Tech -- Culture -- Humour
A community-drive event, the first Second Life Remembrance Day is being held on April 17th 6am to 11pm SLT (from Midnight on April 17th AEST).
Linden Lab have donated two sims for the event and the call has gone out for musicians, builders and scripters who’d like to be involved. Check the Remembrance Day site for details.
According to Massively, research has been presented this week by Jane Barnett at Middlesex University on the impact of World of Warcraft on levels of relaxation.
The study found playing WoW actually led to higher levels of relaxation after playing in some personality types. The sample size was small – our readership at The Metaverse Journal is larger so jump in with your opinion: how do you feel after a lengthy bout of WoW?.
As mentioned before, I partake of WoW here and there and I certainly don’t get angry when playing. I’ve progressed to being a Level 49 Mage so I’ve spent a few hours playing and for me it’s certainly a fun pastime. How about you?
Jokay Wollongong is an Australian Second Life resident with a very active education blog that’s well integrated with the Jokaydia islands in Second Life.
One interesting project underway is the Virtual Classroom Project. It’s a lengthy read but an excellent example of some of the Australian-driven innovation in education in a virtual world context.
One of the most interesting email lists I’m involved with is the Second Life Health list. Yesterday I noticed an interesting announcement from a group called GimpGirl:
GimpGirl Community was founded in 1998 by women with disabilities to serve the needs of our community through various on-line mediums. For many years we were primarily using mailing lists, our web site and later on LiveJournal, Facebook and MySpace, but at the end of last year our educational contacts and supporters encouraged us (and gave us the resources) to expand on to Second Life. Through hard work by our core group, as well as the help of volunteers we developed a parcel on Second Life that now has weekly group meetings full of women with disabilities from all walks of life. We will be hosting our first public presentation by sociologist and head of the Avatar Identity Research Center, Rivka Rau this coming weekend. (See details below signature.) Our parcel also hosts an art gallery and vendor area for women with disabilities (both of which are still filling in). We will soon be hosting events for our current partners and the general public to further explore how to empower those in our community. Our transition to Second Life, as well as our continued efforts on-line and off, has been going wonderfully and we’re very excited about what projects and opportunities the future will bring!
Cheers,
Jennifer Cole/JennyLin Arashi (in world), Co-Director and Founder
GimpGirl Community
http://www.gimpgirl.com
The Second Life parcel is a fairly standard open ampitheatre style, with events like the following already announced”
“Avatars, Identity, and the Expression of Disability”
Rivka Rau is the director of the Avatar Identity Research Center, and a professor of sociology in real life. The AV-ID Center is the home of the Editing Appearances project, an interview study of avatar embodiment and selfhood in SL. Rivka Rau has conducted over 200 hours of interviews for this project. In addition, through AV-ID she offers a seminar series on topics related to identity and the SL body. She will presenting on our current topic of the month, disability identity on-line, at our Second Life parcel. There will be time for Q & A as well as general discussion.
Open to the public.
When:
Sunday, March 30th, 2008 from 12:00 – 1:30 PM SLT/Pacific Time (3:00 PM Eastern Time)
Second Life location:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/3DE/139/61/22
IF YOU DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO SECOND LIFE:
You can still attend this presentation online via IRC. To visit our IRC/Second Life chatroom, go to:
http://chat.on.quickfox.net/GimpGirl
…and choose the option that works best for you.
It’s actually just past a year since Telstra launched its Second Life presence. The reason we haven’t covered the anniversary until now is due to having a request for a comment in to Telstra on the first anniversary. There’s been no response, so I’ll reply on my observations and hopefully your comments on Telstra in Second Life.
The first theme that comes to mind is expansion – the initial eleven sims was significant but there are now sixteen in total plus the two Telstra Experience sims. Aside from geographical expansion, evolution in what’s offered on those sims has also changed, with the opening of rentals for individuals one landmark event. The SydSim virtual Sydney CBD expansion was also launched with some fanfare but is yet to be completed.
The second theme is learning – mostly on the part of Telstra. In the initial couple of weeks after its launch, The Pond sims were inundated with new and excited Australian Second Life users – the trouble was they weren’t getting any guidance. Not long after that, volunteer and paid staff started giving support in-world and that support is still pretty much in place. Another key learning was around what an effective social space was. The Pond sims have numerous activities and spaces – clubs, pubs, sport activities and sandboxes. And what’s the most popular? A bunch of wooden boxes out the front of the Billabong Bar. There’s nothing fancy – just the boxes to sit on and a campfire. And no matter what time of day or night it is, you’ll usually find a handful of people there chatting whilst the nearby club is deserted.
There’s no doubt Telstra have succeeded in Second Life – their traffic is considered one of the best for a corporate presence. They’ve been responsive to feedback and have had the resources to implement changes where needed. Whether they’ve succeeded in engaging the wider Second Life community is something to be judged by you. If you’re a regular Pond frequenter, what is it that keeps you coming back?
The 19th March brings up the one-year anniversary of the ABC’s launch of ABC Island. Launch night coincided with the screening of You Only Live Twice on Four Corners. Since that time, there’s been a steady stream of events, including a great number organised by the Australian community of Second Life residents who frequent the island.
ABC Island’s presence is a modest one when compared to the Telstra build, but it packs a lot of variety in the area it does inhabit. The Sandbox remains the most popular area, but themed areas like Melbourne Laneways provide a lot of ongoing interest as well.
There are also rumours of further expansion via another island. I caught up with Lisa Romano (SL: Lise Robbiani), the ABC’s Project Manager, Strategic Development for its Innovation unit, who wouldn’t confirm the rumours. We also asked her to confirm the original intent of the presence in Second Life. “The ABC created a presence in Second Life to learn more about virtual worlds so that it could understand how to create and present content and build a community in this rapidly growing three-dimensional environment. One of the ABC’s core principles is to reach audiences wherever they are and to pursue opportunities for innovation, so a new platform of this kind which shows strong audience growth and interest is worth exploring,” Romano said.
So after a year of effort in Second Life, has it been worth it for the ABC? Romano certainly thinks so. “We are thrilled with the response from audiences over the past year. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we feel like the Island really offers a sense of Australian community based around content, creativity and innovation for both Australian and international visitors, mainly due to the dedication and enthusiasm of the ABC Friends Group.”
That same ABC Friends Group (of which I’m a minimally contributing member) is organising some anniversary events this week. There’ll be plenty of information in-world or watch this space for details.
What are your thoughts on ABC Island’s first year? Has it been a success? How do you see it evolving in the coming year?
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