Middlesbrough City Learning Centre

Tonight's post sees a return to the theme of education in Second Life. However, for once it is not a university or MBA college that I am featuring, but rather a learning resource for the English city of Middlesbrough. The Middlesbrough City Learning Centre (MCLC) actually has 2 islands in Second Life, but on this trip I only got to MCLC2 before receiving an urgent request to pull a post from a few days ago. Being a gent - or so I like to think - I gave that task priority. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might spot the one I refer to - but don't tell anyone!

Anyway.. back to MCLC. According to the website, it exists "to support schools in raising achievement by:
* Facilitating innovative use of ICT in teaching
* Providing access to specialist ICT facilities
* Acting as a test bed for emerging learning technologies
* Supporting the development of school staff ICT skills
* Disseminating good practice"

Interestingly the home page talks about a tool called Mindscene (see image below), which it describes as a "fusion of the effective learning tool known as mindmapping with 3D virtual reality and stereo scopic (IMAX) display technology. This exciting development has come about through the collaboration of MCLC and Education Interactives, a local 3D development technology company based in Middlesbrough. "

The MCLC2 sim looks to be about half-completed, or maybe a bit more. There is a large building in which you will find a couple of presentation areas (not quite finished) and some general seating. There is a novel teleport to take you between floors. A ridge runs diagonally across the island, with a pass to let you walk from one side to the other. On the far side you will find a number of resources, including - in no particular order - RSS feeds, a vodcast, some freebies (scripts and a host of objects... cheers!) and landmarks to well-known SL sites, like Svarga. I was quite taken with the mindmap (middle - below), though I suspect its content may not have survived the resizing I force on images. A teleport will whisk you up to the Mindscene platform, which is still under construction, though enough of it exists to give you a flavour of what is planned. The last major object is a... umm... a... let me think... umm... sorry, I don't know what it is: a set of white disks, linked to some node points. Whatever it is, I assume it must be darned educational!





Even in its current raw state this sim shows a lot of potential, and already has a surprising amount of content. How this ties in with the Mindscene tool mentioned on their website I'm not sure. I am guessing they are using Second Life as a means of showing what this tool may look like within a dedicated environment. I really need to see what is happening on their other sim now!

In me Liverpool 'ome

I've blogged about many towns and cities from across the globe that have decided to extend themselves into the virtual world of Second Life. Tonight, however, I am coming a lot closer to home - with a trip to the virtual Liverpool sim of Mathew Street. The street is home to The Cavern, the club where The Beatles played in their early days, and famous as the cradle of Merseybeat.

Liverpool has been awarded the honour of being European City of Culture, 2008 - which means a significant investment in the old place, and an influx of tourists who, hopefully, are not just there for the constant barrage of Beatles memorabilia. The Mathew Street sim appears to be part of the promotion for the 2008 event. It has been under construction for quite a number of months now, and seems to be taking shape nicely - although there is much still to be done. Here is a map of the sim - apologies about the poor quality, but it did not appear to get any better than this:


Whether you like it or not, it is inevitable that "iconic buildings" will feature in a construction of this type - and here they are in abundance. Aside from the street itself, the Royal Liver Building takes pride of place. As well as The Cavern, many of Liverpool's more recent clubs and music venues are here, including Cream and the wonderfully scuzzy Barfly:



Even in its current state of build, there are a number of slightly less expected items - such as Anthony Gormley's "Another Place" installation of statues along the tideline at Crosby, just to the North of the city. Inevitably, there is also a Yellow Submarine:



I have actually checked out this sim on a few occasions in the past, watching it coming along - and have noticed that it is rarely devoid of people. I have only really skimmed the content here, and there will be more in the months to come - but it is clear that this place is doing something right. The range of music, dancing and chatting venues is large - and their scale is intimate. Combine that with the inate clannish behaviour of Liverpudlians and you have yourself a sim that should continue to grow in popularity.

The title of this piece comes from a well-known ditty - the words of which can be found here. Just for the sake of clarity, I would like to point that Liverpool is not, in fact, my hometown or home location.