Education in Second Life - Part II

(In the previous blog, I examined the philosophical conundrums surrounding the claim of devotés that the Second Life virtual platform is capable of creating
viable learning experiences –
This time we transport ourselves to Renaissance Island in Second Life.)

If you were to take your avatar to Renaissance Island (knowing nothing about Renaissance history) you might be dangerously led astray. Although most avatars are probably able to separate big-ticket fiction from fact (we hope!), they probably aren't aware or too discriminating about the smaller details. Thus, while we read that a group of virtual creative anachronists created the Island only 18 months ago, how many of us (except specialists) would be able to offer critical analysis :

Renaissance Island was created in Feb 2007 by a group of dedicated historians that envisioned what life during tudor times would be. They collaborated to form a group that would take on roles of parish members that in this era would have lived such as what you will see. They created objects to allow visitors to interact and feel how life would have been in tudor times. Don’t be surprised if you see King Henry VIII, or Queen Bess, herself, as our sim covers the entire 16th period. Of course you shouldn’t see them all at the same time, but depending on our events, one or the other shall bestow their graces and blessings on their parish.

Quite apart from some worrying grammatical and tautological errors, there are many conceptual lacunae that need to be navigated first: why the entire 16th century? what is the significance of the parish in times of great religious and social upheaval? It would be historically impossible to see Henry the VIII and good "Queen Bess" simultaneously, etc.

In addition to this introduction, you’re informed that you've been given free clothes and access to several places including a monastery. How lucky! It would be something to find a religious house not ransacked (or looted?) by the king's men when church lands were seized as part of dissolution of monastic holdings in 1536.

One can even take a tour down to the most pristine wharf imaginable, where we will find "... on the Thames River [sic: River Thames] that hosts our Intimadating [sic: intimidating] Gallion [sic: galleon] who [sic: which] defends her [sic: England's] shores with ease.” Presumably, the author of this passage is referring to Elizabeth I's great victory over the Armada in 1588.

The lack of quality control in user-created Second Life environments is painfully apparent when we read one blogger naïvely fending off criticisms of Renaissance Island, by claiming that educational opportunities are enhanced when avatars can see Jan van Eyck's famous Arnolfini Portrait (1434) on the wall of an Elizabethan house! The iconic painting of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his (probably recently deceased) wife, Costanza Trenta, remained for a short time in the family's home in Bruges, Belgium.However, rather than going to England in the early 16th century, it wound up in the royal collection of the Hapsburgs until the Napoleonic Wars. In the 19th century, it traveled from aristocratic hand to aristocratic hand in England, finally winding up in the private collection of King George IV. In 1842, it was purchased by the National Gallery in London.

If seeing the Arnolfini Portrait were so important to this blogger, why not go to the National Gallery online and learn about it properly. Instead, mediated history somehow is seen as being superior - when in fact it is meaningless. The painting is infinitely more interesting in a true historical context than as decoration in a highly anachronistic context.

One of the greatest dangers associated with these kinds of historical reenactments has been called "fantasy farb [fake+garb]" (Thomson, 2004). Although Thomson is referring to a general reaction among inflexible, virtual historical interpretors to wannabes, Second Life falls perhaps more obviously prey to a desire to gravitate towards "elite" characters. (Just check out the snapshots of characters on Flickr.)

The knowledge gained through education is much more about facts – it cannot grow without the development of critical and comparative skills. Maybe Second Life will evolve (as we waft, dreamlike, through time and place), but it is unlikely it can without something like the implementation of controls, as those envisioned with the advent of Web 3.0.


References
Bean, Cammy. My Second Second Life Experience (blog). Aug 15, 2007. http://learningvisions.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-second-second-life-experience.html

Koster, Margaret. The Arnolfini double portrait: a simple solution. Apollo (Sept. 2003). bnet. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_499_158/ai_109131988

Ondrejka, Cory. “Education Unleashed: Participatory Culture, Education, and Innovation in Second Life.” The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Edited by Katie Salen. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 229–252.

Renaissance Island. Second Life. http://world.secondlife.com/region/ccff7ba5-7c09-454f-8829-a7b4c501403e

Thompson, Jenny. Wargames: Inside the World of 20th Century Reenactors (Smithsonian Books, Washington, 2004).