My buddy Tony Fleming sent me this info about a discussion on "Virtual Collaboration, Real Results" being organized by OneWorldUS and Interaction tomorrow, Thursday, May 8 starting at 10:30AM EST. At the event you will "learn from practitioners at InterAction and OneWorldUS who are exploring the vast potential being presented by virtual worlds in international…
Category: Virtual Worlds
Feeling furry: my new dragon avatar
I have been feeling very "furry" lately, and decided to get a dragon avatar today. I discovered Valyen Yin’s wonderful furry dragons that she sells over at her store (click here to teleport). Extremely cute, and very reasonably priced. I particularly like the wings and how they flap when you are flying.
USC Network Culture Project announces Second Life Community Challenge
I just attended the formal announcement of the "Second Life and Public Good" Community Challenge sponsored by the USC Network Culture Project, featuring an introduction to the Community Challenge by Cory Ondrejka, former CTO of Linden Lab and currently a fellow at USC. I am honored to be serving as a selection panelist alongside such…
“Go Speed Racer!” 129 minutes of ridiculous, badass racing
Just got back from a sneak preview of "Speed Racer" the movie courtesy of a friend of mine (thanks, Amira!). As the first film directed by the Wachowski brothers since the "Matrix" series, "Speed Racer" has had big expectations riding with it. Is "Speed Racer" an evolutionary leap in filmmaking? I don’t know. Is it…
Article in Poughkeepsie Journal on virtual world real estate
My friend Amy has a neat article in the Poughkeepsie Journal about the real estate market in Second Life that I have a couple of quotes in. It’s a good summary of how real estate works in virtual worlds from a variety of perspectives — land owner, home owner, university, and non-profit. And she managed…
Whyville and virtual world elitism
As an active resident of Second Life, with only passing experience with other virtual worlds, I’m as guilty as others of "home town" boosterism. I.e. looking at There.com, ActiveWorlds, Habbo Hotel, etc as lesser locales in comparison to Second Life. It’s as natural as my tendencies to feel like New York is the center of…
Avatars of the world unite! Union Island launches in Second Life
Union Island organizer Uniglobalunion Oh and me on Union Island Happy May Day, everyone! Apropos, I got the news of the launch of Union Island in Second Life today (click here to teleport): Union Island plans to use Second Life to create a community for trade unionists, which will let activists from around the world…
Leveraging virtual worlds for civic action
One of the main reasons we created the International Justice Center in Second Life was to explore the challenge posed by MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton last year, who asked, "Might not there be a group in Second Life that could come together to educate itself about the ICC and organize a campaign to persuade public…
Video: Sweet Machinima Intro to Second Life for US Congressional Hearing
Those of you who watched the Congressional hearing on virtual worlds last month will recall a short machinima video that was shown at the beginning of the hearing. I just got work that the video is available online at the Silver and Goldie website. Really amazing work by machinimators Silver and Goldie (with additional footage…
Defining virtual worlds – help!
I am working on a short definition of virtual worlds for an educational audience. Here’s what I have so far: In a nutshell, virtual worlds are computer-generated, persistent, three-dimensional, multi-user spaces, where people interact with each other and the environment through their "avatars." Some examples of virtual worlds are Second Life, Whyville, World of Warcraft…