Get a ‘Second Life’ at virtual Princeton University

A new home for some venerable campus buildings

By: Katie Wagner
   Some of Princeton University’s most historic buildings have been given a new home.
   A student returning to campus, however, wouldn’t be able to notice the change unless he or she logged on to Second Life, a 3-D virtual world accessible through the Internet that is entirely built and owned by its users. To visit the virtual world, one must create an avatar, which is a computer-animated figure that moves along the screen as a user changes his or her location in Second Life. A user’s avatar represents his or her identity in the virtual world and first and last names must be selected for all avatars. Just about every aspect of an avatar’s appearance can be determined by its user, including, body shape, height, hair color and clothing.
   On July 21, Princeton University opened five Second Life "islands" to the general public, including a central campus island that contains "rebuilt" versions of real campus buildings — Nassau Hall, Chancellor Green and Alexander Hall. New additions to the university’s architecture that can’t be found on the real life campus are also part of the island, such as the Princeton University Gallery of the Arts.
   This building, which contains enlarged copies of artwork currently on display in the real campus’ Friend Center and some pieces by a local artist, has received positive feedback from Second Life users, said Janet Temos, director of the university’s Educational Technologies Center.
   The university has purchased a total of seven Second Life islands and four servers in order to create its virtual version of the campus. Three of the islands, including the central campus island, are so large they require their own servers. One of the two islands still being developed should be open by the end of September. This island is being designated as a student meeting space. It currently contains a sculpture designed by a non-student artist, but university scholars will eventually have opportunities to build their own structures on this island and all other university islands, but the central campus island.
   "I’m interested to see what’s going to happen with students, because I’d say the majority of them have probably had lifelong experiences with these kind of multi-player role-playing games," Ms. Temos said.
   Although Second Life is primarily a social and recreational space that offers opportunities to visit bars, listen to concerts, meet new people, establish relationships and shop; it’s also the home of some virtual classrooms and science laboratories.
   While Ms. Temos doesn’t think it makes sense to hold Princeton classes in Second Life, like several other universities have done, she said she’d like to see it used to support course curriculums.
   "My goal is to provide a useful tool for teaching and learning," she said.
   Ms. Temos added that she’s already talked to one of the university’s Japanese language instructors that wants to use Second Life in her coursework, but that most university professors will not know about the university’s entrance into the virtual world until the semester begins.
   Professors will probably need the school year to determine how to best integrate Second Life and their course curriculums, she said.
   Much of the university’s islands were developed by Ms. Temos and a team of university staff. However, the exteriors of Nassau Hall and the Chancellor Green Library and both the exterior and interior of Alexander Hall were created by New Media Consortium employees, including an architect from Great Britain.
   To become a Second Life resident through Princeton University visit: http://etc.princeton.edu/sl/.