Eduserv Island

Work on the new Eduserv Island is progressing. The plans include four areas as follows:

• Conference Space - an area dedicated to meeting facilities of various kinds.
• SLashup Space - an area for experimenting with learning-oriented SL / Web integration.
• Exhibition Space - an area where we work with libraries and museums to build virtual exhibitions.
• Office Space - high rise offices for Eduserv and selected partners.

The island is shaped into the Eduserv 'E' logo, essentially built out of 10m grass cubes though I'm still working on terraforming the ground under these areas, bringing it thru into mounds and hills to give a bit of interest. Buildings on the island are being themed around Bath stone, white concrete, glass, dark metal frames and wood floors - that's the plan anyway. With gravel paths connecting areas of interest.

I've focused on the Conference Space and the Exhibition Space primarily so far - partly to prepare the way for our symposium, "Virtual worlds, real learning?", which we have now confirmed will be streamed into SL on the day. To house the SL part of the symposium we have built a venue inspired by the Congress Centre (in London, where the symposium will be held in RL). Note that we haven't bothered with a roof, to make entry and exit easier.

Just outside the virtual Congress Centre there's a tall stone needle, inspired by the one in Queen Square, Bath.