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The Archives
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03.06.08Orientation to Second Life for New UsersA list of orientation sims in Second Life should be a standard handout to new users, showing that there's a lot of choice when it comes to landing in and learning about Second Life. SuezanneC Baskerville, is a blogger and avid user of SL and Hipihi, and provides a thorough overview of places in SL where new users can orient themselves. The list of third party places is quite extensive and tres international, with listed entries in Japanese, Brazilian, Spanish and English. Her detective work is also impressive because, as she writes, “I was looking for a simple list of these ...
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03.05.08Windlight Atmosphere Presets for Second LifeWith the launch of Windlight (coming to the main grid "soon") will come the ability ("soon") for sim owners to set the atmospherics on their parcels. I'm a huge Windlight fan - it adds a visual depth to Second Life that was previously absent, and there are so many hidden little gems, including "glow", that content creators will continue to find new ways to leverage its potential. In the absence of estate-level controls, however, AM Radio has shown how to share Windlight presets by loading the XML files into your Second Life folders. Raul Crimson posted the instructions based on the original, ...
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03.05.08The Past and Future of Music in Second LifeA transcript of a discussion between four SL music veterans reveals some fascinating insights into where music is headed in SL. Kandi Valkyrie, a DJ, speaks of the way SL has scaled up in terms of numbers of sims, and jokes about the “12 green dots” they would see in the SL sims, circa 2003. Cylindrian Rutabaga, a performer, writes of the tremendous growth in SL, calling it a “musician and music appreciators paradise,” and speaks to the generosity that music lover’s heap on one another. Cylindrian also writes that “The relationships that are built amongst musicians and listener alike are imperative to ...
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03.05.08Discovery Educator Network Workshops in Second LifeThe Discovery Educator Network is holding workshops in SL in the month of March, which include seminars on the following topics: - Advice on newbies to SL (March 5) - Building bridges between SL and RL (March 19) - Containing your Inventory (March 26) The network is part of the Discovery Education team, which provides digital resources to schools and homes. It looks like the channel is stepping gently into SL as they discover the educational potential of the platform.
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03.04.08Adoption Curves and Second LifeAnalysts of Second Life often point to adoption curves to explain the phases of enchantment, disillusionment and then a slow yet steady acceptance. First, from ESC they point to "Crossing the Chasm": If we assume that Linden Lab can solve the back-end architectural and stability problems, and that ESC can solve some of the front-end usability and landing path problems, then one primary question is how long will this chasm be? Linden Lab’s technology needs to advance. Then, over at Kzero they give a technology adoption curve lesson and point the "early adopter" curve: I'll offer one final adoption curve from Logic + ...
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03.01.08Wiki Patterns Giving Business Clues for Virtual WorldsCollaboration in virtual worlds is one of their many applications, and new environments arrive every day offering everything from content-specific immersive environments (VLES for music) to social/entertainment platforms (Kaneva). Thinking about how to use platforms like Second Life for business collaboration and community-building, I'm struck by how the principles of open source development including Wikis might provide a rich source of lessons and ideas. Wiki Patterns for example, offers a toolkit for companies and communities looking to optimize the use of Wikis. But this toolkit sounds suitable as a "best practices toolkit" for Second Life. Some examples of community-building best practices ...
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03.01.08Turning on the Lights in Second Life, er, FROM Second LifeExperiment showing a real life light being operated from a Second Life light switch... Applications: - Click button in SL to start RL microwave (must train RL individual to put Pizza Pop IN the microwave) - New BDSM HUDs (leave it to your imagination) - Turn off television from within SL Seriously, however, nice little demo that SL is not a separate place, and can link to the "real", including this follow-up in which an avatar is controlled in the opposite direction:
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02.29.08Educational Practices Talk in SL on March 13 by CiscoJohn Connell, Education Business Development Manager for the Emerging Markets for Cisco Systems, will deliver a “non-tech” presentation in SL that will focus on “the key issues and questions around social technologies and their relationship to the shifts in educational thinking and practice.” Connell is well-known in Scotland as an educator and blogs frequently on education issues, the Web, and virtual worlds (and also writes a nice travel blog. His presentation is part of Cisco’s series of Learning 2.0 Tech Chats in SL. It will happen on March 13 at noon, Pacific Time. Mark your learning calendars for this one!
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02.28.08Healthcare Mash-Up: Imagine Second Life, IBM Avatars and Google HealthSpeculation maybe, but hints of things to come in a series of recent announcements in the healthcare field: * IBM is opening a healthcare sim in Second Life whose purpose is to provide a 3D demo of how its information systems facilitate better patient care and information management. Nothing like walking through a "real" simulation to see the impact of what's usually invisible, namely technology. Continue Reading...
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02.27.08Tribute Bands in Second Life – U2 and the Craft of InstrumentsA blogger who follows SL bands recently took note of a U2 concert in SL. Shauna Skye is the author, and she is interested in not just U2 but other SL versions of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and others. Speaking of the concert, she writes: “These were not just avatars doing little guitar animations, but they looked frighteningly realistic and had custom moves. It almost felt like being at a real concert; and yes, I’ve seen the real U2 live.” An SL ambler points out a unique guitar maker from the Netherlands who has started making electric and acoustic virtual guitars. Taking ...
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