(Virtual) Living Museums in Second Life

Virtual Powwow was a living museum in Second Life, proposed as a final project in Bernie Dodge’s graduate-level Exploratory Learning through Simulation and Games class. By recreating a powwow, the simulation visualized an environment hosted by Native Americans where students could experience Native American culture and dance.

Although not exactly roleplaying, Virtual Powwow and living museums in Second Life offer a starting point for future discussions of the educational uses of historical roleplaying in virtual worlds. It may also bring together the seemingly disparate topics of this blog, including Wild West and Native American roleplaying in Second Life, visualizing history, and educational roleplaying games. The powwow itself can be contextualized within two pertinent discussions: the shifting of knowledge from experts to amateurs, and innovation vs imitation.

The largest difference between Virtual Powwow and the Native American roleplaying I’ve studied (which includes authentic dance and ritual) deals with ownership and who controls the historical narrative manifested within the simulation. The roleplaying sims I’ve come across are typically created by enthusiasts, who are “playing Indian” (yes, a direct reference to Philip Deloria… more on that in another post) as opposed to the more traditional presentation of historical knowledge by experts. In many cases, the results of this shift are historical inaccuracies, and the emergence of stereotypes within the fragmented knowledge of amateurs. That is not to say that amateurs are incapable of accurately representing history through roleplaying, but instead indicates the necessity of developing new computer-based teaching strategies and augmentative instruction to guide amateurs through their learning.

The group struggled with representing native groups accurately – particularly regarding who participated in the virtual powwow. Their website shared the following:

Initially we were thinking that we could have the learners participate as dancers in the powwow. However, after initial investigation related to this, it was decided it would be a potential problem having non-natives participate as if they were natives. We subsequently changed the design to have the dancers be accepted members of the host group. The host group would consist of Native Americans with knowledge of powwows.

Even though the simulation was intended to engage students and individuals who attended the powwow, the history and culture represented within the simulation was controlled by natives, who themselves were “experts.” Students attending the powwow remained spectators. That distinction hits at the heart another hot topic within the Second Life educators community, “innovation vs imitation.” Although there is an impulse among tech-savvy educators and digital historians alike to use technology for everything, this use of technology seems be nothing more than a recreation of what already happens in real life. While the virtual powwow may be a great way to learn across long-distances, it pales in comparison to physically attending a powwow.

Rather than imitating what happens in real life, my vision of a virtual living museum is innovative. In many ways it’s not a museum at all – but a historical laboratory where students can explore history in the virtual world. Instead of limiting the participation of dance to natives, students could be engaged. In my historical laboratory they would spend time creating the artifacts used within the simulation, and learn about the history of the tribes they represent. Citations are attached to objects and the environment they create is no longer a place they visit to observe others, but one which they have ownership of. Each piece of the simulation and living museum is an assignment, which gradually builds throughout the course of a semester as students learn. If actual tribes were interested in participating, that would be another way of historicizing the content within the sim. Collectively, these students share their ideas and participate as a class together in a powwow, which becomes a celebration of culture and the knowledge they’ve gained.

That ideal scenario outlines the basic thrust of my pedagogical research in Second Life. I’m not wedded to this exact idea, however I see great deal of potential for students to represent ideas and themselves within virtual worlds, particularly through the creation of objects “in-world.” That synthesis alone makes further research worthwhile, but the technology itself also lends itself to a unique form of communication and learning through our own virtual interactions.