Welcome to the Metaverse!
Greetings from the Second Life virtual "Swamp" at the University of Florida. You may not see any alligators, but Gators abound, for certain. I am Donna Davis, a UF PhD student also known as Tredi Felisimo (right) in Second Life, the 3-D immersive interactive online environment and part of the "metaverse". What is the metaverse you may ask? You won't find it in the dictionary. The term metaverse was coined in 1992 when Neal Stephenson wrote about a virtual world in his science fiction novel Snow Crash. The word metaverse is a compound of the words 'meta' and 'universe'" (wikipedia.org, 2008). This website will take you on an exploration of the educational and research potential in the metaverse of Second Life.
More than Second Life
As you begin to explore the metaverse, you might also want to explore the other virtual worlds out there. Although Second Life is currently the preferred virtual site for educators and researchers, there are others emerging. The links below will take you to a few sites where you can take advantage of the immersive, interactive and engaging 3-D virtual world.