second life

It’s been two months now since the beginning of the course and I’ve been struggling to find time for everything. The course has been demanding but fascinating, I’ve been amazed by the possibilities that new technologies can offer in education, trying to imagine if we could ever manage to implement such tools here in Greece as I’ve been discovering more and more resources everyday. I’ve registered for numerous websites and opened so many accounts I doubt I will remember my username and password for half of them. This week’s project is ‘second life’, I didn’t have a clue what it was until now and I still can’t use it because of the high pc requirements. I’ve been reading about this new virtual world where even the BBC has rented a tropical island to stage online music festivals and the Harvard Law School has been offering courses and I felt hugely impressed and too disappointed I couldn’t fly around and explore it because of my stupid computer.

And then it hit me. A few minutes ago while I was going through another pile of printouts. Fascination turned to horror as I imagined a future “second life”. No sunny afternoons at open-air cafes watching passers-by and gossiping, no pushing and singing at concerts, no smells or flavours, no touching and kissing, no tears and smiles, just emoticons, virtual *hugs* and IMs. It sounds like a science fiction movie but I am not sure it’s that distant. It’s a warm afternoon in November, the sun is about to set and Athens is buzzing with life. I can hear the traffic from the streets, I feel the chill of the air from the open window as the sun is slowly disappearing, people are out there shopping, chatting, making plans for the night. Fortunately ‘second life’ has not ruled us yet. I was always a new technology –internet enthusiast and I still am. But only as long as my ‘second life’ is just a small part of my real life I guess.