Spring 2009
Category: Interaction Design
Our design class was tasked with creating a Second Life environment for a marine biology class. The professor taught long distance over video conference software and found difficulty in keeping his students engaged. He also had trouble conveying the experience of a research expedition through only words. We had to create a way for the students to virtually experience a research expedition. We had to have a boat on which students could ride around a virtual ocean and collect "samples" from a third party software streaming sampling information from data points in the ocean. Our work on this project led to a huge grant which UT used to create the largest Second Life presence of any university. The environment we designed was continually worked on the summer and was used by marine biology students in Fall 2009.
One of my tasks was to help design and code the interface the student would use to control the boat and collect samples. I had to learn the Linden scripting language and eventually contributed the timing device which controlled the assignment and helped figure out the boat steering commands.
My other job was to build "The Shack", the home base where the students would get information about their assignment, meet, and have virtual classes. The Shack also included a virtual bar, "The Dolphin Bar" where the exhausted researchers could kick back and order a Rum & Coke. To build The Shack I had to use Second Life's unique in game 3-D modeling system.