Home :: Twelfth NMC Virtual Symposium

Getting Ready for the Symposium

Posted October 20th, 2008 by Alan Levine
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Avatars Among UsPresentations for the NMC Symposium will happen at the NMC Conference Center, located on the NMC Campus in Second Life. But if you do not wish to enter the virtual world, we are providing a live video stream and a special chat capability that will link you to the live session (see below).

What You Will Need to be Part of Second Life

If you do not have an account yet in Second Life, then we advise you well before the symposium (like now!) to go to the NMC's special account creation site to select your avatar, create an account, and then enter Second Life on NMC's Orientation Island.

Make sure you are comfortable naivgating around, using your media tools, and communicating via chat and IM. In addition, you will need to make sure you can hear, and optionally speak, via the built in Voice Chat. Please see our helpful instructions for tips on setting up your Voice Chat features.

Join us for an orientation! Even if you are comfortable in Second Life, we recommend you come to the NMC Conference Center on the dates and times below when we will aim to make sure everyone can access the conference content (e.g.audio amd video) and to show them how to get around the Conference Center.

Participating on the Web

All registered participants in the conference will be provided a special URL before November 4, where you can watch a live video stream of the presentations and use a special chat tool to be able to communicate back and forth with the live chat happening in Second Life.

Voice Chat Suggestions

All of the session presenters will be communicating via the Second Life Voice Chat, so it is essential that you can make sure this works on the computer you will be using, and that you check this out a few days in advance. Our suggestions are:

  • You must wear a headset; if you listen via open speakers, the audio will be picked up by the microphone and retransmitted in Second Life which makes it impossible for others to hear. USB headsets are very cheap! Get one and use it.
  • Connect your headset and verify that it works outside of Second Life (the client software is not good at recognsizing changes in audio sources). Go to the Sound Control panel on your computer and check the audio input and output levels.  Listen to an audio file to make sure the sound is coming through your speakers.
  • In Second Life,you can tell that someone, including yourself, has voice chat enabled if there is a soft white dot over their head.
  • To Talk, look for the Talk button in the bottom right corner. Click the small lock icon to activate the mic- the button will have a gold rim when it is on. You do not have to hold the button. As you speak, green lines will appear over your head as an indicator of your audi levels. If you see red lines, your audio input levels are too high; go to your System Control Panel, and reduce the audio input levels in your Sound Control.
  • If you are not talking or during sessions, please de-activate your microphone so stray noise is not transmitted into the  shared space.

For more help, see How to Enable Voice Chat - we have a narrated screen cast for setting it up.

Getting Help!

For those in Second Life, if you need assistance, please find your way to the Information Desk where you can page an NMC staff member. In addition, refer to your conference email for a phone number and an email you can use to reach us.

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