My Life As An Avatar

Islands, No Drones, Environmental Racism and more.

2009-07-15T19:59:00.001-07:00

Casita Gaia, Gaia Village is taking up most of my creative energy these days. Need to rebuild, again, on an island I actually own. Had an offer too good to pass up on the purchase of an island. See CasitaGaia.com for the vision with which I'm working.

Also gathering some WPA graphics for a box of textures in SL. XstreetSL sales have been up recently.

And I updated the CODEPINK Hut on Commonwealth as well as the Environmental Rooftop Fest at Sugar Hill on top of the Museum of the African Diaspora with information about the No Drones actions at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

So much to do. Also trying to write an essay on the feminine nature of virtual worlds.

Peace. :)

Burning Censorship exhibit by Hermit Barber

2009-02-09T16:45:00.020-07:00

I want to share images of Burning Censorship an exhibit I've been lucky enough to host on Womens Center from 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights, through the next week or 10 days. At that time I will begin setting up for International Women's Day and several events I hope to host in March around March 8th focused on women and the state of the world.

Hermit will have this exhibit up in other areas, I'm sure, but I want to share images of it with you here.

This is me entering the main enrance to the exhibit

pproaching the exhibit from the Women's History Walk
Another distance overview of the exhibit space.

and a true overview of the exhibit.

As your avatar walked into the exhibit space and came to the yellow brick road, you could sit on a bench in front of the main click for a notecard that describes the censorship Hermit experienced when this exhibit was ejected from Burning Life, and SL version of Burning Man that is totally about individual freedom and ressponsibility, and look either toward the enclosure with the rotating scene view

or toward Sarah Palin wrapped in a flag with a Sinclair Lewis quote below her pic, "When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.

Me, well, I just really liked the Paul Gauguin quote that states, "Art is either plagiarism or revolution."

Now for info about the several scenes which each examine unfortunate to horrific hallmarks of the Bush administration. (The italicized text below is the dialog that showed on-screen when an avatar touched the pink advance scene tabs on either side of the enclosure.) Italicized text describes the scene depicted in the image that immediately precedes the text.

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, 'I Spy.' Hermit Barber: The answer to the question, 'Is there anybody out there?' is quite probably yes. No matter what you say, it will be taken down, written up and may be held against you forever. Imagine how grateful posterity will be. Now is your chance to say, 'Hello posterity.'

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, 'Yay!'
Hermit Barber: Blood, money, energy, reputation and irreplaceable time spilled upon the sands of the Middle East. And for what? To what end? The Dead do not care.

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, '911 of the Dollar.'
Hermit Barber: The destruction of the US dollar by successive US governments, culminating in the Bush Administrations nationalization of bank debt after privatizing the profits is one of the great tragedies of the world. Already the destruction of value in the collapse of capitalism is some 12 times greater than occurred in the US engineered destruction of the Soviet Union and exceeds in cost the combined sum of the Louisiana Purchase, New Deal, Marshall Plan,
the Korean, Vietnam and Iraq wars, the S&L bailouts and NASA's total budget including the 'Race to the Moon.'

Hermit Barber: The document on the floor of the exit was once significant and is important in fully interpreting this work.

Katrina and Friends:

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, Katrina and Friends.
Hermit Barber: If you feel your house a rockin', when nature comes a knockin', you possibly dwell in a disaster zone somewhere in the US. Fortunately it seems that the US government has determined that it has no obligation to assist its citizens in distress, apparently rationalizing that they probably brought the disaster upon themselves by breaking the laws of gods (or something equally precious). This is probably a good thing, because much of the US emergency capacity appears to be busy bringing freedom from the troubles of life to people all over the globe. With or without an invitation.
Hermit Barber: Please familiarize yourself with these images. We need to become accustomed to the idea of seeing inundated areas. As the globe warms and ocean levels rise by a conservatively estimated 7m, the fact that each 1m rise in water level will inundate approximately 80km of coastline will be graphically illustrated. Unfortunately 60% of mankind lives within 120km of a coast. As the aquifers supplying fresh water to the inhabitants in most coastal areas will be flooded long before the land is inundated, people will be forced to move away, before they drown.This might be regarded as a good thing.

You can't have Jesus without an apocolypse.

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, Please Watch This Pot.
Hermit Barber: Unfortunately it may already be too late to prevent it from boiling. Pimental and Giampietro's study was conservative and qualified. It was based on fertilizer and water remaining at 2005 availability. Unfortunately, the availability of both has already decreased since the report was written. So the reported 'sustainable levels' are very likely significantly optimistic.
Hermit Barber: If we do not work on resolving urgent issues such as energy, food and water availability; as well as controlling human populations; it seems rather probable that rather than 'just' the two out of three predicted by Pimental and Giampietro having to die for the rest to survive that between 10 and 12 out of every 13 people currently alive may have to die to give the survivors a chance.
Hermit Barber: Will you volunteer to be one of those to die, so that a few survivors might live? Do you expect people to queue quietly for the exit as their world collapses? Or do you suspect that it will be messy - and because of that, try not to think about it? Politics as usual are concealing the rapidly oncoming realities. Without an urgent and massive investment in solutions, the extinction of mankind is likely to occur in our lifetimes. Assisted by our wonderful governments, who determined long ago that a rapid decrease in global populations was preferably to slow starvation.

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, 'Torture? US?'
Hermit Barber: 'Torture? US?' is as interactive as its prototype. If you sit on one of the pose balls you will notice that you have been co-opted and that your avatar is electrifying the 'non-torture' subject. If you find this concept shocking, you may be 'with the terrorists'.

Ana on a poseball that activates your avitar into the "now infamous flunky who would end up taking the rap for stupidly carrying out the orders of MUCH higher ups" hands and fingers pointing to the side toward a person being tortured stance:

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, 'Goddamn Hippie Insurgent!' Hermit Barber: Apparently anyone who is 'with the terrorists' fully deserves whatever nasty fate overtakes them. If fate does not operate fast enough, the US government will assist it.

Hermit Barber: This work is titled, 'Oil Terrorist.'
Hermit Barber: An important question, as yet not fully answered, is how these terrorists came to live over oil belonging to the US government.

It is not about agreeing. It is about thinking.

Oh and about pigs and lipstick.
And there was also lipstick on a pig. :-)

Thank you, Hermit.

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Herewith the text from the notecard given in Hermit's exhibit when an avatar touched the image of an SL hand covering a mouth - shown in the first image in this blog entry.

Copy of a Letter Sent To Linden Labs as a Trouble Ticket 2008-09-24

Request for Determination, Action and Response

I have a stand at the SL Burning Life (Burning Life (Hydro) 102, 3). Burning life is a Linden Lab sponsored event. Artists are invited to express themselves there. The theme is "An American Dream" which seems to me to have turned into a nightmare, and I have worked on the artwork for this exhibition for a fortnight. On my stand I had two posters - and a hurricane - quoting words attributed to Sarah Palin to demonstrate how she is perceived by a significant section of the public. The one was "Our national leaders, are sending soldiers out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan. Sarah Palin" and the other "Todd and I talked about Hurricane Katrina as God's way of cleansing New Orleans of the blacks who have sinned, the Bible predicted it" Sarah Palin (2005).

On 2008/09/20 Talia Tokugawa acting for Linden Labs demanded that I remove these items from my exhibit and not replace them (Chat log appended). After I refused to take them down as I regard them as political speech protected under the California Constitution (but unlinked them) Talia Tokugawa returned them. She alleged that they "promoted racism" and were "broadly offensive" and threatened me with "The G Team" which is apparently LL's TOS enforcement service. She asserted that she had reported me for a TOS violation and implied that she was directly in contact with "the GTeam" over this, with the clear inference that I could be banned from SL for a breach of the TOS. I requested a contact number for the G-Team and was informed that they would be in contact with me. I have waited a more than reasonable period given the pressure of the opening day of the Burning Life exposition and have heard nothing.

I do not believe I violated the TOS in any manner by quoting statements made by or attributed to Vice Presidential candiate Sarah Palin. I regard this action as a clear infringement of my right to engage in protected political speech in a public forum, as censorship of my artistic expression and due to the possibly actualized threat to "report me to the G-team" where the outcome is uncertain but the possibility of being banned appears definitely present - and would lead to serious consequences for a sim owning non-profit, The Smarter Earth Institute, which I represent here in SL (and the sim for which, SmarterEarth, is registered to me) - comprises a massive and effective example of prior restraint.

I request that Linden Labs:
* determine that this was protected political speech and communicate same to me.
* confirm that I can engage in protected speech without harrassment including replacing the items removed from my exhibit.
* instruct Talia Tokugawa, Linden Lab's staff and representatives not to harrass me or anyone else for engaging in protected political speech.
* instruct Talia Tokugawa, Linden Lab's staff and representatives not to threaten people with banning for engaging in protected political speech on private property held open to the public.
* instruct Talia Tokugawa, Linden Lab's staff and representatives not to return objects that do not violate the TOS and which constitute relevant political speech.
* act speedily on these issues in order that I may complete my exhibit in time for the opening as I have now lost several days while waiting on communication from Linden Labs regarding this matter.

All communication with me will be logged, will be copied to my attorneys and others and may be published.

Yours Sincerely

Name Omitted

Chat log:
I have suppressed simultaneous IMs, on-line/off-line notices and announcements from prims from this chat log. In addition, I wear a simultaneous translator (into French) which I have also suppressed. Philos Kidd was an unbelieving bystander who logged this to a notecard at my request in order to have an independent witness.

I assert all rights to this content, and am releasing it under the Creative Commons, for attribution, non-commercial. share-alike.

====================================================
[2008/09/20 17:46] Hermit Barber: Just the person I need to see! Talia?
[2008/09/20 17:46] Philos Kidd: hello talia
[2008/09/20 17:46] Hermit Barber: I quite literally have the BL group up on my screen to get the spelling of your name :-)
[2008/09/20 17:46] Tom32 Anatine: hi everyone
[2008/09/20 17:46] Philos Kidd: hello tom
[2008/09/20 17:47] Hermit Barber: What do I need to do to make my rezzers operate correctly?
[2008/09/20 17:47] Hermit Barber: Please don't say deed to group.
[2008/09/20 17:47] Talia Tokugawa: okay I won't
[2008/09/20 17:47] Hermit Barber: *grins*
[2008/09/20 17:48] Hermit Barber: They work fine if I am in sim or have recently been in sim and am still in cache. But then they stop working.
[2008/09/20 17:50] Talia Tokugawa: sooo
[2008/09/20 17:51] Tom32 Anatine: yes talia?
[2008/09/20 17:51] Talia Tokugawa: that statemen on teh wall?
[2008/09/20 17:51] Hermit Barber: Nods
[2008/09/20 17:51] Talia Tokugawa: thats a tos
[2008/09/20 17:52] Hermit Barber: Quoting peopl;e is a TOS?
[2008/09/20 17:52] Hermit Barber: She didn't say it inm IM AFAIK?
[2008/09/20 17:52] Hermit Barber: It is on video.
[2008/09/20 17:52] Talia Tokugawa: you wish to remove it and we will let the g-team decide that?
[2008/09/20 17:52] Hermit Barber: Which one?
[2008/09/20 17:52] Talia Tokugawa: it's a promotion of racisim
[2008/09/20 17:52] Hermit Barber: What?
[2008/09/20 17:53] Talia Tokugawa: you need to remove both
[2008/09/20 17:53] Hermit Barber: How can showing that somebody running for an important office is possibly a racist equivalent to promoting racism?
[2008/09/20 17:54] Talia Tokugawa: whats you source?
[2008/09/20 17:54] Hermit Barber: Would you care to hold on a moment please.
[2008/09/20 17:54] Talia Tokugawa: you need to remove both now or I return them
[2008/09/20 17:55] Philos Kidd: is stunned
[2008/09/20 17:55] Hermit Barber: They are both unlinked from the build.
[2008/09/20 17:56] Second Life: Your 2 objects have been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Talia Tokugawa near parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 102, 3 due to parcel owner return.
[2008/09/20 17:57] Philos Kidd: guess I will have to rethink my build now lest it be censored
[2008/09/20 17:57] Talia Tokugawa: please don't replace them or anything like them..
[2008/09/20 17:57] Hermit Barber: As this happened in open channel, I will be quoting itas far and wide as I can.
[2008/09/20 17:58] Hermit Barber: Oh I will do a new exhibit featuring your censorship of burning life.
[2008/09/20 17:58] Hermit Barber: I'm really impressed.
[2008/09/20 17:59] Hermit Barber: And BTWE, you have not yet answered my technical question.
[2008/09/20 17:59] Talia Tokugawa: you still havn't answered mine on what your source was?
[2008/09/20 17:59] Hermit Barber: I am getting my source and missed yours.
[2008/09/20 18:01] Second Life: Your object 'bl tornado v4' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Talia Tokugawa from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 73, 11 due to parcel owner return.
[2008/09/20 18:01] Hermit Barber: http://edkrebs.com/herb/index.htm
[2008/09/20 18:03] Hermit Barber: Rats
[2008/09/20 18:05] Hermit Barber: Would you regard this as "promoting racism"
[2008/09/20 18:14] Hermit Barber: I have a stand at Burning Life. It had two posters up quoting Sarah Palin. The one was ""Todd and I talked about Hurricane Katrina as God's way of cleansing New Orleans of the blacks who have sinned, the Bible predicted it" Sarah Palin (2005)" and the other ""Todd and I talked about Hurricane Katrina as God's way of cleansing New Orleans of the blacks who have sinned, the Bible predicted it" Sarah Palin (2005). After I refused to take them down (but unlinked them) Talia Tokugawa returned them. She alleged that the latter "promoted racism" and threatned me with "The G Team" I am logging the entire conversation nd will forward it to every free speech site I can think of.
[2008/09/20 18:14] Hermit Barber: Repeating myself. Excuse me

[2008/09/20 18:15] Hermit Barber: I'm still waiting for your answer on the rezzer Talia
[2008/09/20 18:16] Talia Tokugawa: the answer on the rezzer is that no it won't work
[2008/09/20 18:16] Marianne Levasseur: Crashing... BRB.
[2008/09/20 18:17] Talia Tokugawa: thought that was kinda implied from the first time you asked me about it... when you told me not to say ;)
[2008/09/20 18:17] Hermit Barber: Ah, ok. Deed to group is the only answer.
[2008/09/20 18:19] Hermit Barber: But deed to group is not enabled.
[2008/09/20 18:19] Talia Tokugawa: right
[2008/09/20 18:24] Hermit Barber: So, how do I make my rezzers operate correctly?
[2008/09/20 18:25] Tom32 Anatine: Hermit: as for all other artists, you would not be able to use rezzers due to the security settings of the estate.
[2008/09/20 18:25] Hermit Barber: I see.
[2008/09/20 18:26] Hermit Barber: And is artistic expression and political speech now being supressed throught Burning Life?
[2008/09/20 18:27] Hermit Barber: I need to know who the ACLU needs to contact.
[2008/09/20 18:27] Hermit Barber: Is there a phone number where they can reach your side of the story?
[2008/09/20 18:27] Tom32 Anatine: if the expression carried in the political statement is considered to be of rasistic nature or broadly offensive, such a statement would generally not be allowed in all Second Life
[2008/09/20 18:28] Hermit Barber: Of course. But quoting a vice presidential nominee cannot be regarded as either.
[2008/09/20 18:28] Talia Tokugawa: this is out of our hands now...
[2008/09/20 18:28] Hermit Barber: There is protection for political speech in the USA.
[2008/09/20 18:28] Talia Tokugawa: g-team is now dealing with it
[2008/09/20 18:28] Hermit Barber: Amd Linden Labs in undeniably in the USA.
[2008/09/20 18:30] Hermit Barber: In that case who at Linden Labs should the ACLU be contacting?
[2008/09/20 18:31] Talia Tokugawa: I don't know but I can ask if you want.
[2008/09/20 18:31] Hermit Barber: Please do.

[2008/09/20 18:35] Hermit Barber: And this is a Linden Labs sponsored occassion is it not?
[2008/09/20 18:35] Talia Tokugawa: supported yeah
[2008/09/20 18:40] Talia Tokugawa: okies... I should go... this seemed a like a highly controvertial situation. It's our job to flag such things and g-team to deal with the situation. This has gone to gteam... there is not much more I can do... I have passed your request for contact info "up the line" and someone should be in contact.

[2008/09/20 18:45] Talia Tokugawa: please don't replace them until the results are through from the g-team
[2008/09/20 18:47] Hermit Barber: I did not intend to. My involvement in SL goes far beyond my right as a resident of the USA and an artist making a statement about the nightmare it has become.
[2008/09/20 18:49] Hermit Barber: And Linden Labs supression of that right is I think a substantial story. I wish to be here to cover it :-)
[2008/09/20 18:51] Talia Tokugawa: okay well that decision will be linden labs decision. I have just flagged it as something to look into.
[2008/09/20 18:51] Hermit Barber: No Talia.
[2008/09/20 18:52] Hermit Barber: You issued clear threats, returned items, and then contradicted your earlier statements with your actions.
[2008/09/20 18:52] Hermit Barber: Shrugs.
[2008/09/20 18:52] Hermit Barber: It is out of your hands.
[2008/09/20 18:53] Talia Tokugawa: and indeed on that your are right.. it's now out of my hands...
[2008/09/20 18:54] Talia Tokugawa: I need to go. Someone should be in contact with you over this.
[2008/09/20 18:55] Tom32 Anatine: bye bye talia
[2008/09/20 18:55] Hermit Barber: I very much hope so. You were getting me the name and number of the contact person
[2008/09/20 18:56] Talia Tokugawa: I said I passed your request up.
[2008/09/20 18:56] Cube Republic: hi
[2008/09/20 18:56] Philos Kidd: sry brb
[2008/09/20 18:56] Philos Kidd: afk
[2008/09/20 18:56] Talia Tokugawa: If it is me that is given the details I will pass them to you. I do not have them at the moment
[2008/09/20 18:57] Talia Tokugawa: *waves*
[2008/09/20 18:57] Tom32 Anatine: *waves back*
[2008/09/20 18:58] Hermit Barber: Thank-you
[2008/09/20 18:58] Tom32 Anatine: hermit, another quesiton... does this nice stargate work actually?
[2008/09/20 18:58] Hermit Barber: Yes
[2008/09/20 18:58] Hermit Barber: Walk into it
[2008/09/20 18:58] Tom32 Anatine: woah, where does it take one to?
[2008/09/20 18:58] Hermit Barber: It will give you the map.
[2008/09/20 18:58] Hermit Barber: L:ast place I came from
[2008/09/20 18:58] Tom32 Anatine: ah and what is to be found there if I may ask?
[2008/09/20 18:59] PORTAL Stargate whispers: If the map doesn't appear, please touch the portal, then click TELEPORT on the map to travel.
[2008/09/20 18:59] PORTAL Stargate whispers: If the map doesn't appear, please touch the portal, then click TELEPORT on the map to travel.
[2008/09/20 18:59] Hermit Barber: At the moment SmarterEarth's Museum of Earth Friendly Technology. A work in progress.
[2008/09/20 18:59] PORTAL Stargate whispers: If the map doesn't appear, please touch the portal, then click TELEPORT on the map to travel.
[2008/09/20 19:00] Tom32 Anatine: ah coo, but do you think that such would work on the Playa out there in the Nevada High Desert?
[2008/09/20 19:01] Hermit Barber: This one will vaniosh if I move away from it, but I have others that would work anywhere.
[2008/09/20 19:01] Tom32 Anatine: ah so once you leave here it is gone, it is not a permanent piece of your installation?
[2008/09/20 19:01] Hermit Barber: In Nevada it would lead to the person logging into SL one assumes.
[2008/09/20 19:01] Hermit Barber: Correct Tom
[2008/09/20 19:02] Hermit Barber: If you are looking for other items to complain about, please tell me so directly instead of approaching it laterally like some kind of demented crab.
[2008/09/20 19:03] Tom32 Anatine: ah cool then, see Burning Life tries to get as realistic and close to Burning Man as possible, and since you cannot just zap yourself thousands miles far in RL, this would not work here either, but if you remove it once you leave and just use it right now for creative reason that is cool
[2008/09/20 19:03] Hermit Barber: Good.
[2008/09/20 19:04] Tom32 Anatine: we do that everywhere and not just for you, it is just to keep up the spirit of having crossed the line, of being somewhere out there without any ability to just easily return
[2008/09/20 19:05] Tom32 Anatine: thanks for your understanding and have a nice night, I will be leaving for now
[2008/09/20 19:05] Cube Republic: lol

===============================================================================

The next thing was that on 2008-09-24 items from my exhibit were returned - in pieces - by Tom32 Anatine. This was not preceded by, nor followed by any form of communication from Tom32, Linden Labs or any other member ofthe Burning Life management.

[18:44] Second Life: Your 13 objects have been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine near parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 97, 8 due to parcel owner return.
[18:46] Second Life: Your object 'BL Stage Cover' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 122, 12 due to parcel owner return.
[18:46] Second Life: Your object 'Object' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 98, 12 due to parcel owner return.
[18:46] Second Life: Your object 'Object' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 110, 12 due to parcel owner return.
[18:48] Second Life: Your object 'Block' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 115, 16 due to parcel owner return.
[18:48] Second Life: Your object 'Block' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 117, 12 due to parcel owner return.
[18:48] Second Life: Your object 'Block' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 115, 7 due to parcel owner return.
[18:49] Second Life: Your object 'Target' has been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by Tom32 Anatine from parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 81, 11 due to parcel owner return.
[18:50] Second Life: Your 6 objects have been returned to your inventory lost and found folder by .:Burning Life:. near parcel '109' at Burning Life (Hydro) 118, 12 due to parcel owner return.

I attempted to ask why in the Burning life channel -

[18:51] IM: Hermit Barber: On 2008-09-20 Talia Tokugawa an organizer of Burning Life, and a Second Life Mentor representing Linden Labs at this sponsored event, asserted that quoting things Sarah Palin is reported to have said was racist and broadly offensive. Which perhaps tells us where Sarah Palin is coming from. It seems that Talia got the point as to why I included them! Talia then vandalized my exhibit by returning items from it, in so doing suppressing protected speech, and then allegedly reported me to “The G-Team,” presumably an extra-legal Linden body named to intimidate; and given the possible consequences, surely an example of prior restraint.
[18:51] IM: Hermit Barber: As Talia either reported me to the G-Team or lied about having done so, in public and with witnesses, some public communication from them seems to be in order.

On the same occasion I was effectively warned by Tom32 Anatine that items not possible at the physical Burning Man are not welcome at Burning Life. This seems to potentially impact many exhibitors at the Burning Life exhibition and I don't think it has been sufficiently addressed by the organizers. Stupid strategy or not (after all, a Stargate Portal at the physical Burning Man might well house a Wifi connection and an SLURL to bring a visitor into the Burning Life exhibition), surely such a policy should apply to everyone or no one? My stand held nothing like that. I was also told that due to "security" requirements, rezzers are not permitted at Burning Life. While this certainly all but precludes dynamic displays, e.g. of fireworks or other projectiles, which are, of course, a major feature at the physical Burning Man I am not sure how this improves security. Given how many people this potentially affects, this too appears to be a matter deserving a public response.

At this point I have heard nothing more from “The G-Team” (or had any communication from Linden Labs (or Talia despite her having undertaken to provide contact information)) and I still see many “improbable if not impossible” exhibits at Burning Life. Earlier today I sent a letter to Linden Labs requesting that they issue a directive on this issue. I am now seeing my items being returned with no further discussion. Has it happened to anyone else here? Is there any reason for this action being taken?

===============================================================================

As of 2008-09-27, I can confirm that I was banned from visiting the Burning Life Exhibition space as well. Still with no word from Linden Laboratories.

===============================================================================
Then on 2008-11-21 this was sent closing the Ticket:

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay in replying to this ticket, it was misfiled by the system.

No warning or suspension was recorded on your account regarding this incident.

We value an open environment in which residents feel free to express themselves, even when their views may not be popular as long as those expressions do not marginalize, belittle, or defame individuals or groups.

In future we will be looking closely at Linden events and resident moderator involvement to avoid problems such as the incident you describe.

Best regards,

Harry Linden

===============================================================================

I reopened it on 2008-11-23

Harry, my position wasn't a minority position (there are far more liberals on SL than in the physical world, and as the election showed, this is reflected in the US preference for Obama/Biiden over McCain/Palin), but had it been, it would have been even more important to protect it. I have reopened this ticket in that you have not addressed my questions about protected speech, you might ask your corporate counsel to advise you on the probable applicability of Pruneyard vs Robins given that LL is a California Corporation, creates attractions for the public and markets this world as belonging to the residents. Thank-you for your attention.

===============================================================================

Only to have it closed again on 2008-12-03

Hi there,

I'm unable to assist any further with this ticket.

Please contact contact-legal@lindenlab.com if you wish to continue the discussion with our legal team.

Best regards,

Harry Linden.

MediaMaster Service ended in late January 2009

2009-02-09T16:39:00.004-07:00

MediaMaster is no more. My land isn't streaming my own music any longer. I'm sad. If any one has any info on similar type products or services, please let me know.

New Product in SL - A Labyrinth for Walking Meditation

2009-01-26T15:17:00.004-07:00

This is the box cover to my newest item on SL Exchange... oops I mean X Street SL... you know the major website that allows people to purchase stuff with Lindens or U.S. dollars and have the item delivered to their avatar in SL, the one run by Apotheosus Silverman... oops I mean the one that used to be owned by A.S. but was just bought out by Linden Labs and is now a part of Second Life.

I'm a bit unsure about how to feel about this acquisition/merger/buyout -- whatever -- I could have bailed but people are still buying my stuff. I had just joined the forums and was getting into being serious about SL merchandise.

SL or any established corporate entity, tends to make the innovations of the companies they purchase the last major innovation of that company. Bureaucracy is death to creativity. Its just the way it is. I knew Xstreet well enough to be able to really make money in SL if I put my mind to it... then everything changes. What those changes are will take time to unroll and become evident. Oh well I still have new products to show off.

I've wanted to build a walking meditation labyrinth for at least two years, and have dabbled at prototypes a few times, but finally decided to get serious about it.

It took me a full day to build it and get it just right for what I wanted. Packaging took another day. I have a full prim model (160 prims) a temp. rez version (counts as one prim on land, but still takes as many server resources as a full prim permanent one) and a combo pack (with both versions.) I have all all three versions on X Street SL as well as in my store Casita Gaia on Barcelona del Oeste and on my island Casita Gaia.

It is pretty cool even if I do say so myself.

Wanna bet how long it will be until someone rips off the idea? Oh well that is how innovation works.

The combo pack comes with floating meditation pose ball, and all come with a slow walk animation that I recommend using if any avatar has difficulty navigating the passage.

This isn't a maze. Mazes tend to have many dead ends and wrong turns, but a labyrinth has only one way in and one way out... just like life.

This could be used as a lawn ornament, basis for a walking art installation, or a walking meditation path; it will be a conversation piece.

Island Life - Open, Homestead, and Otherwise

2008-11-07T11:44:00.005-07:00

Looks like my social and business over-extension isn't going to go away. I now have two islands! Not real islands in the sense of coughing up thousands of dollars U.S. and then paying hundreds a month for 17,000+ prims (the building blocks of the visual virtual world) but rather Open Space islands that will soon be called Homestead Islands while the term Open Space island will be reserved for islands that are only for open sea or forests, gardens and the like and will be limited to around 700 prims.

At this time I plan to keep the two islands I have for the time being.

The Women's Building Place Sandbox is very popular.

And work is underway to create Casita Gaia a island HQ location for my businesses. I will have to decide whether to keep all my other stores open within a few days as rents on them come due. More business discussion in another post. I will have to go into options and let you see how I weighed the facors and whether money or fun trumped the other one. I will interested to see what I decide too. LOL.

I'm renting both these open spaces from Delicious Demar who has been a friend for almost my whole life in SL.

Bad, Bad Avatar

2008-10-23T12:11:00.002-07:00

I have been a bad avatar and blown off some very important projects in SL of late. To any and all impacted... I'm sorry... The dream state that haunts me so often, this RL, as people call it, has consumed so much of my world of late. It's addictive and probably detrimental to society as a whole.

I got my Burning Life build almost finished by the time BL was over. :( And there were so many things to explore and marvel over. In a transitory world, a transitional event can act like and alpha over alpha texture.

In any case I'm going to try to catch you all up on the projects with which I am involved and in the process I hope to catch up with the projects themselves.

CODEPINK. We didn't do as much for the debates as I would have liked. I'm just not a good people coordinator... too much of a lone wolfess for that (LOL. I must be getting in touch with my inner Furry.) But my personal hijacking of the "I Miss America" CODEPINK Campaign for Burning Life was fun. CODEPINK on Commonwealth has been neglected for far too long. Same with CODEPINK and its involvement with the Babel Project. CODEPINK is currently sponsoring the Cafe on Womens Center.

Womens Center. The name is good. The name alone is getting dozens of avatar visits a day. I just need to have the time to finish the unpretentious thematic build and get some more content scattered about. And I have to get some speakers lined up, and get my Women's Freebie Center created. I got rid of the Volcano on Womens Center. I'm recreating my first real home in SL - the beachfront comfy but palatial house I designed and built in Scandium when I had a hillside there before Hippie Pay ruined the neighborhood. I am looking for a Sponsor for the Women's Building Place, the Sandbox, if you will.

Anyway I want to get my Freebie Area set up so newcomers have a safer place to search.

I'm also interested in establishing a Poetry Group that meets there that is positively focused, not critique based... where work is discussed but not evaluated.

I still have my shops in Barcelona de Oeste. I'm just not sure how to handle this. Liam Serf has been a great friend and an early mentor in my SL life. I will keep a store there. I just don't have what I need there in terms of location and space, though. I am trying a set up in another store, but.... just haven't quite found the right combination.

SL Exchange became X Street and that is still going well for me although I have not run it as much like a business as I should have for many, many months. That is changing though. I'm getting serious about getting everything set up consisently and in an easy to manage fashion. Will let you know if I accomplish that. :p

I do have a couple new texture packs out. Shades of Black, White, Gray -- perfect for decorating a club. Currently it is only available on X Street. And the Iconic Signs have been updated, corrected and properly packaged.

Okay... the next posts will be focused and full of pics and links.

Ana Overextended

2008-09-16T16:34:00.002-07:00

.... as usual. What's a girl to do? There are so many wonderful opportunities in this world of SL and not enough time to do them all. I was one of the 50 or so SLers who the Burning Life Lindens decided to give an early plot to in a visible spot near the entrance in the PG sims to this year's spin off from Burning Man. So I've been building away on Network on my theme camp. It is a solo venture, but I'm always surprised when I run into folks I know -- I've run across both errcheck Hicks and Cheen Pitney in the burning man sims. This is very exciting. I'm in one of the central PG sims, Network, that is supposed to be safe for media coverage. LOL. We must censor ourselves for the media.

Anyway, I'm trying to stay focused but have too many things going on. They are all wonderful and worthy projects, but I can't keep them all afloat. Womens Center. CODEPINK. My stores in Barcelona. My main store that I'm building in what used to be a fairy glade. And there is always stuff to do on the spur of the moment. Take September 11th. I was moping around not wanting to participate in anything that glorified the unjust war that has, against all logic, sprung from the attacks of that fateful day. I got an IM from any1 Gynoid about a poetry event at Cetus Gallery as part of a day of rememberance. It sounded like something that would help me remember all the lives lost that day without buying into the propaganda machine that uses the horrific and tremendously sad deaths of 3000 Americans for political purposes. So off I went.

Larkworthy Antfarm was reading her lyric reflections of that brutal day. Beautiful. I was impressed. Too often I just stay on my land and build. There is such a great community of amazingly creative and productive souls here. Any1, who was coordinating at least part of this event announced an open mic for those people who wanted to share their own refelctions memories and grief centered on the losses of that day. I found the poems of a very close (and I mean remarkable close) friend wrote poetry in response to the violence and the violence that came from that violence, who had it accepted as part of the Poets Against War web project that continued out of the book by the same name and offered to read them. Explorer Dastardly and I read our offered items, and then Larksworthy closed with a Sara Teasdale poem. I have been a bit surprised by people who were there who were moved enough to really listen to what we all said and report on it on CNN iReports as well by The Secondlife Newspaper, I'm humbled.

I need to do more for things I believe in but I also like to have fun. I can't do it all though. I'd like to have time to write poetry. Something has to be cut... and it may end up being Womens Center. I wonder if someone else wants to run an island with a great name. The opening was supposed to be this weekend. Not going to happen. This makes me very sad. I think I will have to let a shop in Barcelona go too.... can't decide which one though...

I Miss America!

2008-08-21T17:11:00.004-07:00

I have the perfect accessory! Well at least for someone like me -- I will wear it next week during the DNC and then during the RNC and then during Burning Life after that -- is a pink tiara that declares. "I Miss America."

You can get a copy of it at Women's Center -- it is in the freebie area near the landing point. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Womens%20Center/147/119/23c
You can take a copy and distribute other copies to all your friends!

Space Junky & Tibet

2008-08-10T18:05:00.006-07:00

Attended a Space Junky concert on Friday night. Found out about it through an SL volunteer mentor who showed up at my Olympic Boycott Info Event. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend Friday night dancing by myself at a concert to the music of a group to whom I had not previously listened. I watched a suggested video of Space Junky's called Temple of Love and read about the possibly mystical and certainly marvelous experience in a Tibetan Temple associated with the song and video's evolution. Very neat.

So I decided to go to the Space Junky concert for Tibet linked to the Candle for Tibet light event on August 23rd. Dropped a notecard on their PR person, Bella Dutton. I wanted to make sure I would be one of the sims in their count of the SL venues burning Tibetan Olympic torches during these games. This is Bella at the concert.

I then TPed to the Inspire Center on Shangria that is in the shape of a star.

Everyone looked up for a minute before the start of the concert.
The set, lighting, arena -- in other words, atmosphere -- were all very much like a RL concert.
Here is another shot of the stage so you can maybe see what I mean about the quality in the attention to detail. The lead singer with Space Junky is the person from whose perspective the text on the Temple of Love page on the Current site, linked above, is written. Need I even mention her devoted following.

The band and production credits from the Space Junky in Second Life blog:

Shakti Cianci - Lead Singer/Keyboards
Valentis LeSabre - Producer/Manager
Zaphod Rahja - Guitarist
Zavier Corleone - Drums
Bella Dutton - Publicist
Tommy Parrott - Staging/Lighting Director
Izzy Cole - Tour Photography
Nemesis Greatrex - PQE Specialist
Wizard Gynoid - Calendar Queen
Tegg Bode - SJ Mascot

The drummer, Zavier Corleone, has an impressive set of percussive recreations, no?

Here you can see Shakti Cianci and Zaphod Rahja and a view from the stage.

********************************************
August 23rd - the night before the close of the Olympics -- please participate in the Protest of Light.

Find more photos like this on Candle4Tibet

Summer Olympics 2008 Boycott

2008-08-10T12:55:00.003-07:00

Held a sort of impromptu information event about the Olympic Boycott at my island on Friday night. 5-7 p.m. I initially had the information and images that I got from avatar Scarabeus Kurka. Then I put up linked copies of an email from Change.org about the impact of the Olympics on the people of China. Then I found out about the concert in support of the Tibetan people by Space Junky and put a copy of their Tibetan Olympic Torch on my land. They have over a hundred sims participating.

Overall a very good day for both the giving and taking of info.

All the info is still there and you can take copies of most of it.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Womens%20Center/113/32/21

Tried to Zip into Science Friday

2008-08-03T17:46:00.005-07:00

a couple weeks ago, but had a repair man arrive at that time..... so I didn't get to ask my question about the Boulder plutonium spill that has gotten congressional attention but no media attention for the last two months. I wanted to ask the Science Friday folks if they would cover it.

Science Friday is an NPR program that has a presence in Second Life. Get to the Friday 11 am to 1 p.m. location in SL by using this slurl

I did rerezz a bit later, but the broadcast was over. But not all was in vain. I took a pic of this excellent low key speaker and information area.Placed in a semi circle around a single chair and microphone are 7 clickable stones that give information on connecting to video, audio, voice, and website as well as one for getting a tshirt and another for making a donation, and of course one for general welcome information.

Then on 8/8/08 I did manage to arrive for Science Friday while it was still going on but I missed the Olympics bit. But I did hear some good info about girls and achievement and the typed banter as always was tip top as nerds rule at S.F.

After the event there is opportunity for coffee and conversation on the terrace.

BlogHer in SL Schedule

2008-07-18T16:45:00.002-07:00

Register here: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=68d83da2-b7b5-4ec1-979a-30c1f11e17df
The Second Life Agenda (All times Pacific Daylight Time):

DAY ONE, Friday July 18th (PDT)
9:00-9:15 AM (live from San Francisco, CA)
Welcome to BlogHer '08 from the Westin St. Francis Ballroom in San Francisco

9:15-10:15 AM
"Speed Dating" for BlogHers in Second Life

10:30-11:45 AM
Second Life Break-Out Session #1: The Intersection of Blogging and Second LIfe

12:45-2:00 PM
Second Life Break-Out Session #2: Second Life and Security

2:30PM-4:30PM
Second Life Activity in Exhibitor Area

4:30PM-8:30PM
SecondLife Open Mic and Party

DAY TWO, Saturday July 19th
9:30-10:30 AM (live from San Francisco, CA)
BlogHer '08 Morning Keynote: Hybrid Media

10:45-12:00 PM
Second Life Break-Out Session #3: SecondLife as Educational/Training Tool

1:45-3:00 PM
Second Life Break-Out Session #4: Using Second Life for Good

3:30PM-5:00PM
Second Life Activity in Exhibitor Area

5:15-6:15 PM (live from San Francisco, CA)
BlogHer '08 Closing Keynote: Living the Truman Show

BlogHer Here There and Everywhere

2008-07-18T14:43:00.001-07:00

Spoke in Second Life this a.m. and I have wonderful and critical feedback. It was fun. Some people may have benefitted. Hope so. I want to be able to show people SL and I'm wondering why we aren't promoting SL to BlogHer attendees? We are promoting BlogHer to SLers but not visa versa. I really, really want to be able to show some of the folks here what second life can provide for them..... and there is nothing formally set up for that. :( We can change that by next year if we try. I hear that CNN i reports will be running second life on their laptops at their booth/table/whatever.... but that is CNN and not just an SLer......

Fireworks!

2008-07-04T14:17:00.002-07:00

Fireworks are symbols of the 4th of July in the U.S. the way the flags were before the commercialization of the symbolic day. Fireworks are alive and well in SL. I can't push my little MacBook all the way up to super spiffy light and water effects but I did bump it up a notch to watch the fireworks show over on Jade Kitty at DeCuir Creations. Yes they sell particle effects, but you don't have to buy anything. Just go and enjoy. Fireworks are going off all day long there. Now that is good old fashioned marketing. I will remember when I need snow or some other particle effect. The setting adds a nice quaint small town feel; clapboards rather than chalet building textures would have added another layer of authenticity to the experience for me on this particular day. The sound effects were good too. I can't complain though as colorful explosions are loved the world over and the US has no particular claim to them.

The Womens Center

2008-07-03T00:14:00.005-07:00

Did I tell you I have an island? The Grand Opening won't be until the Autumnal Equinox, but Womens Center can be pulled up on the map when in SL and I have started terraforming and creating different venues/ spaces. on the island. I plan to have a conference space with tables, a lecture space with video equipment, a cafe for casual drop in chit chat, several small spaces for quiet talk with friends. The context around these specific places/spaces will be open space (this is an Open Space island with a low prim allowance but as much "space " as on a regular island. But scattered throughout that open space will be info about women/goddesses/saints/wise women/women's organizations...

I'm looking for 5 to 9 advertisers/underwriters to each support one aspect of the island in return for tasteful references to their organization/business/island in that space. I need to come up with at least $90 U.S. a month to make this fly. That would be between $10 to 20 U.S. for these 5 to 9 benefactors/sponsors.

Why do we need this?

Clubs are not the right atmosphere for women's talk about serious concerns, nor for a quiet place for two friends to just talk, many avatars de-select themselves from using feminist or academic gathering spaces if their group needs a space for something informal or something off topic from the theme of the area, sim, or venue.

There were many times in SL when I purchased or held onto land I really could not afford because I wanted to host an event for a group or cause in which I participated and I simply did not want to color the gathering with the venues available to me.

I am also a firm believer that it is up to the women of the world to save what we can of the mess that men wielding power for so many centuries has made of our home planet. We have very little time in which to act before the complete destruction of the biosphere is inevitable. Second Life gives women from around the world the chance to gather together and network in a way that was never possible until the past couple of years. Women have always networked and maximized the energies and resources available to them through sharing, pooling, stepping up, stepping back --whatever was necessary to insure the survival of their children and those family members in their care.

In the U.S., the country with which I am most familiar, women have had suffrage for less than 90 years. The days of merely being a satellite of a male life are very recent and thus the current state of affairs where women have some autonomy and authority to make their own decisions is tenuous.

If we do not wish to settle into the new dark age accompanying the coming environmental shifts and the co-occurant economic collapse and total societal rearrangement that can so easily emerge from that degradation then women have to reassert their organizational, nurturance, and leadership skills and abilities so as to out maneuver the male controlled families and corporations that have brought us to this brink of mass extinction.

How this maneuvering is to be done and what women will build as alternative structures, I cannot prophicise . I do however have absolute faith that if women gather together in peace and joy with a common purpose with positive frames and orientations -- that emergent properties of the system will come out of the new connections and ideas that are forged as women simply gather together to do the things they need to do in a new open context.

The women's center is simply to be a place for women to meet together. If we all have this common understanding of the need for knowledge and new practices as we meet with each other for poetry readings, business meetings, movie viewings, discussions, book groups, whatever, then these bits of information and ways of doing things will come forth. We cannot force specific changes because the world is far too complex of a system to be controlled, but we can nudge trajectories and use our collective wisdom to respond to opportunities as they appear that we might miss as individuals.

SL cuts across geographic boundaries as well as economic and religious divides. This virtual world is a perfect meeting place for the women the world over. If we can establish places women can simply use for their needs, this will go incredibly far into helping to birth new connections, opportunities and ways of looking at the world.

I hope you will come to the Womens Center and help bring this vision to life.

Here is my favorite spot on the island so far. This will be a meditative or quiet conversation area.

Bumped in to my friend Ellie.

2008-07-02T23:40:00.004-07:00

I ran into my friend Ellie Brewster who teaches in Women's Studies somewhere in Ohio.... that is somewhere that isn't in SL, can you imagine that?

Anyway I had told her about my new island called Women's Center in Delicious Estates and when I was popping in there tonight we both rezzed at the same time. So I showed her around what I've got done so far. Don't worry there will be a huge post about the island and my plans for it in the very near future.

But before my island is done, in fact in the next couple of days, do go to Ellie's display in the education section of SL5B (only a couple more days until it is over and goes away) check out all the great women's issues she covers by looking at elements of women's lives as typified by elements of the simple village home depicted in her exhibit there as part of her university's exhibit.

Ellie also coordinates a Feminist Science Fiction book discussion group on her island. You can go to the group's wiki to find out more about it.

BlogHer 08 in SL

2008-07-02T22:12:00.005-07:00

I'm getting it all together for BlogHer in SL! Woot! Can't wait!

If you don't know about it, zip on over to the registration info page. I'll be on a panel there about the intersection of Blogging and SL. But I will also be having office hours this Friday, as I did last Friday at the CNN iReport Hub on Future Island.

I'm putting up some new blog bling on the side of this page. Click it and you can find out about the conference.

New Grids, New Worlds?

2008-06-26T23:49:00.001-07:00

I will start with a question. With new grids coming online and getting up to speed to accommodate everyday users, does this mean the virtual world is fissioning or expanding? Are these new grids really different virtual worlds? Are they just outposts or out growths of the same virtual world? Just what is a virtual world?

I do not intend to rewrite the history of MMORPG's here. I think we do have to briefly talk about them though if we are to discuss essence and meaning in regard to virtual worlds. Participating in a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game would be similar to immersing yourself fully into a novel and being able to have your character interact with the other characters in routine daily actions but having your overall life capabilities and direction already laid out for you.

When Second Life emerged into the fabric of the internet five years ago, very few people seemed to be able to grasp the potential of using the vehicle of a 2 dimensional game platform for simple human interaction in a user created world. You either "got it" or you didn't. Open ended role playing was an option there, as in the Caledon sims but so was just hanging out and creating your own unique niche in a new world.

MMORPGs don't host RL seminars, conferences etc. with RL speakers, Life 2.0 was amazing, I susect BlogHer 08 in SL will be equally so.

This is just a little taste of what I want to talk about in more depth over the next few months.

Brief update on Grids, SL, Art, Drawing, and Blogging Conferences in the Metaverse

2008-05-30T23:11:00.003-07:00

Geesh I've been bad. No posts for quite some time. Much going on Grid wise, less so SL wise. So much to talk about.

SL will not be the only option soon for regular Joes and Janes. I want to rent a server and run a region or two on one of the new open source grids running OpenSim. OS Grid, OpenLife Grid, DeepGrid and others are up and running at some level. Some are renting land now and others are waiting for the software to be a bit more stabilized. Walking between Grids, or flying, or whatever, will be possible.... not sure how soon though. Apparently if you are on something other than a Mac you can download full perm items and reload them onto other grids with the right bit of software.

Oyster Bay has closed although some of it is still there, but not as active a place as it once was. But the Oyster Bay book has come out and I will review it soon.

Also, I'm on a panel at the upcoming BlogHer in SL. Several Avatars will be speaking on the panel that I'm on, but that is all I know, so far.

But.... more on that soon!

Also my friend Liam of Barcelona del Oeste and Barcelona del Pi has set up an educational build and will start teaching about business in SL. I may also do a class at Avatar U. now and again. I believe this is all under the auspice of the Avatars Group.

I've uploaded a bunch of SL images to Flickr including one on Life 2.0.

Each of these items deserves a post in and of itself, but for now I will just have to hint at the great topics to come.

Have also been testing out a few graphics programs such Art Rage 2.5, Draw It, Sketch Up, Art Text, Lineform, Photoline, and some others that I will review soon.

Life 2.0 Keynote

2008-03-17T10:54:00.002-07:00

Flew around and talked and took pics before today's sessions started.

From the Life 2.o website:

9:00 AM PDT - 10:00 AM PDT

KEYNOTE: 3DV AND THE FUTURE OF IMMERSION

Mitch Kapor, Chairman, Linden Research - SL:MitchK Linden

Deeper, more satisfying immersion hangs fire on the emergence of a new generation of interfaces, which harness gesture both to project identity and assist communication, and to enable simpler, more vivid means of interacting with objects and people. Continuing the thread begun at Davos and Metaverse U., at Stanford, Mr. Kapor will describe and chart the implications of one such device, nearing introduction.

Mitchell Kapor is the Chairman of Linden Research, maker of Second Life. He is a software designer, entrepreneur, activist and philanthropist. In 1982 he founded Lotus Development Corporation and designed Lotus 1-2-3, the "killer app" which made the PC ubiquitous in business. As an angel investor, he was the first funder of UUNET, Real Networks, and Linden Labs. He is the co- founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been called the ACLU of cyberspace, and is the former Chair of the Mozilla Foundation, which makes the open source Firefox web browser. He is also a trustee of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, which supports programs in education and environmental justice, and of the Level Playing Field Institute, whose mission is to enhance equal opportunity in the workplace and support the values of an inclusive society.

Mitch started out talking about aha moments he's had with virtual worlds and mentioned Susan Vega and An Inconvenient truth. One really brought home the reality of new types of interaction in "immersive spaces" and the other brought home the environmental impact virtual meetings could have be decreasing the need for the use of fossil fuels (particularly jets) to get to a significant percentage of meetings. The energy to run a computer is far less than the energy used to travel.

Then he said he always gets the question, "How is this different than videoconferencing?" Shmoozing., pre- and post- presentation conversations, meeting new people --- these are all possible in the metaverse and not in videoconferencing.

Photorealisitic avatars were next. You can now upload 3 pics and within 5 minutes have an avatar that looks like you.

Of course the use of digital realities for training is also very promising.

His own group is looking at diversity training to increase empathy and understanding through the use of avatars and virtual worlds. It is coming but it isn't here yet.

Gestures are the elements of the next big change. 3DV or the 3D camera is here and on it's way to the world. The technology uses infrared with very fast shutter. With the right software a 3d camera can capture real world scenes and insert into them into the virtual world.
Cameras will be basis of freeing us from the keyboard in a way that is reminiscent of the movie magic technology used in "Minority Report."

Christmas 2009 will be the real marketing debut of this as an available technology on a market scale.

For the most part, gamers are still driving the technology in this area.

Kaper Enterprises' use of 3DV cameras will be viewable on You Tube within a couple of weeks where you will be able to see the use of gestural control of avatars leaping, crouching, and the like.

Being able to mirror real life body language and expression will be next major focus for avatar overlays and will be much more realistic. The ability to use body language will make for a much more immersive experience. It requires a huge amount of work and isn't just around the corner as it requires a significant re-engineering of the back-end of virtual worlds.

He believes this change will be just as revolutionary to fundamental technology as the mouse was as a fundamental change technology for GUI.

The cost divide will lessen over time as well.

-------
Quesions
-------

Why will it take so long?

camera limitations
until technology is there
habit system of 1985 --- just too soon.

Many things have to be right.

Can a comment on P. Rosedale reaction to his stepping down as chairman of the board be made?

It took 7-9 yrs for vision realization of Philip's idea. A founder doesn't remain CEO forever, at some point a success means division. (Visionary perspectives often different than that needed for the running of a Company.

It is going to be exciting.

--------

A better interface is high on his list.
---

He's not sure what comes after 3VD. It is a very long way off.
-----

Open sim - open source?
The largest most vibrant ecosystem possible is good and healthy. Wouldn't you rather have a big pie rather than just a big slice of a small pie?

Will see touch devices versus camera devices as targets of research.

Even SL for mobile devices.

Component development for SL presents "insurmountable opportunities."

Redesign and rearchitecture is very important and you have to prioritize innovation.
Emotional and financial investment factor in of course.

Everyone in the community understands the family sensitive nature and challenges of stand alone grids.

Thanked the audience for the intensity of interest and attention. He applauds such enthusiasm.

Intellectual Property, Privacy and Identity in Open Virtual Worlds

2008-03-16T11:40:00.003-07:00

Intellectual Property, Privacy and Identity in Open Virtual Worlds
Sunday afternoon sessions - Life 2.0 conference.

Speakers (copied from the Life 2.0 web site):

Eben Moglen (SL: EbenMoglen Euler) - Director, Chair and Chief Counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center; Mark Lenczner (SL: Zero Linden), Architect, Linden Lab; David Levine (SL: Zha Ewry), IBM Research; Sean Dague (SL: Neas Bade), Developer, IBM Linux Technology Center, Contributor, OpenSim; Tish Shute (SL: Tara5 Oh), principal, Ugotrade.com; John Jainschigg (SL: John Zhaoying), Exec. Director, UBM/ThinkServices Metaverse.

I arrived a bit late due to RL constraints and when I attempted to load the sound from the website, rather than through SL so I wouldn't experience the problems encountered yesterday, I seemed to need to load uStream TV to get the stream and I had to create an account to do that which slowed me up even further. Still I really, really wish a conference packet would have been generated and distributed so attendees could know what they would, or might, need for particular sessions.

That said, the session, just like yesterday's sessions, were great. This session was a panel discussion where the speaker's avatars were seated on a stage at the "front" of an auditorium filled with seats. Because of this configuration I only took one picture.
The first thing I noticed about the panel should have been of no consequence but it was maddening. The avatars were all sitting in the same position with their toes tapping in perfect synch. Fortunately I was immediately drawn into the panel conversation as well as the text chat which is why I would recommend actually attending such conferences with your avatar online and in the venue where the audience's and speakers' avatars are located. The audience interaction is often more important than the panelists, although that, pleasantly, was not the case with this particular group of panelists. I suspect this will hold true for the entire conference, although it can be dangerous to act from suppositions -- and disappointing -- but I'm really not too worried about that with Life 2.0.

There is no way I can capture the non-stuffy intellectual level of discourse. I will not post chat transcripts as I do not like it when others do, and I think somewhere in the terms of service for interacting in SL I agreed not to do so.

I'm sorry I missed the first part but some of ideas covered in the portion of the talk I did catch included:

Code Angels -- bits of code that let you know the potential dangers faced when entering a sim.
Informed consent.
Rights to information versus avatar rights. (This one tripped me out. Reminded me of the topic of a brown bag luncheon I attended at Purdue decades ago. )
multiply-joined immersive spaces
history and (versus) judgment
negotiated rights
social norms vs. social evolution
danger of imposing technological constraints rather than allowing social evolution.
open sim and avatar transportability
markets (grid traction) -- restrictive tariffs are needed -- or all commerce will go on in one place and never in others
"people voting with their feet" really can occur in virtual worlds as trade barriers only work in real life as mobility is limited. this isn't the case in virtual worlds as choice and mobility between servers is becoming possible
hard to impose strade restrictions on a highly mobile population
open sim and avatar transportability
payment for service will provide some screening similar to angels
uninspected spaces versus inspected spaces

It was at this point that I had to enter the parallel text discourse the "avatar audience" was having.

Who will do the inspecting?

I am not going to go into any great detail from this point on as I only want to convey an impression of what the session was like. Let it just suffice to say that the texting was just as intricate and intellectual as the panel discussion. And... (this is one of the great things about virtual venue conferences) the panel discourse was informed by themes, and specifics, of the audience comments. In this way the traditional channel of formal questions is supplemented by input via text discourse and the type of banter and whether it includes sarcasm, references to other published commentary on the topic, laughter, mockery and the like. While the virtual venue might seem more impersonal, it is more personal than the restrictive nature of RL conferences where only authorized speakers have any voice. Of course in virtual environments one does have to consider that verbal "griefing" could occur. But then interaction between panelists and audience members could too. The folks who were only connected via web streams certainly missed a rich context stream.

Great topics floating around in the audience: Corporate avies that everyone gets used to as the personality of "x" that can be (and are being) possessed by other people in the company. You get used to X - expect X - know X and then one day X does not equal X as the corp has come in and inhabited the shell formerly known as X. If the avatar used by an employee is more than a corporate operative then it seems like the avi should go with the person. But that is not the case, most likely, if one signed over rights to intellectual property in a contract made during the hire.

Many sticky issues such as Free trade versus Fair trade arose. The techies in the audiences seemed genuinely incensed that this larger glocal market could put them out of work via outsourcing. Writers have faced this for ages (literally, think scribes, then printers, then... coders?) and as technology becomes more widespread the value of the technology goes down -- and they no longer control the information disseminated by that technology. This cycle of invention control dissemination used to take generations... now it plays out in a persons lifetime.

I was also impressed that the problem of not being able to follow who is speaking from audio-only cues was discussed and possibly "remedied" through suggestions that could be acted upon such as talking sticks, avatar animations so speakers could stand. One that wasn't thrown out was something similar to the little green voice dot over active speakers in SL.

Overall I would have to say the overall information flow in this session was similar to that in a high level academic seminar with the level and breadth of discourse.

More tomorrow if I can find the time to attend and write up.

Life 2.0 Sculpty Day II Spring 2008

2008-03-16T09:23:00.011-07:00

Session: Saturday afternoon. Posted Sunday.

I have been looking forward to this conference for quite some time. I wasn't able to attend the morning sessions on scripting, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to report on this aspect of the conference at all due to time constraints.

I have always loved visual information and yesterday was a very good day for rich sensorial input. Sculpties are not my forte as I just don't have the bucks nor lindens for two and three thousand dollar, high-end professional graphic rendering programs. However, that doesn't mean I don't want to know about the cutting edge technologies and applications. I'm not a graphic artist, I'm just an avatar with a couple stores in SL (and don't tell anyone but I also have a region in Openlife Grid under a pseudonym and I've even ventured into a couple other grids.)

I teleported to the main landing point just outside the arena on Dr. Dobbs Island before the afternoon sessions and got into the swing of things by finding a seat in the arena and listening to conversations while I fiddled with voice (that I tend to only use voice for interviews) and I still think the use of voice stream is best for presentations. Echoing and spikes in sound levels drove me crazy as improvised mics and folks with open mics and such took control over sound out of the hands of the organizers.

(See: pics of Rissa Maidstone (above)and John Zhaoying (below)
so you can identify the honchess and honcho organizer types.

When the call for the first session of the afternoon was made I had great hopes that visual cues would be used to orient avatars in the SL space because we were directed to gather around the blue ball. This worked well as there was a very large blue ball floating in a courtyard outside the arena. That was the end of really good directions.

While receiving directions for how we were to shift to another display for the first time I actually heard people using the terms left and right. Firmly anchored reference points need to be used. In later sessions terms like north, northeast and such were used, but even these sorts of directions, while much better than totally personal frames of reference such as left and right really aren't good for precise navigation in SL either.

I would have like to have seen registration packets used with various exhibit spots and presentation locations clearly labeled so I could orient myself at my leisure as folks do in RL. Some sort of large scale visual orientation needs to be used. My preference would be for some sort of organizational and demarcation system that is visible and easily decoded from the map of the area or by simply flying up and panning out and up with the camera.

Sometimes gaming folks forget that some avatars in SL have never engaged in rapid orientation and motion that some games require. SL appeals to a variety of people with very different motivations and behaviors. Some people just talk. Some people just shop. Some people just fornicate. Some people just blow things up. Some people just dance to the music. All of these behaviors and action groups can attract users who are very sophisticated in their knowledge of one or two aspects of the virtual world. Individual blends of these skills are unique.

All this said -- the talks were great!

Aminom Marvin

The first talk was by Aminom Marvin who is a student in the graphic arts and discussed sculpty technology and software from that perspective. I think his description of how a sculpty object

The Black Box

A sculpty creation product created by The Black Box who was the second speaker in the afternoon line-up.

The programming (aka in SL as scripting) behind the black box must be incredibly large and detailed in order to have an in-world effect of creation and maipulation of sculpties. While I didn't understand that much of the specific tech talk involved in the presentation I did get the concept that the process works with slices of an object that controls individual vectors of an image map. Or that is what I think I got out of the talk. LOL. In any case I will have to check out the product in-world.

Crash Prefect

Crash's talk was more accessible to me at a conceptual level.

His use of a 3 prim barbell model to illustrate what happens to an individual prim when it is sculpted to appear as many different objects came closer to an "aha moment" for me per the notion of sculpties than has any other explanation.

We all learn differently and different teching approaches willl have variable levels of success.

Anjin Mieli

The sound was so bad for me during this presentation that I didn't get much out of his talk unfortunately but I loved the work. The bas relief effect is amazing. All I can say is rich, deep, velvety shadows, real carving..... I'm going to look at his work in more detail as I think I heard that it is primarily achieved via Photoshop that means I might be able to use the technique to some degree in GIMP (if I can ever get it to load again....)

Cel Edman

Somehow I missed Cel's talk -- although I got a pic of him later. Too bad as this is the guy from whom I have purchased merchandise.

Yuzuru Jewell

This talk was less accessible to me as the text-based presentation that was put through a translation program. I actually quit listening for the most part when I read words to the effect of "no plans for a Macintosh version." One of the great things about SL is that it is effectively platform independent.

Xenius Revere

I understood most of this talk. Yea! However I will never be able to afford Maya, the program Xenius uses. Some of the effects he illustrated never did load on my computer, and I'm not into blow 'em up games, but the process for creating 3D scenes is most intriguing. The 20-plus prim car was so realistic that I wondered why anyone would want to reproduce anything so closely in the metaverse. The answer of course is that someone hired him to do it. He builds mechanistic avatar war machinery for battle games for fun. The example of this never did get beyond amorphous bloops.

Wish I was a student. You can apparently get Maya for about 300 bucks if you are verifiable as connected with an educational institution.

Busy busy avatar.

2008-03-14T15:16:00.005-07:00

Getting back to a regular schedule of posting. :) Keep your virtual fingers crossed and knock on a wood texture. Had a hard drive crash and burn. Grrrr. This always happens just before a big nationwide protest in RL. And I'm on a Mac!!! Now I am having problems reloading GIMP via the new X11 bridge. Grrrr & double Grrrr.

Been zipping in and out of other virtual worlds such as OL and more (reviews coming soon) and working on projects in SL too. Busy Avatar.

I will be posting about a conference I will be attending in SL over the next few days on Dr. Dobbs Island. More info coming soon. Should be good. I have my new suit ready to go.

More soon.

Virtual hugs and kisses.

EvaMoon Ember @ the Conscious Lounge - Comedic Singer Songwriter

2008-01-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked out Conscious Lounge on the Isle of Genesis as yet, you are missing one of the best mash ups of politics and punk, of comedy and country, of ambient and anarchy on the grid. A place that is equally comfortable as hang out, as in depth discussion for left ofproprietess center perspectives, and of course for music and dance. Solidad Sugarbeet is the proprietess, sometimes DJ, discussion mediator, and original thinker behind the Lounge. Many folks consider this an essential space for in world political action. Check it out. It is almost certain that will you come away with information and attitude you didn't have before interacting with the fine folks who hang there, and you will come away having heard some great Indy music.

EvaMoon performed at Conscous Lounge on Jan 24. A singer songwriter with a ribald sense of humor, she performed original material for a good music, good laughter, good time.
EvaMoon backed up by Malcolm X. You can see the open air club atmosphere. I find the space to be far more inviting than a close in club.

Beautiful person in the audience.

The second act that I unfortunately could not stay for was Wendy Curtis. A pic of when she was tuning. "Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair."

2008-01-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hope to have a few rather large splats of blogging to catch up with all that has been happening. Opened a new store "Seasons" in Barcelona on the new sim across from the Cathedral, but I'm going to close it. Over expansion of a sort. Too many new projects at one time. Guess I will just keep my one store there, Casita Gaia, next to the Cafe. Started updating the store a couple days ago.... but I'm also creating a new space for myself on Anhalt Hill that I call Virtuality. I will have all my stuff there. Buildings for sale, furniture, textures, the works, and I will have the open space that I initially created on Echo Island - a cafe for meetings and a cuppa joe in this new spot. Open to all of course. I suppose some folks would just go for the island at this point, but I'm more cautious. I have about a 1/4 island that I purchased with just the first month's rent as the purchase price. There are a few honest and ethical sorts out there doing the SL land baron thing. I probably angered the established tenants with my terraforming, but I needed mountains and beach.

I mentioned Echo Island. I'm going to miss Monday, the owner of Echo. He was a neighbor on the mainland, and I purchased a spot from him not so long ago. I just outgrew the parcels he had available. He gave me a beautiful ballerina music box as a going away gift. *Sniff, choke back tears, ahem.* We're only a T.P. away, but I like having him as a neighbor. Hope he will still serve on VKG's board.

The biggest thing going on behind, above, and through all this is the consulting company I've worked to build in the last few months. The Virtual Knowledge Group with me as the founding director is taking off nicely. I've real customers paying in not only Lindens but also U.S. dollars. Not as good as Euros at this point, but what can a person do? All my electronic existence is based in RL in a place called Tucson, Arizona. I've helped so many folks along the way since my rez day in July of 2006. It only makes sense to channel some of what I've learned about business and plain old life in SL -- I am collecting my info for eventual (sooner rather than later) sale as a "business package" I will market on SL Exchange that will have an In World book as well as some of the more useful freebie/transferable scripts available in world as well as links to some of the vendors I trust. So far I've helped, and am helping avies set up shop through private tutoring. I also have examined the marketing of some successful businesses so that I can help my customers figure out what approach to take in marketing their business.