New TV show on business in Second Life launches
February 22, 2008
Australian-based SLCN TV have added a new show to their in-world offerings. Real Biz in SL will feature interviews and stories with personalities and real-world businesses involved with Second Life.
You can view each of the shows live in-world by checking the schedule or you can stream them via their website (QuickTime required).
Popularity: 3% [?]
Using SLURLS to get around Second Life
February 22, 2008
Linden Lab’s Torley Linden has created another useful tutorial, this time on using SLURLS to get around Second Life.
It’s a great read for a new Second Life user but I’d also recommend it for more experienced users as I’m regularly confronted with veteran Second Life residents who don’t grasp the wider functionality of SLURLS.
Linden lab have also instigated a ‘Knowledge Base Article of the Week’ post - today’s is about groups and how they are disbanded.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Linden Lab give glimpse of Dazzle
February 21, 2008
There’s some welcome improvements on the way with the vanilla Second Life browser interface. They’re cosmetic improvements, but a much needed step toward making in-world navigation that little bit more pleasant.
Popularity: 2% [?]
All bulked up and nowhere to go.
February 20, 2008
I didn’t write last week. Why? Writer’s block, plain and simple. All bulk, no fiber, no water. Nothing flowing. Staring at blank document. No juice. Cranial constipation. (And, at the moment, I am battling some kind of cold that really, really, really, wants my attention, like a needy 5-year-old tugging on the kitchen dress of my awareness; shooing it away with a flour-dusted hand is ineffective and laughable.)
As it happens, I am kind of experiencing a similar thing in Second Life. (God, are my segues cool or what? Inelegant at times, but it comes with the territory. Suck it up. I have. ) I’ve found I’m running into a similar malaise in-world. If it weren’t for the building I’ve been doing for a friend who is developing mixed-use facilities on a private sim, and my SL girlfriend who– despite our occasional miscommunications and her somewhat lengthy bouts of afk, is still my source of energy– I’d be in-world a lot less these days. RL pressures are mounting, and I am a lot less inspired to hang around a sim. I continue to beta-test, running to SL in order to escape some RL grindings, only to find similar grindings in SL. However, the approach in SL allows me to work out some RL things, if only by virtue of the fact that I can de-pressurise the brain long enough to allow some blockage to clear. This is not a fool-proof theory; to wit, last week’s absence. But with a little more application, it might be a workable one. “Keep banging it with a hammer, you’re bound to fix it, somehow!”
On a marginally related note (and this does not qualify for a ‘cool segue’ award)…there’s an interesting backlash of sorts beginning to occur. I find myself wishing I could walk to the bottom of the lake that I live next door to, as easy and as unencumbered as in SL. What would I do there? Dunno. Can’t rez an object, so I might be limited to sucker-punching a couple of aggressive fish. But walking at the bottom of the lake or ocean or other body of water, to get to the other side, is starting to sound perfectly doable.
On a more practical note, I was out shooting photos on Sunday–good day for it, too… overcast, snowing, big city–and I found myself wishing–nay, expecting–to be able to fly up two or three stories to get that particular angle of Union Station I wanted to, without having to burden myself with contacting the tenants of the offices above me, explain my request, and jump through hoops to point a camera out a window. It’s amazing how quickly one can adapt to the creature comforts of SL. The line gets blurred with mental statements such as “Well, I’ll just fly up there and….oh, hell.”, statements that suddenly seem perfectly normal in RL carry the reality of encouraging men with white jackets to engage in footchase through the city streets.
I looked up the offices in the building directory…I’ll ring them this week.
Y’know, whoever makes this daytime cold medicine–shilling on the premise and promise of “non-drowsiness”–should really own up to the other side effects of the concoction. The pine trees outside my townhouse are bending down, trying to open my windows from the outside, my cats are dialing the telephone and ordering pizza (in perfect German, no less), and the entire contents of my closet are rearranging themselves in order of color. To make matters worse, I can’t really focus my eyes.
Perhaps that’s a good thing.
Maybe it’s even better I don’t have a wetsuit.
Popularity: 5% [?]
A year ago on The Metaverse Journal
February 20, 2008
We got excited about Project Outback the much hyped and ill-fated attempt at taking in Second Life.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Enterprise 2.0 forum - Business IS getting it
February 19, 2008
At today’s Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum at Sydney’s Luna Park, I was encouraged to see that business is actually starting to get its head around virtual worlds as something much more than a brand recognition exercise. There were two events during the day that confirmed it:
Westpac and Second Life
Westpac’s Chief Technology Officer, David Backley, gave a wide-ranging presentation on Westpac’s use of Enterprise 2.0 tools. Part of the discussion was centred on the company’s use of Second Life for the induction of new employees.
The impetus for the move into Second Life was the geographical reality of Australia-based operations and the desire to look at a better way of inducting people into the organisation. Instead of waiting for a large enough group to start employment in Perth and then sending a trainer across, the induction can occur with individuals spread across different locations.
Backley claims that the feedback from the SL-based training was good and there was some amusement around feedback that some avatars dominated the induction process. Sound familiar?
On the future, Backley is upbeat on continuing involvement with virtual worlds. “We want to explore further” was the summary. He also alluded to Westpac questioning whether they would continue on the Second Life platform or investigate an internal virtual world option.
Roundtable on virtual worlds and organisations
During the lunch break I hosted a roundtable discussion on virtual worlds with five interested business people. I was really impressed with the absolute open minds displayed on virtual worlds and their opportunities and challenges. These were people who work in very large organisations and there’s obviously momentum building toward establishing business cases for new technology approaches to business.
For a perspective on the wider Enterprise 2.0 discussions (Wikis, Blogging etc), check out the forum blog.
Popularity: 5% [?]
The media and marketing myths of virtual worlds
February 19, 2008
Gwyneth Llewelyn is a veteran Second Life blogger and has spent a lot of time digesting a very comprehensive market research report on virtual worlds and the myths that have been promoted by parts of the mainstream media. It’s a very detailed analysis of an even more detailed report but it’s well worth spending the time reading it.
The six myths expounded are:
1. Everybody is a freak or geek;
2. Users don’t know what’s real;
3. People think and act differently on a virtual world;
4. Virtual worlds are a lawless, anarchic jungle;
5. It’s all about pornography;
6. Virtual worlds alienate us and turns the society into something dangerous.
What do you think - are there other myths you’ve run across or do you believe some of those listed above are facts?
(Thanks to Massively for the heads-up)
Popularity: 2% [?]
