VirtuALBA for inventors, wildlife and Hamden

“The module in total lasted 3 months but Second Life was only part of the module,” Sprocket said.  “Students also had to produce Web presences to accompany the SL stuff and ideally build links between the two.”

The exhibit is split into three sections: inventors from Scotland; Scottish wildlife and Hampden – Glasgow 2014.  Each section had approximately 5 students working on it.

Anyone who tried Second Life a couple of years ago, got an avatar and then abandonned the virtual place as clunky and unworkable from an oldish computer in Scotland, should  be encouraged to try again.  Gaberlunzie, in another guise has been to visit The Scottish Inventors Museum  created by the students which occupies two floors of the building in virtuALBA . It's great and fascinating and hotching with potential.

Sixteen inventors are featured with descriptions, pictures and a 3D representation of their invention, writes a US reviewer.  All exhibits feature a notecard and a wiki link detailing further information.  A crowd favorite at the museum is the ATM machine invented by John Shepherd-Barron and created in SL by IWishIWasMichael Flatley.  To this reporter’s knowledge no lindens were actually ever withdrawn from the ATM, but students continued to try valiantly to do so!!

Other creative exhibits are displayed throughout the museum.  One display features working radar invented by John Watson-Watt and created in SL by Xavierno Zerbino.  Zerbino also created an amusing Mack raincoat together with stormy cloud, rain and sound effects.  (The Mack raincoat was invented by Scottish inventor Charles MacIntosh.)

“For such a small country we have made many discoveries,” Zerbino said.

Mmh, thinks Gaberlunzie, but Microsoft and others say discoveries are not enough. Its entrepreneurs that are needed and more buzz about who's doing what. Perhaps it 'd be good to create a living Scotland site for Scottish based live wires and entrepreneurs and any new developments. Something, say for  Connect, Fusion and North Scotland Industries Group, who always seem to hold their meetings at locations like Inverness, that take time to reach.
 
A wildlife park (Gaberlunzie didn't have time to explore this, but will go back again later) surrounds the museum building.  Each of the wild animals constructed has a notecard giving background information on them and a wiki link. 

The animals are a wee bit larger than expected but wonderfully detailed.  Animals native to Scotland are represented in this park, namely wild cats, peregrine falcons, badgers, seals, beavers, otters, Aberdeen angus and deer.  (What no Shetland ponies or Clydesdale horses?)  A special segment of the exhibit has been devoted to Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. 

Stop by to get a close look at a haggis (very cute) and learn about some of their mystery and celebration in Scotland.  Small following haggis and squirrels (red or black ones Gaberlunzie hopes) are available for purchase.

Och,  Gaberlunzie would like to see the work of Scottish landowner Paul Lister encouraged, and where better than in Second Life? You can teleport out, if the wolves get frisky.

Lister plans to repopulate his estate in the Highlands with animals  not been seen in Britain for hundreds of years - including moose (elk), boar, brown bears, lynx and wolves, but is confounded by walkers objecting to the fences and neighbours fearing for their livestock, and the need to balance predators and grazers - a trick in need of continuous attention, as places like the Kruger Park are well aware.

How about some insects too, like butterflies, our trade mark midge or bees?  Then there's the flora like  lichen. Take  Micarea prasinella  previously thought to occur only in Alaska, Oregon, Chile, New Zealand and Tasmania and now has been found thriving in Scotland's North West Highlands.  A discovery  thousands of miles from its known locations which has surprised lichen experts  now forced to reassess their understanding of the species and its distribution.

The black beaded lichen was spotted during a field survey of the Dundonnell estate by Scottish Natural Heritage's (SNH) lichen expert Dave Genney who immediately recognised it as something out of the ordinary.

Genney said: "This very neat looking lichen caught my eye with its dark green velvety carpet, dotted with shiny black fruits. It was growing on woodland mosses and liverworts among tree roots at the top of a rock step bellow a larch tree. Its location at the top of the rock step probably protects it from over shading by bracken and from trampling. I didn't recall ever having seen a photo of it before so I collected it because it looked distinctive enough to identify"

Stunning site source: http://www.uklitchens co.uk




Source: http://www.slnn.com/index.php?SCREEN=article&about=univ-west-scotland-05-08
Website: http://slurl.com/secondlife/virtuALBA/86/125/33
Webs:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7346733.stm
http://www.snh.org.uk/press/detail.asp?id=1886