Immersion and Other Twice Told Tales

The Literature Alive! world is spinning at uber speed. Daily, requests pour in for literary builds (Moby Dick was the request yesterday). If I had all the free land in SL, I still don't think we could find room for all the builds! What an awesome challenge!

Of course, it would be wicked cool if folks built their own literary builds. But, most folks can't build or script (big hint, Eloise is the Goddess in these areas - - I am her mere servant). And most folks don't have Daliah-the-Former-Student as Executive Lucky Chair Gift and Freebie Grabber (AKA Executive Assistant).

Literature Alive! is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing open access literary content. Eloise and Daliah work for scraps (literally) and volunteer their time. Every donation goes to land rentals and texture uploads.

But, you have heard this all before :-)

Why do it? Why bother?

The other day, I met with some nay sayers. They don't think literature should be digitized. Literature can not be immersive. Literature comes from books, stays in books, and people like me will ruin reading.

Quite the contrary, I argued. The use of immersive technology FOSTERS a lifelong love of reading. Examples? Look at Vodka - she hates reading, but remembered loving Choose Your Own Adventure Books. She is creating a virtual CYOA book in SL based on the THREE she is reading (she only needed one). Take Fifelc - she hated the technology on the first day...she now has a car submerged in water to highlight her short story.

There are no right answers when it comes to teaching. There are some wrong answers, but I am not qualified to know what those are (wellll.....). I just know that the classes I remember most from those blurry days of undergraduatehood are the ones that had experiential activities.

So, Twice Told Tales.... Literature Alive! isn't just about teaching my students; it is open access and is meant to be a grid wide community service. Fostering a life long love of reading is the goal....and we are getting there...one prim at a time.