After just five short months we discovered it was already time to expand our space. We have added Ethnographia II to the land we have in Second Life for a number of reasons.
First, this means more people can participate. Our original community of 20 parcels filled up very quickly and we started a waiting list. Those people will now be joining us.
It also means we can have three areas on the island! They are:
- A “standard build” area that will have some basic guidelines on what is visible from the outside of a structure at ground level. In this area skyboxes will still be fine, and anything goes inside a structure within certain limits. Most of the builds already fit these guidelines. This will be a "safe" place for anyone to enjoy without visual elements that can sometimes create sensory overload for individuals with certain disabilities.
- A “behind the magic curtain” area where anything goes even at ground level (still within SL terms for a moderate environment). It’s the chance to offer people the opportunity to “enter the land of Oz” where colors, lights and animations will not be restricted.
- A “collaborative area” with parcels around four times the normal ones, where our residents can build collaboratively! We hope this is an exciting opportunity for so many of our creative builders! More details will be sent to the group shortly.
As always, we invite anyone already in Second Life (SL) to stop by Ethnographia and wander through a land full of extraordinary stories. If you're not in SL and want to learn more, please feel free to email Donna (dzdavis@uoregon.edu) or Tom (tboellst@uci.edu) and we'll be happy to give you a hand!