Tech -- Culture -- Humour
Sofia Standish owns a furniture shop and also offers Australian homes for sale in a ‘Queenslander” style. I caught up with Sofia a few days ago and she was very excited about her business and has plans for further growth. The houses are certainly authentic replicas and it’ll be interesting to see how many ‘Queenslanders’ pop up around the place.
If you’re an avid reader of everything SL, it’s easy to end up with a very skewed view of SL. The mainstream media tend to either get extoll the ‘wow’ factor of business in virtual worlds or focus solely on the ‘dark’ side of SL.
Scepticism is rarely employed in a discplined way however some methodical scepticism on SL can certainly be found at Second Life Safari, part of the Something Awful site. If you’re starting to get a little rose-coloured in your view, then a healthy dose of new reading may be in order.
At SLOz our view has always been that SL is one damn interesting phenomenon, but one that requires an investigative rather than closed mind.
The response to our interview with Hope Capital’s LukeConnell Vandeverre has been significant and on the whole very critical. A few days ago I sent LukeConnell an IM offering a follow-up interview as an opportunity to address the serious allegations being made about the WSE and the World Trade Centre deal.
Today I managed to catch-up with LukeConnell via IM to again offer the forum for a reply to allegations. I stated that a key theme throughout the response to the story was the concern around his qualification to run Hope Capital and the allegations of fraud.
His response was (published with permission):
“Forums are almost always the main hang out for rumours, slander, false and misleading information”
He then requested that a further statement be added to this article:
“There have been a small group of individuals making serious false allegations about the World Stock Exchange and are working to create rumours in order to create downward pressure on all shares in market. The malice (sic) intent of such claims is very clear. It is to be expected that such actions would be taken by certain members due to either: an IPO not Approved, intention to start a competing exchange, losses due to poor investment decisions or jealousy”
The story of financial security in SL is obviously not over and it’s an issue we’ll continue to follow closely.
As announced on the Official Linden Blog, sculpted prims are now a reality. What this essentially means is that the limitation of the current shape options is now gone. The best explanation of what this means has been provided by Torley Linden on YouTube:
Linden have also provided a high-res version here
A discussion topic on sculpted prims has been started on the SLOz discussion forum
Stripe Generator is a free DIY service that allows you to design your own striped web page background. Simplicity at its very best.
Hamlet James Au from New World Notes is interviewed by Henry Jenkins and one key point raised was Au’s assertion that:
“For the most part, there is no tension, because the native participatory culture hardly knows the corporations are even there, or care all that much that they are. Residents have scant or limited interest in their ‘colonization’ “.
In an Australian context this claim doesn’t ring true for me – the small active Australian population means that we well and truly notice the corporate presence. I’d even go as far to say that primariliy due to Telstra’s presence, a significant proportion of Australians actually owe their existence in SL to effective corporate promotion. This makes the dynamic very different and is likely enhancing the level of feeling either way in regard to the increasing presence of business. Although there’s not being any significant backlash against Australian corporations to date, you can be sure that most Aussie residents of SL know of the corporations who are there.
Au is dead right that business in SL is only one facet and that creative individuals are the lifeblood of any virtual world experience. For better or worse though, the two aspects are intertwined in a sigificant way now.
The Sydney Morning Herald ‘s Michael Dwyer has written about his experiences as a new avatar in SL and he’s a sceptical resident after spending a number of hours in-world. He also raises an issue that crops up constantly – the weirdness of those first number of hours and uncertainty on etiquette etc.
Not a mention of the education opportunities in SL and lot of focus on sex, so situation normal really.
A simple memorial for both sides of the Gallipoli conflict can be found on the Iaconelli sim.
We have no excuse for promoting this landmark the day after ANZAC day aside from ignorance of its existence.
Gary Hazlitt has posted on his blog some vignettes from his attendance at Mip TV / Milia 2007.
Gary’s posting contains some interesting insights on marketing in SL and future developments including some fascinating statements made by Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale.
On the island Second Nature there is a science build called the Jean-Claude Bradley Center for Open Notebook Science, which is linked with Drexel University.
Dr Jean-Claude Bradley is a chemistry professor and coordinator of e-learning for the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University. Along with his highly skilled team (check out the credits sign next to the main door for a full listing), they have built a main island with two smaller bridge-linked ones and a gazebo over water that aims to provide visitors with information bays on chemistry, microbiology, the human genome and a number of other scientific areas.
The displays are interactive and 3D model based. Along with poster board displays, links to websites and notecard grabs covering exhibit models and processes, visitors can engage with the content of the displays in a way not often experienced in a classroom. My favourite in this regard was the Eukaryotic cell, created by SL resident Max Chatnoir, a teacher of genetics at a small private university in Texas.
Visitors can enter this cell and be treated to a feast of Mitochondria, Centrioles, Endoplasmic Reticulum and Lysosomes that surround and float past you. As Max said, “I love that cell. It’s sort of restful just to stand in there with the ATP…”
To find out what ATP actually is, like me you will have to visit and enter the cell.
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