<div><br></div>I am a huge fan of the Second Life of art of Ball State University's John Fillwalk (Second Life's Mencius Watts). We have blogged a bit about him here: <a href="http://eurekadejavu.blogspot.com/search?q=fillwalk">http://eurekadejavu.blogspot.com/search?q=fillwalk</a><div>
<br></div><div>His Flickr Gettr installation featured prominently in our Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds graphic novel and documentary as a way of using art and social media in virtual worlds for cultural relations.</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://eurekadejavu.blogspot.com/search?q=fillwalk"></a>John bridges his virtual world installations with physical world art -- including acoustic and musical -- and creates installations in which virtual world objects when touched or manipulated, create concurrent physical world music that you can also hear in virtual worlds. Very cool stuff. <div>
<br></div><div>We host a number of his installations on "The Imagination Age," our islands in Second Life. Ping me off list if you would like a tour. I'm also copying John in (not sure if he is on the idc list).</div>
<div><br></div><div>-- <br>Joshua S. Fouts<br>Senior Fellow, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs;<br>Senior Fellow, Digital Media and Public Policy, The Center for the Study of the Presidency<br>Chief Global Strategist, Dancing Ink Productions, LLC<br>
e: <a href="mailto:josh@dancinginkproductions.com">josh@dancinginkproductions.com</a><br>web: <a href="http://dancinginkproductions.com">dancinginkproductions.com</a><br>blog: <a href="http://www.eurekadejavu.com">www.eurekadejavu.com</a><br>
twitter/skype: josholalia<br>Second Life: Schmilsson Nilsson<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 1:00 AM, Stephanie Rothenberg <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:info@pan-o-matic.com">info@pan-o-matic.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Hi Andreas,<br>
<br>
I think people are still using SL but more of a dedicated crew and for<br>
more goal oriented purposes.<br>
<br>
IN TERMS OF ARTISTS there's the well known virtual performance troupe<br>
Second Front (<a href="http://www.secondfront.org" target="_blank">http://www.secondfront.org</a>) that includes IDC'ers Scott<br>
Kildall (also "No Matter" project) and Patrick Lichty (virtual man<br>
genius). I believe Patrick is doing a project related to Warhol's<br>
factory in SL but I'll let him chime in on that himself.<br>
<br>
There is transgender artist Micha Cardenas who did a durational<br>
project in SL about becoming transgendered called "Becoming Dragon" <a href="http://turbulence.org/blog/2008/12/31/second-life-becoming-dragon-micha-cardenas" target="_blank">http://turbulence.org/blog/2008/12/31/second-life-becoming-dragon-micha-cardenas</a><br>
<a href="http://ucsdopenstudios.com/2009/artists.php?a=Micha_Cardenas" target="_blank">http://ucsdopenstudios.com/2009/artists.php?a=Micha_Cardenas</a><br>
<br>
John Craig Freeman's "Imaging Place" - a great global mapping project<br>
<a href="http://institute.emerson.edu/vma/faculty/john_craig_freeman/imaging_place/imaging_place.html" target="_blank">http://institute.emerson.edu/vma/faculty/john_craig_freeman/imaging_place/imaging_place.html</a><br>
Also by John and Will Pappenheimer is Virta-Flaneurazine (Walter<br>
Benjamin's flaneur in SL)<br>
<a href="http://www.willpap-projects.com/Docus/Projects_List/MainProjectsFrameset.html" target="_blank">http://www.willpap-projects.com/Docus/Projects_List/MainProjectsFrameset.html</a><br>
<br>
Then there are numerous re-enactments:<br>
Eva and Franco Mattes' Synthetic Performances (2007 - 2008) are a<br>
series of six re-enactments of historic performances of the 60s and<br>
70s, staged by the artists’ virtual alter-egos in the synthetic world<br>
of Second Life.<br>
<a href="http://www.reakt.org/imponderabilia/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.reakt.org/imponderabilia/index.html</a><br>
And Joseph DeLappe: Gandhi’s “Salt March to Dandi” in Second Life<br>
<a href="http://saltmarchsecondlife.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://saltmarchsecondlife.wordpress.com</a><br>
<br>
Jack the Pelican Presents, a gallery in W'bg Bklyn also hosts the<br>
ongoing podcast "Brooklyn is Watching", an informal discussion-based<br>
show about art in SL<br>
<a href="http://brooklyniswatching.com" target="_blank">http://brooklyniswatching.com</a><br>
And also Ars Virtua Gallery in SL continues to feature new inworld<br>
exhibitions:<br>
<a href="http://arsvirtua.com" target="_blank">http://arsvirtua.com</a><br>
<br>
And of course there are lots of bad artists that continue to emerge<br>
but as the article you posted states, Linden Labs keeps making more<br>
islands so there's a space for everyone.<br>
<br>
ON THE ACADEMIC FRONT there are all the great resources that the<br>
previous emails listed. More and more universities are using SL for<br>
collaborative, discussion-based learning and for simulation training.<br>
The ability to role-play in a real time collaborative environment is<br>
actually very effective. There are many videos on youtube documenting<br>
college level training programs from training border patrol guards to<br>
flight attendant safety for rogue passengers to dentistry. At SUNY<br>
Buffalo where I teach, the medical school is developing a virtual<br>
triage unit to evaluate their ER and to train staff. Many schools are<br>
moving over to the open sim which is more cost effective and gives<br>
more autonomy. In my own classroom I use SL b/c students can easily<br>
create prototypes and realizations of their ideas and it encourages<br>
collaboration. It's also a great way to talk about issues of digital<br>
labor/playbor.<br>
<br>
The architecture and urban planning community has also been using it a<br>
lot and developing some interesting tools.<br>
<a href="http://studiowikitecture.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://studiowikitecture.wordpress.com</a><br>
<br>
There are also many activist communities and non-profits that hold<br>
regular meetings and events. These groups use SL to mobilize real<br>
world actions, fundraise, share information and stay connected. You<br>
might say why not just use email or a blog but to communicate via an<br>
avatar is actually much more engaging. Its expensive to set up a multi-<br>
person video chat so SL is more feasible and as the article says, you<br>
can use voice.<br>
Here's a list of some:<br>
<a href="http://www.techsoup.org/community/secondlife" target="_blank">http://www.techsoup.org/community/secondlife</a><br>
<a href="http://virtualnativelands.org/" target="_blank">http://virtualnativelands.org/</a><br>
This lists several orgs doing interesting work<br>
<a href="http://lindenlab.com/lindenprize/finalists" target="_blank">http://lindenlab.com/lindenprize/finalists</a><br>
<br>
In terms of ECONOMICS, I agree that most people making some of their<br>
livelihood inworld are doing this thru virtual real estate but there<br>
are many other types of inworld jobs that generate all or partial<br>
income. Aside from the more well known jobs such as personal "escorts"<br>
and the builders who create virtual consumables, there are wedding<br>
planners, people who work in or run virtual maternity clinics for<br>
pregnancy services (bot babies), people who own or work in spas, music<br>
performers, club dancers, doctors, therapists. I've been researching<br>
people who do similar jobs in their real life and in their Second LIfe<br>
and there is definitely a cross over.<br>
<br>
So to sum it all up, I think you either have an affinity for virtual<br>
environments or you don't and those who stick with it have found an<br>
important purpose for it whether it be an artistic medium, education/<br>
training and/or technical development, or money making. And then there<br>
are those that have found that the social networking is very important<br>
in their lives because they don't get a lot of f2f contact (i.e. live<br>
in remote locations, are physically disabled or elderly and are unable<br>
to leave the house).<br>
<br>
cheers,<br>
Stephanie<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Stephanie Rothenberg<br>
Assistant Professor<br>
Department of Visual Studies<br>
University at Buffalo<br>
<a href="mailto:stephanie@pan-o-matic.com">stephanie@pan-o-matic.com</a><br>
.........................................<br>
<a href="http://www.pan-o-matic.com" target="_blank">www.pan-o-matic.com</a><br>
<a href="http://rev-it.org" target="_blank">http://rev-it.org</a><br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On Jan 5, 2010, at 11:33 AM, Andreas Schiffler wrote:<br>
<br>
><br>
> Ran across the article "Whatever happened to Second Life?"<br>
> <a href="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/354457/whatever-happened-to-second-life/1" target="_blank">http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/354457/whatever-happened-to-second-life/1</a><br>
> Quote: "Three years on, and Second Life seems no closer to finding a<br>
> respectable reason for being than it did in 2006."<br>
><br>
> In Slashdot comments, people are dropping for various reasons, from<br>
> the<br>
> lack of "combat physics" to the loss of being "free of all rules and<br>
> social restrictions". As for myself, I never found it very compelling<br>
> beyond the technical if its sheer scale and that it was cross-platform<br>
> with functional Mac and Linux clients.<br>
><br>
> My question to the list: Is anyone still using SL and if so for what?<br>
><br>
> --Andreas<br>
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