Month: November 2009

So I spent most of last week getting over the flu, only to promptly get a lung and sinus infection. Not awesome, but it did leave me with some time on my hands to begin to explore the world of Second Life (SL). Here is a little about my experiences and thoughts about it so far.

I signed up for a SL account under the name Elle Munforth (if anyone wants to try finding me). Since then I have logged on a few times, though I had a couple bizarre experiences that have not really enticed me to go back. When I first signed up I spent some time trying to figure out how to move around, talk to people, change clothes and appearances. Some of these I did better at than others.

I found it is very easy to move around in Second Life. I think it would be more interesting if I had a specific place to go. I went to a number of different places. At first I ended up on the wrong side of a number of spaces because they are adult only spaces and my account does not have an adult rating. Therefore, whenever I tried to end up going to an adult rated space I just ended up on the other side of a force field like wall. Sad. I also tried going to top recommended spaces but found they were often empty. I tried a night club – empty. Then I tried a coffee shop – empty. So I eventually went back to Bay City Municipal Airport, Hau Koda. I then tried to go to a Second Life Hot Spot. I choose Kowloon. When I teleported there a message popped up that said “Caution: Firing of Guns is Prohibited” and then said that anyone who breaks this rule will be banned. I thought this was strange but started walking down the alleys, looking at shops, trying to figure things out when all of a sudden I hear this strange popping noise, I turn around and there is a guy running towards me and shooting me with some sort of gun! I have no idea what he was doing and before I could start a chat with him he disappeared. Thewhole experience was strange and disconcerting. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable and I quickly transported back to Bay City Airport.

The next time I logged on to SL was more successful. I met up with Bryan, who helped me go shopping for new clothes and hair. I can see how people could spend a lot of time amassing large wardrobes and different looks for their avatar. I was a bit annoyed at most of the choices for women’s clothing. In general it seems that SL female avatars are extremely stereotypical and provocative. I wonder if others have felt this as well. I know that to identify more with my avatar I need to spend more time making it look and feel more like me or someone I identify with, but this has not been easy. It seems that SL is a place where people use their avatars to embrace totally wild, random and different styles, personalities and choices, not to actually reflect themselves. I know a number of people have expressed that they feel they just do not have time for a Second Life and I agree with them, but another issue that I have with SL and one of the major reasons why I am struggling to find a reason to participate in it is that I do not feel I can be myself at all. And I am not interested in being someone else.

I currently have the flu, which has kept me horizontal on the couch for the last few days mostly sleeping but also watching more TV in the last four days than I have in probably watched in the last year combined. While channel surfing yesterday I came across a news story that made me think. Well, made me think as much as my cough-syrup induced haze could.

The news story (and interview) was concerning Barrow County Georgia high school teacher Ashley Payne, who was forced to resign from her job in August when a parent complained about pictures that she had posted on her Facebook page of her holding alcoholic drinks on recent trip to Europe. This included wine in a restaurant in Italy and beer at the Guinness brewery in Ireland. The weirdest thing is none of the photos actually show her drinking the alcohol and she does not even look intoxicated in the photographs. However, the Barrow Journal reports that Payne’s principal, “objected to photos which showed Payne holding alcoholic beverages while on vacation and a status update which used a pejorative term for females.”

The whole story gets even more bizzarre when the issue of policy comes up. Again according to the Barrow Journal the school district does not currently have a social media/networking policy for its employees, but its board is set to vote on a policy on December 1st.

Part of the policy reads: “Employees who post information on Facebook, MySpace or similar web sites that include inappropriate personal information such as, but not limited to: provocative photographs, sexually explicit messages, use of alcohol, drugs or anything students are prohibited from doing must understand that if students, parents or other employees obtain access to such information, their case will be investigated by school and district officials and if warranted will be disciplined up to and including termination, depending upon the severity of the offense.”

Okay, my emphasis has been added because this is the part of this policy that I cannot understand. I get the drugs part because they are illegal, but I do not understand the alcohol or anything else part. This policy is so vague and broad. Does this mean that a teacher cannot post photographs of them LEGALLY drinking (or holding) alcohol at all because a student might manage to see it? Payne’s lawyer argues that this policy would even prevent an employee of Barrow County from having a glass of wine at a restaurant because a student might see them.

What about the “anything else” part. There are a lot of things that underage school children are not allowed to do but a teacher (because they are an adult) is, such as, the legal consumption of alcohol, driving a motor vehicle, viewing and owning pornography, etc. No matter how other people feel about these activities they are legal for an adult to do in their own free time. It seems like this policy could be manipulated in a number of ways.

So what I keep thinking in regards to this whole situation is: is it possible that employers can use social media/networking policies to control what their employees do when they are not at work? Can it really be legal for employees to be disciplined or fired or forced to resign because of what they post on their social networking sites, even if what the post is totally legal? I hope not.

Here is a Screenr Video that I made. I could make a lot of these. It was so easy to use!