Many thanks to our intrepid new Second Life students! Between the two classes, 20 students participated in our course discussion and Second Life skills activities on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

In CS 855 Futuring and Innovation, we continued our discussion of The Fortune Sellers book by William Sherdan. The discussion centered on the differences between futuring and innovation research programs and their funding in Japan and the United States.

We also discussed the student blog posts. When you introduce your blog in our Moodle discussions, please include the url for your blog post.

In CS 820, we focused our attention on building some Second Life camera skills and building a simple shape, stretching it, texturing it, copying it and linking it with a second object.

We will prototype the projects in Second Life and conduct usability tests near the end of the course.

Our class times are the same for next week. Check the Calendar on Moodle for the latest information! *waves*

CS 820 Week 3 in Second Life

On Thursday, April 30, we held two sessions in Breeze and created recordings of the following topics: selecting measurement attributes, setting goals, creating the usability specification and designing the test procedure, test plan and experimental design.

In Second Life, we gathered to discuss building techniques and created a stool, fountain head and lamp. For those who missed it, the notes are in a notecard giver within the lamp sculpture in front of the building information signs. (See the example at the top left). Click the lamp to get a copy of the notecard. It has instructions, textures and a sample of the finished product.

We also distributed texture folders (through stone), four sound folders, vehicles and the Lyr scripts folder. In the scripts, the tip jar/genie bottle script has examples of how objects can interact with the local chat log or via instant message.

If you did not want the chat log to spam the data collected to the test subject, you could have the object instant message the test conductor privately with the data collected. This is not required for our projects, but good to know. Another method is the llOwnerSay() function. Objects then communicate only with the owner or avatar that rezzed the object.

We are going to hold another Second Life class on Saturday, May 9, 2009, so look for it on the Calendar. The Breeze recordings will be posted on Moodle on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

CS 820 Spring 2009 - Classes 1 and 2

Greetings to our CS 820 Usability and Interaction class. Paul Thor and I are delighted to share this class with you.

We have met twice using Adobe Acrobat Connect (Breeze) and Second Life in April 2009. Our second SL class session was smooth as we moved from our Breeze discussion to building skills in Second Life.

Our first class focused on these Second Life skills:

• creating a Second Life account
• using voice in Second Life
• movement and camera controls
• introduction to the build menu
• introduction to sitting on objects (right click and sit/relax)
• tour of a device that rezzes new scenes (like a holodeck)

During our tour, we visited a coffee shop, the solar system, a Japanese tea room and we returned to the ground to remove and rebuild the castle in about 15 seconds or less. The tour device kept removing content too fast for comfort. *blinks and grins* I need to reset the scripts before we use it again.

During our second class, we used the Build button in the bottom center of the display to learn how to rez or create a primitive shape (called a prim), name our box, set the permissions for it, create a simple script, color it and take it into the inventory. We also noted how content that is returned to us is returned to the Lost and Found folder in the Inventory.

Our class building activities included:

• create a box
• name it using the General tab
• set the permissions to copy/mod/transfer
• used the Contents tab to create a New Script
• used the Texture Tab and color white icon to color the box
• copied our box using the shift key and one of the green, red or blue arrows
• used the shift key to left click both boxes
• used control L to link both boxes into a single object
  

Once we were finished editing the box, we clicked it and noted that it stated in the local chat log that the box was touched. This feature is handy for collecting automated measurements during usability tests.

With this script, we can collect a log that lists the interaction objects that are touched. In the preferences menu (ctrl P), and the Communicate tab, you can display the time in the chat log and store it for later use.

We also tested a student project from a past class. Students received a copy of the procedure for the test plan by touching a box that gave them a notecard with the test cases and instructions on it.

Notecards are Second Life content files that allow us to add text, and drag objects, images, landmarks and other content from the Inventory to the card for easy distribution.

As time progresses, we will examine different types of interfaces, how to texture your creations, how to prototype your class project and conduct usability tests with our class. In addition, you will receive freebie folders of content, including vehicles, tools, a touring HUD, a notecard with landmarks for visiting other sites, more texture folders, scripts, sounds and access to an online tool that writes scripts for you.

See you at the residency and online! *cheers*

CS 820 Class 2 - Moodle Analysis and Camera Control

Wednesday's CS 820 class in Second Life was great fun as we shared our research and writing topics, discussed the analysis of Moodle and learned to use Second Life.

If you have issues running Second Life smoothly after touring in it, your cache may be congested. Use the ctrl key + p to access the preferences (under the Edit menu), select the Network tab and the Clear Cache button. Quit Second Life and restart the software. It will take a minute to clear the cache.

Initial Recommendations from the Moodle Analysis:

• Need for consistency
• Location of assignments and handouts
• Integrate with campus email
• Embed a link to Outlook access for MyCampus
• Schedule sensitivity for full-time working students

Second Life Camera Control:

• Lock your camera on an object or avatar with the Alt key + left click
• To circle around the object or avatar, use the View menu, Camera Controls and the left-hand wheel - can also do it by holding down the ctrl key + alt key + left mouse button and moving the hand slowly.
  

Building Content in Second Life: First Activity

• Click the Build button
• Select a shape (we used spheres)
• While in edit mode, hold the shift key and drag an arrow to copy the sphere
• Stretch the sphere by selecting the Stretch radio menu in the top left corner
• Drag on one of the white, green, red or blue boxes. White is proportional; Green, red and blue stretch in a single direction (x,y, or z - left-right, forward-back, up-down)

Student Project Ideas:

• SCIP - Security Check-in Point
• Digital Dashboard
• Moodle

Next Wednesday at 7:00 PM Mountain time, we will discuss how to leverage our interface metaphors in the low fidelity prototypes, learn a few more Second Life building skills, and discuss the next assignment. See you online!

CS 820 Residency Makeup Sessions

Many thanks to those who attended our Residency Makeup sessions last night. The Adobe Acrobat Connect session was recorded and offered examples of how to complete the activities. Visit the link posted in our News Forum under A Chipmunk's Guide...to access this 58-minute recording.

The Second Life session included the same concepts, but instead of looking at the documents, it offered more interaction and discussion.

We reviewed:

• Interface metaphors - users understand the interface as it models real world tasks
• User profiles - identifying user classes
• Use case scenarios - preconditions, actors, main scenario, alternate scenario and postconditions
• Usability specification - identifying usability attributes and setting a range of goals
• Usability tests - empirical testing using 3D interface prototypes in Second Life

Next week, we will meet in Second Life at 7:00 PM Mountain to discuss project ideas and how to get the most out of Second Life as we weave the course concepts into our 3D modeling activities.

Future classes will weave our project topics and choice of usability criteria into each incremental deliverable. Adobe Acrobat Connect (Breeze) sessions will be scheduled upon request.

Welcome to CS 820!

Welcome to our Fall offering of CS 820 Usability and Interaction!

As you progress through this course, you will explore the process of interface design, usability testing and explore new ways to design usable interfaces.