Tonight I decided to see how the opposing camps viewed the debate tonight between Barack Obama and John McCain. Normally it would be difficult to survey live the differing impressions of Republicans and Democrats. But via the wonders of Second Life (and two laptops) I was able to attend debate viewing parties of both Obama…
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College pic of me and roommates in ugly ties
My roommates Andy, Baber and me circa 1990, Los Angeles. I don’t remember why my roommates Andy, Baber and I are wearing identical outfits with incredibly ugly ties. All I know is that this picture from around 1990 makes me very happy. Yes, those glasses are bigger than my head. I think I wore them…
Where my Republicans at? The dearth of conservatives in Second Life
According to Reuters, the Social Research Foundation has found that Second Life residents support Barack Obama 2-to-1 over John McCain. The survey of 1,000 SLers found that 554 residents preferred Obama while only 143 supported McCain. This finding is true whether the Second Life resident is a self-reported American or from another country. The Obama-supporter…
Obama for President Music Fest this weekend in Second Life
I got word from my friend Doubledown Tandino that there will be a two-day "Second Life Obama Music Fest" from September 27-28 in Second Life. The "Obama for President" group in SL (with over 1,300 members) is inviting Obama/Biden supporters from across the country for an afternoon and music, fun and activism: Obama Fest is…
Retreating with the online team at Global Kids
Had a really fun time yesterday on Randall’s Island on a staff retreat with the Online Leadership Program team at Global Kids. We started the morning playing bonding games in classic Global Kids-style. Then we spent a couple of hours talking about the overall direction of our work, how to best collaborate with each other,…
Face-to-Face vs. Videoconferencing and Virtual Meetings: increasing the emotional bandwidth
Seeing some of the enterprise-level distance meeting and videoconferencing technologies at the Web2.0 Expo recently, I’ve been thinking about what sorts of lessons should be taken away for running effective and emotionally engaging meetings in virtual environments. Here’s some of my thinking on the matter…
Dancing ninjas, disco skaters, jitterbuggers in Central Park
Sometimes I wonder why I spend any time at all in Second Life. I get all the weirdness, crazy mash-ups, and multi-cultural mixing that I want just wandering around New York City. Yesterday in Central Park was a good example. Paolo Lanna is the organizer of Central Park Swings, an irregular swing dance in front…
Beautiful NYC subway station cufflinks by Jen Pringle
My multi-talented friend Jen Pringle just presented to me a custom pair of cufflinks with subway stations on them that she made just for me! They came in a handsome tin that you can see here. The stations I had Jen mount were two of my favorite subway stops: the Canal Street stop in Chinatown…
War Child’s online peace march in Habbo Hotel today (video)
I dropped in on the "largest ever" online peace march organized by Warchild International in the teen virtual world of Habbo Hotel. Here’s some video I shot there. To call it a "march" was kind of a misnomer — it was basically 50-some avatars standing around and shouting "Peace" in the open chat. It was…
Sprinting through the Web2.0 Expo
I got a last minute opportunity (thanks, In Kenzo!) to check out the exhibition area of the Web2.0 Expo at the Javitz Center today. Very nerdy, very cool. I got to see this neat demo of the Microsoft Surface interface, which is really impressive up close. I ran into several friends including my colleague Rhiannon…