What is the MOO?

The MOO can best be thought of as a virtual space that can be used for a variety of different online interactions, from basic chat (like with Instant Messenger or DIWE) to building complex virtual rooms in which users can interact with virtual objects. This basic tutorial will, however, focus only on getting you and your class set up with user accounts, and how to use the basic chat features.

Setting Up Accounts

You must request to have accounts set up for you and your students. Email auden@mail.utexas.edu with information in the following format:

Username emailaddress full name
(e.g., John john@mail.utexas.edu John Smith)

As an instructor, you also must request to have your students registered. In order to make the registration process as easy as possible, please send an email to wizard@syverson.cwrl.utexas.edu listing all of your students in the above format. After your students are registered, you will be provided with a list of passwords. Make sure they do not lose the password.

Logging in to the MOO and Changing Passwords

The Mappa Mundi MOO is located at the following URL: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu:7000. On the MOO home page, you will be asked to enter your User ID and Password (they are both case sensitive). Press Login.You will be brought to a screen that has two distinct sides--the left is the text side, the right is the web side. On the left is where you will be typing your text and conducting your chat session. On the right, you can use different navigation icons to move through the different rooms in the MOO, as well as view and post web pages (you can also navigate by typing in certain commands on the left, but that is for another day).

Click on the Options button on the top menu bar.

From the pull down menu, select Change Password.

Enter in the old and new password and press Save. You have just changed your password; please write it down and remember it.

Starting your Chat

Take a few minutes to read through the contents on the right side of the screen on the Silver Sea MOO page, and then click on The Fount of Knowledge. You will see a real cool fountain (created using a program called Bryce, which is installed on the multimedia station), and several other links. Click on General Use Classrooms.

General Use Classrooms are here for use by any instructor who does not want to build their own classroom (something which is explained in an advanced tutorial). Here you can have online discussions with your students and record their discussions.

Focus your attention to the bottom left side of the screen. You will notice a large blank space below a lot of text. If you read through the text, you will see that it describes your movement from the Silver Sea MOO home page to the General Use Classrooms. This is also where the text of your chat will appear.

Make sure the button next to "Normal" is checked. In the area, type the following (including the opening quotation mark): "Hi, How are you? Press return. You will see the following appear in the text area:

You say, "Hi, How are you?"

You are now chatting. The two other radio button options--say and emote--make chatting easier and more interesting. Select the Say radio button. You will immediately see "say" appear in the text box. Do not delete it. Type, without quotation marks, how are you? Press return. You will see the following appear in the text area:

You say, "how are you?"

Select the Emote radio button. You will immediately see "emote" appear in the text box. Do not delete it. When you Emote in the MOO, you are attempting to express emotions and actions, and as a result, you use verbs right after the word "emote." Type, without quotation marks, says how are you? You will see the following in the text area:

yourusername says how are you?

That's it. That is all you need to know to have a basic chat in a room. Just make sure all of the participants are in the same place (here, in General Use Classrooms) and you will be able to chat away.

Recording Your Chat Sessions

One (of many) nice features of the MOO is that you can record your chat sessions, and then have them available for use after the chat is over. In order to record the chat, you first must set up the recorder--a very easy thing to do.

From the menu bar, select Objects. You will be brought to a pop-up window called "Xpress Object Editor." Select the Create New Object button. Click Educational Objects from the list on the right. Click Generic Recorder and Player.

You can name your recorder anything you would like, but have it be something that you will be able to identify when you return to the room to use it again. For example, "Bill's Recorder." Click Create. You will be brought to a screen that has lots of information, most of which you do not need that this point. Select Close.

Now we need to drop the record in the room so you can use it. Click on the My Stuff icon in the menu bar. You will see a list of all your stuff--which should be more than you actually expect. Find the name of your recorder in the list and click the red down arrow. A message will pop up informing you that the recorder can been dropped in the room. You will now see the recorder in the room on the right side of the screen with the name of the recorder hyperlinked. You will also see your actions described in the text side of the screen.

If you want the recorder to stay in that room so it will be there the next time you are in the room, click on the link, and then on the green icon (it looks somewhat like an open pad lock). A message will pop up informing you that the recorder has been locked. In the text area, with the Normal radio button checked, type: start nameofrecorder. You will see the following message appear in the text area:

Type a label for this log or `@abort' to abort the command.

This message is asking you to name this recording session. You can name it whatever you would like. Press enter. You will then see the following type of message in the text area:

Loading log Bill 1. Done.
A red light on the Bill's Recorder flashes to indicate that it has been turned on and is now recording everything that is being said in General Use Classrooms.

Now everything that is typed or appears in the text area will be recorded by the system. When you are finished recording, simply type: stop nameofrecorder. You will see something like the following message appear:

PS! You can get an HTML formatted version of 'Bill 1' by pointing your web browser to http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu:9000/3281 and saving it as HTML source to your machine.
Would you like me to send the log 'Bill 1' to your registered email address? [Enter `yes' or `no']

If you would like to have a copy of the log emailed to you, type Yes. If not, type No. Press enter.