I became aware today of a conference being hosted by the University of Otago in June 2008 which I thought might be of interest to a number of people. It is the International Conference on Computer Mediated Social Networking (more details here) and in the call for papers they say this (among other things!)….
“An important new platform technology where all these developments come together and which has inspired many expert observers is that of the new virtual environments, such as Second Life and There, which enable people to meet and engage in virtual, three-dimensional social interactions. The future of SNS will certainly be played out on these platforms, and their scalability can only be tested presently on high speed networks.”
Unfortunately paper submission closes on March 9th and I don’t think I will have anything ready in time for that, but nevertheless I am going to try to attend, if only to network with another (mainly university I expect) community that is interested in virtual environments for education.
Interestingly, but perhaps not surprisingly, for a conference in this area there doesn’t appear to be any intention to use Web2.o to broadcast the conference out beyond those who are physically attending! But maybe I’ve missed the information *grins*.
Serious Fun - Serious Learning 
Why don’t you submit an abstract of say 500 words and say you’ll get the paper to them asap. cheers Sarah
Good thinking Sarah – I was playing with the idea of doing that although usually it isn’t possible for IT/Comp Sci conferences – but I approached them about being a panellist on a panel looking at issues of Online Identity and I think I will be involved with that instead! Would be neat to meet up with you and Carolyn if I make it to Dunedin (if she isn’t swanning off to Europe then!).
Yes, she’s in Glasgow. I am trying to write a paper but I am so bored with it. So bored with the whole PhD thing actually.
Anyway, thats not why I dropped by.
This morning’s meeting with midwives, my system crashed and I lost the blog name for Lisa – did you get it? cheers Sarah/Petal