New World Notes

A Green Lantern In Africa: A Story of Mixed Reality Activism

KallfuNahuel Matador guarding the Darfur site in Second Life... Kall's real life owner, helping with humanitarian relief in Africa

If you found your consciousness raised in a virtual world, how far would you go, to do something about it? As a possible point of reference, here is the story of a virtual superhero, who brought his ideals with him when he logged off from his computer, and applied them on the other side of the world. Back in 2006, I wrote about KallfuNahuel Matador, a leading member of the Green Lantern Core, a guild of roleplaying superheroes who once found themselves protecting Better World, a genocide awareness site in Second Life, against the griefers who would destroy it.

Back then, I essentially asked Mr. Matador how it felt to devote so much effort protecting a virtual information site to an African tragedy, when so much real pain was still happening in the real continent.

"I can only do so much in real life," he told me then, "and I suppose only so much in SL as well. But I think every little bit counts."

As it turns out, he had more than a little bit to offer, because awhile ago, the man behind KallfuNahuel Matador shared with me the photo above right -- in it, he is lifting heavy relief supplies from a truck in Africa, outside a community center in Swaziland. (He's obscured his facial features because he'd like to keep his real world identity secret, for reasons that are interesting, though that's all I can say.) He was there as a direct result of the people he met in Second Life, through his Green Lantern avatar.

Mixed Reality Portrait: Maribel Helendale

Maribel Helendale shares this arresting mixed reality portrait blending photos of her from both realities. "Yes, is it me and my avatar on the little photos," she tells me. See many more clever integrations of her avatar and the real world on her Facebook profile.

See the whole Mixed Reality Portrait series here. Want to send me your own Mixed Reality Portrait? Here's guidelines and suggestions on doing just that.

Mixed Reality Seesaw Between Amsterdam and Second Life

I wrote about this very cool mixed reality seesaw project last November, connecting a hydraulic-equipped platform in Amsterdam to a virtual platform in Second Life (specifically, in the Brooklyn is Watching art sim), but just came across this video which way better conveys how it works -- and how much fun it can be, when it really gets going. (Especially when you're sharing the seesaw with several Dutch babes.) Last week we discussed how Second Life art can gain more recognition in the the larger art world; until SL becomes much more mass market, installations which include a mixed reality, intuitive interface like this one are probably the best way to go.

SL-Related SXSW 2010 Panels For Your Consideration

As gleaned from my open forum, here's three panels related to Second Life proposed for SXSW 2010. If you like them, create a free SXSW account, click each link, vote and comment in the thread attached to each:

• Using Machinima to Market Your Brand: As presented by Sasha Rudie, well known in SL as Moo Money, here's the description: "This session will discuss the specific uses of machinima, copyright issues, what game engines work best, and how it can be made for a fraction of the cost of traditional video."
• Second Life: Where Are They Now? Presented by John Swords, known as Johnny Ming in SL, formerly with The Electric Sheep Company, fellow panelists confirmed include Mark Wallace (formerly of 3pointD.com and now OperationTurtle.com) and C.C. Chapman (of The Advance Guard, formerly of Crayon), and Erica Driver of ThinkBalm. Here's the description: "Second Life was all the rage just a few years ago. Talked about at every technology conference and covered by mainstream media, it quickly went from being hyped to being ignored. Learn what happened to Second Life and and find out where its earliest creators, users and embedded journalists are now."
• Virtual Television: Collaboration & Communities: Proposed by Keren Flavell of Treet.TV (known as Starr Sonic in SL), here's the description: "The genre of filmmaking called machinima has achieved mainstream recognition with celebrated productions shot in games like Halo, World of Warcraft and Second Life. Less widely known are the emerging trends in collaborative production using 3D worlds that result in live broadcasts to multiple platforms including into the virtual spaces themselves."

Access OpenSim Worlds By Web Browser -- Here's How (Updated With English Language Link, Additional Info)

What you're looking at above is the latest iteration of a groundbreaking technology: It's version 1.0 of the 3Di OpenViewer, which displays content from an OpenSimulator server grid on a standard web browser, either Firefox, or as above, Internet Explorer. I wrote about an early version of OpenViewer last September, and earlier this year, the Japanese firm developing it released a commercial version. I'm checking with my Japanese translator, but it looks like the OpenViewer is being used to demonstrate and sell real world retail products in a web-based environment. [Update: Not exactly, see Update below.]

However, evidently you can use OpenViewer to access any OpenSim server. That is, if you're willing to endure the tricky installation process. Zonja Capalini has all the details on Rezzable's blog, heavily referencing the instructions just published by "Zaki", who on his blog describes himself as a senior engineer working for 3Di. (He posted a pretty thorough write-up on developing OpenViewer here.) At the moment, the log-in process is rudimentary and not very pretty to look at (as this screenshot from Zonja attests), but the truly innovative thing is a viable means for using OpenSim without a large and separate client install. A working web browser version of OpenSim (or for that matter, Second Life) will almost certainly make the the mass adoption of the metaverse more likely. What's more, Zaki reports that the browser plugin will be "fully compatible" with OpenSimulator soon. If you do try it out, please report your experiences back here.

[Update below]

Five Favorite Posts From Last Week...

• Virtual hair that turns wet when it detects water.
• I ask SL content creators if they've protected their work with real life copyright/trademark protection -- only 12.5% say they have.
• Remotely control computers from within Second Life! Only a small glimpse of much bigger things to come.
• What's the best term to call Second Life's many roleplay communities -- steampunks, furries, etc. -- counterculture, alt, or what?
• Want to see great screenshots of the Spartan military roleplay base? Molon labe! (Come and get them.)

Weekend Open Forum: What Are You Doing In SL Lately?

So what's going on with you in SL lately? Tell me about projects you're working on, groups you're in, sites you've seen, opinions you've formulated, mixed reality encounters you've experienced, machinima you've watched, blog posts you've written, Tweets you've Tweeted. (Just to suggest but a few topics.) The floor is open!

NWN in Japanese: 新しいSL :2009年中に大幅改善されたビューワーとウェブサイトを、2010年にはSL上でのウェブメディア機能をリンデンが発表

SLCC最後の目玉として、今朝、チーフプロダクトオフィサーのT．Lindenがドラマティックなユーザー体験の概要を発表した。その発表は数百人の二日酔いでグロッキーになっている参加者達をも興奮させることが出来る内容であった。まず、今年中に今までよりもずっと能率的な新ビューワーが発表される。画面をすっきりさせるために、メニューは脇に移動され、直感的に分かりやすくなっている。

In NYC Next Monday? Meet Molaskey's Pub Owners at The New York Public Library

Next Monday at 6pm Eastern (3pm SLT), Nasus Dumart and Apple MacKay, proprietors of the Molaskey's Pub live music joint and major figures at SLCC, will be at the Midtown branch of the New York Public library (455 Fifth Avenue at 40th Street) to talk about their book, The Unofficial Guide to Building Your Business in the Second Life Virtual World. Should be a valuable and fun time; also, they're just lovely folks. If you can't make it to Manhattan on Monday, it will also be streamed in SL. More details at Molaskey's blog.

New Jessie War Journal: Blog For Second Life Military Roleplay News, Space Commando Drama

The New Jessie War Journal has been in operation at least since last November, but I only discovered it recently, thanks to a pointer from Nexii Malthus. For that matter, that's the first time I learned there was a sim of the same name [SLurl teleport here], named after the legendary Jessie war sim of Second Life's early era. It's pretty well-written and worth a look if you're interested in the combat roleplay groups of SL, like the Spartans I wrote about several days ago. Another social curiosity: It contains long, excessively detailed, vehement accounts of interpersonal drama between various feuding squaddies. The phenomena known as "SL drama" is generally associated with fashionistas, but that turns out to be somewhat unfair, since as it turns out, even Second Life space commandos get the SL drama blues. Image credit: thejessiewarjournal.wordpress.com