April 2009 Archives

 Your Humble Servant had the privilege of participating in program on the justly-celebrated Orange Island, the which went by the name of Education Days, and speaking upon the abovenamed topic. There is a minute or two to wait, before the presentation is begun, and the viewer below may be set to begin at 15:00 to, as it were, cut straight to the chase

  Similar Kinematographickal representations of the whole day may be found at the following Aetheric Locale
http://www.orange-island.com/?page_id=2000

Descriptions of the 1st day's talks (and very worthwhile they were, too) may be seen here: http://www.orange-island.com/?p=1835#more-1835

Much praise to the goodly folk of Orange, in particular Jade Lily and the host of Education Days, M. Nick Rhodes

Gentlebeings, your servant
JJD

[11:04]  JJ Drinkwater: Welcome to "Structuring Support for Virtual Immersive Learning Experiences" !
[11:04]  JJ Drinkwater: Not much by way of introduction from me...
I'm JJ Drinkwater...and you will find a thumbnail Bio here....http://www.flickr.com/photos/drinkwater_of_caledon/1702633925/
[11:05]  JJ Drinkwater: And this is Mr Aldo Stern, Publican and Museologist
[11:05]  JJ Drinkwater: We'll be doing this presentation in chat, since voice seems a little...vexed, today. If it's behaving, we may try to answer questions in voice at the end
[11:05]  Corwin Howlett: BTW, local chat range is limited to (I think) 20 meters in SL - you may need to be in the seating area to be close enough to "hear" everything
[11:05]  JJ Drinkwater shouts: I want to start off by talking a little about self-directed learning in virtual immersion environments. This is not news to most of you, and I will go through it pretty fast.....
[11:06]  JJ Drinkwater will forbear to shout any further....
[11:06]  JJ Drinkwater: No surprise to those of you who work in SL that we've found that laying down a learning track is not the best use of this environment. SL is not a good kind of "courseware" for students to come in and passively absorb their lessons.
[11:06]  JJ Drinkwater: It's no news that the more actively a learner engages with the learning environment, the more they learn, but in SL it can be the crucial difference.
[11:06]  JJ Drinkwater: The strength of SL is in its open-endedness, and the way it facilitates exploration, creation, and collaboration -- in short, engages and invites engagement.
[11:07]  JJ Drinkwater: (what follows is just a précis - for a more thorough discussion, have a look here: http://www.thelibrarymilitant.net/from-the-directors-desk/2009/04/in-which-mr-drinkwater-says-a.html)
[11:07]  LizaJune Stoop: Are you encouraging us to respond via chat?
[11:07]  JJ Drinkwater: We are! Especially during the demo!
[11:07]  JJ Drinkwater: Immersive learning trades on the ability of environments to supply information.
Things like cause and effect, penalties and rewards, the perception of systems, of course, but also…
[11:07]  JJ Drinkwater: The environment helps us think through a problem, or explore an idea.
[11:07]  LizaJune Stoop: Please tell us how to copy the urls from the chat window (us newbies)
[11:07]  JJ Drinkwater: For instance, it helps us keep a bigger picture in mind, or presents us with appropriate matter for reflection. Essentially, you want to be around things that will spur subject-appropriate useful thoughts.
[11:08]  Corwin Howlett: People coming in just left click on a seat to sit
[11:08]  JJ Drinkwater: Comminicate button bottom left....Local Chat Pane...you can take a transcript of the whole talk
[11:08]  JJ Drinkwater: Please IM Corwin for more detailed exxplanations
[11:08]  Corwin Howlett: There is no sound for this session - it is being presented in chat
[11:09]  JJ Drinkwater: where was I...yes...
[11:09]  JJ Drinkwater: Immersive learning trades on the ability of environments to supply information.
Things like cause and effect, penalties and rewards, the perception of systems, of course, but also…
[11:09]  JJ Drinkwater: The environment helps us think through a problem, or explore an idea.
[11:09]  JJ Drinkwater: For instance, it helps us keep a bigger picture in mind, or presents us with appropriate matter for reflection.
[11:09]  JJ Drinkwater: Essentially, you want to be around things that will spur subject-appropriate useful thoughts.
[11:09]  JJ Drinkwater: (Compare this to the Classical era idea of memorization by "loci", of remembering things in reference to the visual image of a place, which the Renaissance thinker Giordano Bruno re-imagined as "The Palace of Memory")
[11:10]  JJ Drinkwater: How often have you heard someone say something like "When I saw the solution, I realized it had been there all along, I just had to connect the dots"?
[11:10]  JJ Drinkwater: The environment reminds us of what we already know, or connects new information to information we've already assimilated.
[11:10]  JJ Drinkwater: This idea, more humanistic than programmatic, is what we're going to explore today
[11:10]  JJ Drinkwater: SL has a unique ability to reinforce and enhance the learning experience through the experience of "playing" in an environment.
[11:10]  JJ Drinkwater: Role play (RP for short) has a very mixed reputation in educational circles - it conjures up the image of people running around with pointy ears and +5 Magic Dragon Slaying Doo-Dads ™ But to confine RP to that is to take a very complex phenomenon and reduce it to a single pop culture stereotype.
[11:11]  JJ Drinkwater: What I mean by RP is as simple as this: the participants in, say, simulation exercises are encouraged to think "In this situation, what could I do? If *this* happened, what would I do? If *that* happened, what would my options be?"
[11:11]  JJ Drinkwater: That kind of thinking is pretty basic to human functioning. For instance, it's nearly always involved in any kind of planning when there's uncertainty about what will happen.
[11:11]  JJ Drinkwater: I'll go so far as to say that at the root of that kind of thinking, there's a "what if" that is also part of our engagement with a great deal in the way of the products of the human imagination...
[11:11]  Corwin Howlett: I learned more thinking skills I use everyday from playing D&D than I did in 90% of my formal education.
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: Exactly!
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: ....literature, theater, all the explicitly narrative forms of art, but also depictions of situations in the visual and plastic arts.
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: What's a common form of praise for a vivid painting, like Renoir's Wave? "You can almost feel the spray" "It's like beingthere"
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: So that's the kind of ability, the aspect of how humans think and act, that we talk about leveraging with immersion, and roleplay.
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: Two very involving kinds of RP that I see developing in SL are Historical or Semi-historical RP, and Literary RP.
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: I lump them together because they overlap, and because they draw on source materials in similar ways.
[11:12]  Viv Trafalgar nods "and people opt to research, so they don't look gooftastic in front of their colleagues."
[11:12]  JJ Drinkwater: In both cases the environments are constructed to give the feeling of being in some definite milieu, in a conceived-of place, and time: Victorian England, Versailles, a Dakota town in 1876, the Grey Havens from *The Lord of The Rings*, the Starship *Enterprise*.
[11:13]  JJ Drinkwater is Gooftastic and proud
[11:13]  Viv Trafalgar: XD
[11:13]  JJ Drinkwater: This conceived-of place , this locale, is the site of interactions that take place, and the context for the interactions is drawn from the "documentation" for the locale, be it a novel or a body of historical research.
[11:13]  JJ Drinkwater: Those of you who have ever visited a re-enactor event, or a historical interpretation center like Plimoth Village , in Plymouth MA, can guess what a great deal of research goes into the "improvisations" of the participants:
[11:13]  JJ Drinkwater: they research clothing styles, speech, cooking methods, contemporary opinion of world or local events, in short, all the things that make up an historical context.
[11:14]  JJ Drinkwater: The same goes for, for instance, actors at Renaissance Faires, who may not be drawing on specific event, but still need knowledge of all the stuff of the history of everyday life to perform their "what-ifs"
[11:14]  Corwin Howlett: The most "educational" events we have done in Land of Lincoln nearly all involved some element of role-play
[11:14]  JJ Drinkwater: You probably see where I'm going with this train of thought: this kind of exploration, while not trivial to achieve, is very possible in SL. Although it's easier to do in the digital than in hand-wrought iron and homespun linen, the need for historical knowledge is the same, and therefore the motivation to explore history is the same.
[11:14]  JJ Drinkwater: Imagine warning Lincoln! "Mr Presidenrt! Duck!"
[11:14]  Corwin Howlett: where we try to provide a historical "experience" rather than an exact re-enactment
[11:15]  JJ Drinkwater: By the same token, if you want to try to imagine what one character from a story, or a story world, would have said to another, you need to deeply engage with the narrative, whether it's a text like *Lord of the Rings*, a movie like *The Seventh Seal*, a series like *Firefly*, or a mythos like Arthur and Camelot
[11:15]  JJ Drinkwater: And this is where I'll let Aldo take over...
[11:15]  Aldo Stern: As JJ points out, the immersion environment in a virtual space, holds the ability to reinforce and enhance a learning experience through the process of "playing" in the environment...
[11:16]  Aldo Stern: ...allowing the participants to “get inside the subject”
[11:16]  Aldo Stern: However, for that to happen there has to be, at the heart of the experience, something to learn, and a means of facilitating access to that content.
[11:16]  Aldo Stern: In essence it is less likely for that process of self directed learning to flourish and succeed unless there are structured elements provided by the communities to support the experience with content, and just as importantly, an evaluative perspective on that content.,
[11:17]  Aldo Stern: When a diverse population from widely differing backgrounds, locales, and educational systems and traditions are drawn together to form a community within an immersion environment...
[11:17]  LizaJune Stoop: Right on...
[11:17]  Aldo Stern: many of those coming into this situation can substantially benefit from having access to solid reliable sources for well researched information and carefully thought-out interpretation of the data...
[11:17]  Aldo Stern: and some guidance in obtaining and utilizing that access.
[11:17]  Aldo Stern: Even self-directed learning is enhanced through the presence of some form of structure.
[11:18]  Aldo Stern: There are some very exciting places in SL where a variety of structures have evolved in support of individual and shared learning processes

--places like Caledon and Deadwood, for example...
[11:18]  LizaJune Stoop: Sounds very Montessorian...
[11:18]  Aldo Stern: where there have evolved several forms of structured means of presenting content and sources, and evaluating, interpreting and sharing it:
[11:18]  Aldo Stern: yes good analogy Liza
[11:18]  Aldo Stern: Among the most successful of these structures that support the learning process are the community libraries, online forums, and in-world presentations in the form of classes, lectures, or guided discussions.
[11:18]  Aldo Stern: The success of these structures depends upon the participation of individuals with some specialized knowledge, either of the actual subject matter in question...
[11:19]  Aldo Stern: ... or who are equipped with the means to locate and evaluate information and sources that will enhance the learning experience, as well as the “play” in immersion environments.
[11:19]  Aldo Stern: These people, because of their particular knowledge and or skills serve as “guides” within the context of the structures that support the learning experience in immersion environments.
[11:19]  Aldo Stern: As an example of that type of individual who is key to this process, I would like to introduce a colleague of ours from the Deadwood sim, Diogenes Aurelia Kuhr...
[11:19]  JJ Drinkwater begins to look a trifle nervous
[11:19]  Aldo Stern: As a demonstration of the role of the learning “guide” we have asked Miz Dio to present an abbreviated variation of her discussion on “How to Cuss Like a Mark Twain Character,” a presentation that she developed to support and enhance the interaction in the Deadwood 1876 sim...
[11:19]  Aldo Stern: ...as it was determined that one of the most useful and easily accessible sources for examples of 19th century working-class western vernacular can be found in Twain’s stories...
[11:19]  JJ Drinkwater: ...um, are sure that's a good idea?
[11:20]  Aldo Stern: oh? May I ask why?
[11:20]  JJ Drinkwater fidgets
[11:20]  JJ Drinkwater: On account of how...well I must confess I'm a little bit scared of Miss Dio...and...
[11:20]  Diogenes Kuhr: Oh hell’s britches! o’ course it's a goddamn good idea, ye puffed-up, tin-plated lil’ jackanape!!!!
[11:20]  JJ Drinkwater protests feebly, "Ah, really Mr. Stern, I am not convinced that this is the *best* use of our limited time..."
[11:20]  Corwin Howlett: lol
[11:20]  Viv Trafalgar chuckles
[11:21]  Diogenes Kuhr: What the hell are you prattlin’ on about, ye spit-dribblin’ puke?! Holy Moses on the mountain , ye think I ain't goddamned fit to pontificate at a passel o’ big bugs like these?
[11:21]  Corwin Howlett wants to hear some serious cursing
[11:21]  LizaJune Stoop: Boy always have loved to swear...
[11:21]  JJ Drinkwater: I merely meant, Ma'am, that the full vigour of your undoubted, frontier wit might be a trifle...mearly a trifle....more than these ladies and gentleman might be able to bear, just before lunch...
[11:21]  Diogenes Kuhr: Now goddammit, listen up, you feckless, book-shuffling coxcomb, I was spoutin’ didactic wisdom o’ biblical proportions whilst you was still strugglin’ with yer damned M’Guffey’s First Reader!
[11:21]  JJ Drinkwater whiffles
[11:21]  Diogenes Kuhr: So kindly jus' hush the hell up an’ let the goddamn adults do some talkin’ or sure as Satan’s fire awaits me, I damned well shall come o’er there, rip yer arm from its socket an’ beat ye into silence with the sonofabitch!
[11:22]  Diogenes Kuhr: *grins* allright Hon, now it’s y er turn...
[11:22]  JJ Drinkwater fingers his collar
[11:22]  JJ Drinkwater: You’re not going to hit me are you?
[11:22]  Diogenes Kuhr: no Hon, o’ course not. But now you need to respond in kind...it’s really simple.
[11:22]  Diogenes Kuhr: You’ve read Mark Twain haven’t you? “Life on the Mississippi,” “Roughing It.” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” perhaps? All have good examples of slightly cleaned up 19th century western cussing that should do nicely in helping you build a good reply.
[11:22]  Diogenes Kuhr: you see, Hon, in 19th century roleplay, if you want to use oaths, colorful language, and outright profanity to express yourself in an effective and entertaining way, just look to Samuel Clemens, the great Mark Twain...
[11:23]  Diogenes Kuhr: ...who in his earlier life worked as a steamboat pilot on the western rivers...
[11:23]  Diogenes Kuhr: and then, after a brief stint in a confederate militia unit at the beginning of the Civil War--during which he came to realize he was not cut out to be a soldier--he went west to Nevada
[11:23]  JJ Drinkwater makes a note
[11:23]  Diogenes Kuhr: He worked in mining camps, first trying his luck as a prospector, lumber speculator, and ultimately newspaper man in the 1860s
[11:23]  Diogenes Kuhr: Failing at all these, he went on to become a writer and one of his first great works, “Life on the Mississippi.”
[11:23]  Diogenes Kuhr: That recounting of his days as a “cub pilot”--a river pilot in training--serves us with many good examples of mid-19th century American cussing
[11:24]  Diogenes Kuhr: So while most of us are but poor amateurs in the art, Twain had the chance to learn the art of cussin' from masters: riverboatmen, miners and soldiers.
[11:24]  Diogenes Kuhr: And it became an important part of his everyday life: Twain in fact, loved to swear...
[11:24]  Diogenes Kuhr: and not just with simple profanities--which did have their place in how he coped with daily life--but more importantly, with cussing that took the form of long colorful phrases that were in his words, "ornamental"
[11:24]  Diogenes Kuhr: Now, we do have to admit that generally in his writing, much of the cussing is actually substantially tamed down--the word “dashed” being used instead of "damn" or "goddamn" or the other terms, but it gives you a clear idea of where he was going with his “ornamental” vocabulary.
[11:24]  JJ Drinkwater writes down "Vulgarity and invective"
[11:24]  Diogenes Kuhr: The one example we know of a complete unedited Twain curse comes from a secondary source which quoted him as referring to someone he disliked as "a quadrilateral, astronomical, incandescent son of a bitch"
[11:24]  LizaJune Stoop: 1869 rap?
[11:25]  Diogenes Kuhr: You must admit, that's beautiful stuff. But one person in his life who did not appreciate his actual swearing was his wife Livy, who on one occasion, after overhearing him swear, took him aside and repeated every part of the colorful obscenity, word for word.
[11:25]  Diogenes Kuhr: Twain listened a moment and asked, “Livy, did it sound like that?”
[11:25]  Diogenes Kuhr: She replied it did and that she just wanted him to hear how it sounded.
[11:25]  Diogenes Kuhr: He replied, "Livy, it would pain me to think that when I swear it sounds like that. You got the words right, but you don't know the tune"
[11:25]  Diogenes Kuhr: His point was that true swearing was not just the words, but required theatricality and so much more.
[11:25]  JJ Drinkwater: (Lizajune, a very apt analogy)
[11:26]  Diogenes Kuhr: Let's look at some of the phrases from “Life on the Mississippi” and consider how they were constructed.
[11:26]  Diogenes Kuhr: Samuel Clemens was apprenticed to a old river pilot named Bixby, whom he described in the book as an officer who would not simply tell a crewman to "move a gangway forward," but would do so in the following manner:
[11:26]  Diogenes Kuhr: “WHAT IN THE NATION ARE YOU SONS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, YOU HEIRS OF PERDITION DOIN THERE? STOP FOOLIN ABOUT! DASH IT TO DASH WHERE ARE YOU GOIN WITH THAT? GET IT FORWARD AFORE I MAKE YOU SWALLOW IT YOU DASH-DASH-DASH-DASH-SPLIT BETWEEN A TIRED MUD TURTLE AND CRIPPLED HEARSE HORSE!
[11:26]  Diogenes Kuhr: The “dashes were, of course the actual profanities. And with regard to the profanities of that era, the most serious cussing was religious in nature:
[11:26]  JJ Drinkwater starts in alarm
[11:26]  Corwin Howlett would like to learn to swear like Mark Twain
[11:26]  Diogenes Kuhr: “goddamn,” or “damned,” or anything that was blasphemous was far more outrageous and shocking than a “fuck” or “shit,”
[11:27]  Diogenes Kuhr: Those words certainly were used as well, but more often as vulgarisms than as true profanity: using words like “fuck,” “shit,” or “cockchafer,” “cocksucker,” etc were merely an indication of being unconcerned with the niceties of life--they established a person as being from the less polite segments of society.
[11:27]  Diogenes Kuhr: But using “damned,” “goddamned, ” or any reference to the devil or hell....that was truly shocking. And so, being truly shocking....
[11:27]  Diogenes Kuhr: They got used a lot, just as they were in my opening example.
[11:27]  Diogenes Kuhr: Although using vulgarisms marked one as a “rough” character or member of the working classes, ornamental swearing was something that people of all ages, and social levels could use.
[11:27]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: this is the greatest thing i have ever heard
[11:27]  Diogenes Kuhr: Twain writes in LOTM about nearly hitting a flatboat with their steamer, and the occupants of the boat--including men, women and children--offered up such compliments as "whar'n the h...l you goin' to! Cain't you see nothin' you dash-dashed aig-suckin, sheep stealin’, one eyed son of a stuffed monkey!"
[11:27]  JJ Drinkwater: (Apparently being on the water inspires such raillery - we read in Samuel Pepys' diary that when one was being ferried about by the Watermen on the Thames river, in the London of his day, the custom was to exchange epithets freely with passengers in other boats, with ladies and gentlemen using language such as they would never dream of employing when they met in some other setting.)
[11:27]  Viv Trafalgar hushes Bob.
[11:28]  Diogenes Kuhr: And a curse or an oath could also be used for more than just insulting or commenting negatively, as when another pilot watched Bixby do an exceptional maneuver with his boat, and commented, "By the shadow of death, but he's a lightning pilot!"
[11:28]  Diogenes Kuhr: Isn’t great use of language? Simple, elegant, not even profane, but forceful, and certainly colorful and imaginative...and therefore all the more meaningful
[11:28]  Diogenes Kuhr: Even middling people in this period were periodically exposed to rich language, having the opportunity and inclination to read and enjoy such things as Shakespeare, Milton, the Bible, and translations of classical works such as The meditations of Marcus Aurelius or Caesar's commentaries, and this influenced how they spoke and wrote themselves...
[11:28]  Diogenes Kuhr: In actual sources we can find today, we find examples where a fellow who was feeling poorly, rather than saying "I felt like crap," commented, “I felt like a skinful of dry bones, and all of them trying to ache at once."
[11:28]  Diogenes Kuhr: Or, in addressing someone he disliked, the 19th century man might say something like "Well, taking you by and large, you do seem to be more different kinds of an ass than any creature I ever saw before."
[11:28]  Diogenes Kuhr: Now lets quickly look at how you make a true high quality ornamentally offensive phrase
[11:29]  Diogenes Kuhr: The first consideration is your choice of words: to get the most impact you would display your command of vocabulary. For example, let’s say two fellows are facing off, cautiously preparing to fight. You could try to egg them on by saying to one of them, "Hey, you gonna wait fer that feller to die on his own?”
[11:29]  Diogenes Kuhr: Yes, you could say that, but even better, you might say something like, “Sweet Jeezus an’ his lil donkey! ye gonna do somethin’ or are you gonna wait fer that sonofabitch to expire from old age?"
[11:29]  JJ Drinkwater writes down "Descriptive, with knobs on"
[11:29]  Diogenes Kuhr: ...to “expire” is more engaging than to simply “die.” And “son of a bitch’ was a particularly popular term at the time, and implies a delightful degree of contempt.
[11:29]  Diogenes Kuhr: So word choice is the first step..then you must consider the all important adjectives...
[11:30]  Diogenes Kuhr: In describing an instance of being cussed out by Mr. Bixby, Twain explained that "my gunpowdery chief went off with a bang of course, then went on loading and firing until he was out of adjectives"
[11:30]  Diogenes Kuhr: Quality cussing requires descriptors, lots and lots of them: ideally, you should not call a man just a “fool,” but a “dirt eatin’, spit-dribblin’ fool”
[11:30]  Diogenes Kuhr: Black Bart the famous poet stage robber, described his pursuers not just as "sons of bitches," but as “fine haired sons of bitches"...

and no, I don't know exactly what it means either....but goddamn it sounds great!
[11:30]  JJ Drinkwater notes ........"force of expression.....
[11:30]  Diogenes Kuhr: And the more adjectives that can be strung together, the better!
[11:30]  Diogenes Kuhr: But the black Bart quote brings us to another point: context and meaning. Whatever Bart meant by that...it sure as hell was insulting--his words oozed contempt.
[11:30]  Diogenes Kuhr: This desire to insult the recipient of the tirade can sometimes be reinforced by the usage of regional or occupational slang which would increase the impact of the phrase in a particular context...
[11:31]  Diogenes Kuhr: For example when one of Twain's rivermen calls someone a “mud-eating, toad-faced puke,” that sounds pretty insulting in and of itself. But in a certain context it is even more contemptuous. At that time on the Mississippi river, the recipient would most likely be aware that a puke is not just a person of little value:
[11:31]  Diogenes Kuhr: “Puke” is a particular slang term in the 19th century for a rustic resident of the Missouri...like a hillbilly, only worse
[11:31]  JJ Drinkwater: ...."Vernacular expression"
[11:31]  Diogenes Kuhr: ...and when you add in the elements of “eating mud”--as from a riverbank--and a “toad face”--not only ugly, but also a non-swimming critter--you have a pretty nasty insult from a riverman's perspective
[11:31]  Diogenes Kuhr: context is important...the meaning of words can increase the impact of the curse or oath if you know the specific meaning, though that meaning that might not be immediately apparent today
[11:32]  Diogenes Kuhr: Finally, let's talk about structure...the structure of a really good cussing might include any of the following:
[11:32]  Diogenes Kuhr: “The exclamation”

You open with an exclamation like "by the shadow of death!” or “Holy Moses on the mountain!”...it should be emphatic and ideally, blasphemous, such as “Holy Angels and Saints!”
[11:32]  Diogenes Kuhr: That gets the attention of the listeners and hopefully alerts them that something of interest and artistic value is about to commence.
[11:32]  Diogenes Kuhr: The next structural element is the descriptive identifier: who or what is this tirade addressed to or directed at?
[11:32]  Diogenes Kuhr: In this element you might announce that this your cussing is in reference to “that low-born, bug-eyed, mealy-mouthed, tinplated son of a bitch”
[11:32]  Diogenes Kuhr: This may then be followed by a question or statement: “Is he ever gonna shoot that feckless turd or is he gonna wait fer him to expire of old age?” or perhaps, “are you going to get that plank forward or do I make you swallow it?”
[11:33]  Diogenes Kuhr: This is followed by either the comparative conclusion, such as, “you are as slow as goddam molasses in January.”

...or the imperative conclusion...essentially an “or else” in which the implication of violent action is frequently used as an effective heightener. This is where cussing has practical as well as recreational and entertainment value
[11:33]  Diogenes Kuhr: For example when you say, “Now move those goddamn barrels or you will wish you had never stepped out from yer momma’s womb,” not only can you have fun saying something like that, but hopefully it also produces the desired result in getting the barrels shifted to where they belong.
[11:33]  Diogenes Kuhr: Ultimately, the key to success in cussing like a Mark Twain character is to enjoy playing with the language: rhythm is key--the cussing should flow and be like a form of poetry...
[11:33]  Diogenes Kuhr: Alliteration is always good: using something like “despicable dunderheads” or “bow-legged bastards” makes the cussing fun to say as well as to hear.
[11:33]  JJ Drinkwater: ( Alliteration's use for emphasis, in English, go back at least as far as the Alliterative verse of the Middle Ages, of which "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is one notable example)
[11:33]  Diogenes Kuhr: yep -- the 19th century ornamental use of language is drawing on a substantial literary tradition to frame its various elements...

And if you put those elements all together, you are on your way to spewing some ornamental cursing such as would make Samuel Clemens proud.
[11:33]  LizaJune Stoop: No wonder they had so many duels...
[11:34]  Diogenes Kuhr: Now Hon, think yer ready to take a stab at some creative application o colorful verbage here?
[11:34]  JJ Drinkwater: If these ladies and gentlemen will be so good as to indulge us, Madame, and forgive any little irregularities of speech that might happen to occur in our interlocutions, I am game.
[11:34]  JJ Drinkwater bows to the audience
[11:34]  Diogenes Kuhr: oh come on pard, they look like they're up to it..mebbe some o them might like to take a turn at it as well
[11:35]  JJ Drinkwater resigns himself, and girds his vocabulary for what is to follow
[11:35]  Diogenes Kuhr: Dio: an' goddammit Hon, stop actin’ so goddamn stiff an formal-like, as if ye bin kicked in the jingle-bobs! Callin’ me “madame,”
[11:35]  Diogenes Kuhr: humph! Last time some prancin’ dandy called me that I tol’ the hapless walleyed cockchafer if’n called me such again I'd cut his heart out an’ feed it to the goddam coyotes
[11:35]  JJ Drinkwater frowns
[11:35]  JJ Drinkwater: Why you vile bog-bred billingsgate hussy! How dare you use such language with me?
[11:35]  JJ Drinkwater: The very idea!
[11:35]  Diogenes Kuhr: *sigh* gettin there Hon, keep trying
[11:36]  Diogenes Kuhr: remember..start with the exclamation...like... Sweet jeezus on roller skates! ye billingswhatever hussy...
[11:36]  JJ Drinkwater alternately scribbles and chews on his quill
[11:36]  Diogenes Kuhr: and then you end maybe with a comparison..like..”yer vocabulary is enough to peel the paint off a outhouse door...”
[11:36]  JJ Drinkwater begins to feel some indignation "BY the lord Harry, Miss Khur! This will not DO!"
[11:37]  LizaJune Stoop: Real Melodrama...
[11:37]  Diogenes Kuhr: gettin there Hon, not bad fer a greenhorn
[11:37]  JJ Drinkwater: By St Swithin's elbows, you loathsome, degraded, American defiler of the King's English, such talk is unspeakable!
[11:37]  JJ Drinkwater: Greenhorn, am I? A fig for you, Miss Barking Kuhr! How dare you pollute the ears of this company with such monstrous utterances? Why, the very air turns black as Beelzebub's bowels when you speak!
[11:37]  Corwin Howlett: by St. Brigid's tender arse, would you long-winded, english as a second language speaking amateurs quit cher lip flappin' and teach us something about immersive environments before Second life becomes THIRD LIFE???!
[11:37]  JJ Drinkwater warms to his task "You give voice to infection, and plagues and murrains rain down upon the land, the very skies revolt at it! Your infamous language will cause crops to fail, and kine to give birth to monstrosities, yea, from Beachy Head to Babylon!"
[11:38]  Lorri Momiji: Or as Shakespeare might say: You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, you bull's-pizzle, you stock-fish--you tailor's-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck! -O for breath to utter what is like thee!
[11:38]  JJ Drinkwater feels he *is* yet perhaps a touch too Shakespearian
[11:38]  You decline *Mystery Manor, Info Island (181, 160, 33) from A group member named Max Batra.
[11:38]  Corwin Howlett: how did I do?
[11:38]  Diogenes Kuhr: hmm headin a little to sheaksperean there Hon..Twain warn't too fond o the bard ye know
[11:38]  Lorri Momiji: Shakespeare - Henry IV Part 1 :) not mine!
[11:38]  Diogenes Kuhr: *laughs* aw hell any o ye out there care to help him out?
[11:39]  JJ Drinkwater appeals to the audience for aid....
[11:39]  Serafina Puchkina looks at Bob
[11:39]  Lebachai Vesta is too busy laughing to be of much assistance
[11:39]  LizaJune Stoop: Not me. I'm hornswaggled.
[11:39]  Diogenes Kuhr: c'mon ye know yer itchin to try it
[11:39]  JJ Drinkwater makes a note of "Hornswaggled"
[11:39]  LizaJune Stoop: Is a pizzle related to a prick?
[11:39]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: Hells Bells and buckets of blood theres no point helping that manky faced milksop with anything but sitting him in a ditch and shovelling his own shiy til we can't hear him no more!
[11:39]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: *shit
[11:40]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: :D
[11:40]  Diogenes Kuhr: not bad!
[11:40]  JJ Drinkwater takes a deep breath "Sweet suffering cats and double-distilled hellfire, you disreputable, gin-swilling, saucebox slattern!
[11:40]  JJ Drinkwater: How in TARnation do we put an end to this blithering, biscuit-brained, foul-mouthed flapdoodle?
[11:40]  JJ Drinkwater: Why, I'd sooner listen to a polecat caught in a molasses boiler than to endure another second of your talkin'.
[11:40]  JJ Drinkwater: If I wasn't a gentleman, I'd be tempted to applicate a gen-u-ine patented Dr. Miracle's mustard-plaster over your mouth till you was so full up of that swamp-gas swearifying it dribbled out your horripilated ears and spoiled your ugly dime-store bonnet!
[11:41]  Lorri Momiji: by Jove, I think he's got it
[11:41]  LizaJune Stoop: And we're learning what from this?///??
[11:41]  Diogenes Kuhr: heehee, by Gawd, I do belive he's goddam got it
[11:41]  JJ Drinkwater bows in token of his perfectly inexpressible gratification.
[11:41]  Aldo Stern: Thank you for indulging us in that demonstration, we hope that you caught the idea that while we were having fun with a subject, the discussion was carefully structured and thought out, and it introduced a number of historical themes and directed the audience to the appropriate literary sources--
[11:41]  Corwin Howlett is not sure this transcript will get posted to the website. :)
[11:41]  Viv Trafalgar Applauds and nosepinches simultaneously
[11:41]  Aldo Stern: I also want to point out that our “guide” in that example, Miss Kuhr, comes from a background in theater and history, and put considerable time and effort into the research for the discussion...
[11:41]  JJ Drinkwater: (A transcript of this session will be up shortly on http://www.thelibrarymilitant.net/from-the-directors-desk/)
[11:42]  Corwin Howlett: :)
[11:42]  Aldo Stern: we should also add that when this talk was presented in-world, the event included a considerable amount of questions and interaction from an enthusiastic audience throughout the talk as well as at the end.
[11:42]  Corwin Howlett: :)
[11:42]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: surprised that fop's got anything but creeping siphalitic crack rats picked up from the docks penny ass whores
[11:42]  Aldo Stern: Discussions, lectures...any presentations like this are only one aspect of the structure that can be created to support the learning experience in the virtual environment.
[11:42]  Aldo Stern: Another element of this is that some of the communities have online forums, such as Deadwood’s “theroadtodeadwood.com” where other discussions are held, information is shared, and transcripts of discussions and lectures can be posted.
[11:42]  Aldo Stern: These forums can in effect become like a wiki--or literally have a wiki function built in--through which information is collected, expanded and debated by the residents, and all the residents are encouraged to do research...but to do so, they can benefit from some structured form of guidance in locating the sources for that research....
[11:42]  JJ Drinkwater makes a note to speak with Bob later...in anice dark alley somewhere
[11:43]  Aldo Stern: ...which brings us to the ever expanding role of the community libraries ...and to address that, I would like to turn this conversation back over to JJ
[11:43]  LizaJune Stoop: Certainly is entertaining...
[11:43]  Diogenes Kuhr: can I set down now?
[11:43]  JJ Drinkwater: As we have run a little longer than we intened...I will post the rest of what I had to say...and take questions, if there are any

JJ
So, what do librarians do, to support this?

I'm involved with a loose group of community-based libraries in SL, the Alexandrian Free Library. We include all sorts of libraries, but the core is libraries created to serve RP and "themed" communities here.

We tailor our collections to the specific needs and interests of the community. Simple, right?

In concept, anyway.

Analogous to a "Community of Practice", I think of this kind of patron group as a "Community of Interest" Think of creating a library to serve a writer's  colony…where all the writers are historical novelists, or write about highly detailed fantasy worlds.

Libraries have a long history of assembling collections of resources with a specific focus, and a themed community library is just this kind of special library, *but* with collections hybridized in an interesting way, to reflect the interestingly hybrid set of preoccupations that, quite literally, come with the territory.

When we evaluate resources, we start with the usual criteria of authoritativeness , completeness,  and ease of use, but we  try to be wisely selective and wisely inclusive, too.

Authoritativeness is easy, of course, with primary source material. Fortunately, more and more available, as numerous digitization projects take hold, and sources like the Hathi Trust and the Internet Archive are invaluable to us.

So if a text is easily readable from Gutenberg, but the illustrations or original typography is of interest and we can find a digitized copy, we'll often supply both.  We also are willing to supply just a few pages from an original, too, if they're of use as an example.

 The call is always harder to make with secondary materials, and we have a rough hierarchy:
 
   academic sites and other scholarly treatments, materials from peer-reviewed OS journals, carefully tended sites like the Victorian Web or Biblioddyssey…and on down to hobbyist sites of the more, ah, dedicated (not to say fanatical) kind, and aggregator sites like About.com and Wikipedia. 

But, really, it comes down to vetting each resource on its merits - if we think someone AOL homepage has material that will be of interest to our patrons, we'll  use it along with more verifiable sources.

Important finding: be as eclectic in your sources as the community is. Blogs, wikis and other electronic ephemera that reflect the immediate concerns of the community are an invaluable asset, both for inclusion as resources, and as a way of keeping an eye on directions in which the interests of the community may develop.

With that, I think we'll open it up for questions….unless you just want to hear Miss Dio call me some more names…

Thank you!



[11:44]  JJ Drinkwater: So...questions?
[11:44]  Aldo Stern: well I think we had a vey good question...about what was was being learned here inthe demo...
[11:44]  Aldo Stern: any thoughts from our audience?
[11:44]  LizaJune Stoop: Have you don'e this with kids? How did they respond?
[11:44]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: this is the greatest lacture i have ever seen and have you filmed it?
[11:44]  Dreddpiratebob Streeter: *lecture
[11:45]  Viv Trafalgar: BOB!
[11:45]  Aldo Stern: no of course we haven't done it for kids--this is about adult learning
[11:45]  Aldo Stern: SL does have an age limit after all
[11:45]  JJ Drinkwater: did anyone happen to hear that?
[11:45]  Corwin Howlett: yes heard it just fine
[11:46]  LizaJune Stoop: The cyborgs from the last lecture don't care about the rules. There will be kids around here...
[11:46]  JJ Drinkwater: But, yes, what we are talking about here is adult learning
[11:46]  JJ Drinkwater: Are there more questions?
[11:46]  Aldo Stern: fostering self directed learning with stural elements to encourage and inpsire...
[11:46]  Aldo Stern: to reinforce
[11:47]  Aldo Stern: and to provide guidance in gaining access to resources
[11:47]  Lorri Momiji: can you talk a little more about the roleplay settings - any tools or environmental aspects that contributed to your RP lessons?
[11:47]  Corwin Howlett: are the deadwood and caledon sims open to the public?
[11:47]  JJ Drinkwater: Yes they are!
[11:47]  JJ Drinkwater: Caledon to all, deadwood with some slight restrictions
[11:47]  JJ Drinkwater: Deadwood asks for period attire
[11:47]  LizaJune Stoop: So, would you set up a role play in high school and ask the kids to come up with investives as homework?
[11:47]  Diogenes Kuhr: you should be aware that they also have very different kinds of rp going on
[11:48]  JJ Drinkwater: Caledon, well, anyone is welcome to join the fun!
[11:48]  Corwin Howlett: Lorri Momiji: can you talk a little more about the roleplay settings - any tools or environmental aspects that contributed to your RP lessons?
[11:48]  JJ Drinkwater: Yes, caledon is explicitly the 19th c *imagination*, no historical re-creation
[11:48]  JJ Drinkwater: Tools.....let me think....
[11:49]  LizaJune Stoop: Adults who are enrolled in a literature class have already decided to read the texts. Kids are likely to need more motivating environments...
[11:49]  JJ Drinkwater: generally....
[11:49]  JJ Drinkwater: So, what are the tools of RP and this kind of creation-focused imagining?

1) We can build environments that put us in mind of our conceived-of place, whether explicitly or merely by indication - that means building in SL, or working with builders

2) We can design and dress our avatars appropriately, when we have determined what that is - that means making clothes, or finding them here, or working with clothes designers

3) We can suit our words and our actions to the milieu - that means, besides typing and talking, gestures and animations.
[11:49]  JJ Drinkwater: I think that may not be as specific as you want, Miss Momijii
[11:50]  JJ Drinkwater: The materials we find...are generated by the communities
[11:50]  Lorri Momiji: I was just attempting to take this from text chat and imagine with audio and visuals as well
[11:50]  JJ Drinkwater: In this, in SL, the educators and librarians are not the leaders...we have joined in on what was already happening
[11:50]  JJ Drinkwater: Oh, I see!
[11:50]  JJ Drinkwater: Yes, it could be done with voice
[11:51]  LizaJune Stoop: Very impressive. Many thanks.
[11:51]  JJ Drinkwater: As well as in a settuing that was not a lecture hall
[11:51]  Corwin Howlett: To do a short evaluation of this conference , please click on this link http://tinyurl.com/dyalx6
[11:51]  JJ Drinkwater: Indeed, when it *is* done, it's done in a setting, where the "visials" asurround one
[11:52]  JJ Drinkwater: Or do you mean something yet different, Lorri?
[11:52]  Corwin Howlett: and it is amazing how the right setting a few good examples will get many to join in'
[11:52]  Corwin Howlett: we see this in Lincoln all the time
[11:52]  Corwin Howlett: people come not knowing rp is expected or will be happening, and many jump right in and enjoy themselves and add to their exerience of the event
[11:52]  JJ Drinkwater: Exactly, Corwin
[11:53]  Lorri Momiji: thanks, very interesting!
[11:53]  JJ Drinkwater: We are at the end of our time....but feel free to IM or email us with questions
[11:53]  Aldo Stern: sounds analgous to a rl lving hisory musuem situation Corwin
[11:53]  Corwin Howlett: sometimes
[11:53]  Corwin Howlett: it is a lot of work to do it
[11:53]  JJ Drinkwater: My email is in my "1st life" tab, and I will pass questions to Aldo and Dio
[11:53]  Viv Trafalgar: Thank you both!
[11:53]  Serafina Puchkina: thank you
[11:54]  Serafina Puchkina: this was great!
[11:54]  Abby India: Hey!
[11:54]  Aldo Stern: thank you

Gentlebeings

I am to present, with Miss Diogenes Kuhr and Mr Aldo Stern, a short lecture and demonstration, entitled "Structuring Support for Virtual Immersive Learning Experiences", at the conference you will find described here: http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds/index.htm

As is so often the case,  the very learned Mr. Stern will shoulder the greater burden, in explanation and analysis, and I will content myself with a few introductory and concluding remarks, as well as serving as a demonstration victim...er... partner for Miss Kuhr. 

I fear me I will have a good bit more to say that time permits, so I include here, for any who care to look, the text of a lecture given lately to a class in the use and assessment of Instructional Tools, through the offices of the good folk of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (whereof more may be known here: http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/VW/tools.html )