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February 2009
The Archives
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02.28.09Eric Krangel Reluctantly Retracts Second Slam on Second LifeEric Krangel, formerly Eric Reuters in Second Life, seems to have extended the art of poor reporting over at Silicon Alley Insider. Now, I have no idea what got under Eric's skin. With the departure of Reuters from SL, Eric decided that a gracious exit wasn't in the cards, calling part of his SL experience "about as fun as watching paint dry," and implying that the Lab was limping along on the back of "fanatical users". What was odd about this was that while Reuters made for the exits, CNN was upping its investment in Second Life - and surely both can't ...
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02.28.09Narrow Walks in Wild Gardens: Explaining Virtual WorldsAt some point we try to explain ourselves. Maybe it's a room mate or a partner or someone at the office. And there are lots of reasons WHY we want to explain ourselves: maybe we want to share the passion, or feel like we have to justify the time we spend, or else, more and more, because we believe in it, we've seen it and felt it, and we know that there are things we can do that we can't do anywhere else, and we want other people in the world to understand that as well. So you end up trying ...
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02.26.09Live Theater in Second LifeAndrew Eglinton is a PhD student in the UK who's really interested in new and developing forms of theater. He recently took an interest in Second Life as a theater environment. After looking at it, he concluded that "Combined, these artefacts form the basis of an emerging culture - borderless, transient and democratised" and also writes that "the impact of the real time Web on the infrastructure of theatre is undeniable. It is changing the way we encounter theatre, the way we learn and talk about it, and it has given rise to new exploratory practice." Eglinton arranged an interview with ...
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02.22.09Second Life Tilt-ShiftedI'm really in love with the tilt-shift effect in photography. It makes the actual world look like - well, like Second Life: Tilt Shift Test 02 from CeeDee on Vimeo. Click to enlarge: Second Life Tilt-Shifted So in that spirit - well, I thought that if the real world could look miniature, what would a virtual world look like? Photos are at builds by 7 Days Magic Bakery, Golgothica, AM Radio, and the village of Puddlejump (click image for larger): Continue Reading...
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02.21.09The Possibilities of Virtual Architecture, and Metanomics RedesignedThe American Institute of Architects is calling Second Life a "game changing reinterpretation of design": "The online interactive software program Second Life has become an emerging place of architecture research that ranges from a practice tool to an open-ended exploration of design context and expression. Especially in architecture schools, its immersive 3D environments allow users to conceptualize and design a space quickly, thus opening it up for investigation by other users, which allows designers to see how it will be used and how people will circulate through it." In a wide-ranging review of architectural practices, the journal effuses: "Second Life’s design flexibility has ...
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02.20.09Seventh Graders Drool Over Math, ScienceAn initiative between Clemson University and Appalachian State University, supported by a $1.5-million grant from the National Science Foundation, will be implemented this summer to get seventh-graders excited about math and science. Clemson's Newsroom reports that three school professors are collaborating on developing a curriculum within a 3D virtual world. The goal is to let the students create virtual worlds and learn how to interact with others in a virtual world setting. "The goal is to help rising seventh-grade students acquire the computer and cognitive skills they will need in order to imagine careers in science or math,” said Sean ...
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02.20.09Dresden Museum expands SL presenceRecent success with the virtual version of a German art museum suggests that the Second Life generation is, despite its digital obsessions, also interested in really old art, according to Art Daily. The Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) first developed its virtual presence in Second Life in May of 2007, and Professor Dr. Martin Roth, the Director General of the institute, was pleased with the impact. "We were surprised by the level of interest in art we found in the online community," he told Art Daily. "The feedback we received indicates a great interest both in the works in ...
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02.18.09Microsoft, 3D Cameras, and Virtual ConferencingMicrosoft is in talks to purchase 3DV Systems for $35M, a purchase that would give it access to a 3D camera - a very similar product to that being developed by Mitch Kapor. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the move would give Microsoft a competitor to the Nintendo Wii controller, but with a difference: no controller required, the camera works entirely through detection of body motion: "3DV Systems develops "virtual reality" imaging technology for digital cameras that it sells, called ZCams (formerly Z-Sense). Its main targets are the gaming market ("enjoy a genuinely immersive experience," the company says on its Web ...
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02.17.09Virtual Worlds and Brands: Spin or Win, and Why They’ll Come Back for MoreBrands came to virtual worlds, they left, we griped, we moved on - and now they're all hanging out track side in Need for Speed or trying to get posters up in Ironforge or something - I'm waiting for the day that you can buy Coke in Darnassus, except maybe some kind of relic Coke, one with special powers, given out the same day as the Superbowl because what geek wouldn't be in WoW instead of being athletic with the remote. Someone told me that Reuben Steiger would be a lightning rod by appearing on yesterday's Metanomics but I didn't quite ...
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02.17.09Identities Constructed: Virtual Worlds and Anonymity (A Reader Comments)I recently posted some thoughts about avatar and actual identity, which generated excellent discussion. But I thought I'd highlight the following comment, posted by Debs Regent of the SLLondon virtual community: Social Construction Anyone who has studied Social Psychology will be familiar with the extensive work of Kenneth Gergen about the constructed identity and its variants in different social groups and situations. Also group work done by Zimbardo and others underpins these significant findings. We are arguing here about a phenomena that has been well researched and well proven for many years now. Its findings and conclusions are well established, even in ...
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