In a surprise announcement, Prof. Ted Castronova of Indiana University clarified today his earlier statement that he was building a virtual world based on the texts of William Shakespeare. "Some have asked me whether anyone will be interested in visiting 3D representations of plays that they were forced to read in high school and have…
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“Does this avatar make my butt look big?”: the perils of creating your girlfriend’s avatar
I’ve somehow been tasked with creating my girlfriend Cindy’s avatar in Second Life. Some guys might think it sounds fun to re-create your girlfriend in whatever dimensions, shape, hairstyle and outfit you want. Let me tell you, it’s no picnic. How exactly does one safely respond to, "Why did you make me so ugly?"
Liveblogging from MacArthur Press Conference on Digital Learning
The MacArthur Foundation announced today at the Museum of Natural History their new initiative to provide $50 million to fund universities and non-profits for work on using technology for education. I'm at the press conference right now. MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton's summarized the proceeding with the following six points: This is a paradigm shift in…
MacArthur Digital Learning event today (webcast and SL broadcast)
The MacArthur Foundation announced today at the Museum of Natural History their new initiative to provide $50 million to fund universities and non-profits for work on using technology for education. I’m at the press conference right now. Here’s the details on how to connect from the web and Second Life: Thursday, October 19, 2006 ,10:00…
Second Life hits a million+ registrants!
Yes, I know it doesn’t mean there are 1 million RESIDENTS, still 1 million REGISTRANTS is still a pretty big deal, at least as a sign of the media-savviness and popular culture invasion of Second Life. Pretty much every day I’m running into newbs who just registered that morning, wandering around, looking for the porn…
“And the nominees are”: Four SL Machinimists up for “Mackies” awards
The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences has released the nominees for this years "Mackies" machinima awards. An impressive number of the digital films include works by Second Life machinimists, including: "Game Over" by Pierce Portocarrero nominated for Best Technical Achievement and Best Visual Design "Silver Bells and Golden Spurs" by Eric Call nominated for…
Fun Swedish swing dance video
Damn those Swedes can swing. Here’s a sweet dance video of the Swedish swing performance team confusingly named the "Harlem Hot Shots." Recorded at the Herräng Dance Camp in July 2006. I know the band doesn’t look like they are playing, but…
My stuff on the Internets today
Just a quick note about a couple things I’ve been involved with that are on the series of tubes today: My latest Second Life "Event Picks" are on New World Notes. Notably, Witness, the "indie hip hop" artist, is playing tomorrow night. He’s definitely got some flow, so check out his MySpace page. Also the…
First gubernatorial e-debate in Minnesota
e-Democracy guru Steven Clift has done it again, organizing the first gubernatorial e-debate in Minnesota. His site smoothly brings together streaming videos posted by each of the candidates, daily blog posts and rebuttals, RSS feeds, flickr photos, and email updates. Taking place from October 9-19, several issues important to Minnesotans have already been debated, including…
Your tax dollars at work: US government regulation of virtual worlds
Reuters (now with their own Second Life Bureau desk!) reports that the US Congress is considering how virtual economies such as those within Second Life and World of Warcraft interact with US tax code. According to federal economist Dan Miller: Right now we’re at the preliminary stages of looking at the issue and what kind…