This is the tenth 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.
Tirellia Zenkova is a new friend of a friend in Second Life. Despite being so recently arrived in Second Life, Zenkova already feels that she has found a place in Second Life where she is comfortable and is among friends: unlike many people who enter Second Life, she arrived with a purpose in mind - to become a roleplayer in Saijo City. Having a goal in mind, and timely and helpful intervention during her earliest hours, kept Zenkova inworld long enough to start enjoying things.
This is the eighth 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 Lienna for some time - life kind of threw us together in Second Life. She's a fascinating and engaging person. We'd spoken for some time before we actually met inworld and I took her skin shopping. Lienna writes for the excellent Pixel Pulse magazine, and has her own blog - which you may be warned, is not safe for work.
Welcome to the thirteenth episode of On the Inside, Second Life Insider's Official Podcast!
This episode features our interview with Spin Martin, also known as Eric Rice, blogger, podcaster, producer, Web 2.0 poster boy. Moo Money co-hosts with me, and we talk about convergence, transliteracy, and, of course, the iPhone. Oh, and a little bit of SL too. As always, feel free to leave your questions and comments!
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to On the Inside directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the SLI Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically [Mp3] Download the MP3 directly
When I first heard about Twitter, I blew it off as a time-wasting site lacking functionality. Then I realized that it was the perfect opportunity to stay in contact with my many friends going to SXSW. For the first two days, Twitter could do no wrong. If I needed Redbull, I'd put out the SOS and receive a timely response as to where to get it. If I wanted to know where the hottest SXSW parties were, I'd consult with my Twitter.
By the following Monday, however, it had tapered off quite a bit, with many attendees going back to their day jobs. In the end, I really believe that it's only effective in large group settings, such as conferences. It enables people to let their friends know where they are without having to call in a noisy bar or restaurant. Otherwise, it's just another flashy website that we're forced to refresh throughout the day. If I want to read about your life, I'm going to want a summary, not a blow by blow.
Sometimes Twitter can take you by surprise, though ...
For those of you that had the chance to watch the AMAS Machinima Festival in November from Second Life, you may remember that there was a comedian that hosted the event. His name was Todd Levin and he couldn't help but joke about the rowdy Second Life audience. Whenever he mentioned anything remotely related to SL, we would cheer.
Imagine my surprise when he showed up to Fray Cafe! He was just as funny, although this time he shared a ***not-so-work-safe*** story about working at an adult video store. If you didn't get a chance to see his comedic stylings at the Fest, you might enjoy the introduction to his tale.
When his story was finished, Eric Rice called for a short break, which gave me a chance to speak with him at the bar. When I mentioned that I brought the "rowdy crowd", he was really nice and explained that we made the Festival fun. There you have it, Second Lifers. We're fun!
As Eric Rice tells it, Fray started out back in 1996 as a site where readers would tell true stories. Once a month, the site's creator, Derek Powazek, would design beautiful pages to go with the story. Since then, readers have held Fray Days in various parts of the world to join together and share their stories.
In 2001, Fray held their first Fray Cafe at SXSW. Attendees would have five minutes to share any kind of story, be it lighthearted or dealing with more serious subject matter. Eric Rice has been hosting the event at the Red Eye Fly since 2005 and he has many stories to tell. I captured his intro to share with all of you because it really gives insight into this special occasion.
On Saturday, Twitter was all the rage, even making it into panel jokes and discussions. If you needed something done, Twitter was the place to turn to. I think I received about 200 texts to my phone from just 15 friends. About mid-afternoon, I was getting tired and there wasn't a drop of Redbull in sight. A quick Tweet for help, and BarCampAustin came to the rescue. I was informed that not only did they have Redbull just a block over at Bourbon Rocks, but it was on them!
I arrived just in time to see Cube Linden taking the stage for his presentation about Second Life. During his speech, he mentioned flying penises, so Adri and I headed over to the sex shop about a block away. Once there, we purchased several inflatable phalluses to launch on stage. While in the restroom blowing them up, he ended his presentation. We were devastated, but not for long. We had plenty of drinking to do...
As brilliant plans don't always have a way of working out, I left for Austin quite late on the 9th. Not much was happening yet in the world of SXSW. Check-in took place from Noon to 8pm, but I was on a mission that could not be stopped. I was after the Nokia N800 tablet.
I arrived at 8:30pm after a two hour drive into Austin. I met up with BuhBuhCuh Fairchild and we immediately headed over to CompUSA to get the glorious device, which would later turn out to be downright awful. When we returned, it was time to party.
Word on the street was that the place to go was The Blind Pig...
South by Southwest, or SXSW for short, is rapidly approaching. Scheduled for March 9th-18th in Austin, Texas, it is an annual festival that celebrates music, movies, and web development. Attended by over 10,000 people from all over the world, it is a staple of Austin tourism. It is known for giving bands their big break and panelists major credibility.
There is a group in Second Life, appropriately named "SXSW'ers". If you are interested in attending and would like to hear about meetups, join that group. For now, I'm just askin' if you're going! Well ... are you?
I have read a few blogs about Ben Folds appearance in SL, but didn't realise that there had been a veritable avalanche of musical entries to SL, until I read Eric Rice's blog. Eric, in his persona as Spin Martin, runs Slackstreet sim, and has a fund of knowledge about music in SL. He is generous with his time and attention to anyone hoping to break into music through SL, and is happy to allow me in my work as a mentor to tell people to contact him to talk about it.
This is a pretty special thing. He has a sound stage on Slackstreet, which is used by people who don't have their own plot or sim to perform on -- yet. He promises to blog what works and what doesn't in music in SL, and we will look forward to that.
Meanwhile, Giff from Electric Sheep has blogged the Ben Fold's gig, and it sounds like a riot. The sad thing is that only someone who has experienced the spontaneous craziness of this sort of event will understand what on earth you are talking about when you recount this. It sounds like a lot of the fun was visual, and caused by the idea that it was Ben Folds wielding the light sabre etc.
You can just imagine explaining it to your mum: "And then, and then he got out his light sabre...". Yeah, you definitely had to be there.
I think that the Linden Radio stream is due for a bit of a makeover -- but would plead that they should try not to let it get taken over by all the commercial musicians now flooding in.
I'll be the first to admit that I've not been keeping up with CNet for quite a while. There are so many other, more specific sources of the kind of information that I'm interested in (Joystiq, Engadget, anyone?) that I've been weaned off the CNet all-you-can-eat experience. However, Eric Rice has posted a recent interview with Daniel Terdiman, Senior Writer for CNet, conducted by Millions Of Us CEO Reuben Steiger. Apparently, CNet finally has an office building in SL itself, while Mr. Terdiman has been writing articles about SL since 2003! Funny how little things like this can just slip right under our noses, innit?
The subsequent interview reads a little bit like advertising for Millions of Us at times, but the in-world discussion that follows it is refreshing, asking residents what sort of things they'd like to see CNet cover from here on out. Do give it a read!
Eric Rice, co-founder of Hipcast and resident of SL weighs in on the continuing debate over content creator rights vs. content consumer rights on his blog, EricRice.com.
In the article, entitled 'diy intellectual property war', Mr. Rice doesn't take sides. He merely points out that this debate, specifically revolving around the recent Mistress Midnight debacle, simply reiterates in microcosm the same DRM vs. fair use debates going on in the greater part of the tech world. A particular snippet summarizes the basic problem: "Corrections of the violation of IP in such a wide open space (internet, metaverse or where ever) are practically unenforceable. And yet, the flipside to that is, placing a restriction system in place a DRM [sic], which might end up becoming so restrictive that you can't even USE what you've purchased."
It's a good point to consider, and a reminder that LL is wise to keep their opinions to themselves regarding this debate. I'd much rather SL police itself than have judgment handed down from above.
There's a new podcast in town, and it's all about SL: the aptly-named www.slpodcast.com. Hosted by Jeremy Flagstaff, the site was once a simple SL-related blog, but has now grown to inlcude an actual audio podcast.
Jeremy has two 'casts up so far: The first, interviewing Mark Barrett (of SLBuzz.com and SLStats.com); the second interviewing Eric Rice (of EricRice.com). Jeremy also mentions his interest in producing an additional (I had to stop myself from writing 'second second life podcast') podcast, interviewing actual coders in SL.
I feel that any 'cast that helps spread the word about SL is a good thing, and this is no exception. Secondcast is always entertaining to listen to, if a little chaotic at times, and now that Torrid Midnight's on hiatus, the future of The Goods is in doubt. SLPodcast has the potential to be a worthy addition to the SLogosphere (heaven help me for using that term). Welcome, Jeremy!
This is the tenth 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.
This is the eighth in 
When I first heard about Twitter, I blew it off as a time-wasting site lacking functionality. Then I realized that it was the perfect opportunity to stay in contact with my many friends going to SXSW. For the first two days, Twitter could do no wrong. If I needed Redbull, I'd put out the SOS and receive a timely response as to where to get it. If I wanted to know where the hottest SXSW parties were, I'd consult with my Twitter.
As brilliant plans don't always have a way of working out, I left for Austin quite late on the 9th. Not much was happening yet in the world of SXSW. Check-in took place from Noon to 8pm, but I was on a mission that could not be stopped. I was after the Nokia N800 tablet.
