Each week’s blog is followed by a discussion session that I host in the virtual world of Second Life. While we use Second Life (SL) as a convenient, small-group communication platform, instead of using Skype or another videoconferencing service, others have found it provides a valuable virtual access to the outside world for many people who cannot get out into the physical outside world.
An article by W. J. Au caught my eye the other day. He said, “SL enthusiasts have tried promoting it as a platform for any number of real-world applications, such as remote conferencing and architecture visualization, but only one [use] consistently shows substantial and unique value: [it is] a real-time, immersive social space for people with physical or mental disabilities that impair their first lives, [and] who often find comfort and security interacting through anonymous avatars… As the developed world experiences a spike in senior citizens, SL very well could find a new audience.”
And this last reference was what seemed to relate to us in the rural elderly category. As people age there are often health conditions that develop that in turn limit physical activity. Many older people, like their younger counterparts with disabilities, find themselves trapped at home with few social outlets.
From our weekly discussions on aging, I have come to know several people involved in a unique group in Second Life. This group is called Virtual Ability and one of their core concepts is to assist disabled people to come into virtual worlds like SL and to function normally there. They assert that there are tremendous benefits to disabled people in doing so. Here is a quote from one of the participants in the SL Virtual Ability group, “Virtual Ability, Inc. and SL have given me hope again. I had pretty much given up on hope, so this is important to me.” Please take a look at their web site for further information: http://www.virtualability.org and especially the Benefits page: http://www.virtualability.org/benefits.
Older persons who find themselves in need of a social group could most certainly find something of value by visiting the Virtual Ability group in SL. And should you feel that older people cannot manage the technical and cognitive skills needed to function in a computer-based 3D simulation like SL, I am reminded of a 93 year old woman that Tony and I interviewed a few years ago. She lives in a small rural community in East Texas and taught classes in computer skills at the senior center (See an earlier blog for a movie of that interview: http://wp.me/pH3Dx-7l).
Age like disability need not be an impediment to life.
Reference
Au, WJ. Second Life turns 10: what it did wrong, and why it may have its own second life. Gigacom, June 23, 2013. (http://gigaom.com/2013/06/23/second-life-turns-10-what-it-did-wrong-and-why-it-will-have-its-own-second-life).
Join us for a real-time discussion about questions raised by this essay on Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. CST to 12:45 p.m. CST (10 a.m. PST/SLT). See Discussion and SL tabs above for details. Link to the virtual meeting room: http://tinyurl.com/cjfx9ag.
Rodger Marion 
February 27, 2014 at 5:24 pm
Transcript from Weekly Discussion on Aging in Second Life
[09:59] Rodger Markova: Hi Gentle
[09:59] Gentle Heron: Hello Rodger.
[09:59] Gentle Heron: Let’s see if I can get anyone else over here.
[09:59] Rodger Markova: Yes, thank you
[10:01] Eme Capalini: Hi Gentle!
[10:01] Gentle Heron: Hi Eme.
[10:01] Eme Capalini: Hi Rodger
[10:02] Rodger Markova: Hello Ludo
[10:03] Tim (tskillian Resident): Hello Everyone.
[10:06] Rodger Markova: You can see this week’s blog on the screen above the fireplace
[10:12] Rodger Markova: The blogs are written by various UTMB faculty and this week’s is by me and
[10:12] Ludo Merit: I’m also struck by that.
[10:13] Rodger Markova: and since as we age, the aging process often provides new limitations, it seemed to me that SL has a huge potential for seniors
[10:13] Gentle Heron: oh good you figured it out!
[10:13] Tim (tskillian Resident): Hello Beth.
[10:13] Ludo Merit: I’m struck by the number of people of my generation and the previous generation whom I meet on SL. Are you familiar with the World brain Health Fair?
[10:15] Beth Ghostraven: I was very surprised, early on, to find out how many people my age and older are in SL
[10:13] Rodger Markova: And that what y’all are doing at Virtual Ability is the perfect role model
[10:15] Tim (tskillian Resident): I was also surprised at how much SL is used by people with disabilities
[10:15] Gentle Heron: We estimate that one in five people in SL have some form of disability or chronic illness
[10:16] Ludo Merit: One in five! That sure denies the stereotype
[10:17] Gentle Heron: and Tim, Ludo is referring to the Community of Creative Elders. I’ll give you all their latest notecard.
[10:17] Ludo Merit: Yes. They have an event every month called World Brain Health Fair, SL events that keep our minds sharp.
[10:18] Tim (tskillian Resident): Thank you for the notecard. 🙂
[10:18] Beth Ghostraven: I’m a member of the Community of Creative Elders too
[10:18] Tim (tskillian Resident): Oh great!
[10:19] Tim (tskillian Resident): You know — I am kinda of new to SL, but it seems to me that one frustrating thing is communicating/recruiting/advertising to new people who might be interested.
[10:19] Ludo Merit: She held four meetings last week to try to cover all the times
[10:20] Gentle Heron: We use as many communication processes as we can, and we ask people who are not in our Virtual Ability group how they find out about our events.
[10:20] Gentle Heron: We’ll get one or two who read about them in the SL Events Calendar
[10:20] Ludo Merit: The tech hump of first arrival discourages people, and organizations.
[10:21] Gentle Heron: one or two who find out about them from announcements in other groups we advertise in
[10:21] Gentle Heron: I think once in all our time of advertising someone heard about our event on Twitter
[10:21] Eme Capalini: lol
[10:21] Gentle Heron: mostly, for those outside our SL group/community, it’s by word of mouth
[10:21] Rodger Markova: Yes, the orientation process for a 3D world is fairly daunting
[10:21] Beth Ghostraven: the learning cliff!
[10:22] Eme Capalini: so true Beth
[10:22] Gentle Heron: and true Ludo, coming into SL for the first time is difficult. It does help if you come there and meet someone, and form a relationship right away, even if it’s just a mentoring relationship
[10:22] Tim (tskillian Resident): yes, I think that is tough also
[10:22] Eme Capalini: but I do learn some new in SL every day!
[10:22] Beth Ghostraven: I do too, Eme
[10:22] Tim (tskillian Resident): Yep, me too
[10:22] Ludo Merit: I think Virtual Ability, Inc. has the best newcomer orientation I’ve seen
[10:23] Rodger Markova: Yes, I agree
[10:23] Tim (tskillian Resident): It is very good.
[10:23] Gentle Heron: Thank you. Eme was the design/build team leader for that.
[10:23] Tim (tskillian Resident): It seems there are two obstacles: 1. the tech and 2. finding similar people to connect with
[10:23] Eme Capalini: What’s funny is when we first built it, we had Lindens come over and tell us it was the best they had seen too
[10:24] Rodger Markova: Well, Eme.. thank you for a wonderful job
[10:24] Tim (tskillian Resident): That is quite a compliment Eme.
[10:24] Eme Capalini: my pleasure! That was Gentle’s dream, she used to teach folks one at a time
[10:24] Ludo Merit: I have never had a problem finding similar people to connect with
[10:24] Gentle Heron: People can enter SL through our website, and that’s a lot safer than going through secondlife.com
[10:25] Beth Ghostraven: I didn’t realize that, Gentle
[10:25] Gentle Heron: Many professors bring their classes into SL through our website, because it is a lot safer.
[10:25] Beth Ghostraven: At VSTE we’re working on an orientation for teachers new to SL
[10:25] Beth Ghostraven: (Virginia Society for Technology in Education)
[10:25] Eme Capalini: We also have a list of necessary skills to use SL on our website too
[10:25] Gentle Heron: They can also request that our mentors and greeters assist them in orienting their students new to SL
[10:29] Tim (tskillian Resident): So — Gentle and I have had a little bit of discussion about the stereotype that older people are adverse to tech
[10:29] Tim (tskillian Resident): Rodger also addressed that a little in the blog
[10:30] Gentle Heron: Some younger people are also averse to certain kinds of tech.
[10:30] Beth Ghostraven: Thanks, Ludo!
[10:30] Gentle Heron: I think the “older averse” stereotype will change as boomers age.
[10:30] Rodger Markova: I agree
[10:30] Eme Capalini: I agree
[10:31] Tim (tskillian Resident): I think so too
[10:32] Gentle Heron: The other thing is, it’s not necessarily aversion to all forms of technology. I’ve met several young students who love video games but don’t “get” virtual worlds.
[10:32] Rodger Markova: Yes, I’ve seen that too
[10:32] Ludo Merit: My daughter says virtual worlds are too much like the real life she plays games to get away from.
[10:33] Rodger Markova: You have to create your own story in SL
[10:33] Gentle Heron: Right Rodger, and that’s why it’s not a game.
[10:37] Ludo Merit: I came to SL to develop a role playing game because I couldn’t stay up late enough to host first life role players
[10:37] Rodger Markova: How did that work out?
[10:38] Ludo Merit: It became much more than a role playing game.
[10:38] Rodger Markova: Cool
[10:38] Tim (tskillian Resident): yep
[10:39] Ludo Merit: I started with Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey, and when you stand on the shoulders of giants they can carry you to places you never imagined!
[10:40] Tim (tskillian Resident): I will have to visit that
[10:40] Ludo Merit: That LM leads to an interactive art representation of the hero journey with pictures that give text in chat when you touch them, You can live the colorful life of a hero in about fifteen minutes.
[10:41] Ludo Merit: I assigned a color to each step, using color info from the Luscher Color Test
[10:41] Gentle Heron: That was Ludo’s insight.
[10:41] Tim (tskillian Resident): very cool, Ludo. I will check it out.