Thread Subject: Re: Second Life

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From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Tue, Jul 10 2007 6:10 AM

Jim,
Sounds like it only does chat - does it do more than that?

Regarding its use of AJAX, it looks like it is using AJAX in the same
way that our Hand-raising tool does - adding new information to a list
dynamically. I can't imagine that this could be done without some
dynamic capabilities such as are available with DOM scripting (or Flash,
etc.). I wouldn't consider that it is "written" in AJAX bad news - can
you imagine needing to hit a button every time you thought someone
_might_ have sent you a chat message?

AWK

> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf
> Of Jim Tobias
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 7:14 AM
> To: 'TEITAC Committee'
> Subject: [teitac-committee] Second Life
>
> We had a discussion a while back about "immersive
> environments", the fancy name for games like World of
> Warcraft and Second Life, where your online character
> interacts with thousands of other online characters in a
> purely online world. These are not just a flash in the pan:
> they have millions of users, with hundreds of thousands
> online at one time. They have begun providing alternate
> "venues" for conferences, music events, and college
> classrooms. So although they began as entertainment
> applications, they are moving beyond that into essential
> parts of an emerging information medium.
>
> The issue raised was, how accessible are these games? They
> depend on vision, mouse work, and even hearing in some pretty
> demanding ways. In order to act in these virtual spaces you
> need to see who's around you, right-click on objects to buy
> or use them, etc.
>
> Well, there's good news and bad news.
>
> The good news is that someone has created a text version of
> Second Life, so you can read (or screen-read) instead of see
> all the people and things near
> you:
> http://metaversed.com/09-jul-2007/ajaxlife-second-life-your-we
b-browser
>
> The bad news is that this version is written in AJAX, so
> there's no guarantee it's as accessible as it might be.
>
> ***
> Jim Tobias
> Inclusive Technologies
> +1.732.441.0831 v/tty
> +1.908.907.2387 mobile
> skype jimtobias
>
>

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