Social Media in Plain English

Now we can finally understand them Web 2.0 thingys.

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

From the Mail Bag

Join us at this Thursday May 29, at 7pm in Second Life for Tim Johnson!

Krazy Talk! Industry Giants Speaker Series - Tim Johnson
Presented in conjunction with the Krazy! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art - Vancouver Art Gallery.

May 29, 2008 7:00 pm
At the Great Northern Way Campus Virtual Centre for Digital Media - University Project region - home to the Masters of Digital Media Program!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20Project/150/84/23

http://mdm.gnwc.ca/

Tim Johnson - Animated Feature Director
Tim Johnson made his animated feature film directorial debut in 1998 with Antz, Dreamworks' first computer-animated comedy. Most recently, Johnson directed the lauded DreamWorks feature, Over the Hedge, staring the voices of Bruce Willis and Garry Shandling.

This session will be simulcast free of charge in mixed reality in our Virtual Centre for Digital Media - tickets are available for the first life event by contacting the Vancouver Art Gallery. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

So You Want to Read a Good Blog on Virtual Worlds

Then you are in the wrong place my friend. ;-) Try here:
Hiperia3D News: 7 Good Virtual Worlds Blogs

Went Nuts for Web 2.0 Sites

God! I should be sleeping. Before you ask, YES I did look into all of these and I forgot a few before this post. *sigh* I drink more coffee; so, I can stay awake at work; but, I stay up late; so, I need more coffee.


Sandy — your free personal email assistant
Music Celebrities Pop Culture and Movies - Social Media Community - Buzznet
Vimeo, Video Sharing For You
hakia Search Engine Beta
Wikia - Wikis from Wikia - Join the best wiki communities
Radar: Instant Picture Conversations
Worth1000.com | Photoshop Contests | Are you Worthy™ | home page
FotoFlexer - The world's most advanced online photo editor
drupal.org | Community plumbing
Amazon Web Services @ Amazon.com

Another Podcast I'm Liking

EscapePod added the the first installment of PodCastle: "Come Lady Death"ome Lady Death
I have to say I wasn't expecting to like this because I don't particularly like Fantasy, but this story was so good that I was late for work. So, check it out. I think you'll find it as enjoyable as I do.

Event: Another Nonprofit Commons Sim Launched

Join in the Celebration of the Launch of the Second Nonprofit Commons
Sim

Nonprofits, supporters to host mixed reality grand opening celebration
in San Jose and in the metaverse on May 28th

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 starting at 10:00 A.M. PT/SLT, in the new
second Nonprofit Commons location:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20nonprofit%20commons/100/68/25
<http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20island/100/68/25>

Highlights:

* Grand opening May 28 of the Nonprofit Commons 2/ALOFT, our
second sim housing a large community of nonprofit organizations

* Mixed-reality event, to include a live presentation, a
demonstration of the new Second Life Nonprofit Commons island to
attendees at the NetSquared Conference
<http://www.netsquared.org/conference> in San Jose, and events within
Second life

* Live peformances all day within Second Life, with over 8 hours
of music from musicians around the world

* Media is invited to attend in-world event as well as to San
Jose, and phone interviews are available upon request

This second of two Nonprofit Commons nonprofit sims was generously
donated by TakingITGlobal <http://www.takingitglobal.org/> . Like the
first Nonprofit Commons sim on Plush, a virtual space for nonprofits,
managed by TechSoup <http://www.techsoup.org/> , Nonprofit Commons 2
creates and houses a community of social benefit organizations in the
online virtual world of Second Life. This community of practice is
entirely volunteer-run and hosts organizations from across the globe. To
date, they have created a community blog
<http://www.nonprofitcommons.org/> , Google Group
<http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life> and a
resource-rich wiki <http://npsl.wikispaces.com/> , and have held
mixed-reality events, workshops, and regular weekly town hall meetings
<http://npsl.wikispaces.com/Weekly+Meetings> . This international
community is a hub for charities to share best practices, work together
on innovative ways to benefit their causes, and network with
organizations from across the globe.

The Gala event will be a mixed-reality launch party, complete with
networking, a panel of speakers, and tours of the Nonprofit Commons.
This live event will take place in the real-world of San Jose,
California as part of the NetSquared Conference
<http://www.netsquared.org/conference> , and within the virtual world of
Second Life. These events will occur simultaneously and will also
feature interactivity between the two worlds. Following the
mixed-reality event, we will have an afternoon and evening full of live
entertainment in Second Life. Audience members in the Second Life
portion of the event will include Nonprofit Commons residents, their
invited guests, and media representatives. Don't miss this interactive
collaboration, connecting the virtual world with real-world issues.

Event details:

* The mixed-reality event takes place Wed.May 28th in Second Life,
broadcast live from the NetSquared conference in San Jose, 10:00 am-
12PM PST (SLT), online in Second Life
<http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20island/100/68/25> , and is hosted
by TechSoup <http://www.techsoup.org/> , Nonprofit Commons
<http://www.nonprofitcommons.org/> and NetSquared
<http://www.netsquared.org/> .
* Second Life entertainment will continue throughout the day, into the
evening at the Nonprofit Commons 2:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20nonprofit%20commons/100/68/25
<http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20island/100/68/25>

Event activities:

10am- 11:30am PST/SLT (Second Life Time): Nonprofit Panel and Q & A
session

11:30- noon: Tours of the Nonprofit Commons offices in Second Life

Noon-->: Activities continue in Second Life throughout the afternoon
and night with major concerts, poetry readings, tours, dancing, and
games.

Information and Inquiries: More information about the real-world
NetSquared conference can be found on the NetSquared site
<http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference> .

Please RSVP via email to Megan Keane (megan megan@techsoup.org>
@techsoup.org megan@techsoup.org> ) for in-world attendance to
this event or IM Penguin Kuhn in Second Life. Join the TechSoup group,
in-world to receive announcements about this event and future nonprofit
events in Second Life.

******************************************************

About the Non Profit Commons

2 Locations:
NPC1- Plush Non Profit Commons:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/128/178/26
<http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/133/232/76>
NPC2 - Aloft Non Profit Commons:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20nonprofit%20commons/100/68/25
<http://slurl.com/secondlife/aloft%20island/100/68/25>

Members of Non Profit Commons meet each Friday at 8:30 PST/SLT at Plush
Nonprofit Commons Ampitheater. Visitors are always welcome to join us
in making a difference one pixel at a time.

Nonprofit Commons (NPC) consists of two virtual locations (sims) housing
over 65 social benefit organizations, managed by a community of
volunteers, under the leadership of TechSoup. The NPC1 sim was donated
by Anshe Chung Studios and NPC2 sim donated by TakingIT Global. NPC was
designed to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, to create a
community of practice for nonprofits to explore and learn about the
virtual world, and to investigate the many ways in which nonprofits
might utilize this unique environment. Through this community, we
provide free office space to qualifying groups, meet and collaborate,
create a cooperative learning environment and foster outreach,
education, fund-raising, all in a virtual space. We focus on providing
an accessible entry-point to Second Life and on creating a community of
NPOs, not just having NPOs live separately and exist separately
in-world. We believe that Second Life is a wonderful place not just to
entertain, but also to collaborate, educate, inspire and assist our
fellow avatars (and the humans behind them). We welcome all who wish to
join us as partners, collaborators or supporters.
-----------------

About TechSoup

TechSoup is a nonprofit organization that helps other nonprofits acquire
and use technology to better serve their missions. We are working toward
a time when every nonprofit and NGO on the planet has the technology
resources and knowledge they need to operate at their full potential.
Through our Website, nonprofits will find a broad range of software
donated by leading tech companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Symantec,
Intuit, and Adobe, along with content and community forums targeted
specifically at a nonprofit audience. The NetSquared conference
showcases social Web innovations that nonprofits can use to dramatically
increase their reach and impact.

Please Take This Survey RE: Business in SL

Sent to me via a listserve:

I'm working on a project to explicate users willingness to do business in SL. The results of this study should be useful in understanding the determinants of SL users decision to conduct business in the SL environment. I would really appreciate if you can help me in filling out a survey. The survey is very short and it will take about 10 minutes.

Please note that your responses are confidential and your participation is anonymous.

Here is the link to the survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=6VLGGoY9V9w5gb2m2hK4Qw_3d_3d

oohpppps...I'm absolutely broke, hence I'm unable offer a LUCK DRAW incentive. However, I will be willing to email the results of my survey to any one that is interested.

Thank you for your anticipated response. If you have any queries about the survey, I can be reached via email and the telephone number provided below.

kindest regards

Adesegun Oyedele
College of Business Administration
Department of Management, Marketing and International Business
The University of Texas-Pan American
1201 West University Dr.
Edinburg, TX 78539-2999
e-mail: adeseguno@yahoo.com
Phone: (956) 381 3383
Fax: (956) 381-2867

The Gold of Virtual Worlds

When businesses employ geographically dispersed employees, they have to overcome the challenges of culture and lack of social contact. It seems that Second Life and other virtual worlds can provide a medium where social interactions can be provided, while also allowing for cultural differences (example bowing, deferring to superiors when using email or phone).

Yet, what's really interesting is that these are game environments; so, one should be able to to create your own workplace rules that everyone must follow. Since it's a game-like environment and people are conditioned to follow game rules, individual may follow those rules. So you could make different workplaces based on different rules of the game. STAPLER FIGHTS MANDATORY!

Australasian Virtual Worlds Workshop 2008

Call for Participation

Workshop Dates: 28th and 29th November 2008

The Australasian Virtual Worlds Workshop is an event for Australasian researchers, educators and business people involved in virtual worlds, to meet and discuss topics related to virtual worlds.

The aim of this workshop is to build local capacity and virtual world expertise that connects with global expertise.

This workshop builds upon foundations established by the Second Life Discovery Day held in 2007 at Monash University, Australia. Proceedings from that workshop are available at the website http://www.avww.org.

Participants are encouraged to submit an abstract, presentation or panel proposal. Presentation formats that encourage active participation by attendees are preferred.

Selected authors may also be invited by the conference committee to write up their presentations for publication in a special issue of a journal after the workshop.

The workshop discussions will be mixed reality events held both at Swinburne and in Second Life to facilitate local and international participation.

== Important Dates ==

Submissions Open: June 2nd 2008
Submission Deadline: August 1st 2008
Email Notification: September 15th 2008
Workshop Dates: 28th and 29th November 2008
Journal publication: late 2009

== Presentations being accepted ==

You can submit a 30 minute presentation proposal on a topic related to virtual worlds. Suggested areas are:

- Using virtual worlds for education
- Current research into virtual world technology and the uses of virtual worlds
- Virtual world implementations
- Conducting business using virtual worlds
- Tools for working in and with virtual worlds (hardware & software)

The proposal should be submitted at http://avww.org/?q=cfp

== Contact ==
Lead conference organiser: Sukunesan Sinnappan

David Egger' TED Wish

I find it interesting that the author who wrote the short story "Where Were We," which details two characters inability to give away a large sum of money in Africa, is supporting this wish: Once Upon A School » Challenge

More Scripts for Doors

So it seems that I could post nothing on this blog and still get hits because of two blog posts about scripting doors in SL. So that I can die and live on in my blog posts, I have yet another post about doors. Enjoy the link to scripts you can use to create a door with an 11 button key pad door. Key Pad Door - Second Life Wiki

Exploring

I finally got a chance to check out Whimsey:


I'm thinking this is a nice place to hang out. I especially like the view of the dunking bird from here.

Links for Today

Brands and Worlds. Who’s the Daddy? : Kzero
    This is an excellent article on RL brands and virtual worlds. Trys to answer the question: "Do brands need VW?"
How Second Life Affects Real Life - TIME

This article summarizes research on how having an avatar affects how you view yourself in RL. For example, if you have a "good-looking" avi, you will feel more confident in RL. What does it mean when you have wings I wonder?

Share videos, Create compilations, Add slides and annotations | Omnisio

This piece of online software looks interesting if you want to do a video presentation with slides. I get annoyed when you get to see the speaker whose talking about certain slide, but you don't get to see the slides in the video.

Vara Software : ScreenFlow - Professional Screencasting Studio

I'm thinking I need to download this for some screencasting fun. Although, I first need a reason to screencast. *sighs* Never mind.

Call for Papers League of Worlds Conference Oct 2008 Hong Kong

The International Conference on Exploring Virtuality
5th Annual Colloquium on Online Simulations, Role-playing, and Virtual Worlds

October 13-17, 2008

Hong Kong University
Hong Kong, China

Future worlds: Virtual worlds today and tomorrow

Call for Papers

About the League of Worlds
The League of Worlds (LoW) annual colloquium brings together people engaged in the creation of virtual worlds and real-time simulations for educational and training purposes. Our mission is (1) to stimulate and disseminate research and analysis regarding the theoretical, technical, and curricular developments in; and (2) to contribute towards the development of coherent frameworks for the advancement, application and assessment of educational and social uses of role-playing, simulations, and virtual worlds. Our primary areas of interest include:

• Theoretical analysis
• The development of practical applications
• The documentation of framework projects and case studies.
• LoW5 Theme
• "Future worlds: Virtual worlds today and tomorrow."

Hundreds of virtual worlds exist to serve youth, educational, and corporate markets, yet few offer anything more than a glimpse of how technological innovations such as virtual worlds may lead to new forms, methods, and modes of communication, collaboration, and creation. We are experiencing unprecedented growth in the funding and development of virtual worlds, but toward what purpose?

This year, we will consider the opportunities and challenges the proliferation of virtual worlds offer today, and contemplate what they hold for tomorrow. In many ways, the future of virtual worlds depends on how early adopters decide to use them to advance and to extend their organizational mission. But what factors will influence which platforms and worlds survive and which ones do not?

About the colloquium
The League of Worlds colloquium is not an ordinary conference.

The League of Worlds brings together creators of virtual worlds and real-time simulations for educational, artistic, and creative purposes. Participants share a passionate interest in advancing theory and praxis in creative, educational, and cultural contexts. The League of Worlds is committed to exploring complex, networked social spaces, such as Second Life, Croquet, Metaverse, Fablusi, Active Worlds and other simulation and/or role-playing platforms, as they relate to questions of virtuality vs. reality, identity construction in new media technologies, and other key questions. In particular, we invite research into framework projects and case studies and strongly encourage exploration with pedagogical or other practical applications. Both creative and technical studies are welcome.

Participants are expected to challenge one another to take a fresh look at the questions that arise when people meet in virtual territories to play, to learn, and to share. Participation is purposely limited and there will be no concurrent sessions. Instead, participants will engage in an ongoing dialogue about virtual environments, integrating their own perspectives and expertise into the conversation.

Proposal categories
The League of Worlds colloquium is designed to support sharing and meaningful reflection. Participants should allow one another the opportunity to share experiences, to demonstrate technologies, and to think critically. To facilitate these activities, the colloquium review committee is interested in submissions on the following topics:

• Technologies used to create and manage virtual environments (tools, hardware, software)
• Vision for what virtual environments could be (architecture, metaphors)
• Teaching and Learning in virtual environments
• Role playing and simulations
• Social constructivism
• Communication and collaboration
• Serendipitous interactions and learning
• Community formation in virtual environments (interaction, presentation of self, presence)
• Culture (development of, artefacts)
• Administrative/technical support issues in virtual environments
• Change (Advocacy for, dissemination and sharing of research, how change takes place)
• Resources (to create and/or support any of the above themes)
• Research (on virtual env of what you are doing with virtual environments and how it relates to one of the above themes (including description of practice and relevant research)

Explanation of how this summary can contribute to the dialogue theme planned for the colloquium.

Paper submissions are double blind peer-reviewed. All accepted papers, the colloquium program, and a list of attendees will be published on the colloquium website. Papers should be between 2500-5000 words (4-8 pages).

Contac t information for each
Affiliated institution(s)
Job title(s)
Brief description of experience with virtual worlds, simulations, and/or role playing technology
Submit all proposals in Word, RTF, PDF or HTML format to:
Dr. Stephen Bronack at bronacksc@appstate.edu

Please refer to the League of Worlds website for information regarding fees, facilities, and accommodations: http://www.leagueofworlds.com


Hope you will feel free to distribute this revised version to interested parties.
League of World

Important Dates

Paper submission - summary and explanation July 20, 2008
Registration Deadline September 5, 2008
Final Draft Due September 5, 2008

Dreams of Zombies Dancing in Their Heads

Between One Eighteen Migration episodes, I'm finding that I startle to noticing that I'm being drawn to zombie media: Shawn of the Dead, Thriller, Army of Darkness, The Serpent and the Rainbow...hell, I even stumbled over an old Eclectic Review podcast about them. *sighs* Is it JUST me? I think it's time to get some help.

"Coming of Age in Second Life" Event

Yesterday, I went to an event that I learned about from Botgirl's Second Life® Diary about the book Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human by Tom Boellstorff. It was a great discussion and I received permission from the event coordinator and author to post the chat.

Enjoy.

Email from Edward Castronova

Some of you may have been following the Arden project:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7123/full/445018a.html
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i44/44a02501.htm

I'm pleased to announce that the project has come to fruition. With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, we have created a fun game environment and used it to conduct a month-long experiment. Our experimental question (kept secret up to now) was: Are fantasy game players economically "normal"? Or on the contrary, when they make themselves into elves and dwarves and hobbits, do they stop taking economic decisions seriously? We created two virtual worlds, one an exact copy of the other, except that in the experimental world the price of a simple healing potion was twice as high as in the control. If people are taking prices seriously in this fantasy environment, they should buy fewer of the potions when potions are more expensive.

At stake here is the entire idea of using virtual worlds as a Petri dish. If fantasy gamers behave in ways that violate our most basic assumptions of economic normalcy, then it makes no sense to use virtual worlds to study large-scale economic behavior. If, conversely, fantasy gamers seem to be normal economic agents, then perhaps some of the behavior in virtual worlds does indeed generalize to the real world. If so, then we can consider using virtual worlds to conduct controlled experiments at the macro scale of society, where our most pressing problems seem to live (natural resource management, intercultural mistrust, information security, disease).

The initial findings of the Arden experiment will be released during the International Communications Association meetings in Montreal next weekend. The session we're part of is this one:

"High Density Session: The Web 1.0, 2.0, and Beyond"
Time: Sat May 24, 3:00 - 4:15pm
Place: Le Centre Sheraton / Drummond West

See the entire schedule for Saturday here:
http://convention3.allacademic.com/one/ica/ica08/index.php?click_key=3&cmd=Multi+Search+View+Program+Load+Scheduled+Times&schedule_day=2008-05-24+00%3A00%3A00&PHPSESSID=e76b3aa3a0d5c7b574ab10b60c31733e

In this format, eight presenters will each have 5 minutes to describe her or his work. Then we will go to our posters, pasted to nearby walls, where each of us will answer questions about the findings. I'll be standing at my poster; thus if you have a particular interest in the Arden project and its findings, please feel free to attend this session and see them first hand. Fresh off the internets, as it were.

I will collect comments from the ICA meeting and use them to revise the paper we're writing, before sending it off to a journal. This will occur sometime in June. At that time we will also release the paper as a Working Paper. An announcement about the paper will be sent to this list.

Thank you for your time,

Ted

Call for Paper and Pathfinder Linden Speech

Call for Papers/Participation

Please join us in a workshop on learning and research in Second
Life(R) on October 16, 2008 in Copenhagen at Internet Research 9.0 (http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=About_IR9.0
)

Paper Deadline June 15th.

Second Life is a 3d virtual environment created by Linden Lab (R)
which has captured the attention of researchers and teachers from
around the world from a variety of disciplines.

This workshop aims to improve the understanding of Second Life as a
Learning and Research environment. It will bring 35 researchers
together to collaborate, discuss and workshop diverse topics related
to research and learning in Second Life. We will pursue a full-day
schedule in which participants will discuss their work and interests
on four different topics: learning in Second Life, integrated
learning, the contributions of research to the community and ethical
research methods. How can we better enable learning in this sphere?
How can we better enable research?

Our honored keynote will be Pathfinder Linden

Researchers are requested to submit papers and short biography to slworkshop08@gmail.com
, which will be selected and distributed amongst participants before
the workshop. First invitations will be offered to those who provide
full papers for consideration.

These papers have two purposes: first is to provide a common platform
for understanding our research and teaching and second submitted
papers may be considered for publication in an edited volume being
produced in relation to the workshop, or possibly in peer reviewed
publication derived from the workshop (these are currently under
discussion).

Subsequent invitations will be made based upon research/teaching
statement and biography with priority given to people submitting full
papers. If you are interested in participating, please send an email
containing your information to slworkshop08@gmail.com.

Decisions will be made by August 1st, barring incident. There is a
limit of 35 participants at the physical meeting; the event will be
simulcast into Second Life which will be organized by Jason Nolan.

We welcome professionals, faculty and graduate students to participate.

This workshop is sponsored by Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, and
is organized by Jeremy Hunsinger, Rochelle Mazar, Aleks Krotoski and
Jason Nolan. Lunch, coffee breaks and the room is included in
participation. (And you'll probably get a t-shirt!)

*We are also seeking additional sponsors, please contact jhuns@vt.edu
if you would like to sponsor this workshop.

Links for Today

An Engine Fit For My Proceeding · An Illustration of the Cosmology of the Grid

Has a great diagram of the stakeholders in SL.

Exodus to the Virtual Workplace, Part 1 « The ARCH
Exodus to the Virtual Workplace, Part 2 « The ARCH
Exodus to the Virtual Workplace, Part 3 « The ARCH

Second Life Community Convention » Welcome!
    Ooooo! I wanna go too!

I want to be a drunken scientist TOO!

There is a Second Life promotion of the film Iron Man where you can get a free suit and enter a competition in creating something special with that suit. Winner gets $100,000L!