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ABC Awards and a Denton groundswell?

July 23, 2007 by 3 Comments

The ABC have taken home a ‘C+T Award’ at a ceremony at last week’s SMPTE conference. The award was in the Rich Media category for ABC Island.

The ABC’s announcement of the win was as follows:

” ‘We are delighted to receive the inaugural C+T Award for Rich Media as recognition of ABC Innovation’s strategic approach to virtual worlds,’ said Abigail Thomas, Head Strategic Development.

‘ABC Island is the ideal place for us to work with our audiences to discover what they want in this environment and to tailor our presence accordingly.’

In March 2007, the ABC became the first Australian broadcaster to establish a presence in Second Life. Since then a number of events have taken place on the island including a simulcast of a 4 Corners program exploring virtual worlds and an open forum in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts.

ABC Innovation also received a nomination for the Broadband Production Template in the Rich Media category.

The C+T Awards were devised by Content+Technology magazine to recognise innovation in products, production and projects throughout Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.”

On ABC-related news, a voting box at the ABC Island Sandbox is showing some support for an Enough Rope interview with an SL theme.

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Thanks to Wolfie Rankin for the heads-up.

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

3D Mailbox – no kidding

July 22, 2007 by 2 Comments

This below YouTube clip isn’t strictly humour, but it sure is funny. If you like hyperbole for an application that TechCrunch calles the Worst.App.Ever, then this short clip is well worth a view.

If you’ve used 3D Mailbox in Sl, we’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Filed Under: Humour / Satire, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Leben, Lieben, Geld

July 21, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Leben, Lieben, Geld Verdienen translates to Live, Love and Make Money and it’s a book co-written by Australian SL developer Jana Gillespie.

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The book is directed towards beginners who already have some experience in SL plus newcomers. It is a comprehensive guide on how to create manipulate and generally how SL works. There will also be a DVD accompanying the book that will have videos and resources. Of course, unless you can read German there may not be a lot of reasons to buy the book but I’m told an English translation may be in the works.

(Disclosure: Jana Gillespie’s business, Big-Bit, advertises on SLOz)

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds

Wolfie’s Rez-Day

July 19, 2007 by 8 Comments

Kookaburra Pub on Eragon was the scene for widely known Aussie SL resident Wolfie Rankin’s ‘rez-day’. Well over forty people turned out for the surprise party:

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I asked Woflie what has meant the most to him in his first year of SL residency:

“I think getting Eragon and finding so many lovely friends and supporters, everyone in their own way helped me in so many ways and I’m extremely grateful”.

More photos of the party at: http://flickr.com/photos/quadrapop/

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Sapphire Technologies

July 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Sapphire Technologies are an Information and Communications Technology recruitment company running out of Australia and New Zealand. They’ve launched their Second Life presence on Vedior Asia Pacific. It’s a fairly standard office building with podcasts, free t-shirts and lots of desks with computers linked to the Sapphire Technologies website. The ability to meet up with recruitment consultants in-world is being touted and there’s certainly plenty of space for interviews.

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It’s the sort of presence that’s unlikely to get a lot of repeat visits aside from employers or prospective employees interested in ICT recruitment. That said, there is a pool table on the top floor for use after a hard day at the Sapphire virtual office and a small sandbox.

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Check it out in-world

Filed Under: Australian News, Business, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

Contempo Institute shows Australian artist

July 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment

The Contempo Institute is a gallery space holding an opening party on July 19th at 7pm SLT (Midday this Friday the 20th Australian Eastern time).

The exhibition is titled The Body Graffik and it showcases 2D works by four artists working with the human form. Additionally, they are showing two works by Australian artist Reni Voom: Metal Sea and the Touchable Autumn.

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Reni’s take on his work and the exhibition:

“If I had my life over again I’d be a computer programmer;
If I had my life over again I’d be an architect;
If I had my life over again I’d be a graphic designer;
If I had my life over again I’d be an animal trainer; Dogs? No, more likely ducks. (Maybe I like animation rather than animal training);

If I had my life over again I’d be a bird or a goat;
If I had my life over again I’d be a scientist who studies obscure quirks of nature;
If I had my life over again I’d be a child for life;
If I had my life over again I’d be a mathematician who could fill a chalkboard with complicated equations and formulas. And understand what I have written, of course. (I’ll need a bow tie for that job).

Second Life offers an opportunity to dabble in all these fields of experience. I enjoy environments where my learning curve is steep. The ease of building within virtual reality allows me to visually brainstorm, experiment with ideas and, if luck is on my side, bring works to a stage of resolution. It happens faster in here than in real life.

Second Life is not separate from the real world, it’s an extension. I’ve spent years working in the fields of ceramics and printmaking Both these mediums combine my interest in Visual Arts and Science. Two years ago I finally completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts. My honours year was spent exploring the nature of rust and decay.

My challenge in my first series of work, as a Second Life groupie, is to create objects that evoke the sense of touch though visuals and sound. Often in galleries in real life we have to stand back from the art and experience the work passively. I want you to walk into, touch and attempt to knock over my pieces.

Enjoy.

Reni Voom”

Check it out in-world

Filed Under: Art, Australian News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Orion makes a move

July 17, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Orion Keynes Design is one of those Australian businesses that keeps on keeping on. It’s just had a relocation and expansion of product offerings. Furniture is the mainstay but there is also a small range of buildings. And refreshingly, not a dunny or Hills Hoist to be found.

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Check it out in-world

Filed Under: Australian News, Virtual Worlds

Greenies are good enough

July 16, 2007 by 11 Comments

The Greenies House is one of those builds that comes from nowhere and just astounds you with its originality, attention to detail and pure whimsy. We don’t want to take too much away from experiencing it yourself, but the pictures say it all:

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Builds like this define the opportunities virtual worlds provide. Thanks to SL Insider for the heads-up

Check it out in-world

Filed Under: Landmarks of note, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

The SLOz Traffic Index – July 2007

July 15, 2007 by 2 Comments

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We’re back with an expanded STI. The overall feedback has been positive, particularly once we’ve explained the general purpose of the STI. Our favourite quote in reaction to last month’s initial effort was that using traffic to measure popularity was like using turds to measure digestion (thanks Metaversed).

Which leads perfectly to a reminder on methodology as well as a couple of disclaimers:

1. The number linked to each presence is a standard average based on dwell statistics provided to all SL users via the Search Places option.
2. For large presences we’ve chosen the most popular area rather than add up total dwell – this means larger presences may have overall larger numbers but that’s not what we’re measuring (see also point 5). Example: The Pond and ABC Island have many different areas – we track the traffic on the most popular area for both those presences.
3. Each presence, unless an addition since the start of the reporting period, has had their traffic stats measured at least ten times with each instance at least 24 hours apart.
4. The individual times and statistics can be found here
5. The STI is indicative only – yes we know there are much more detailed methodologies and that ours is a rough guide only for the SL community – we think of it as a ‘what’s hot’ measure. Discussion / criticism on the STI here.

The July results:

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There are a couple of additions to the index, with PIER one of the more popular new ones. The Enchanted Realm traffic is based on one sample only so it’s too early to tell if it’ll maintain its current position. The Billabong Bar and ABC Sandbox retain their appeal and Armory Island’s wall-to-wall gun-toting keeps it in prime position.

If you have a presence in SL that you’d like added to the index, let us know. It just has to be owned / operated by Australians for inclusion. We look forward to any feedback.

Filed Under: Australian News, Metrics, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Tasha’s Place – aussie art, gifts and clothes

July 15, 2007 by 4 Comments

Tasha’s place is a new addition to aussie-owned shops in SL, but it’s a little different to others: it’s a non-profit shop. All profits are donated to an organisation devoted to progressing native title and reconciliation. In Tasha’s own words:

“I created this little shop (with help from my friend Justy) about six weeks ago. Initially it was for the challenge of seeing if I could find a suitable plot of land, building a shop and making items for sale. All these things were great fun and learning experiences.

I’m Australian and I love to have Australian art around me so the idea of having that as a theme for the shop was appealing. I wanted to make pictures and simple clothes using the patterns and schemes that I love. Many of these patterns you can see in the shop are from Aboriginal artists and that’s why I run the shop as a not-for-profit business with profits donated to the community organisation: Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR). It’s my attempt to promote Aussie art and images while trying not to rip people off through the greyness of copyright in SL.”

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“My best selling items are Unisex T-shirts with Aboriginal and Australian flag designs (come by and get one free one at the entrance!), vegemite boxes you can use as a seat and a decorative didgeridoo stand I made. About half of my customers are Australians looking for some familiar things that they can have in their SL. The rest of course are from all over the world. It’s a nice feeling to think that some of my things are dotted about in SL and I hope that people get pleasure from them as I do. I keep prices as low as possible and there’s nothing in the shop that costs more than $L89.”

Check it out in-world

Filed Under: Australian News, Profile, Virtual Worlds

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