This past weekend, August 12th-14th, marked the 7th Annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC), which was held in Oakland, California this year and virtually in Second Life while being streamed over UStream.

I have to applaud Avacon, the conference’s organizers, as in my opinion this was the best the conference has been for virtual attendees.  The in-world SIMs were beautiful and well organized and the team made sure each of the 33 presentations were clearly streamed in-world and online.

In addition to the many community presentations, there were several Linden panels.

Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble gave a keynote address announcing:

• 16,000 people a day are signing up for and joining Second Life
• Linden Lab will be working on other new products in addition to Second Life.  Specifically they are working on other shared creativity tools/spaces, and addressing tablets and mobile markets as well.
• Linden Lab is focusing their current Second Life efforts on improving usability, lag, and service.
• Linden Lab is looking at several future new features including a Linden made curated area, ending the need for HUDs, improvements to UI/sidebar, more in-world creatitivy tools and more.
• Read more and watch Humble’s full keynote

Linden Lab’s product team announced several new ways they are trying to address community needs:

• the team created a prototype game in order to learn about building and better understand limitations and problems in order to work on solutions
• Linden Lab may develop a gamified new user experience
• the team has been focused on improving usability and engagement
• each member of the team is becoming a subject matter expert in order to understand and support those communities better
• Read more and watch the product team’s full presentation

Linden Lab’s mesh team addressed several key concerns:

• Meshes (and objects with a physics shape type) will use the newly introduced prim equivalent to measure impact and count against land prim capacity
• theft and IP concerns  are unlikely
• meshes offers several advantages over sculpted prims, but traditional prims are still an important part of Second Life
• Read more and watch the full mesh panel

Brett Atwood/Brett Linden presented on updates to the Destination Guide:

• the Destination Guide now has dynamic, time sensitive channels that feature hot events and locations as they are going on
• the Destination Guide is intelligently removing a location if it becomes too crowded
• the Destination Guide has an Linkshare affiliate program through which you can create a widget for your location and place it on your blog or website allowing you to earn money for visitors derived from your site
• the Destination Guide now appears on the front page of the new Second Life login screen
• the team monitors resident suggestions, blog activity, and social media for new locations
• they are looking for high quality locations with broad appeal, active communities, and unique locations
• in order for your Destination Guide submission to be approved you need to include a compelling and visually interesting screenshot and text that accurately describes your location
• your submission could also be denied if it is a duplicate, your location currently violates the SL Terms of Service, your snapshot contains promotional text over the image, or the text is incoherent or inaccurate
• Destination Guide entries are non-paid; they are not meant to be classified ads
• View the slides then watch Brett’s full presentation on the Destination Guide

The commerce team presented on economical and commercial concerns:

• the Lab has been focused on new users, registration, usability, service, performance, and growth to drive traffic and increase sales for merchants
• Q2 stats show positive growth in several areas
• Marketplace moving towards direct delivery
• users will receive purchases as a folder hierarchy directly in their inventory (without the need to unpack items)
• merchants will no longer need to use a magic box, but will simply have to drag their folders into an outbox
• users will receive notifications of deliveries and will not need to be online to accept them, they will be pushed into inventory
• eventually there will be guided warnings to aid new users (use this item right away, you need land for this item, etc)
• Linden Lab looking to expand the LindenX to additional countries/currencies to in to serve more and increase sales
• View the slides then watch the commerce team’s full presentation

Marc Viale/Viale Linden presented on social experiences and communities:

• the lab is moving away from Linden run events like “Kiss a Linden” towards “sustainable communities” like the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and LEA’s Month of Machinima
• community gateways have not disappeared and are highlighted in the Destination Guide
• Viale says Linden Lab respects privacy declaring “we don’t care what your parents named you, you can be whoever you want to be in Second Life”
• Watch Viale’s full presentation on social experiences and communities

For a closer look at the more funny and social aspects of the SLCC experience check out Draxtor’s footage from the event below:

Environmental Documentary Deep Down Launches Interactive Virtual Mine in Second Life for Communities and Educators to Take Action in Solving the Power Crisis

November 23, 2010 – Virtual worlds can provide a comprehensive environment for education, storytelling, collaboration, and problem solving relating to real world issues. Sand Castle Studios, LLC announced today the creation of a project to educate, explore, and examine our nation’s struggle with mountain top removal coal mines, coal fired power production, and alternative energies in support of the documentary film, Deep Down, by filmmakers Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Independent Television Service (ITVS), and the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC).

“Virtual worlds are a powerful way to connect with others, examine real world problems, and participate in activities in order to learn more about them in a way that might not otherwise be possible,” said Kimberly Winnington (SL: Gianna Borgnine), Chief Executive Officer of Sand Castle Studios, LLC. “This project will establish new ways for communities and students to explore and examine the complex struggle many of our towns are facing as they experience the situations first hand while working to solve the problem of fueling our nation.”

Deep Down’s Virtual Mine project is an immersive, interactive, and educational 3D experience. Located in the virtual world of Second Life®, it will further explore the challenges of balancing the environment, power demands, and economic interests raised in the film by inviting players to take part in a story as it unfolds through a series of three games. Players will be asked to complete a series of tasks including clearing a section of land and blowing up mountains; going through the town to turn off as many electric items as possible and reduce the demand; building a sustainable grid with solar and wind power terminals; and ultimately trying to solve the power crisis in this virtual town. If successful in solving all three problems, participants will then be invited to a Community Jam, celebrating the culture and music of Appalachia complete with line dancing.

Resources for those new to Second Life are available to accompany the game. An Educators Guide outlines how the game can be used in the classroom, and includes tips for entering and participating in Second Life, short videos, discussion questions, suggested activities, and online resources for each of the games. However, while created with educators and students in mind, the games can be played in groups or by individuals alike.

The film Deep Down debuts tonight on the Emmy-award winning PBS series Independent Lens at 10pm EST (check local listings). In a first for PBS, the film will be followed by a short segment introducing viewers to Second Life and the Virtual Mine and inviting them to log in and explore it for themselves. The film will also be screened throughout the nation including a special virtual interactive screening and discussion hosted by the filmmakers on Ustream and in the Virtual Mine. The Virtual Mine will also continue to host events and provide a venue for town hall style meetings to discuss the impacts of mountain top coal removal.

For more information on Deep Down, The Virtual Mine, screenings and events, please see www.deepdownfilm.org

About Deep Down

Deep Down follows one small community in Eastern Kentucky as it is divided by a proposed mountaintop removal coal mine. Through this story of people connected deeply to the mountains and to each other, we learn about Appalachia’s complex contemporary struggle with the black rock that fuels our nation.

About Sand Castle Studios

Sand Castle Studios is a full service creative company dedicated to helping organizations maximize the full potential of virtual worlds and immersive media by creating interactive, social, and 3D experiences. Our strategic, creative, and technical teams are made up of some of the most experienced and talented minds in the world working to create unique and interactive user experiences.

For more information contact:

Kimberly Winnington (SL: Gianna Borgnine)

Sand Castle Studios, LLC

www.changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

kim@changingworldsbuildingdreams.com

###

The 6th annual Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) took place in Boston this past weekend.  It was an exciting weekend packed full of Linden Lab announcements as well as a plethora of resident-led discussions and presentations.

The theme that resonated throughout the Linden Lab keynotes was Fast, Easy, Fun which are also their new strategic goals.   While a vast wealth of information was delivered at SLCC, there were 5 announcements in particular that that I think will bring forth some  significant changes to Second Life.

1. Mesh Support

Mesh support  was actually first announced at last year’s SLCC by Linden Lab’s (now former) Chief Product Officer, Tom Hale.  After the recent layoffs of several key Linden Lab employees including Hale himself, there has been much speculation as to the status of mesh support.  Linden Lab Founder and CEO Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden) cleared this up in his keynote address when he candidly declared,. “We are going to ship mesh.”  He also stated that we can expect Mesh to go into Open Beta before the end of the year.

I was relieved to hear this, as I have been very vocal in regards to how critical I think mesh support is to the future of Second Life.  Not only does it allow developers an unparalleled level of control, but it could also decrease lag and increase overall performance.

2. New Users Directly to Content

Instead of the orientation experience current users had, new users will be sent directly to the content that they are interested in.  For example, if someone was interested in live music, they could click a link and be sent directly to a show and the orientation process would then be shifted.

Philip himself admits that this is a gamble, but he thinks it’s a good one.  I agree that in theory this could be very successful.  By sending new users directly to content, they have the opportunity to find the  communities and content that interests and engages them, therefore making it more likely that they will stay, explore, and return. How this feature is implemented though, will make all the difference.

3. Display Names

Currently we all use avatar names that we created by entering a first name and choosing a last name from an available list.  This is very different from most current platforms and while cute, it is simply no longer acceptable to limit avatars in this fashion.  With the addition of display names, new users will no longer have to chose from a list of last names.  They will be able to define their own user names and display names.  For us current users, our avatar names will become our user names and we will be able to define our display names.  This feature is currently slated for release in the next few days!

I still have a lot of questions about display names, but I am thrilled at the prospect of them.  They will allow users like myself to easily link their avatar to their real world persona while also allowing users who wish to remain anonymous the ability to do so.

4. Closing of the Teen Grid

Not all the announcements were happily received.  This announcement in particular has upset many educators who have worked hard to establish opportunities on the Teen Grid.  Unfortunately for those involved, the Teen Grid will be closing.  However, users that are 16 or 17 years of age, will be transfer to the main Second Life grid.

While I can understand the hurt and frustration of the educators and community leaders involved, I also understand that tough decisions had to be made.  I’m hopefully that Linden Lab and the educators involved can come to some agreement to make space and certain content available to younger users, but that is certainly a daunting task that must not be taken lightly.  Philip himself said that he would like to work with them to find a way for the younger teens to have a place on the main grid.

5. New Development Methodologies

The Lab is changing the way they develop things.  Instead of spending large amounts of time working on a project, they are switching to short release cycles and implementing the use of an auto-updater.  This will allow Linden Lab the ability to quickly implement changes and present the community with the opportunity to provide essential feedback along the way.   The Lab currently has about 15 scrum teams working on different areas of development.  During this weekend we were introduced to one of the teams focusing on improving the Second Life Viewer aka the Snowstorm Team.  Project Snowstorm hopes to improve the performance, reliability, and ease of use of the Second Life Viewer while rapidly releasing new improved “development” viewers as often as bi-weekly. The best part is they plan to be completely open about the whole process.  Each day, the Snowstorm team will meet in Second Life for an open Daily Scrum, where each team member will give a short status update. The status updates will also be published on the Wiki and the team will be blogging as well.  They will also be looking to the open source community and welcoming them to contribute to the viewer development.

Philip outlined upcoming fixes to several bugs including fixes to group chat and region crossings.  He also stated that they plan to make SL twice as fast on start up and improve the crash rate.  In addition they are also working on having more avatars per region,  and reducing lag issues by implementing controls on avatar complexity.   He promised that these fixes and others would soon be outlined in a official published roadmap.

These change are quite radical compared to some the recent methods of the Lab, and I am looking forward to this new level of transparency and accountability.  The lab is not only welcoming feedback and new ideas, they encourage and asking for them.  They have asked though that these ideas be well thought out and constructive.  Several months ago, I wrote about how much of the Second Life community had adopted a sort of culture of complaining.  I suggested ways that the community could bring forth their complaints in a more constructive manner, and proposed that by doing so, they would have a better chance of being heard.  That time is now.  Assuming the Lab honors their part of the deal, the ball is now in our court.

Philip’s Keynote

Project Snowstorm Keynote

What did you think of the SLCC announcements?

Today begins the very prestigious Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, here in Second Life. It runs today, March 12 through tomorrow March 13. Thousands of educators are expected to gather for the event.

Our company, Sand Castle Studios, has been given the honor of hosting a panel discussion on Creating Educational, Immersive Experiences and Simulations, along with our long time collaborator, the well known, and award winning, machinimagrapher, Draxtor Despres.

During this panel, we will look at how virtual environments are being leveraged to add value to learning through immersive experiences, simulations, and serious games. In addition to presenting several successful examples of each, we will also discuss 3D learning design approaches and sets of archetypes that are core to creating differentiated learning experiences. We will examine the most successful techniques used to create these experiences and what to look for when putting together creative teams. Finally we will cover how you can get your students involved in machinima and how to promote your projects in order to expose them to the widest possible audience.

Our presentation will last for a total of 40 minutes, followed by a 40 minute long Q and A session and discussion with the audience. This will give you all a chance to discuss with us any issues you’ve been facing in the virtual world arena.

Our presentation will be given on the SIM “VWBPE West 3” at 11:00 PST. For your convenience, here is a SL URL to the location:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/VWBPE%20West%203/229/168/71

This should be very informative and enjoyable experience for all!  We hope to see you all there!

Today, in a much anticipated announcement, Linden Lab launched the Beta version of their new Second Life viewer.  It will undoubtedly completely revolutionize the way we view and use Second Life, not to mention the first user experience.  There a heaps of changes and new features (small and large) included in this version and lots of additional features and changes in the works.

To get started you need to download the new Viewer 2 (Beta).

New Interface Introduction

The first thing you are going to notice is how it looks cosmetically.  The look of this new viewer is so smooth and clean.  A major upgrade.  Next you will notice a completely different user interface (UI).  This new UI is so much more intuitive than an other viewer before it.  It is made of up what Linden is calling the top bar, the bottom bar and the side bar.

While new users will find this new UI very intrinsic and much less overwhelming then before, it will take quite some time for experienced users to get used to, as it is radically different.

Most of these features are the same, or at least familiar, but have been relocated so that they can now be found more easily.

The new UI looks and functions very much like a browser.  It includes a browser-like navigation bar with forward and back buttons (history) and easily accepts SLURLs.

My favorite new features that are now easily available on the UI are the teleport history which can be accessed several ways, and the ability to bookmark a location (landmark) with one click. You can then even customize that landmark and add information about the location to the landmarks.

Appearance and Outfits

Another one of my favorite new features is something that designers have been asking for since as long as I have been in SL.  Under Appearance, users and designers now have two more sections.  One gives you the ability to add a tattoo layer.  The other allows you to make parts of your avatar invisible.

Perhaps the best new feature for the resident fashionistas of SL who love to mix and match their clothing wardrobes is the ability to create new outfits using links for no copy items.  Links do not break any permissions, they are simply shortcuts that point to an original no copy item.  This has long been a problem of mine and I’m so glad to see it included in this new viewer!  Also helpful is the addition of the Wearing tab which shows the items you are currently wearing.  Many of us have been used to this from other third party viewers, but its great to see it added here as well.

Shared Media

While all of these features are great, and there is a whole slew more of them… there is something bigger.  Perhaps bigger than the launch of the viewer itself, is the launch of Second Life Shared Media (SLSM).   SLSM is 100% a game changer for Second Life.  It will allow you to display fully interactive, shared web content on any surface of a prim in Second Life including Flash, Javascript, and embedded movies.

Many people are already using it to play games, watch YouTube movies, collaborate on Goggle Docs, check email, display web pages, and the list goes on it.  The applications of SLSM are only just being explored and will most definitely will change the way we use SL for education, collaboration, social media, augmented reality, etc.   This video gives more details about SLSM including how to set it up yourself:

Other Features

There are so many new and updated features I could never cover them all in one post (at least not one you would read).  Luckily Torley has posted several video tutorials to help you learn about them all.  These features include:

Coming Soon

In addition to all of today’s new debuts, we know there are a lot more new features in the works!  In the near future Linden Lab has said that they will still be unveiling some more game changing features like Mesh Support, the addition of C# as a scripting language, additional tools to better integrate social media, and more!  In fact, Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon appeared on building43 this morning to discuss the launch, what the company has been up to, and where it’s going.

As you can tell its been a BIG day for Linden Lab, Second Life, and all of us!  I would love to know some of your thoughts on the new viewer and today’s big news.  What do you love or hate?

Recently, the PBS program, “Frontline,” featured a 90-minute documentary entitled “Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier” which examined what it means to live, work, socialize, in a digital world.  I first heard about the documentary from media theorist, writer, and digital native Douglas Rushkoff during his recent appearance on the virtual talk show, Metanomics.  On the show, Rushkoff discussed his most recent book Life, Inc. and the Digital Nation documentary which he wrote with the film’s producer and director Rachel Dretzin.  I was excited as he described how segments of the film came together, stating ”It’s not us telling America, ‘This is who you are.  You are in a digital nation.’  It was more kind of our digital nation telling us who they are, feeding us the stories that they wanted to see covered.”  (watch the full Metanomics episode here)

Unfortunately, when I tuned in I was saddened, disappointed, and frustrated. It’s not that the piece wasn’t interesting or well done, it was just smothered with this overwhelming feeling of inevitable doom.  I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.  Professor Robert Bloomfield who optimistically hosted Rushkoff’s aforementioned appearance on Metanomics just a few days before the show aired, now wrote on the show’s blog, “The emotional thrust of the piece is clearly that life on the virtual frontier is frightening, dysfunctional, and spells the end of all that is good and wholesome.”

I could easily write pages on how I think this documentary asked the wrong questions, how I think a similar program probably aired decades ago with an identical warning about television, how many of us use computers all day long at work and no one calls us addicts, or how at one point I got up and yelled at a dazed mother to stop mourning over her “addicted” son and do some parenting… but I’ve seen many great blog posts discussing all these points and more.  The segment that I haven’t seen discussed enough is the segment on virtual worlds.

The virtual worlds section begins with an interview with Second Life creator Philip Rosedale.  While Rosedale does a great job sharing his visions and enthusiasm, Ruschkoff’s explanation of the fundamental question, what is Second Life, misses the mark.  Ruschkoff says,  “Second Life is an immersive 3D online universe.  You make a character called an avatar, and then you live in that worlds as that person.”   I can’t speak for all Second Life users, but for me, my avatar is not a character.  I also don’t “live” in Second Life, but when I am in-world, I don’t “live as that person.”  My avatar is simply an extension of myself, a 3D representation of me.

Almost as bad as the explanation, is the machinima footage of the virtual world.  There are multiple clips of Ruschkoff’s avatar hopping around in different poorly build locations as he tries to fly.   These are followed by numerous clips of avatars dancing in various locations, and then more dancing, and after that, still more dancing.  In another clip, you see several well known and high profile avatars, like Pooky Amsterdam,  standing around drinking.  Pooky is the avatar behind two of Second Life’s biggest live television shows as part of her award winning production company, PookyMedia.  Yet, despite this, there is no high quality machinima, no footage of these shows.. just dancing and drinking and more dancing.  It’s simply inexcusable to me, that they could “document” virtual worlds without showing ANY quality content or machinima.  I’ve heard several people argue that they might not have had the knowledge, nor the funding to hire professionals.  I’m currently working on a project for the University of Southern California in collaboration with PBS Frontline, and we would not even dream of producing anything but the highest quality content and machinima.  The paradoxical part about all of this is that the Frontline program is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, who also funds some of the most amazing projects and discussions in Second Life.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, Ruschkoff joins the list of uniformed reporters who covered the “failures” of Second Life stating, “For awhile, companies like Coke and Calvin Klein, thinking Second Life would be the next big thing, opened virtual outposts there.   It didn’t work.  Marketing real goods in virtual worlds never really took off.”  The BBC also published a similar uninformed and angled story (just about four months ago) employing the same premise and even using identical images of the closed virtual American Apparel store.  In a response to the BBC, Wagner James Au stated, “It’s astounding any credible media outlet would cite the experiences of American Apparel and Reuters’ ill-fated SL bureau of two-three years ago as if they were relevant to Second Life as it is now.”  While those failures are completely irrelevant, they are also not failures of Second Life, but of the delusive developers who relished in all the money companies were impetuously throwing into Second Life, while they created them big superfluous virtual ghost towns.  How Second Life can be used successfully by brands is a whole other blog post, but it is being done more and more all the time now when organizations take the time to understand the platform and the communities that exist there, instead of simply just building the virtual equivalent of a billboard.

Just when I thought the piece couldn’t be any more off base, Ruschoff dares to ask, “Do virtual worlds really bring us together with others, or do they just make being utterly alone a little more bearable?”  Again, I can’t speak for everyone, but I use Second Life often as my company works in-world almost as much as we do outside of Second Life.  It has nothing to do with feeling lonely.  I am surrounded by people in the real world and in the virtual world.  I don’t go in-world because I am lonely, I go there because I get to experience so many amazing things I would never have had the opportunity to do otherwise (like the time I met Yoko Ono in-world) and because I love helping organizations harness the power of these worlds so that together we can create those opportunities for others.

Despite the documentary’s tone of impending doom, Ruschoff closes the film by stating that you can still count him “among the believers.”  While I doubt that resonated with very many viewers after just being subjected to 90 minutes of fear mongering, I was glad to see that he hadn’t actually changed his mind about technology.  With that in mind, I extend to him an invitation to come back to Second Life, leave the sensationalism behind, and for lack of better words.. take a second look.

Though I disagreed with much of this documentary, it was still very though provoking.  It raises many questions which generate important conversations about technology and the future.  I encourage all of you to take the time to watch it in full and come back and share your thoughts.

The biggest news coming out of the Second Life Community Convention this year was delivered by Linden Lab Chief Product Officer Tom Hale, aka T. Linden, who announced a dramatic user experience roadmap and gave a tour of several of its features including a new SL viewer and website.

The new SL viewer, which will debut later this year, was designed with user experience in mind. The navigation is a updated so that you can easily go “back” and forth between previous locations and easily use SLURLs as locations. The most used features of the viewer are clustered into a single drawer that opens to a right hand panel and then can be shut when you are not using it, in order to unclutter the display. It promises “no more panel proliferation”.

Also coming by the end of this quarter is a vastly improved Second Life website with a machinima to entice visitors, an interactive keyword searchable map, and an improved XStreet SL shopping experience. They also updated the registration process and provided new users with a PDF quick start guide. The user dashboard is also updated as well and will eventually be your social networking homepage.

Another feature that was previewed was Mesh Support. Since this is a more complicated feature, we have had our Chief Creative Officer breakdown this feature, and you can read about it here.

Lastly, over the course of next year interactive web media files displayable in SL will be introduced. These will be in the form of collaboratively documents like being able to work on a Google Doc with other avatars, and in additional Flash-based media applications like YouTube. A “LL Media” API plug-in for media is also expected to allow for developers to create their own media plugins as well.

UPDATE - Tom has details on the “LL Media” API plug-in and how you can get the code up on the official blog.

Related Posts:

• Second Life Launches its New Website
• SLCC 2009 Wrap-Up
• Everything You Need To Know About Second Life Viewer 2.0 (Beta)
• CNBC Segment on Business & Social Media Highlights LinkedIn, Second Life, and More
• The Future of Mesh: Key Points from SLCC’s Mesh Panel
• Powered by Contextual Related Posts

]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/second-life-2-0-tom-hale-presents-the-new-second-life-viewer-website-and-interactive-web-media-at-slcc/feed 10 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/california-legacy-in-sl-episode-4-dickens-in-camp-by-bret-harte http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/california-legacy-in-sl-episode-4-dickens-in-camp-by-bret-harte#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:35:11 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=282

Here is our latest episode of The California Legacy Series features Bret Harte’s 1870 poem “Dickens in Camp.”

The California Legacy Project at Santa Clara University in collaboration with Heyday Books is dedicated to preserving California’s unique culture through books, radio productions, and now through the virtual world of Second Life, using machinima to visualize the writings.

Check out the episode and some more of the amazing photos we took behind the scenes during the production!

Also don’t miss us TODAY at SLCC as we present “California Legacy – From Out-of-Print Literature to Modern Machinima” from 3pm-6pm SLT PST/SLT in Elizabethan Room D. During this workshop, the series and it’s machinima production will be broken down and discussed at every step. This workshop will also include an opportunity for the audience to participate in the production of a brand new segment, filmed ON THE SPOT! I hope to see you there!

Related Posts:

• SLCC 2009 Wrap-Up
• Virtual Machinima for Social Good
• Virtual Bill Gates in PC vs Mac Machinima
• CNBC Segment on Business & Social Media Highlights LinkedIn, Second Life, and More
• Second Life 2.0: Tom Hale Presents the New Second Life Viewer, Website, and Interactive Web Media at SLCC
• Powered by Contextual Related Posts

]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/california-legacy-in-sl-episode-4-dickens-in-camp-by-bret-harte/feed 2 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/296 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/296#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:08:15 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=296

Linden Lab Vice President of Customer Relations Cyn Linden has a very lengthy, but clear and concise post on the company’s official blog detailing their new “Content Management Roadmap” for Second Life content and its creators.

Cyn says that Linden Lab is “committed to empowering content creators to better manage and control their content.” She presented a multi-faceted plan help manage content on several levels.

Improved Intellectual Property Enforcement

“In response to Resident feedback about the time and effort involved in submitting (DMCA) notifications to us, we’ve been developing an improved process. In the not-too-distant future, intellectual property owners will be able to submit complaints to us electronically through an online form. The form will make it easier for intellectual property owners to submit complaints, and it will help us expedite their processing.”

This is a welcomed advancement! If you have ever had any experience with LL’s current DMCA process you’ll know that it is not only lengthy, but also subject to much abuse. The current process allows for claims to be submitted by fax or written letter (regular mail or courier) only. An email addresses was originally provided, but quickly when it became the target of spam, making it difficult to review legitimate communications. Making the filing of DMCA complaints easier will be a significant step to improving this process.

Enhanced Content Licensing

“As we develop our stand-alone, behind-the-firewall Second Life solution, we’re aware of the opportunity it presents for talented and entrepreneurial content creators to reach more customers in a broad inter-connected 3D marketplace. To help facilitate this marketplace, we are developing the ability to attach “sticky licenses” to content sold to enterprise customers running a stand-alone version of Second Life. Content with these “sticky licenses” will have additional metadata such that the license information can “stick” to the content as it is distributed to the enterprise customer’s server, and users of the server solution can review the license terms through the Second Life viewer.”

Currently, technological restrictions known as the “permissions system” that can determine how content can be used in-world. This system is limited though, and does not grant any legal permission to use content outside of Second Life. With the arrival of new solutions, there will be content creators who want to sell or transfer content to these new “private grids.” Enhanced and extended licenses such as what is being proposed will most definitely be needed to both protect and assist content creators.

Clear Polices and Practices for Copying Tools

“As we’ve discussed above, the Second Life “permissions system” does not grant any legal permission to use content outside of Second Life. Even content that is “full permissions” may only be used within Second Life absent a specific license agreement from the intellectual property owner(s) authorizing the content’s use outside of Second Life. Thus, a check that the user is the Second Life “creator” of the content helps protect intellectual property because the “creator” is potentially the intellectual property owner of the content, while a user who is merely the Second Life “owner” of the content is not likely to have permission to use the content outside of Second Life.”

This improvement further protects the enhanced licensing changes discussed. This is also clarification that copying tools are against the TOS. This clarification comes after the disgruntled owner of Rezzbles recently announced, in their most unethical move yet, that they intended to sell the code to their version of copybot (it did not check who the creator was before copying the items on a SIM) called, BuilderBot. It’s great to see LL taken a clear stance against this type of copyright theft.

New Content Seller Program

“As our community grows, Second Life needs a content seller program to help the community trade content safely and trust one another. By “content seller program,” we mean a program that sellers may participate in if they meet certain eligibility standards intended to show a level of trustworthiness and quality of content.
At a minimum, participation in the program will require that the selling Resident:

• have identity and payment information on file with Linden Lab;
• be in good standing and not have been suspended for any violation of the Second Life Terms of Service;
• meet a minimum threshold for content transactions; and
• affirm that all necessary intellectual property rights and licenses have been obtained for all content that the Resident has for sale.”

This program is very similar to Linden’s solution provider program. If implemented successfully, I believe this program would provided a new level of transparency and accountable that would deter most clearcut cases of theft.

Improved Communication of Policies about Intellectual Property

“We are committed to clarifying and updating our policies to promote awareness of intellectual property and protect against infringement. We believe that informative and educational policies often help people do the right thing.”

This is something that will most definitely be needed in the future as the lines continue to blur. It only helps with the above policies in protecting content creators and other IP and copyright holders.

I applaud Linden Lab and Cyn for taking these steps and for so clearly stating in writing their intentions and plan of action. I also am glad that they are giving us, the residents and users of Second Life, the chance to provide our suggestions and feedback in the discussion forums. I highly recommend you take the time to view these discussion and state your thoughts on how best to protect and manage intellectual property.

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]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/296/feed 1 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/linden-lab-presents-a-new-professional-face-to-virtual-worlds http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/linden-lab-presents-a-new-professional-face-to-virtual-worlds#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:51:56 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=261

Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, debuted a new portal for organizations to serve as a more professional face for the virtual world. The new “Work” sub-domain continues the company’s slow, but steady revamp. The site features case studies of enterprises successfully using Second Life and offers a free tour of the Second Life environment.

For those of us, like myself, that work in virtual worlds helping businesses, educational institutions, and non-profits harness the power of these 3D worlds, this site is a breathe of fresh air. While the tides are changing everyday, historically it has been difficult to present to organizations the true potential of these virtual worlds. This site not only brings a fresh, clean design sense, but it also clearly highlights some of the uses and benefits of the platform in way that is organized and easy to follow. It is a welcomed leap from the former portal, the SLGrid, which was cluttered and disorganized.

If Linden Lab continues this kind of progression to other areas such as the client user interface, and launches a much needed marketing campaign, I believe it might fulfill its claim that “2009 is a Breakout Year for Virtual Collaboration.” I am very excited to see what future fresh views they have in store for us.

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]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/linden-lab-presents-a-new-professional-face-to-virtual-worlds/feed 0 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/obama-administrations-deputy-cto-beth-noveck-takes-questions-from-second-life http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/obama-administrations-deputy-cto-beth-noveck-takes-questions-from-second-life#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:38:39 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=198

White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Beth Noveck, recently participated in a mixed reality event to promote her new book, Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. The event began with Noveck presenting on how technology and citizen participation can help the government become more effective at solving the complex social and economic problems we face today as described in the book. Noveck then attempted to highlight this by taking questions, not only from those in the audience in New York, but also from avatars in the virtual world of Second Life.

Noveck herself is no stranger to Second Life. NWN’s Wagner James Au calls her, “one of the first academics to use SL as an educational platform.” Her virtual avatar, Lawlita Fassbinder, was created in the early years of SL in 2004. He also notes that she is the very first to count the White House as her office address. There she has been working hard on open government and using social media tools to try and get citizens talking about public policy. She discussed some of the work she has been doing with New York Times journalist, Saul Hansell last month.

During the event, while answering a question from Second Life avatar Tara Yates about synchronous vs. asynchronous, Noveck said this of Second Life,

“To the Second Life community, there is an opportunity for people to be talking about and looking at the role that virtual worlds can play in helping to create jobs, do simulations and job trainings.  It’s so desperately needed.  And we’d love to hear from (them).  It’s the kind of thing that.. can only take place if people work together in real time esstenially building job training facilites and simulations that can be used for job trainings and education and other social uses.  So, I think it’s not a matter of just what’s available at the desk of folks who are in the EPA or in the White House, it really is what we can do with these social tools to solve the challenges that we’re all facing that are not simply a government issue.”

Noveck also called for a movement towards a “culture of engagement” stating that,

“The most important things is when we can demonstrate that it’s possible to people who have not been accustomed to collerbrating and taking advice and looking outside their institutional boundaries for help.  When we start to do that, it creates a culture shift that I think all boats rise on.”

In closing, Noveck stated her believe is that technology is important for accountability and continued open policy by saying that,

“It’s one thing to have a stated policy like the Freedom of Information Act that says the default rule will be that all government information will be open and proactively made available.  It’s another thing to have a data.gov platform and to have that data up there, and to have a dashboard which shows you how much data is up there, and who’s releasing it, and who’s putting it out.  That picture is worth a powerful thousand plus words…..  If the number of data sets on data.gov stays fixed and doesn’t go up over the next year, people will begin to notice that…  The hope is once you create these things in practice, and make them visible and begin to create a culture that expects it…  it’s going to be very hard to put back in the bottle.  The technology is really the thing that’s helping us to do that, so it is hopefully the ability to do more of that and to change the way these institutions work towards being more colleraborative and more open will hopefully be, I’d like to think, the great technological challenge of the next ten years.”

As we noted in an earlier post, the Obama administration has been actively seeking out, researching, and testing virtual worlds for these types of opportunities.

The event received much positive feedback, with the audience feeling like the level of engagement was impressive. It will be interesting to see how the US government moves forward within virtual worlds.

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]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/obama-administrations-deputy-cto-beth-noveck-takes-questions-from-second-life/feed 0 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/the-obama-team-officially-gets-a-second-life http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/the-obama-team-officially-gets-a-second-life#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:59:51 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=154

Since even before entering the White House, the Obama administration has used a multitude of social networking and communications tools, such as Twitter, YouTube, and of course, blogs in order to better interact with the public.

The administration has been slowly starting to add virtual worlds to this list.

Last week, when President Obama spoke to a live audience in Ghana, his address was streamed to audiences in the virtual worlds of Second Life and Metaplace. After the speech there was a virtual discussion, led by a panel featuring Kenton Keith, the former ambassador to Qatar, and African historian Professor Tim Burke. Guests were also treated to the musical stylings of Derrick Ashong, also known as DNA, who rose to YouTube fame during the presidential campaign.

This event was announced by CBS News and organized as an official White House event by the U.S. State Department. It was documented by award winning journalist and machinimographer Bernhard Drax (aka Draxtor Despres in SL). We at Sand Castle Studios were privileged to be able to work on this project with Drax. You can see some of our photos from the event and behind the scenes, here.

The event was meant to facilitate discussion and offer an opportunity for everyone to take part, not only in the event itself, but also in the message. In the machinima, the avatar of William May, Director of Innovative Engagement Worldwide for the U.S. State Department explains further how they used these new technologies to establish reach. Underneath all of this, the event was also sort of a test run to see how this mix of virtual worlds and social media might be used and how effective they would be.

The mix obviously blended quite well, because it was one of the most tweeted, facebooked, and SMS discussed events since Obama took office and quickly became viral even topping the trending topic list on Twitter.

The impact of the event didn’t stop there though. Excerpts from Drax’s machinima were presented yesterday in Washington, D.C. by Scott Sechser (AKA Scott Linden in SL) in front of military and civil members of the administration. Present for the presentation, was White House deputy Chief Technology Officer, Beth Noveck.

Novek has since announced that she will be hosting her own virtual event in Second Life this coming Monday, July 20th. The event features a simulcast of Noveck presenting her new book, WIKI GOVERNMENT: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. Following the presentation, Noveck will take these kinds of virtual events one step further, by allowing questions not only from participants there in person, but also from those viewing the presentation in Second Life!

No one knows yet what the future holds for the Obama adminstration and virtual worlds, but what we are sure of, is that they are actively seeking out, researching, and testing these opportunities.

It will be interesting to see the Second Life community’s response to these types of progressions from the US government. Already there has been some criticism from the “residents” of Second Life about these events. Avatar Crap Mariner voiced his disapproval in a blog post entitled, “Obama wasn’t in Second Life and Metaplace… just the manipulation machine that put him in office.” Writer Tateru Nino who has written for some of the most prestigious and well-read blog sites about virtual worlds including Second Life Insider, Massively, and New World Notes said, “Anyone can stream a video. We could have a famous political figure every week… Showing a video of a President in your house doesn’t mean that the President was there.”

What these residents seem to be missing is that we all should have an invested interest in the US government or any government for that matter using these types of platforms as a means to connect to the public.

Virtual worlds like Second Life offer a prime opportunity to engage using two-way channels of communication and by providing a collaborative environment in which people can come together on all levels, to form innovative solutions that can actually make a difference.

At this time, many organizations are not aware of the power of virtual worlds and like all new platforms it will take time for them to be completely adopted by the mainstream. During this time, organizations will begin to dabble in these platforms. You can not expect them to dive head first into something that is completely unfamiliar to them. In order to ensure continued growth, we must encourage, not criticize, their efforts in order foster these relationships which eventually will lead to the full on engagement that we are seeking.

These beginning steps by the Obama administration give us hope that soon we may all actually be able to take part and have our voices heard in an open government that is a true reflection of democracy.

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]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/the-obama-team-officially-gets-a-second-life/feed 5 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/playboy-may-develop-its-own-virtual-world http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/playboy-may-develop-its-own-virtual-world#comments Wed, 07 May 2008 15:17:59 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=68

Whether you like it or not, sex sells… even virtually. That may be why yesterday in Playboy’s Q1 2008 earnings conference call, Playboy Enterprises chairman and CEO Christie Hefner (the daughter of Hugh Hefner) discussed the company’s future plans and in doing so hinted that Playboy may be developing its own virtual world in the future.

While describing the future of the Playboy brand Hefner said:

“It is the strength and appeal of the brand that will drive the company’s future success, and we intend to leverage that in both the immersive real world and in the virtual environment to increase shareholder value.”

Hefner elaborated by saying:

“We believe that the potential of online is much greater than the performance we’ve seen in the last several years. And to realize that potential we have to catch up in terms of technological infrastructure and breadth of content and interconnectedness between what we do in the virtual world and what we’re doing in other businesses in terms of e-commerce, in terms of events, in terms of advertising, in terms of social networking, etc.”

Will Playboy actually develop their own virtual world? They already have what I have praised as one of the most successful, if not the most successful, immersion of a real life brand into Second Life. Do they really need to have their own virtual world? Will this encourage other brands to develop their own virtual worlds? Personally, I think that a virtual Playboy could be a huge success, but it won’t work for all brands, and having multiple separate branded virtual worlds isn’t very viable compared to having one world like Second Life that can encompasses many individual brands while still allowing them each the opportunity to develop their own individual space and identity.

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]]> http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/playboy-may-develop-its-own-virtual-world/feed 0 http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/nesimvesim-education-project http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/nesimvesim-education-project#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:49:27 +0000 Gianna Borgnine http://changingworldsbuildingdreams.com/?p=57 One of the reasons it took me some time to get the blog up and running again is that we at Sand Castle Studios have been so blessed by being able to work on so many great projects in the last few months. 

You can view some of what we have been up to at our picture blog on Flickr.

There is one project in particular though that is very close to my heart.  That project is the development of the NESIM/VESIM technology. 

One of the very first people I met upon coming into Second Life was a nursing instructor who goes by the avatar name of markin Pau.  Even then he was very passionate about the educational uses for virtual worlds, especially in the field of nursing and health care.  At the time he was doing some work with the Ann Meyers Medical Center in Second Life.   AMMC only had a small parcel then and it was in the middle of a noisy lag-filled sim, so markin bought them a sim and had it developed and tried to give them a head start in achieving the goal of education in Second Life.  The head start paid off and AMMC along with markin began to collaborate with some great minds in the healthcare industry.  Eventually they were able to buy the island from markin, team up with Sprott Shaw College, and have since gone on to do some very interesting educational work in Second Life.  While markin found his work with AMMC fulfilling he wanted more.  He wanted to create a simulation tool that would be truly interactive.

A few months ago markin approached me about working on a project with him.  He had met another avatar, JS Vavoom, who was also a nursing instructor.  JS Vavoom is the avatar of real life educator John Miller.  John had a class already established in Second Life.  This gave markin the opportunity to test his concepts for a nursing education simulation tool later to be known as NESIM.  With this new opportunity available to him, markin commissioned us to begin working with him on the development of NESIM.   The task was large and we had only a few weeks to get it completed and in front of John’s students.  

Fast forward to current time… while we knew markin’s concept was innovative, we never could have predicted the amount of attention it would receive and the way it would change education as we know it in Second Life.  NESIM has been recognized by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Nurseweek Magazine, and many other publications and blogs.  John Miller himself has become somewhat of a celebrity for his work using NESIM.  Other organizations have been inspired and are beginning to work on similar projects.

We at SCS are very excited to be part of the future of education in virtual worlds.  To learn more about NESIM and how it has been used so far, check out the these videos and subscribe to updates for future information.

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