Interview with Catt

On March 4, 2008, during class break, I, eagle eye reporter interview Catt, the leader of texture team at coffee shop at CSULA parcel. Catt’s team is in charge of floor, painting, wall, ceiling, and of course coffee shop where we are staying. The coffee shop is nice, and conversation is pleasant.
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Sunflower: Have you heard of SL before this class?

Catt: No, I have never heard of Second Life however the name is really exactly what it says...a second life. At first I was a bit nervous having to venture into an unknown place with unknown people, well...other avatars. I also didn't understand how this would serve educators and students. My main concern was how students would, not adult students like me, but the students in our schools be safe in a virtual setting.

Sunflower: How do you feel about taking a class in SL?

Catt: Actually I was excited to learn what this class had to offer me. It was something new and looked like a lot of fun. Today there are so many new ways to get involved in technology and the virtual world is one I hadn't explored.

Sunflower: Your team is in charge of texture, what have you worked on?

Catt: Yes, our team was to work on textures for the parcel. What did that entail? Well... we discovered it was more than finding images of textures, it was also about collaborating on what type of look we wanted to convey and with three people with different likes and dislikes, we had to agree as a team and consider each others suggestions. With access to the internet we could have found thousands of texture images however our goal was to agree on a look and find the appropriate textures for that look. For instance, in the coffee house we agreed on having it look inviting and warm, therefore we looked for warm earthy textures and neutral ones too, like glass and tile. As a team we also discussed the look we wanted in the art museum and conference room. The art museum needed to look clean and serene just like the ones we visit in the real world (RL). We also didn't want the texture in the museum to be too "loud" or "busy" as to not distract from the posted art so we chose a very simple texture in a cool neutral tone. To add, our team was to add decorations and some greenery for the final touches.

Sunflower: What do you feel about doing the texture?

Catt: Our texture team had a lot of fun. We worked very well together always remembering to be open-minded and flexible. Working in a group is actually harder but you learn so much more from other's suggestions and think about things you may have not considered if you were working by yourself. We displayed the many textures we found to each other from woods and metals to tile and fabric. I saw our meeting times as "time to play"! We realized that a small image of a texture might not look so good on an entire wall. We would post a texture on the wall, leave it there for a while and then might decide later on a better texture. The most frustrating part was learning how to keep textures from affecting other sides of the object. For instance a ceiling on the bottom level could affect the floor on the top level because they were the same object. Through trial and error we learned how to eliminate that problem. The other obstacle was having other classmates accidently change or delete a texture we had already placed on an object so sometimes we would do double the work. Overall, our team enjoyed working on textures together and I think we did a pretty darn good job at that!

Sunflower: what have you learned by being in this class?

Catt: Wow! I personally learned so much! I learned how to build, take classes, navigate through SL, work for Linden money (SL money), find freebie stuff, purchase items, upload items, design my own avatar...but mostly...how to work and collaborate with my classmates. I have found that meeting in a class in real life is practically the same as meeting on SL. The function is basically the same because in both types of settings, you will have a group of people who all join at one location to discuss assignments, go over ideas, work in teams, hear a presentation...etc. After taking this course, I see how this works. Taking this course has opened my eyes to new ways students can use this type of technology for educational purposes. This class has driven my interest to learn more about SL and how I can use it as an educator and as a student. I had a lot of fun while learning...as educators, isn’t that what we strive for?

Sunflower Randt