Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Weblin Meet-Up Results and Revisited

On May 19th I posted on Gomeric Hill and cross-posted to Web 2.0 4 Teachers:

“Do you have a weblin? It’s like Second Life meets any website. From the weblin website: “Weblin makes you and others on the Web visible as small avatars. There are others on the same page you are on right now. Weblin opens a new and exciting world on every website.”

I just signed up for one 4 days ago. To sign up, I downloaded the software and confirmed my registration. I was then able to choose an avatar from a large gallery of avatars. Now no matter what website I’m on, my little weblin avatar is at the bottom of the page. I can walk along the bottom and communicate with other weblins on that page. If I right click my weblin I can change my profile, access my applications which includes an inventory, add friends, see edit and ignore other weblins, open a chat window or speech bubble to communicate with others, choose from pre-selected text that I have created and set my status.

I have seen lots of other weblins on Yahoo! Mail and a few on Flickr. If I go to the weblins website, I see loads of others. They may be here right now, but if you don’t have a weblin, you can’t see them. It adds yet another dimension to social networking and surfing the web. As I am writing this I have about three private chats with other weblins that keep popping up on my screen. The weblin site is German and there is an international flair. I have had most of my short interaction with avatars outside the United States.

Go get a weblin and let’s meet. I plan to be on my blog website, Gomeric Hill, on Wednesday, May 21, 2007 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. CST. It would be fun to see how many people show up. We can spend some time experimenting with our weblins together. “

As it turned out 6:00-7:00 p.m. CST is not a very good time for many to meet.  Several people contacted me through twitter and by e-mail to tell me that there were kids’ baseball games, homework and other activities which take them from their computers in the evening. 

Two people were available for the meet up: rfantster and aubree.  rfanster met my weblin, klmonty, on Gomeric Hill.  We chatted for awhile.  He found out about the meet-up from Ning.  I was simultaneously chatting on Skype and on the phone with aubree who was having trouble logging in.  rfanster mentioned he is a math teacher and doesn’t use many Web 2.0 tools or mobile devioces in his classes.  I suggested he take a look at Mobile4Math.  As I continued to work with aubree, I asked rfanster if he was still there.  He responded that he was downloading a math lesson to his mobile phone and thanked me for the suggestion.  rfanster had to meet a friend and left at 7:00 p.m.  I continued to work with aubree and she was eventually able to “see” me.  Her comment on my blog about weblins is as follows:

“Hi, Karen! I think this weblin thing might be a fun new idea. I like being “live” on a website with some other folks who are investigating it as well. I’d like to see if we can limit our conversations to folks who are on our “buddy list” – similar to buddy lists on AOL, MSN, etc. Will keep playing to see what else we can do with this!”

So, have you “played” with weblins?  Do you see a use for education?  Would you be interested in a future “meet-up?”

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2 responses to “Weblin Meet-Up Results and Revisited”

  1. Vicki Allen Avatar
    Vicki Allen

    Karen, Thanks again for introducing me to weblins. I am getting used to people walking across the bottom of my screen! I haven’t as of yet had any real conversations with anyone about websites per se,
    but I can see if you PLANNED something with others, students, etc. this could be fun
    and educational. I will keep working with weblins, and keep you posted on results.
    Would LOVE to try another meet-up so let me know what time and what URL! Now, I need to work on my avatar and get something original…:-) Vicki

  2. Kim Caise Avatar

    I have been using weblins for about a month. Whenever I am on the My Weblin page I am bombarded with requests to chat with people wanting to know my a/s/l. Time after time I have had them make casual conversation and then ask for my yahoo messenger so ‘we can chat using webcams’. I don’t know if you have had similar experiences but a good friend of mine has also. If this was used with students some type of security would need to be in place that they can only chat with one another.

    As far as the meet up, I wasn’t able to make it and would love to have a meet up in the future! Please let me know when this is planned!

    Kim