History of Earth in Second Life

Thanks to my friend Graham I found out about an exhibit covering the history of the Earth, both geological and biological in Second Life, so I went to visit it yesterday. Pictured above is part of the display for my favourite organisms of all time: the weird and wonderful animals from the Burgess Shale and the Cambrian Explosion.

The exhibit is attractively put together, and instructive. According to the NMC teachers buzz (that I missed in August) it was created solely by the students at the University of Arizona. Despite being instructive, I came away with a strong feeling of having visited a traditional museum, rather than an immersive exhibit in Second Life or an interactive science museum, or something moving towards Museum 2.0. There were certainly elements of the display, such as the exhibit about continental drift that I have seen done in an interactive fashion (I think at both Te Papa in Wellington and Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris), which could have been done in a more interactive fashion here. Where were the chances to walk through the core, mantle and crust of the Earth rather than look at cut-away models that I remember from when I was at school, over 20 years ago?

Despite, in my opinion, missing a trick or two that could have made this an excellent place to visit, it is still well worth a look. The SLURL will not take you straight there most of the time - you will land at a hub and be offered a teleport up from a large, almost impossible to miss, sign.