From John Kirriemuir:
Hi folks,
Virtual World Watch is now collecting information for snapshot #9 of virtual world use in UK Higher and Further Education. Go to www.virtualworldwatch.net to see the previous 8 snapshots from the last three years.
Do you work in the sector? Use virtual worlds? Have used them? Then it would be appreciated if you’d have a go at answering one or more of the following questions. It’s up to you what you answer, and how formally or informally you answer. Or just ignore the questions if they aren’t helpful and write your own thing. We’re flexible 
This is an opportunity to tell the world, and the academic virtual world community, what you are doing, have done, will do, and/or how it went. As happens regularly, people with a similar interest may then discover what you’re doing, so you may pick up a few useful contacts through your contribution.
Some points:
- The answers are stuck into a report which will go live on Monday, July 12th.
- Data collection is for all of June i.e. June 1st to June 30th only.
- Sorry, but no extensions after June 30th as VWW is keen to get the report out much closer to data collection than previously. Contributions that miss the deadline can, if you wish, go up as blog entries on this website instead.
- Unless you request anonymity, your name and job title (please supply preferred) will be included as a reference.
- Submissions can come from academics and students in UK HE or FE, as well as developers who develop directly for UK academia.
- Yes, you can be negative (honesty and frankness much better than spin) – but nothing personal and no swearing.
- Examples are awesome.
Send your submissions to john@virtualworldwatch.net – thanks.
Oh – and, as per the previous snapshot, 5 respondents who get their answers in by June 30th will be drawn out of a pickle jar and win £10 each (n.b. there’s a few winners of £10 from snapshot #8 who still haven’t claimed their loot).
+ + + + + The Questions + + + + +
Please do some or all of these – or ignore the lot and write something relevant instead.
1. What are you doing in virtual worlds? Teaching, learning, research, publicity, and/or anything else?
2. Going well? Not? Want to say why?
3. Money is tight. The ‘golden age’ of education money may be ending. How are you getting funded? How do you think your virtual world activities will be funded in the future?
4. Long distance travel is increasingly precarious. Ash, strikes and airlines going under ground flights. Travel is expensive (even in the UK with extortionate train fares) and takes up a lot of time. Virtual Worlds could, possibly, be used instead of many workshops, conferences, meetings et al. Your thoughts on this? And how do virtual worlds such as Second Life stack up against other event-replacing media such as Elluminate and Skype?
5. Second Life. Using just that, or considering other virtual worlds? If so, why?
6. Problems with universities blocking access to Second Life. Is anyone still having that, or are we over it now?
7. Handling large numbers of students in virtual worlds simultaneously i.e. more than 30. Do you have experience of this? How did it go?
8. What do you think of the new Second Life viewer, both the UI/usability changes and the new functionality it enables (e.g. media on a prim)?
9. Do you have a view on the new Second Life Terms of Service conditions and ownership rights which are creating a bit of a hoo-hah in some quarters? Do you think it will affect you? Does it matter in the grand scheme of things?