SLED Events

I finally got a chance to attend an event (or, rather, finally found an event I'd WANT to and COULD attend), and I must say it was quite interesting. I attended an event featuring Captain Alan Bean, apollo astronaut. He was on the Apollo 12, the second trip a manned aircraft made to the moon. He is now an amazing artist, and he does works from his own and others' trips to the moon (as well as some trips he wish had happened or things he, and others, wish they'd done when they were on the moon). I think I'll make a totally different blog post about all the fun things Capt. Bean said/talked about and what it had me thinking, but this post I'm going to dedicate to attending the event within Second Life.

It was interesting to attend an event in Second Life, especially how they had it set up like an outdoor auditorium with rows of seats and so forth. I enjoyed interacting as though I were in the audience of the live speech (ie applauding, etc). However, even though the speech was live, I kept feeling as though I was just watching a video. It felt even more so like this when, at the end of the speech, Capt. Bean declined to answer any questions when the moderator of the event in SL was taking questions to be passed on to someone who was present at the live event. Having that disconnect was disappointing... I feel as though if he'd answered questions I'd seen asked in SL it would have made it more "real" (ironic that it didn't feel "real" in the sense of being real-time when in fact it was.. I guess that it felt less "real" because I was in a virtual reality world).

To be honest, when we were told to attend an event, I fully expected whomever was going to be speaking would be an avatar instead of just watching a screen projecting a real person's image. I don't know where I got this, or if it was just the assumption I'd made because the event was being hosted in SL.. and I honestly think I was a little disappointed that it WASN'T an avatar that I was watching give the talk.. even though I thoroughly enjoyed Capt. Bean's talk.

It was cool to be able to take part in this event, as I would likely have not ever been afforded the opportunity to see a talk given by an astronaut had SL not hosted this event. It was really awesome to see the pictures and hear the stories of the Captain and I kept thinking throughout that it was so cool to be able to hear him speak.. even if it was just sitting as my avatar in a virtual amphitheatre watching a projection of the live event.