Week 12

Researching accessible features for Second Life (SL) has been eye opening and very encouraging. In the regular today-to-today part of my job, I have to deal with people who see this as more of a nuisance than any benefit to anyone. Having a whole new venue for people to use and be educated is exciting on many levels; it's also going to be a tough sell. People have a hard time "seeing" how anyone who has a sensory impairment, could enjoy SL they the way they do. Ironically, it's that way for the rest of their lives. Last Friday, I listened to a blind person describe all the obstacles she's had over her life (she was 55 years old), the biggest one was other people telling her what she could or could not do. This included her family and every employer she ever had. Hopefully, society will change its views.

Week 11

The design for the Final Group project is under way. The layout has a draft and we've begun to assign sims for everyone to create. The SL wiki has been very helpful in finding people working on various aspects of accessibility for SL, especially seeing impaired. This is without a doubt, the biggest hurdle to overcome with people's attitudes toward accessibility and Second Life immersion and the entire experience. Too bad we can't just ask a blind person what they think about it!

Week 10

This week's lecture by the Virtual Abilities Island people and see the other student's sims gave me an idea for our group project. The presentation needs to be utilizing the 3-D environment unique to SL. I'm going to propose having the learning stations separated by high walls and dark rooms, with the beginning ones narrow and expanding to larger, more accessible space as the learning process progresses. Sounds could be added with the music becoming lighter as it ends with a large open space surrounded with people.