group processes are analyzed according to Time-Interaction-Performance (TIP) theory. Descriptive content analysis was used to analyze focus group data from 16 university college students, and the results were verified with participants. The findings show that although writing in the virtual world was hindered, students described in-world experiences of presence, awareness and belonging – considered to be important for the building of trust, negotiation of meaning and in fulfilling the collaborative task. Our results provide valuable implications for ways to increase well-being, member support and production in online collaborations.