New World Notes

Rik's Picks for January 31-February 3

Rik Riel's weekly round-up of upcoming SL events...

"Art ... in a World of Art," is a new series of full-sim exhibitions taking place through Spring 2007 sponsored by the New Media Consortium.  Through February 20, check out the wacked out vision of Ahkenatan Grommet in a full-sim display of "fanciful and fantastic vehicles, everyday objects, and dinosaurs, playfully arranged." It's a lot of fun, but I want to know what a crucifix is doing there? At Service (204, 218, 44).

Also coming up this week: Photoshop for beginners, a tattoo just for you, building and dance contests, a multi-media Bible study group, and avatars come out swinging.

THE WORLD FROM MY WINDOW: THE INTERACTIVE SCULPTURE PARK OF MARNI ISLE

Mashup Islander sends a postcard from the island of Marni, describing the many wonders he and his hobgoblinesque friend Adam Ramona have built there.

"Adam and I bought a quarter each of Marni Island a few months back... Second Life was our world of choice for a collection of commercial projects we have on the boil, but it quickly became a quiet, creative space where we could skill-up and ply our creative selves. Adam is a real-time 3D artist with extensive experience in interactive, spatialised sound sculptures.

HUD LOVING

Bijorewind 2 by Yumi Murikami

Regular readers will recall that I recently announced an Interface HUD Expo... a contest that was promptly overshadowed by Cory Linden's plans to open source the viewer and integrate user-created interface changes into new versions of SL.  So in the next few weeks, I'll launch an Open Interface Expo, inviting Residents to show off their tweaks and hacks here. 

Meantime, I received at least two very cool HUD entries that are worth a look and perhaps some use. Lord knows when or if a variation of their functionality will be implemented into the viewer, so have a look, and consider making them part of your in-world experience for the forseeable future.

Tateru's Monday Reality Mix

Tateru Nino's weekly take on mixed reality...

I scored an opportunity to visit AOL Pointe during the Beta test phase, and gave myself a bit of a tour. I was expecting a big business branding-exercise that would leave me with a bit of a foul taste in my mouth, and in that respect I was a bit disappointed-- within a few minutes I was entertained and engaged. There's no mistaking that it's AOL, but this doesn't seem to be basic push-marketing or marketing at all, in the conventional sense. Could this be someone "getting it"?

Also, this week we'll be talking about the Lotusphere 2007 conference, French politics, Swedish embassies, the annual WEF meeting in Switzerland, missing NASA footage, and a Chinese photojournalist's exhibition of Japanese photography. More on all of these after the fold.

MIXED REALITY CELEBRITY SURVEY

Get Free Research Polls

I've been enjoying the many interviews Adam Reuters has been conducting with the avatars of numerous real world celebrities and captains of industry in Davos, and watching the event videos produced afterward makes me think how vastly different these appearances can be.  In one way of doing it, the celebrity avatar is puppeteered, while VOIP streams their real voice into the world, and afterward, you have a narrated machinima to review after the event; another way, as here with Judge Posner, the esteemed personage communicates in-world via chat, like most any other Resident, and afterward, you have an edited transcript with screenshots to review after the event.

Both have their advantages and deficiencies, and when I have the chance to interview a real world figure (2006 archive here) I have my personal preferences, but then, that shouldn't be primary. I'm curious what the audience thinks.  Hence, this poll.  Voting runs until end of next Sunday; please register your vote, as it'll likely impact how I mix my reality, when I have my next interview.

YOUR TUBE, YOUR BLUEPRINT

Here's a pretty cool application of SL as a RL architect's tool-- creating a fully-realized home from a floorplan blueprint.  From The Arch, a group blog devoted to using the metaverse for real world urban planning, architecture, and related fields.  The above video is no-frills tech demo, but the blog also sponsored a lovely promo video.

GAMING THE BACKLASH

Just when I think I'm out of the SL backlash/anti-backlash game, they keep dragging me back in.  Is Second Life economy a "pyramid scheme"?  I think not.  No, seriously-- and I'm not the only one.

WEEKEND OPEN FORUM (Updated)

If there's an SL-based topic you want to talk about, or grassroots content/events you want to promote, post here.  Topics abound:  Want to tell us about your open source project?   Seen a truly amazing build that we have to visit?   Played a recent game we've all got to try out?  Discuss these and more here, and come Monday, I'll mention noteworthy Comments and discussions in a front page update.

Update, 1/28:  starcomber Vig is the first on this blog to point out yesterday's big numerical event:

Three million total accounts created.  Of if you prefer, following Philip Linden's ratio of 10% active users-- defined as logging in-world at least once a week three months after account creation-- 300,000 regular Residents.  Only years ago (i.e., pre-World of Warcraft), this was considered on the high end for a non-Asian online world.

THE AGENCY OF AVATARS

Montogomery Nordwind was acting strangely in nightclubs and in other intimate places, and so the person who owned him-- or rather, someone who thought he did-- e-mailed me with an observation, and an explanation:  his avatar, he believed, was not exactly under his full control.

"I have seen my avatar, unbidden, lean closer to a woman to smell her hair when she is turned slightly away, something I myself would do," he wrote.  "And once as he sat seething in a barroom, while some jackass danced around a PG space with penis exposed, I swear he muttered 'Get Lost' completely of his own accord.  I think there's much to be said about self-determination on the part of avatars; I know I am now asking, rather than telling Montogomery Nordwind, what he wants and needs."

THE WORLD FROM MY WINDOW: COCOLOLO ISLAND

"At first,I didn't think about a business with this sim," Rocky Sassoon tells me in rough-but-game English (in real life, he's a web developer in Japan). "It's only for makes me relax." 

Inspired by Aman Resorts in Bali, Rocky got his friend Jennifer Hana to re-envision a resort in-world, on his island of Cocololo.  (Direct teleport here.)