Techlearning blog

If you've heard of Second Life, you've heard a story or two surrounding issues that make you cringe especially when pondering its educational potential: pornographic material, violence, harassment, fake identities, and more.

Of these issues, false representation of oneself and adult content in the hands of minors are chronic causes of concern especially for educators. Currently, Second Life (SL) has two grids: Teen and Main (adult). The Teen grid is for people age 13-17 and is off limits to adults unless you are an educator with special permission. The Main grid is for people 18 and older. Sounds great, right? Well, the problem is that there is no proof of identification requirement. To access either grid, one must simply put in the year of birth that meets the age specification of the grid and agree to the Terms set forth by Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life. This means that predators could be acting as teens in Teen SL. Big Problem! This also means minors could access the Main grid and adult content of all forms. Big Problem! This means that identity theft could occur on any grid. Big Problem!

These issues and stories surrounding them paint a pretty grim picture of Second Life and undoubtedly leave many educators taking the "not for me" perspective. This is understandable. Educational stakeholders must address the safety and ethical issues when looking at any potential tool. However, these issues cannot be address from the sidelines or the conversations will continue to focus on all of the problems NOT on how we as educators can turn these issues into goals. If they are, a potentially transformative tool will fall by the way side or even worse, be used despite these major safety and ethical concerns.

Remember when the Internet first came on to the scene in education? What were people saying? Yep, a lot of the same things that people are saying about Second Life. What would education be like today if people stayed on the sidelines when dealing with the Internet issues? Hard to imagine given that the Internet is a staple in many schools. Have the issues gone away? Absolutely not! The difference is that people are having goal driven conversation on how to minimize the risks and maximize the potential. This change in the Internet didn't happen overnight. It took more and more educators pushing to make it work, more and more educators working within the context of the Internet to help make it better for education.

The good news is that Linden Lab is finally acknowledging these issues and taking steps right now to minimize some of the problems. As of May 4, they announced a beta test of age and identification verification:

We will shortly begin beta testing an age and identity verification system, which will allow Residents to provide a one-time proof of identity (such as a driver’s license, passport or ID card) and have that identity verified in a matter of moments" (Linden 2007)

This move by Linden is welcomed and a great start. However, it is only a start and Second Life needs more educators and educational stakeholders to be involved.

Don't leave it in the hands of non-educators to determine how to solve these issues. Let's learn from the power of the Internet evolution and get into Second Life so that we can all work towards minimizing the problems and maximizing the potential. Get off the sidelines and into the MUVE (multi-user virtual environment)

See ya' in Second Life!

Existential Paine

Source

Linden, Daniel (2007, May 04). Age and identity verification in Second Life. Retrieved May 4, 2007, from Linden Lab Blogs Web site: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/04/age-and-indentity-verification-in-second-life/#more-946