Clever ways to honor mom this Mother's Day

Understanding Second Life

It's nice to find people who understand. Don Heider, associate at the Journalism School at the University of Maryland and Kim Gregson, professor of Journalism, Park School, Ithaca College, talk in a three way audio interview about Second Life at the Online News Association annual meeting in Toronto.

The Shelter gets a positive mention (and so it should!). A lot of territory gets covered, what Second Life is, anonymity (and the lack thereof), Second Life as a virchspace extension of the physical world, physical world extrusions of brands and businesses into Second Life, CSI:NY, Linden Lab's business model and more. Not 100% complete (it would be much longer for one thing) and not quite totally correct, but still well worth listening to, especially if Second Life is a bit opaque to you.

How SL can help your health: more good press

caduceusIt looks like, with some stupid exceptions aside, we're moving more and more into the realms of good reporting about SL, where journalists actually talk to people. Unlike many of these reports, which also highlights the warts (and lets face it, there are warts in the SL experience for all of us), the Washington Post is carrying a positive story about how people are finding Second Life is helping them cope with their illnesses, and some of the details about how the health care institutions are catching on to the idea too.

There are quite a few vignettes of individuals finding their SL a positive and healing situations, as well as mention of the CDC, and the like. Another article to add to your portfolio of positives in Second Life.

(Thanks to Lori for the heads-up)

Who Are We? - Psyra Extraordinaire

Second Life resident, Psyra ExtraordinaireThis is the 18th in a series of largely demographic interviews that are conducted with established residents, to find out more about them and their involvement with Second Life, and to contrast the differences between their views and experiences and those of the newer residents. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I've known Psyra pretty much as long as I've been in Second Life. Always a welcome sight and quite often a visually impressive one. His custom bird creations and avatars are well... extraordinary.

Continue reading Who Are We? - Psyra Extraordinaire

New resident experiences - Footsy Furse

Second Life resident, Footsy Furse.

This is the 18th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I bumped into Footsy Furse at NCI South in Hamnida. She was willing to talk in detail about her early experiences and was able to articulate them clearly and distinctly.

Continue reading New resident experiences - Footsy Furse

New Scientist Talks with PN

I've just not spent enough time in SL lately, I guess, 'cause before Moo mentioned them to me in a recent IM, I'd never heard of Patriotic Nigras (PN), a self-professed griefer group allegedly far more vicious than W-Hat ever caught fire for being. Interestingly enough, New Scientist magazine of all places has picked up the story and gotten an interview with Mudkips Acronym, one of PN's founders. Unfortunately, the story is locked off to non-subscribers. So I call upon anyone in our audience with a subscription to give us details! Information wants to be free!

(Via newscientist)

Who are we? Laetizia Coronet

Second Life resident, Laetizia CoronetThis is the 17th in a series of largely demographic interviews that are conducted with established residents, to find out more about them and their involvement with Second Life, and to contrast the differences between their views and experiences and those of the newer residents. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

Laetizia's a forthright, outspoken and interesting Second Life blogger, whom I have been running into increasingly of late in various venues. You can trust Laetizia to speak her mind - so I decided to contact her to let her do just that.

Continue reading Who are we? Laetizia Coronet

New resident experiences - Lilla Biedermann

Second Life resident, Lillah BiedermannThis is the 17th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I bumped into Lilla at the Shelter, where she was dancing with some other residents, both old and new. Being Danish, she wasn't sure that her English would be good enough, but it was more than good enough for her to communicate.

Continue reading New resident experiences - Lilla Biedermann

Look for The Nines and Anticipate the Hollywood Movie



John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Go, and Charlie's Chocolate Factory, spent 30 minutes in Second Life on August 20th, answering questions about his upcoming film, The Nines. The movie plot explores the intersection between the real and the virtual, while the promotional methods are heavily using transmedia to engage fans into alternate reality games. August announced that he is hoping to release a version of the movie that would allow fans to re-edit it.

The premiere for the The Nines is set for August 31st in New York and Los Angeles, and September 28th in Austin, TX.


Continue reading Look for The Nines and Anticipate the Hollywood Movie

Who are we? - Olmia Tenk

Second Life resident, Olmia TenkThis is the 16th in a series of largely demographic interviews that are conducted with established residents, to find out more about them and their involvement with Second Life, and to contrast the differences between their views and experiences and those of the newer residents. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I bumped into Olmia while I was doing some photography at the ABC Island sandbox tower. She was fun to talk to, and I was able to talk her into telling us a bit more about herself.

Continue reading Who are we? - Olmia Tenk

New resident experiences - Glitch Balut

Second Life resident, Glitch BalutThis is the 16th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I ran into Glitch at the Ross Infohub, an excellent build by the talented Jessica Ornitz. He didn't run away when I tried to ask him questions, like the previous three I'd approached.

Continue reading New resident experiences - Glitch Balut

Who are we? - Otenth Paderborn

Second Life resident, Otenth PaderbornThis is the 15th in a series of largely demographic interviews that are conducted with established residents, to find out more about them and their involvement with Second Life, and to contrast the differences between their views and experiences and those of the newer residents. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

Otenth's typist came into Second Life out of boredom but was totally charmed by the creative potential. Otenth founded the First Friends Church of Second Life (Quakers) and owns the residential sim Wyre.

Continue reading Who are we? - Otenth Paderborn

New resident experiences - Audrey Baroque

Second Life resident, Audrey BaroqueThis is the 15th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I ran into Audrey at the Hanja Welcome Area, on the Southern Continent. The place is a clone of the big Welcome Area at Ahern. Audrey was happy to answer my questions.

Continue reading New resident experiences - Audrey Baroque

Who are we? - Pavig Lok

Second Life resident, Pavig Lok.This is the 14th in a series of largely demographic interviews that are conducted with established residents, to find out more about them and their involvement with Second Life, and to contrast the differences between their views and experiences and those of the newer residents. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

Pavig Lok is a charming individual with a fascinating turn of phrase.

Continue reading Who are we? - Pavig Lok

New Resident Experiences - TaraKiss Sewell

Second Life resident, TaraKiss Sewell.This is the 14th in a series of interviews that are being conducted with new residents, in order to gauge the effectiveness of the orientation process, and to gauge disparities between the preconceptions and the realities of Second Life. The questions may be tailored slightly for each interview; responses may be edited for purposes of clarity.

I ran into TaraKiss completely by accident in the Dublin Sim. She came looking for fun in Second Life, and with the expectation of it copupled with this attitude she has succeeded in finding it.

Continue reading New Resident Experiences - TaraKiss Sewell

Kisa's Chatlogs Add A New Dimension to SL Transcripts


If you've ever had to post transcripts and share information from a meeting/event, you know how much pain it is to come up with a structure that is still readable later. I usually end up spending hours concatenating sentences to make chat less shattered by random interjections. Well, no more pain!

I was extremely happy to see the new, little tool from Kisa Naumova – Chatlogs. Not only does it render your boring text-only transcript in colors, but it also has a neat graphical way of indicating speakers by pulling their SL profile picture into the web document. In addition, it allows you to use the Leeds Metropolitan University server to deposit your logs and tag them appropriately. This has the potential of creating a neat repository of open knowledge from all sorts of events.

(more after the break)

Continue reading Kisa's Chatlogs Add A New Dimension to SL Transcripts

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