DFS Week 5 - Activities and Resources

6/15/20	1:00 - 2:00	Meeting with Dr. Stokrocki and Dr. Julian for gallery tour. Discussed how to make the show clearer, and methods of communication that are unique to VLE's
6/20/20	11:30 - 1:30	Meeting at Non-Profit Commons, presentation of Virtual World Library. Connected with educators Zinnia Zaub, Vallibrarian Greg and Becky
6/20/20	8:00 - 8:30	Emailing and applying for office space in SL
6/21/20	7:30 - 10:00	1. Housekeeping connections, applying for NPC office.

Meeting at Non-Profit Commons: 

Presentation on Digital Libraries

Apply for Office Space at Commons

Apply to Show Tartan Unraveling

Ilrn 2020 Conference - all this week

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DFS Week 2 - Activities and Resources

Art Ark - Dr. Mary Stokrocki's Virtual World Educational Space

5/26/20 - 12:00 - 1:00, 3:00 - 4:00
Meeting with Dr. Stokrocki - We discussed my learning plan and talked about her work in Second Life) SL. We visited her memorial gallery dedicated to disenfranchised Arizona artists and her educational spaces where she continues to mentor students in 3D modeling and construction. We visited the gallery of Zinnia Zui, a fabric artist and creator of the Non-Profit Commons in SL. As she works in textiles and virtual world, Dr. Stokrocki would like to introduce us to one another. We will be meeting again on Friday at 9am for the weekly meeting of Non-Profit commons, where I can meet other educators and researchers in virtual learning environments. (VLR) 


Virtual Gallery Show for Harcum College Fashion Students

5/27/30 - 5:00 - 8:00 : I created a virtual gallery exhibit using the Exhibbit app to showcase 2D work by the graduating seniors in the Fashion Design Program



Virtual Exhibition Space for Project in SL: Viridian Gallery



5/27/20 - 6:00 - 10:00: Worked on building an exhibition space for the upcoming project - educational space in a virtual world environment that will explore work by artists in Real Life, Second Life and Immersive VR


Meeting at the Non-Profit Commons



Meeting at Non-Profit Commons in Second Life

5/29/20 - 12:00 - 1:00: Dr. Stokrocki and I attended a meeting of Non-profit Commons in Second Life. There 30 or 40 people in attendance representing a wide range of non-profits and educational environments. This meeting introduced the opening of the Virtual Music Library. There is a strong and vital educator and non-profit presence in Second Life, and weekly meetings with different topics every Friday.



Viridian Gallery Grounds


Viridian Gallery Meeting Space

Meeting with Dr. June Julian to Discuss Collaborative Project

5/30/20 - 12:00 - 2:00: I had a call with Dr. June Julian about the project in Second Life. The concept is to create a show at the gallery space that I created, to explore presence, layers of reality, and relational aesthetic experience in a virtual world. The show was originally planned for NYC before coronavirus. It explores the visualization of data on climate change in the outer Hebrides in Scotland as a growing and evolving tartan pattern. The data was gathered and coded to create a continuously growing digital tartan fabric. As an educational resource, this will explore opportunities to use visual means to help students understand data in a more comprehensive way was discussed.

6/1/20 - 12;00 - 2;00 Meeting in SL to discuss space and exhibition needs. Will send the proposal to Dr. Stokrocki for feedback




Climate Change Digital Tartan

PROJECT PROPOSAL: Digital Climate Crisis Tartan: An Educational Data Visualization in Second Life

Digital Climate Crisis Tartan 

An Educational Data Visualization Project in Second Life 

Dr. June Julian 

Julian Crooks, Rodrick B. MacLennan 

The Climate Crisis Tartan will debut online as an educational pilot project in Second Life in collaboration with Julian Crooks. The objective of the project is to visually present the Climate Crisis research data that was collected by June Julian and Rodrick B. MacLennan, and to create an educational data visualization model for students using Tartan patterns. Combining art and archaeology, the researchers were awarded the prestigious Explorers Club Flag in 2015 and 2017, where they recorded the current status of archaeological sites on the Isles of Vallay and North Uist, Scotland, as impacted by climate change. 

The project will be virtually displayed as a large-scale computer projection in The Viridian Gallery in Second Life, as created by Julian Crooks. The crisscrossed horizontal and vertical bands in the Tartan pattern refer to the erosion impact status upon the archaeology sites using the variables of sea erosion, wind erosion, intertidal status and entirely gone, as vertical and horizontal bar graphs as warp and weft. The distribution of the Tartan’s colored bands in the design will quantitatively reference the qualitative analysis made from the field observations in the researchers’ published reports. The digital tartan will be projected on a virtual large hanging woven fabric (60” by 162”) in the style of The Great Kilt. The project will provide immediate awareness of the threats to worldwide coastal heritage in a non-verbal way and provide a data visualization method for students using Tartans. 

Double Diamond Archaeology http://www.doublediamondarchaeology.org/ 

Educators in VR - VR Research - 5.19.20

This was a very interesting presentation on gathering quantitative data through eye tracking in virtual headsets. It was really great to connect with other researchers in VR. 

DFS Week 1 Reflection and Notes

1. In your DFS experience this past week, how many hours did you complete? (1 sentence)

So far, I've completed at least four hours.

2. What did you do in your DFS experience this past week? (2-3 sentences)

I searched for an inspiring mentor that would help me learn what I need, and attended virtual professional development meetings in Virtual Reality. The picture at the head of the post is me, attending the Future of Social Media seminar underwater.

3. REFLECTION

I searched in vain for someone who I would like to mentor me, who had something to offer and who was willing and available during the coronavirus. After several rejection letters I was feeling quite low, when Dr. Buss informed me that I could work with someone that I was familiar with! Many years ago, I worked on a project with Dr. Mary Stokrocki online, and she was so knowledgeable about the very things that I need to learn - art education, virtual worlds and research - that I decided to take a chance that she'd say yes. Having just retired, she agreed! We have set up a time to meet in Second Life over the weekend. She still maintains the Art Ark in Second Life and is running a Sky School in which she mentors students in 3D modeling. I am hoping to work on these projects with her and to talk to her about her experience in conducting art education research in virtual worlds. 

In addition I attended several workshops in Virtual Reality, hosted by the group Educators in VR. The attendees were all educators or researchers, and I'm sure that they will prove to be valuable sources of support and information. There was much discussion about the difficulty in connecting and in conducting research under the present conditions. While there were no real solutions proposed, there were suggestions that ranged from the high-tech (eye movement trackers) to the tried-and-true (surveys and questionnaires.) I felt a sense of presence that was significant, despite attendees from all over the world. This was such an interesting experience that I intend to attend these meetings several times a week. I will post notes and information at the end of each weekly blog post.

Dr. Stokrocki's Research Page

Dr. Stockrocki's ASU Page

VR Researchers Meetup - AltVR - May 19, 2020

It was interesting to hear about innovative ways of gathering data while quarantined! Not applicable to me yet, as I am still working on my data gathering plan. It is great to know that there's a supportive community here when I need them, though!

Video will be uploaded to YouTube.

Educators In VR #2020EdInVR

Educators In VR #2020EdInVR on Twitter

“The VR Researchers meetup in @AltspaceVR is standing room only and so fascinating to see where research is going and how researchers are struggling with research in #SelfIsolation. Much research in influence of #COVID19 & VR. https://t.co/ajliW4e2A8”

#Go Social  - Presentation in AltVR - May 18, 2020

Attended a presentation in Alt VR by Andy Fidel on ways that we use social media and a discussion about uses of VR as a social platform. The event was entirely underwater!

 Very interesting commentary from DR. Perkins (@vrbeliever).