I have this constant problem of finding really, really interesting work that is almost impossible to explain to someone who doesn’t work in my field. The only job where that wasn’t true was my brief stint as a 911 dispatcher in Los Angeles. Other than that, it’s been a lot of awkward pauses at dinner…
My Pal Abdi: Race and Identity in Virtual Worlds
So the other day I am hanging out at Berkman Island in Second Life, checking out the preparations for the "Beyond Broadcast" conference they are throwing later this week. I run into Ansible Berkman, the main organizer of the virtual component of Beyond Broadcast, shuffling around chairs in the main auditorium. Ansible’s avatar is a…
Net Neutrality as Seen through Halo
Those clever guys at “This Spartan Life” have created a really cute public service announcement on the Net Neutrality issue as told by characters in the X-box video game Halo. Good job, guys! As they say, you can’t fight for Net Neutrality using plasma grenades. Darn. (Originally seen on Gothamist and BoingBoing.net.)
Mediating Real World / Virtual World Events
I dropped in on the open house taking place on USC’s new Annenberg Island they have built in Second Life as a virtual counterpart to their real world Annenberg Center for Communication. (Thanks for the heads up, Hamlet.) The Annenberg folks did a nice job creating the virtual version of their center. However I assume…
I’m officially a “media blogger”
I just found out that the Media Bloggers Association has added me to their list of member blogs, despite my meanderings into cat blogging. The MBA is: a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting, protecting and educating its members; supporting the development of "blogging" or "citizen journalism" as a distinct form of media; and helping to…
Net Neutrality versus “Civil Rights On Demand”
In a potentially divisive move, several prominent civil rights organizations have agreed to work with Verizon to provide public interest video programming for their new FIOS (fiber optic) video-on-demand service. According to a press release from Verizon, the initial groups who have signed up with the "Community Studio" include the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,…
Beyond Broadcast conference in Harvard next week
Fresh from my Yale "Access to Knowledge" conference a couple of weeks ago, I will be in Harvard next week for the "Beyond Broadcast" conference sponsored by my new favorite institution, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The goal of the conference is: to create an opportunity for interaction between active participants in traditional…
“Mixed Reality” events give me a headache
I just popped into a "mixed reality event" called "Virtual Worlds—The Rules of Engagement" taking place both on Innovation Island in Second Life as well as at the Computer History Museum in San Jose, CA. It was a pretty weird experience. I (as in my avatar pictured right) was sitting in a large auditorium with…
Blogging Beyond Borders: Global Voices Online
For those who are tired of the Ameri-centric nature of lots of the blogosphere (blah, blah, blah, George Bush is an idiot, blah blah blah, Tom Cruise is a freak, blah blah, "wii" is a stupid name…), Global Voices Online should be at the top of your list of aggregators. A project of the Berkman…
Do I need a Second Life?
I have been playing around with the online community gaming platform Second Life, which I know is hardly cutting edge at this point with more than 150,000 members. I’m more interested in the community aspects of Second Life much more than the gaming part. No really. Your first account on Second Life is free, incredibly…