The Second Life Librarian Shadow Fugazi has created an American Memory Exhibit on Info Island featuring a larger than life Declaration of Independence. The exhibit draws from the Library of Congress’s American Memory division, which provides free access to "written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps and sheet music that…
Category: Virtual Worlds
Serenity gets a Second Life! (pics)
I just found out about a cool new sim in Second Life devoted to the short-lived but much beloved sci-fi series "Firefly" and the subsequent movie "Serenity." Called "Washtown," the sim is a place for Firefly fans to role-play as browncoats and Alliance troopers or just hang out with other fanatics (like myself.) (Click here…
“Play Money” and the ethics of MMORPG cheating
I just finished Julian Dibbell’s informative and entertaining new book on virtual economies Play Money. If you will recall, I purchased both the virtual and real world versions of the book last month, opting to read the dead tree edition. It’s a quick read, told from the wry and clever personal perspective of the author,…
Sneak Peek at Aloft Starwood Hotel in Second Life
I dropped in on Aloft Island to check out the upcoming release of this much ballyhooed "Aloft" virtual hotel being sponsored by the Starwood Hotel chain. It’s set for a September launch, although it looks still pretty raw right now.
Slavery Still Exists: AP reports that sex slavery widespread in US
On August 15, authorities arrested the owners of 20 suspected brothels on the East Coast, where they rounded up 70 possible sex slaves from Korea. Experts and advocacy groups like Free the Slaves contend that slavery and human trafficking is alive and well, according to a recent AP story. The US State Department estimates that…
Le Monde, MSNBC on Second Life marketing and “boinking”
Lots of media attention on Second Life in the last days. Le Monde has a knock-out piece on their website profiling various SL residents, with a cool slide show and voice-over. I haven’t had time to listen to all of it, but will post a summary when I do. Meanwhile, MSNBC goes for both the…
Convenient simulation of an Inconvenient Truth (redux)
Back in June I blogged about the amazing working ecosystem called Svarga that Laukosargas Svarog had created in Second Life. I concluded that : While global warming might be an inconvenient truth that people don’t want to face, creating more interactive, fun ways for people to learn about how the Earth operates might help convince…
Education in Second Life: it’s about collaboration not frames-per-second
The Boston Phoenix has a well-written article on education in Second Life, entitled "Right-click to Learn." Nice quotes from several prominent SL educators and students including Pathfinder Linden, Rebecca Nesson, Lori Bell, Jeremy Kemp and Sarah "Intellagirl Tully" Robbins. I like how the journalist Kate Cohen focuses on the community interaction aspects of the virtual…
The Virtual Lounge : Where all the cool kids log-in
Yesterday I was reading a Clickable Culture blog entry about a pop music-oriented virtual environment called "The Lounge," developed by "adverworld" creators Doppelganger. I decided to go check it out.
Virtual ball-and-chain to free real slaves
After posting my blog entry about the Global Kids event on child sex slavery, I was corresponding with Global Kids staffer Barry Joseph ("GlobalKids Bixby" in-world). Barry and I agreed that it would be great if adult SL residents could benefit from the work that was done on the teen grid event. A few emails…