Week Nine

Continued my research on accessibility and Second Life, I have found it to be more thorough than I had first thought. Good articles on blind users on Second Life Wiki and there seems to be an advocacy component which helps in justifying this medium to people in the disability field. I also found someone (group) attempting to build a Guide Gog for users, I need to look more into this type of assistive tech along with OpenSource browsers. The only thing bothering me is the apparent lack of current writing on the subject, 2008 seems to be a stopping point for much of the discussion on accessibility.

Week Eight

This week was the beginning of the group project and the topic of accessibility in Second Life. It's interesting to hear others' take on what this means. Being in the disabilities and accessibility field, I've become rather set in how I see it; more an audience expanding feature with benefits to many than a micro fix to accommodate a few. The question always seems to come up about how could anyone with sensory disabilities benefit from using a 3-D environment? Good question. Legally and ethically, if you're offering a course, everyone should be able to take it. The real question is how do you know they don't want to experience it? Blind and deaf people partake in, and want to experience, visually and audio based entertainment like anyone else, so why not something like Second Life?

Week Seven

Got into a Group for the final project assignment. Hopefully we'll be doing it about accessibility, just haven't narrowed it down to a single issue. Maybe accessibility in Second Life? One of the journal articles I read, stated "virtual worlds are not accessible". I contacted the President of Virtual Abilities about doing part of our annual conference in Second Life at their island. She agreed and is giving me more info about the various formats our presenters can use. Hope this pans out.

Week Six

Had a fun week exploring new sims, with an emphasis on role-playing. The first 2 I went to (Avillion and Tombstone) were not for me. I couldn't attend the planned events because of the time difference and I wasn't that into the scene of the sim. I then went to ROMA and took the role playing event offered me, that of following a run away assistant to the chief librarian of ROMA. Got around the city, took a boat trip, and raced the Chariots. Also looked at some ruins and was able to see how the building changed through the centuries. Great site! I'm going back.