Caledon Oxbridge Q&A for 2013-11-03

14:52 Ravelli Ormstein if i remember right, Word will not come today.
14:52 Tali Rosca Ah, yeah.
14:52 Marion Questi Ah...
14:52 Tali Rosca We should capture logs.
14:52 Ravelli Ormstein yes
14:54 Ravelli Ormstein what about Martini?
14:55 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) She was inworld earlier
14:55 Tali Rosca She was here earlier, and I haven't heard anything about her *not* being here tonight.
14:55 Marion Questi I have not heard anything...
14:55 Ravelli Ormstein okay
14:56 Ravelli Ormstein Hello Miss Seriman
14:57 Gronk Seriman Good evening, Dean O!
14:58 Ravelli Ormstein Tali, have you already watched this one talk about the TOS which happened some days back?
14:58 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) LAdy Discovolante does not seem to be inworld now
14:58 Tali Rosca The one with the lawyers?
14:58 Ravelli Ormstein yes, from Designing Worlds
14:58 Tali Rosca I listened to some of it.
14:58 Ravelli Ormstein Hello Miss Air
14:59 Tali Rosca It's 3 hours long, so I haven't listened to it all.
14:59 Tali Rosca But I picked some of the interesting spots, and read some of the transcipts.
14:59 Ravelli Ormstein hm, must be a different then
14:59 Larkylurker (larkylouz) Hello everyone.
14:59 Tali Rosca Hello
14:59 Ravelli Ormstein Aloha Miss Larky
14:59 Marion Questi Welcome.
15:00 Ravelli Ormstein and Hello Mr Leakey
15:00 Diablo (russ.leakey) Hello.
15:00 Tali Rosca Let us give it a minute or two, and wait for stragglers.
15:02 Tali Rosca Well, it looks like a quiet evening.
15:02 Tali Rosca So
15:02 Tali Rosca Welcome to the weekly Q&A, where the deans of Oxbridge will do their best to answer question about Oxbridge, Caledon and Second Life in general.
15:02 Tali Rosca Each have their specialty and area of responsibility, which you can see here: http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/qna_index.php
15:03 Tali Rosca I don't think we have any special events to comment on for introduction this week, so let us launch straight into it.
15:03 Tali Rosca Any questions?
15:03 ClaireDeAir I have a question about the classroom
15:03 Tali Rosca Yes?
15:03 ClaireDeAir I would like to know if you can close the door
15:04 Marion Questi I'm afraid there is no door.
15:04 Marion Questi May I ask why you feel the need for one?
15:04 ClaireDeAir because every class I take here is interrupted by a noob
15:04 Tali Rosca Of all the on-the-fly modifications available, a door is not one of them.
15:04 ClaireDeAir so now I just walk in take a copy of what they put in the box, and leave
15:05 Marion Questi Well...this place exists to help newcomers. ..:)
15:05 ClaireDeAir yes but during a class?
15:05 Marion Questi This is not a good place to hang out if you dislike newcomers.
15:05 Marion Questi The instructor know how the handle them.
15:05 ClaireDeAir it is not so much the newcomers it is when they come in and disrupt a class
15:05 Tali Rosca Usually, it is easiest to simple ignore distractions.
15:06 Ravelli Ormstein well, having the Lecture Hall right here, has the advantage that everyone notices it.
15:06 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Griefers can be kicked
15:06 ClaireDeAir I block the noob if they start to bother people
15:06 Tali Rosca But if they persist, then yes, the instructor should be able to eject them.
15:06 Tali Rosca (And should do so)
15:06 ClaireDeAir indeed]
15:07 Tali Rosca Doors rarely have much use in SL, though.
15:07 ClaireDeAir They need to be ejected more often
15:07 Ravelli Ormstein well, we have discussed that topic sometimes. even if we should move the lecture hall to another corner of the region. but that would move the lecture out of the focus.
15:07 ClaireDeAir true
15:07 Tali Rosca If somebody is bent on disruption, it is unlikely that a closed door will stop them.
15:08 ClaireDeAir true, but most noobs are just learning how to troll
15:08 Tali Rosca But it may be worth circulating amongst the professors that they are invited to be a little eject-happy when people don't get it.
15:08 Tali Rosca Though in many cases, that is often taken as an invitation to war by the troll.
15:09 ClaireDeAir It would be nice if you had a skybox class room
15:09 Larkylurker (larkylouz) I often work behind the scenes to educate newbs who invade classes I'm present for. Most are just ignorant. We were all there once.
15:09 ClaireDeAir yes and no
15:09 Ravelli Ormstein that is the best way, Larky
15:10 ClaireDeAir when I was new I understood this was a class and just sat down
15:10 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Some newcomers need to be kicked ones and they behave.
15:10 Ravelli Ormstein i mean, to support the professor in the Lecture Hall
15:10 Tali Rosca One reason to keep it here is to keep some life in the sim, and make it obvious that things are going on.
15:10 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) They are just so used to running around in many games....
15:11 Ravelli Ormstein it might be their first lecture, that SL is different to games, and that they have to behave
15:11 Larkylurker (larkylouz) I did learn not to ask youngsters if they behave that way in school. Apparently they do!
15:12 ClaireDeAir lol
15:12 Gronk Seriman Ha!
15:12 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) One newcomer actually expected to be attacked if they would stand still...
15:12 Tali Rosca I do believe keeping things open and active (and visible) is the best choice for Oxbridge, but it may be worth keeping an eye out for how the balance skews.
15:13 Ravelli Ormstein attacked by questions :-)
15:14 Ravelli Ormstein perhaps we can move the 'Quiet Please' signs to the entrance of the Lecture Hall. they are at the pillars currently, perhaps overseen often
15:14 ClaireDeAir I was suggest a transparent doormat
15:15 ClaireDeAir when you step on it
15:15 ClaireDeAir or fly over it
15:15 ClaireDeAir you are sent text
15:15 Ravelli Ormstein good idea!
15:15 Tali Rosca I think many of the instructors lean towards the "ignore and continue" school of thought, but it may be worth thinking about how that looks to other newcomers, who haven't developed that mentality.
15:15 ClaireDeAir It could be any shape really doesn't have to be on the floor.
15:16 Marion Questi No, no. we ought not spam everyone who crosses the threshhold.
15:16 ClaireDeAir lol
15:16 ClaireDeAir Businesses use it sometimes.
15:16 Gronk Seriman An easel sign that appears in the entry way during class times, and disappears when class is over.
15:17 Tali Rosca Still, a sign in the doorway could be an idea? I am still not sure that those who want to cause disruption would be stopped by that.
15:17 Tali Rosca /me nods. "Exactly my thought, Gronk".
15:17 Gronk Seriman At least it will give the clueless a clue.
15:18 Ravelli Ormstein sooner or later we will rework the Lecture Hall. i do see some things which can be optmized. we will keep in mind then, to reduce the interruptions
15:18 Marion Questi That's not a bad idea. I could come up with a "Class in Session" sign which could be turned on by the instructor. That might at least keep out those of good will.
15:19 ClaireDeAir /me nods
15:19 ClaireDeAir let the sign be text on your viewer screen so to wait for it to rez maybe.
15:20 ClaireDeAir *"so no wait"
15:21 Larkylurker (larkylouz) I like the sign idea more than spamming new folks even more than we already do. Signed, Spammer
15:21 ClaireDeAir lol
15:21 Tali Rosca Experience says that most newbies are not *wildly* attentive to random text showing up.
15:21 Gronk Seriman "Class is in session. You are welcome to quietly join!"
15:21 ClaireDeAir aah ok
15:22 Tali Rosca I think we should run with the easel sign idea.
15:22 Tali Rosca Then we can see if that makes any difference.
15:23 Ravelli Ormstein we sometimes had one there, offering a Teleport or saying that class was canceled
15:23 Tali Rosca /me nods. "But we could make it standard. Appearing if faculty staff, say, touches the arch".
15:24 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) If the class was in the ATelier, for example.
15:24 Tali Rosca Like we for the building floor.
15:24 Ravelli Ormstein well, all in all, a point we will keep in our mind and work on it
15:24 Marion Questi We won't be able to eliminate all interruptions. Sometimes they don't speak English and it can be difficult getting them where they need to be.
15:25 Tali Rosca I'll poke some builders to come up with a nice sign (or create one myself).
15:25 Tali Rosca I think we should move on, and hear if there are other questions/issues?
15:25 Ravelli Ormstein yes
15:26 ClaireDeAir ooh do you have a library of notes form past classes?
15:26 Ravelli Ormstein well, we have chat logs of Q&A on our website
15:26 Ramon Ronin i have a question about making a presentation in SL
15:26 Tali Rosca Hm, not officially and centralized, to my knowledge.
15:27 Ravelli Ormstein http://www.caledonoxbridge.org/qna_index.php
15:27 Tali Rosca Some instructors have materials they can easily hand out from their lectures.
15:27 Tali Rosca But I think others don't have quite as handout-friendly material.
15:28 Tali Rosca But it could definitely be worth looking into gathering those which *can* easily be handed out.
15:28 Tali Rosca (Ramon, we'll take yours next)
15:28 Ramon Ronin i wondered if its possible to up load an MP4 and put it in the presentation board (a 1 min MP4)
15:29 Ravelli Ormstein you can't upload MP4 files
15:29 Marion Questi You can't upload video to a prim
15:29 Ramon Ronin ok that clears that up
15:29 Ramon Ronin one more related question
15:29 Marion Questi You can only display the video on a prim face...
15:29 Tali Rosca That's the *direct* answer to that question.
15:29 Ravelli Ormstein you could host a video file somewhere and define it as Media On A Prim inworld
15:29 Marion Questi But the video file must be hosted elsewhere.
15:29 Tali Rosca On a broader topic, though, there are *many* different ways you can get sound into SL.
15:30 Tali Rosca Small sound clips, parcel audio, media-on-a-prim.
15:30 Ravelli Ormstein if it an audio file, you can upload it only as WAV-files with a length of max 10 seconds
15:30 Ramon Ronin if i put a linkl on the board could 10 people watch it on youtube at yhe same time
15:30 ClaireDeAir yap
15:30 Ramon Ronin ok thanks
15:30 Marion Questi Correct
15:31 Tali Rosca If you use media-on-a-prim, you're essentially asking each client to fire up their own web browser (nicely shown on the prim surface), and watch a specific site.
15:31 Tali Rosca So yes. You do not, however, have any control over what they *do* on that website.
15:31 Ramon Ronin yes but that should work ok
15:31 Ravelli Ormstein people can watch it in SL, but they would not watch it simultaneous, except it is a live stream on Youtube as well
15:31 Tali Rosca So the video would not be in sync.
15:32 Ramon Ronin maybe ill be boring and they'l listen to music instead :)
15:32 Ramon Ronin i could just leave a bit of time for all to watch
15:32 Tali Rosca Just to round off the previous, I'll ask Wordsmith about which classes have fitting hand-outs, and see if we can gather those in a central box somewhere.
15:33 Ramon Ronin sorry if i butted in
15:33 Tali Rosca He is the Dean of Education, in charge of coordinating the classes.
15:33 Marion Questi But your original question concerned a "Presentation". We do slide shows in-world all the time. You just upload each slide as a graphic.
15:34 Ramon Ronin yes i have done that it was just the MP4 i was concerned about
15:34 Tali Rosca The way to sync such long streams would be to do actual streaming, and hook it to the parcel audio.,
15:35 Tali Rosca Then everybody in the area will hear what is currently playing on the stream.
15:35 Gronk Seriman But can that be done with video?
15:35 Ramon Ronin ok i can look into that thanks
15:35 Tali Rosca Yes, just as there is parcel audio, there is also parcel media.
15:36 Tali Rosca It's not used as often, but it works the same way.
15:36 Ravelli Ormstein pure audio streaming... i used Shout Cast for it. it took a while to set it up and it tent to crash sometimes, but it worked and didn't cost much performance.
15:36 Marion Questi Yes it does work with video. See the Media tab of the About Land.
15:36 Gronk Seriman I really wanted to watch some of the Blender conferences in the Village, but I couldn't get it to work for me.
15:36 Tali Rosca The Blender conference was media-on-a-prim.
15:37 Tali Rosca That was essentially pointing you to a website.
15:37 Ramon Ronin ok thanks everyone ... i
15:37 Marion Questi Of course you need to be the land owner to do the parcel media....:)
15:37 Ravelli Ormstein hm, you might have been there when the conference was off-line. It was streamed from Amsterdam, so on European day time.
15:37 Tali Rosca The parcel media is slightly different, using the built-in Quicktime to show a streaming vido.
15:38 Ramon Ronin I''ll check with the sim owners
15:38 Ravelli Ormstein on the Friday it used a live stream via Youtube. But Youtube crashed on Saturday, so we used a direct Flash stream from the conference center
15:38 Ravelli Ormstein but both as Media On A Prim, yes
15:39 Tali Rosca MoaP can be a little twitchy, because it's overly powerful and generic.
15:40 Tali Rosca It is literally a full browser.
15:40 Tali Rosca So it takes some configuration as to how a page should be stretched to fit the prim, and what happens when people navigate with links.
15:41 Tali Rosca Any other questions?
15:41 Ravelli Ormstein this direct stream was better for us in SL than the Youtube stream, which stopped after each presentation
15:42 Ravelli Ormstein the is a cat coming closer :-)
15:43 Ravelli Ormstein a cat with a hat
15:43 Ravelli Ormstein Hello Martini
15:43 Martini Discovolante /me waves.. .sorry to be so super late.
15:44 Tali Rosca It seems, though, that we're largely through the questions.
15:45 Marion Questi Welcome Dean Discovolante...:)
15:45 Martini Discovolante well i thot i should be better late than never.
15:46 Tali Rosca We got some input for a bit of organization of the classes.
15:46 Martini Discovolante how so?
15:47 Tali Rosca An idea about trying to cut down on the newbies barging in while there's a class going on.
15:47 Tali Rosca And a question about the availability of class materials.
15:48 Martini Discovolante newbies will do that, most just leave when ignored.
15:48 Larkylurker (larkylouz) I have a bit of concern about that second one. While I think it is a good idea, is it going to drastically affect how many people actually attend classes? If so, what does that do to Oxbridge?
15:48 Martini Discovolante and they leave faster if invited to stay!
15:48 Larkylurker (larkylouz) heee
15:48 Tali Rosca /me nods. "Most oldbies have that attitude, but I can see why it may look weird to new people who have not yet developed that."
15:48 Martini Discovolante what do you mean class materials?
15:49 Tali Rosca Some of the classes hand out the class materials; slides or whatever they use.
15:49 Martini Discovolante i do in Carls class, because that uis how he set it up.
15:50 Martini Discovolante but not in my class, because things change.
15:50 Tali Rosca The question is if it would make sense to collect those so they can be found in a central place.
15:50 Martini Discovolante adn i do not want bad infor out there
15:50 Martini Discovolante adn each class is different, at least for me, depending on who attends.
15:50 Tali Rosca /me nods. "That is definitely an issue. And I also think that in a lot of cases, such material is better as refreshers about a class you attended than as self-study".
15:50 Larkylurker (larkylouz) I do get requests for such a collection, at times. Some folks are unable to attend because of the time a particular class is schedules.
15:51 Martini Discovolante they ask questionsm, and often i expand on areas of their interest.
15:51 Larkylurker (larkylouz) *scheduled
15:51 Gronk Seriman Just a nice bookshelf in the corner of this room would be a nice place to display thiose materials. If the prim count doesn't get prohibitive.
15:51 Tali Rosca But I'll head Wordsmith if he has a good overview of which classes it would make sense for.
15:52 Tali Rosca If it is enough, I think it could be a good idea. If it is only a few, I think it would be more confusing to see something, but not what you're looking for.
15:52 Martini Discovolante we have tutorial books upstairs in the sandbox annex.
15:52 Tali Rosca But having the materials up to date is certainly an issue.
15:52 Martini Discovolante but -- most are outdated.
15:53 Tali Rosca To wit.
15:53 Martini Discovolante so i would not want my class materials out there for the same reason.
15:53 Tali Rosca Very good point.
15:54 Martini Discovolante the class has its own presence, the matials i hand out are standalone as reference material
15:54 Martini Discovolante and in that are cards for further study, as a third pway to learn
15:55 Gronk Seriman If you put them on the bookshelf after class, and delete what's on the shelf if you have newer materials, that would work.
15:55 Tali Rosca The old information people have already taken would still be out there.
15:55 Gronk Seriman True. THAT'S the incentive to come to class!
15:56 Larkylurker (larkylouz) Certainly, items should be marked with the update date.
15:56 Martini Discovolante i do not want people coming here to pick up a box and leave
15:56 Tali Rosca That
15:57 Tali Rosca That's the other issue.
15:57 Ravelli Ormstein yes, that would be more like Wikipedia then, but we are a virtual world, it lives from our actions
15:57 Tali Rosca I'd tend to lean towards thinking that the classes give them more than that, though.
15:58 Tali Rosca And as I said, I suspect that most material is better as refreshers for a class you took than for self-study, so I am not sure how many classes it would even make sense for in the first place.
15:58 Tali Rosca After all, if it's a full, self-contained tutorial... we should just post it on the Caledon site.
15:59 Gronk Seriman It's not like the bookshelf is an advertised Freebie Spot. People would have to come to class to even know and understand what the bookshelf is for.
15:59 Larkylurker (larkylouz) How much need is there to make some materials available for those who cannot attend classes on our California time schedule?
15:59 Gronk Seriman It could help the time-zone challenged, too.
15:59 Larkylurker (larkylouz) /me is playing devil's advocate
16:00 Tali Rosca Not much, I think, Larky. But if it helps some, why not?
16:00 Tali Rosca (And we have had a couple of good points for "why not").
16:00 Tali Rosca Now it's a matter of seeing the balance.
16:01 Larkylurker (larkylouz) It can't hurt to experiment and see where the chips fall. No reason it can't be stopped if the cons outweigh the pros.
16:01 Martini Discovolante tehn why bother to have classes?
16:01 Gronk Seriman And I understand Martini's stance. It's a voluntary thing for the professors.
16:02 Tali Rosca If the only reason we have classes is to trick people to listen to them before they can get the material they want, indeed, why have classes?
16:02 Martini Discovolante lets just set out boxes and forget about it. i could use my sundays back
16:02 Ravelli Ormstein well, 50% of SL residents are not from North or South America. That are those who can not attend our classes. But I would prefer to add classes for those, instead of offering class materials. A virtual world should be used as it.
16:02 Martini Discovolante 90% of them never do anything with the stuff anyway
16:03 Larkylurker (larkylouz) It takes a certain amount of discipline to use self-teaching materials. A lot of people wouldn't take advantage of that, in my experience.
16:03 Gronk Seriman Great point, Dean Ormstein.
16:04 Tali Rosca I'd like to get Word's input on this, though. He has a better overview of the material. My personal guess is that he'll say, "It doesn't really make sense for most of the classes we have".
16:04 Larkylurker (larkylouz) Yes, I agree, Gronk, but Dean Jarvinen has trouble finding professors for the classes we already have.
16:05 Tali Rosca I am not particularly worried that any text material will out-compete the classes. After all, it's not like there's a lack of text about SL.
16:05 Gronk Seriman Well, It's an "interesting idea". It remains to be seen if it's a "good idea".
16:06 Tali Rosca I think we should leave it as that tonight. I'll try to get a bit of input from the faculty.
16:07 Ravelli Ormstein seems we come to the end...
16:07 Tali Rosca So let us call it closed for tonight, yes.
16:07 Ravelli Ormstein Good night all, and many thanks for coming
16:07 Larkylurker (larkylouz) Thank you, everyone.
16:07 Marion Questi Thank you all for coming!
16:08 Friends of Caledon Oxbridge Donation Medallion Larkylouz Resident gave a generous donation to Friends of Caledon Oxbridge to help support classes, tutorials, & tier at Caledon's Oxbridge
16:08 Gronk Seriman Thank you, Deans!
16:08 Marion Questi Thank you Miss Louz!
16:08 Larkylurker (larkylouz) :^)
16:08 Tali Rosca I'm rather on the fence about the bookshelf idea.
16:09 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Okay, bedtime for me.
16:09 Tali Rosca I think there are many small issues with it. Each is not a showstopper, but they add up.
16:09 Ravelli Ormstein Good night Elfbiter
16:09 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Be seeing you
16:09 Marion Questi Goodnight.
16:10 Ravelli Ormstein good night all, tomorrow again