If it isn't already obvious, things have gotten really hectic for me these past couple of weeks, with the result that I've completely forgotten about this blog. And the next several weeks look to be about the same, what with work, holidays, and all the festivity associated therewith. So let's call it a holiday-related hiatus, and I'll rejoin the blogosphere in 2008 refreshed and renewed and full of sagacity and fascination for all things digital!
Happy holidays! See you in 08!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Plugging back in, ready to... party with the pervs?
While we were, as my darling husband put it, "vacationing in the 19th century" during our bathroom reno (ie living without internet or TV -- if you call that living!), I missed the episode of CSI:NY that featured Second Life. Luckily, our home is equipped with a PVR, so upon our return to a 21st century lifestyle I fired it up and watched the episode.
Wow. Did anyone else see that piece of dreck? My first impressions are that Gary Sinise is way slumming on this show. Leaving aside Second Life for a moment, the plot relies heavily upon technological contrivances that beg disbelief, and the dialogue ranges from wooden to cliched. But whatever. At first I was mildly excited that Second Life would play such a big role in the plot of such a popular show. "Finally," I thought, "I won't have to explain to people what Second Life is, and how it's not a game, and it's not populated exclusively by weirdos, freaks, and pervs!"
Well, no such luck. Anyone watching CSI:NY that night would be left with the strong impression that Second Life is all about gameplaying (eg fighting monsters, air surfing) or meeting up with weird, freakish, pervy avatars controlled by friendless, loveless losers. What a disappointment.
Disappointing for me especially, not only because the portrayal was wildly inaccurate according to my own experiences within Second Life, but also because the negative impression engendered by the show is going to make it that much more challenging for me to convince various holders of purse strings that Second Life is a worthy markting venture.
I can't help wondering how Linden Labs feels about this!
Wow. Did anyone else see that piece of dreck? My first impressions are that Gary Sinise is way slumming on this show. Leaving aside Second Life for a moment, the plot relies heavily upon technological contrivances that beg disbelief, and the dialogue ranges from wooden to cliched. But whatever. At first I was mildly excited that Second Life would play such a big role in the plot of such a popular show. "Finally," I thought, "I won't have to explain to people what Second Life is, and how it's not a game, and it's not populated exclusively by weirdos, freaks, and pervs!"
Well, no such luck. Anyone watching CSI:NY that night would be left with the strong impression that Second Life is all about gameplaying (eg fighting monsters, air surfing) or meeting up with weird, freakish, pervy avatars controlled by friendless, loveless losers. What a disappointment.
Disappointing for me especially, not only because the portrayal was wildly inaccurate according to my own experiences within Second Life, but also because the negative impression engendered by the show is going to make it that much more challenging for me to convince various holders of purse strings that Second Life is a worthy markting venture.
I can't help wondering how Linden Labs feels about this!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Newbie Unplugged -- not by choice, but by necessity
The good news is we're having our bathroom renovated -- totally gutted, and rebuilt from the studs up. The bad news is, it's our only bathroom. No powder room, not even a water closet in the basement. So, we've moved in with my mom for the duration; and if you've read my previous posts, you know that her household is not exactly enabled for the 21st century. So if I'm not posting much in the next few weeks... you'll know why!
I'm choosing to look at this as a golden opportunity to catch up on my reading. So if there are any books out there right now that I should be reading, please let me know!
I'm choosing to look at this as a golden opportunity to catch up on my reading. So if there are any books out there right now that I should be reading, please let me know!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Reconnecting with friends... Well, their avatars
Monday October 1st saw another After A Fashion social-shopping get-together in Second Life. Check out the the AAF blog for details of the amazing outfits and free hair fat packs I picked up!
Every time I get together with the AAF girls in Second Life I'm amazed at how the virtual world enables me to reconnect with people that I seldom see in RL (real life). Even though it was ages since the last AAF excursion, we quickly fell into an easy conversation. Of course it helps that the social shopping aspect gives us an activity to share in, so there are few awkward pauses in the conversation; but even when I encounter utter strangers in SL, the chat seems to flow, and folks are just generally more friendly and approachable than anyone I've encountered in RL.
I find myself musing about this more and more, and wishing that I could put my finger on the element of Second Life that makes for such easy interaction. What do you think? Any ideas as to why this is so?
Every time I get together with the AAF girls in Second Life I'm amazed at how the virtual world enables me to reconnect with people that I seldom see in RL (real life). Even though it was ages since the last AAF excursion, we quickly fell into an easy conversation. Of course it helps that the social shopping aspect gives us an activity to share in, so there are few awkward pauses in the conversation; but even when I encounter utter strangers in SL, the chat seems to flow, and folks are just generally more friendly and approachable than anyone I've encountered in RL.
I find myself musing about this more and more, and wishing that I could put my finger on the element of Second Life that makes for such easy interaction. What do you think? Any ideas as to why this is so?
Friday, October 5, 2007
Newbie is now "Second Life expert"
Ironic, isn't it? But true: to a big group of former skeptics, I'm now their go-to person for info on virtual worlds.
On September 25th an event that I've been planning for months finally happened: a live-audio reading and author Q&A in Second Life, organized by me, in a gorgeous sim designed and built by the good folks at purplestripe. By all measures it was a successful event -- attendance was good, and we got some decent blog buzz before and after; but to me, the real measure of success was that the folks I work with are now, finally, starting to get it. A large part of the planning process involved selling the concept of an in-world author event to TPTB where I work -- no small feat considering the deep-seated skepticism around all things digital and SL in particular.
On the day of the event I arranged for my office PC to be moved into a boardroom and hooked up to a projector, so that anyone who wanted to could view the event as it happened, live. I wish you could have been a fly on the wall when people saw SL for the first time and realized its implications. "You mean to tell me that each avatar represents a real person?" "So these people could be anywhere in the world right now? And they're all hearing the same audio we can hear?" "You mean I can chat with more than one person at a time, in real time?"
One small event for an avatar, one giant leap for the Great Unplugged. :)
A few snapshots from the event:
The build:
Chloe looking studious:
On September 25th an event that I've been planning for months finally happened: a live-audio reading and author Q&A in Second Life, organized by me, in a gorgeous sim designed and built by the good folks at purplestripe. By all measures it was a successful event -- attendance was good, and we got some decent blog buzz before and after; but to me, the real measure of success was that the folks I work with are now, finally, starting to get it. A large part of the planning process involved selling the concept of an in-world author event to TPTB where I work -- no small feat considering the deep-seated skepticism around all things digital and SL in particular.
On the day of the event I arranged for my office PC to be moved into a boardroom and hooked up to a projector, so that anyone who wanted to could view the event as it happened, live. I wish you could have been a fly on the wall when people saw SL for the first time and realized its implications. "You mean to tell me that each avatar represents a real person?" "So these people could be anywhere in the world right now? And they're all hearing the same audio we can hear?" "You mean I can chat with more than one person at a time, in real time?"
One small event for an avatar, one giant leap for the Great Unplugged. :)
A few snapshots from the event:
The build:
Chloe looking studious:
Friday, September 21, 2007
Second Toronto Girl Geek Dinner
This past Wednesday saw the second Toronto Girl Geek Dinner. This time I hosted, solo, as Maggie Fox was out of town -- but thanks to her thorough prep work everything went smooth as glass. In my humble opinion, of course. :)
The event's defining principle seems to have engendered quite a lively debate over on the TGGD blog -- interestingly, the most enflamed comments have come from those who weren't able to attend. Huh.
Maybe I'm naive, but when I co-founded the TGGD with Maggie, we weren't thinking of excluding men at all -- having attended a few testosterone-heavy geek dinners, the whole point was to encourage any guys who wanted to attend to bring a girl with them, to encourage the ladies (particularly female students) to come out more and network.
Anyway, the whole thing is a minefield of misread intentions, so I'll say no more. Except to ask this: do YOU think it's exclusionary? If so, what's the solution -- a merge with the ad hoc Geek Dinner crowd? Suggestions welcome!
The event's defining principle seems to have engendered quite a lively debate over on the TGGD blog -- interestingly, the most enflamed comments have come from those who weren't able to attend. Huh.
Maybe I'm naive, but when I co-founded the TGGD with Maggie, we weren't thinking of excluding men at all -- having attended a few testosterone-heavy geek dinners, the whole point was to encourage any guys who wanted to attend to bring a girl with them, to encourage the ladies (particularly female students) to come out more and network.
Anyway, the whole thing is a minefield of misread intentions, so I'll say no more. Except to ask this: do YOU think it's exclusionary? If so, what's the solution -- a merge with the ad hoc Geek Dinner crowd? Suggestions welcome!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Speaking of breaks... and tweets
Wow, I'm horrified to realize just how long it has been since I posted last! Talk about taking a break! Oddly, I do have lots of thoughts to share and ideas that I want to seek feedback on -- I just don't have a lot of time these days. Now that summer is over, work is on like Donkey Kong, as the kids say. But I will try to make time to post when I am moved to do so, rather than putting it off and putting it off until I forget what it was I wanted to post about.
One thing that's happened lately is that I finally (FINALLY) signed up for Twitter successfully. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: I'm about 5 months too late. It's true! I was momentarily thrilled that I finally managed to get our corporate IT department to modify my firewall enough so that I could sign up... only to find that Twitter is akin to a desolate ghost town. Maybe I'm just not following the right people. Or maybe I've missed the boat completely. Either way, I gotta say that there doesn't seem to be much action there, and when there is, my reaction is mostly: meh. I think I prefer longform blogs to the micro-thoughts posted on Twitter.
So I'm hoping someone can educate this naive newbie. What am I missing? Has Twitter jumped the shark? Or am I using it wrong?
One thing that's happened lately is that I finally (FINALLY) signed up for Twitter successfully. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: I'm about 5 months too late. It's true! I was momentarily thrilled that I finally managed to get our corporate IT department to modify my firewall enough so that I could sign up... only to find that Twitter is akin to a desolate ghost town. Maybe I'm just not following the right people. Or maybe I've missed the boat completely. Either way, I gotta say that there doesn't seem to be much action there, and when there is, my reaction is mostly: meh. I think I prefer longform blogs to the micro-thoughts posted on Twitter.
So I'm hoping someone can educate this naive newbie. What am I missing? Has Twitter jumped the shark? Or am I using it wrong?
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