Well only for a few perhaps, and we are far from it, but let’s look to the future through the eye’s of a futurist…

Virtual reality and reality to merge says Ray Kurzweil.

“Computers the size of blood cells will create fully immersive virtual realities by 2033,” leading inventor Ray Kurzweil has predicted. If so this sucks for me. I am to late. Death = phail.

“Today you can put a pea-sized computer inside your brain, if you have Parkinson’s disease and want to replace the biological neurons that were destroyed by the disease.”

He said a billion-fold increase in computing performance and capability over the next 25 years coupled with the 100,000 fold shrinking, would lead to “blood cell-size devices… that can go inside our bodies and keep us healthy and inside our brain and expand our intelligence”.

He said the blood cell computers would be able to “produce full immersion virtual reality from inside the nervous system”. People have more freedom in virtual worlds. He said the games industry had to be thinking about the future development of computing now.

“The games industry fits in well with the acceleration of progress; in no other industry do you feel that more than games.” Mr Kurzweil, who invented the flat bed scanner and text-to-speech synthesis, said the virtual world was a misnomer.

“In virtual worlds we do real romance, real learning, real business. Virtual reality is real reality.”

He added: “Games are the cutting edge of what is happening - we are going to spend more of our time in virtual reality environments. “Fully emergent games is really where we want to go. We will do most of our learning through these massively parallel interactions.”
“Play is how we principally learn and principally create,” he said.

Mergers Take Time

The merger is already occurring…in very small steps. Here we get a glimpse of conversation on discordant issues. Avatar to Avatar or human to avatar- anyway you want to slice it.

…often cannot be measured, let alone seen. We can only measure some of the after images.

Many messages are never heard because they do not rebound back or recurse to the media in a plain or readable format…nor can the impact be measured accurately due to hidden impediments. No other commentary from me. This is a hidden conversation made open. Anonymity assured. Tiny alterations made. You normally would never hear any of it. You would only see the after images… I am not going to make any comment on what it means. e.g. FIC.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Share This

I left a response for Jason Calacanus here on feedback. No, I am not angry at Jason, but I don’t need to thank him for what I, and others have been blasting on about for several years…in the trenches fighting some very, very bad stuff. Search engine spammers and good content taking over ranks? I have a collection of busts that make SERP spam child’s play. Nor do I need to benchmark myself- but feel free. I open sourced myself awhile ago. Painful to do, but I did it.

What I really want to do is to be able to thank Jason, Mike Arrington, Robert S, and all the other technical evangelists in the valley, for getting involved and dialing up the pressure- but doing so in a way that preserves those who act with integrity, and not wiping them out because they are “small”. We can usually spot spam right away, but the idea that people can define the quality of my aesthetic is not where we are going. The leaders need to lead and smaller is fine.

I also see no problem with Mahalo and as noted below, and blogged here somewhere, it passed my annual “malware” around “game cheats” stress test. Admirable. I even offered up Caledon at Revenews as a prototypical community of curators and content makers. Sam Harrelson notes the challenges and I simply say Jason- don’t forget community. Community is content. It might be hard to grok, but you have my digits now- happy to explain what I discovered.

I didn’t make it to the keynote, nor did we get a chance to speak at the dinner, which is a shame…what you said is nothing new to me however. Actually, in many ways it seemed to be naive….e.g. “but also the FTC, which doesn’t take nicely to covert marketing.”

Really? I was on the Spyware Panel with MSFT, AT&T, MIT and Webroot…two or three years later, at Esther Dysan’s summit, I sat in line with Eric Howells and said “WTF? Why are we still playing this game of semantics? Three years later?” No- the government is not going to stop it.

At any rate I am preparing a blog post on what Sam archived, plus some additional rambling stuff…but obviously I just don’t have as much social capital as you and that is ok- my job is to influence the influencer here. You can help by listening because I know the core of the problem far better and if a strong influencer, like you, and others in your sphere would talk with the right people, work with the “affiliates” (btw- merchants are my affiliates- that is how I see it.) and understand the issues on a very granular level- we might win this war. Because as one who started very small and has been all over the major press for years, at panels, summits even speaking at RSA. I feel I have failed…and I am worn out.

This is why I hate the A list label and think it is bad. Basic network theory says elitist groups becomes cliquish and homogeneous and there are no bridges for carriers of new ideas or viewpoints to enter. (Network gets too big- you can’t control it.)

Hopefully I can stay up long enough to finish it at Revenews. Creating Mahalo is nice, and hey it passed my malware test for gaming cheats, but it isn’t enough. I expect more from you and I think you are missing a core component.

If you and other tech. evangelists, etc do not step up TOGETHER and work with others- it will be toast or the reaction is going to be full of collateral damage that really sucks because there is nothing wrong with starting out small and working hard and doing it on your own dime. Every giant company was small once.

This is beyond money, this is Snowcrash, this is a digital society in decay.

Old books show us the pattern and we are at an inflection point- pay attention at the very least, but I am asking for action instead of apathy. It isn’t all about search and content and how timely for Esther Dyson to invest in the social- the same Esther I spoke with years ago. I don’t need to search and click as much if I have a community of trusted peers to ask. Steve Boyd notes “years ago” and we are about to pass over that horizon. The pattern was written long ago:

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books): Ender Wiggin battles it out with the Formics in this Hugo-Award-winning novel that is perhaps the quintessential guide for the new blogging metaphor. Pay special attention to Peter and Valentine as they control the nets through alternate personas. Make special note of the protagonist’s psychological development and monitoring by the “Mind Fantasy Game.”

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (Putnam Adult): The science of pattern recognition aims to classify data based on previous experience and through statistical mining of patterns. In this contemporary novel, the readers explore the concept of “cool spotting,” which has been in use in marketing for many years, through the eyes of Cayce Pollard. Pollard is an incredibly intuitive market-research consultant. Marketers should get an idea for new metrics and perhaps new ways to measure the efficacy of campaigns as well as the importance of looking ahead for future trends.

And it is…all in the context of a virtual world experiencing a state of rapid decay. Who do you blame?

Popularity: 5% [?]

Share This

Sam Harrelson ferrets out the kind of stuff that really interests me with a take on Darmik.

Rather surprising, as I recall the ZeFrank issue too. Google Checkout appears to have opened their doors…and I like it as transactions seem to go as low as 10 cents US. Nothing like pushing pixels…can someone hook me up with the Google Base guys?

Darmik is an incredibly profound and interesting experiment in selling, music sharing, job listings and virtual economy.

Last year, Ze Frank was booted from Google Checkout for attempting to sell virtual duckies on his popular video show because he wasn’t selling a real world product or service. PayPal allowed him to do this, but Google Checkout had a problem with his actions. That was later remedied and now Checkout allows for the selling of such virtual “services.”

Darmik throws that to the wind and opens the doors of virtual commerce and classified listings…

Using Rapleaf for reputation management no less…more on Darmik.

Darmik gives sellers of digital content the ability to credit rights holders as well as rights holding organizations with funds from the sale of digital content

Darmik can be used by companies and organizations that need a fast, easy and flexible way to sell or distribute real world products, digital content, and listings internally or externally.

Sam goes on to say:

However, with the growth of MMORPG’s such as World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies (my favorite… yes, I know it’s a horrible platform but I still enjoy it) and EverQuest along with developing virtual worlds such as Second Life, these sites could continue to grow and expand in popularity.

Perhaps one future of affiliate marketing is selling less of virtually more. Content creation will continue to become democratized and PayPal can’t handle the load in a monopolistic fashion forever.

For the many who scoffed or wondered months ago what or why I cared about virtual worlds- well now you have a clue. Sustainability is the next equation and I am getting close to solving that one- I think.

Virtual or Real…Virtual IS Real. It is all negotiated.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Share This

Yes- I am back at Revenews kicking it off with the Wayne Porter Marketing Legend Award. (shakes head). Check out the winner this year- Brian Littleton.

On that note another thank you to ContentRobot- makers of this rather nifty Plugin and Theme for WordPress to make it nice and optomized for iPhone and iPod touch.

What Does the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme Do?

The iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme automatically reformats your blog’s content for optimized viewing on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. It detects the iPhone/iPod touch’s User Agent and serves up the content with the special theme only to iPhone and iPod touch visitors, all other browsers will view your WordPress blog with your current theme.

Please keep in mind that this is an early beta release (v0.1.2) and provides basic WordPress functionality. We will be enhancing it quite a bit, so keep checking back for an updated version. If there is a feature that you want added, let us know in the comments below and we will do our best to implement it. Also, if you are using our plugin/theme on your site, add its URL to the comments.

This is from the great people at ContentRobot. They have been handling the transition of Revenews as Sam explains in this video back to the latest iteration of Word Press.

. First post and I can say- yes it is nice. Still some tweaks left too do, (e.g. fix individual RSS) and some positioning and cleanup, but already you can tell the difference.

They note:

We have been working hard on performing a Movable Type 4 to WordPress conversion project for our friends at ReveNews.

This has proven to be another project not for the faint-hearted with 10 years of data, 72 blogs, over 2,500 posts and over 10,000 comments!

Yes- it is quite a task and I am happy it wasn’t me. Almost a decade of content really gives you headaches. I am getting old. This co-founder of Revenews thanks ContentRobot as well. /tips hat

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Every year the AffiliateSummit grows, and Summit West 2008 is no exception with approximately 2,700 people in attendance. As it grows, social networks change, and it gets harder and harder for me to meet new people, and sometimes the veterans of the industry…simply finding them…

With that in mind please feel free to be proactive and contact me via Linked In in case we do not get the chance to meet. Some may not like the platform, but it works well for me. Linked In email wporter@gmail.com to expedite the process. Feel free to drop me a line via e-mail and also Twitter.

Either way the Summit is simply too large in some respects feel free to go ahead and link-up. I look forward to meeting either in person or virtually.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Andrew Wee makes an interesting observation about Facebook and how painful it can be to face mountains of invitations for applications, which he likens to Google Adsense blindness.

Being hit by irrelevant application invites, and with Facebook system where multiple people can keep sending you invites to the same app over and over again, and the best part is that you have to deny/ignore each application request one at a time, means you could be spending 15 - 30 minutes each day just getting rid of application requests…

So is this effective social marketing?

Should you still go out and develop a facebook app?

Effective? For the short-term- yes. Long term- no. Should you develop an application? Yes, but Facebook should be more astute and take a lesson from Dunbar…

Andrew notes that I like a certain game and asks for feedback:

Social marketers, I’m keen to hear what you’ve to say, maybe Jim Kukral, Sam Harrelson, Wayne Porter (whom I know is addicted to a particular insidious Facebook game…), Stephanie “Internet Geek Girl” Agresta, Robyn “Sleepyblogger” Tippins, Shawn Collins, or if you the reader might like to weigh in, drop a comment below…

Ironically the same game Andrew mentions I am addicted too is a game he had already mastered. Who knew we shared an interest in a certain insidious Facebook game?

Dunbar’s Number

I get many invites to groups, games and friend requests, and I don’t think I am near Andrew’s friend count of over 300. That is a significant being double that of Dunbar’s number. Dunbar’s number, approximately 150, represents a theorized cognitive limit to the number of individuals that one person can maintain stable social relationships, the kind of relationships that go with knowing who each person is and how each person relates socially to every other person.

Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4): 681-735 .Dunbar used the correlation observed for non-human primates to predict a social group size for humans. He predicted a human “mean group size” of 148 (casually represented as 150), a result he considered exploratory due to the large error measure (a 95% confidence interval of 100 to 230). Note it is exploratory because of the margin for error and this should serve as a caveat. Christoper Allen does some deep analysis and notes that 150 is probably on the high end if one is looking for group cohesion.

“hovers somewhere between 25-80, but is best around 45-50. Anything more than this and the group has to spend too much time “grooming” to keep group cohesion”

The rise of MMORPGs, digital worlds, Second Life and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace has lead to more scrutiny on group size. Again Christopher Allen’s: Dunbar, Altruistic Punishment, and Meta-Moderation and Dunbar Triage: Too Many Connections (Allen offers up some good cultural and technological strategies).

At any rate I simply ignore or delete the requests- unless I find them interesting. There is a handy link at the top of my Facebook sidebar called “Ignore All”. A cheap form of keeping my “Dunbar pressure” in check.

What I do find interesting is “who” sends me “what” as it is very telling and provides insight into an individual’s persona and one’s overall network.

Language and Groups

For the record I think “addicted” is a bit dramatic…ok perhaps not…but I need to get my gold/lumber! I have an incentive. I have found that when I put a personal message in a request I tend to get a higher return on participation. Perhaps, as Dunbar put forth, language is a “cheap” form of social grooming. Tacking on a note is about as cheap as one can get.

For example, with invites to Dark Art of the Ancients I sent out a request and explained how I found the cooperative aspects of the game interesting and more players signed up than when I just selected twenty…I would love to see some metrics, perhaps public, (likened to CJ’s EPC) on request conversion by category, incentive and cap (number of invites).

That might be a better metric than overall installations or percentage of people with number installed…and perhaps Facebook would be wise to place a cap on invitations dynamically. Application developers could do this as well, and some do, but it still falls back to Facebook who must maintain stewardship of the platform long-term.

I do think we are in for a new age of metrics and social networking sites should pay attention to the stress network size can have on individuals as this could lead to “application blindness”. Sure, we have control of our network size, but people really don’t want to reject others, we would rather ignore the message.

Bigger is Not Always Better

It makes me think back to the early days of affiliate marketing were success was placed on the number of affiliates one gained and little attention paid to quality or relationship efficacy. That has changed- at least from an affiliate force size standpoint. I feel there is still too much emphasis placed on “big hitters” and marketers lose by not working with micro-sized players who really can influence people. Then again, the marketer gets all the stress of too many relationships.

Glory and Money

This is illustrated by a form of recruiting new players in a web based battle game my son and I play..they give a linking option that humorously underscores the reckless attitudes that some marketers continue to embrace, yet I cannot help but chuckle when I read it…

To recruit gladiators, who will then fight for you in the arena, you have to place your trap link somewhere in the internet and wait until someone clicks on it:

http://s5.gladiatus.com/game/c.php?uid=92111

Tip: you can place this link into your homepage, use it in your forum signature or send it to your friends. Someone will be mugged by you as soon as the link is clicked. You will receive money and glory through this!

“You will receive money and glory through this!” does sounds much like affiliate pitches from a few years ago. “Mugged”…at least they are honest and didn’t try to throw in honor.

We Aren’t Meant to Scale

The real value from social networking platforms are the relationships forged and conversations to be had and Facebook applications or RPGs are great for this, but one should keep Dunbar’s number in mind. This is especially prudent in high immersion environments, like Second Life, where nothing seems to scale.

Social network quality is limited by design and Allen’s adjustments make more sense.

Andrew I will see you at the Summit so I guess we can continue the conversation at some point. If you are bored try Gladiatus- I will get money and glory through this and you can take a break from Facebook before you lose all of your vision.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Share This

The quick recap of one of my usual winding posts that go on and on….but really worth thinking about. The short version Chev summed up in an insult , yes it is true but the mnemonic is far more succinct. (For those late to the game- we are one and the same, only the avatar version does not always behave as predicted and generally denies I exist.)

- Chev, our rogue knight, wonders out loud in twitter after viewing a Caledonian island covenant.

- Helpful Pfanderson steps up to guide the knight with some information.

- I follow-up via e-mail and ask three questions of Mr. Drinkwater, esteemed and humble resident of Caledon. Carried to him via the helpful Lady Anderson.

- Later this pm, after many e-mails, Tweets, Skypes, etc from folks, and judging by unique visitors on my steampunk’o'meter I find it thrilling to say Caledonians enjoy reading long windy posts. That does not excuse my poor writing, only that I believe that Caledonians will read anything with a vigor that is not quite human.

I received a letter from Mr. JJ Drinkwater. I have not replied back to Mr. Drinkwater, although I shall, and it is not for being at a loss for words, but because after reading it…I felt intruding would be like- well- interrupting a very nice play.

Upon Mr. Porter’s Questions on Caledon, its history, and boons.

These were brokered to Mr. Drinkwater through the quill of Ms. Anderson and I report below. Enjoy and savor fair reader, to use a word from Mr. Drinkwater, the “zest” in this reply. I have made small edits to links for purpose of aesthetics and other slight changes, otherwise this is the text as sent from the good fellow. I shall attempt commentary later, for now my hope is that more Caledonians send me letters so that I may digest them first, then share them. It is rather selfish, but I am a rogue and it is a stingy pleasure.

My Dear Sir.

You raise some extraordinarily interesting questions, indeed….some of which I cannot even presented to answer, but can query in their turn. Before I begin, however, I should like to say that, devoted as the Caledon Library is to our fair nation, we cannot pretend to stand in for Caledon’s sundry Founders, Historians, and Pundits, many of whom, I am entirely convinced, will make themselves heard on ths matter, either at this estimable table, or from their own Podia.

1) Does the Caledonian citizen’s interests in literature influence how well curated the history of the build seems to be?

That is a dangerous question to ask a Librarian, sir, as we are apt to place literature at the centre of all things, and to see all things by its light. However, since you have asked…

Caledon was created to be a 19th-century environment—but Caledon is very far from being a historical re-creation. I like to say that when one comes to Caledon, rather than entering the 19th century, one enters the 19th century imagination. The world of Caledon has as much in it of Ivanhoe and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as it does of *The Mayor of Casterbridge*, *Hard Times*, or even *The Pickwick Papers*. This means that Caledon draws on a very large body of literature and history, instead of (like many other RP regions) a single created world, or body of mythology. Moreover, although it is nowhere stated, the implicit story is (arguably) that Caledon is British, or is Britain, as seen through some appropriate looking-glass.This means that the flourishing of the English-language novel in the 19th century gives Caledon—and its library—a rich source of material to draw on.

During a most edifying conversation, on Orange, this week, the following was said (with much edited out inbetween)

[12:40] Sin Trenton: When “pure” Victorians meet “pure” Steampunkers. In other groups in the past, there is alienation.. In Caledon forums, people promptly decided they wanted to learn more about the other side
(snip)
[12:40] Ordinal Malaprop: Yes, actually, I did want to mention stylistic divisions - not in terms of drama necessarily
(snip)
[12:42] JJ Drinkwater has it categorized into the imaginary 19th century of….. Dickens/Hardy/Thackeray, Verne/Wells, and Scott/Rackham

I suppose I should have said the Imaginary 19th *centuries*, for each of those groups of authors deals in a particular genre of imagination. In Caledon, indeed, the Masters of Technology are not on Mars, they are flying overhead in something brass-riveted and steam-powered, and Fairies are not at the bottom of the garden, they are next door throwing a rout and waltzing for dear life. But what *is* a literature, if it is not how a group of persons…a community, a nation, or what have you…conceives of itself and its surrounds, and pases that conception between themselves, and so on to the larger world, and perhaps to the world that is removed from what they limn, in time as well as space?

I must confess my brain (known for its inelasticity, it is true) will not stretch to encompass the idea of Caledon as a build, unless you are using “build” as a shorthand for “the constructed evidence of a community”? In which case, there is indeed a great consonance between the sundry literacies of Caledon-the-c0mmunity (and how Caledonians read such literatures as inspire them) and manner in which they have depicted, and commemorated, what has struck them about Caledon-the-place

2) Are there any specialized tools or processes that a community can use to “keep its identity”. Regain its identity?

Here I am beyond my depth, as I am but poorly acquainted with the thinking of Archivists, who ( if I am not mistaken, which I may well be) ask us to conceive that what a culture creates, and preserves, is the stuff it will use to understand its own nature, or identity, or, if you like, its geist or spirit or soul.

However, from my own little experience, I can say that what Caledon seems to use are tools that are scarcely specializied, but to use them in a manner which is informed by the will and desire to be a community, indeed, perhapse even to be a People.

The Caledon Forums, and the Caledon Aethero-blogo-sphere, to which Sir Edward has graciously pointed us, uses blogs and wikis and discussion threads and suchlike, it seems to me, to instantiate the vast fluctuating wonder that is the identity of Caledon. They do this by sustaining, and making available, over time, a conversation posessing a thousand topics, but through which runs a submerged thread of “Is this Caledon?” “How is this Caledon” “How is this important to Caledon?” “How is this useful to Caledon?” &c. We speak of many matters, but they are all, somehow, matters of Caledon, and it is through this long and multfaceted conversation that the identity of Caledon comes forward to meet the eye.

I consulted long-time Caledon Steward Serra Anansi on this point, and she put in neatly into the following nutshell: “Every joy, trial, cause or flame war links us all for better or worse…”
I would add that it is not only Caledon’s numerous accomplished builders, but also its cultural institutions….its galleries and theatre and musical venues, perhaps even its library…that feed the delight we all take in this. Every time Radio Riel gives us another day of music from Miss Austen’s era or dances us gaily through a Burns Night Supper (http://radioriel.blogspot.com/2008/01/robbie-burns-and-music-of-scotland.html), every time we see our own images reflected in an exhibit of portraits we enrich our sense of community, and its pleasures.

3) How has having a “history” helped the overall community at Caledon?

This, I believe, is a question for the Historians of Caledon, among which honoured company I dare not place myself.

However, I will speculate that it is as something in the nature of a shared narrative, a set of stories we may tell and retell one another, and by our actions extend indefinitely, that Caledon’s “history” has helped us bond into a community.

We are, of course, making it up as we go along, when we perform the daily duties and pleasures that make up the life of Caledon….only, we are not making it up out of whole cloth. Rather, we are elaborating, each of us in our own way, the stories we already know. We have, as it were, a body of images and devices and motifs, and therefore both our stock of Caledon Characters and our skeleton bits of business ready to hand, and, like the players in the Commedia dell’arte, with their Lazzi and Scenarios, we are ready to charge onto the stage and improvise for all we are worth, and to the enjoyment of all concerned.

That we needn’t guess, or rely on our own fallible memories, for what has made up Caledon, but may rather contemplate the evidence of Caledon’s Caledonian-ness in a variety of places, I would think, only serves to facilitate the zest with which we go about the thing.

I am, sir, your most humble etc etc

JJ Drinkwater

It is I who must thank you Mr. Drinkwater and other Caledonians that I am sure debated the issue in some chamber far away. It is rare to get a response that is not only entertaining and humble and yet so courteous I am want to give up being a wandering knight, a long story really how that occured, and sit still in my classroom chair and read proper. Then again, who would Caledonians make merry over? I can serve, if anything, as a bad example of knighthood and will continue to poorly question any Caledonian who would waste time with this Chevalier.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Share This

Steampunk, Caledon and Second Life History

I should focus on more relevant and perhaps interesting events like Second Life hitting G3 Phones, concepts of cross reality synchronization, the new viewer but I find myself drawn back to Steampunk- think Victorian fantasy hybrids? (For no good reason I want to think China Mieville however he is not Steampunk, but rather “New Weird”.)

I became more aware of Caledon while visiting with the Duchess of Carntaigh…(The knight Chev still humbly apologizes for not attending the New Year’s Ball- as he was off on a quest and all that.)

The Caledonian builds (there are many sims both low and high prim density) tied in directly with some of the experiments I had conducted at Monolith Eight and DarkWood…e.g. How do we “preserve” virtual worlds? Should we even bother?

.
Twitter and Polite Librarians

Thanks to Patricia Anderson (University of Michigan) who got back to the mad knight Chev via twitter as he has been spending some time studying the history of Caledon after his dance ticket. His interest piqued after reading the Covenant. In Second Life a Covenant usually spells out the tier (tax or rent), rules, ratings, etc.

Taken to heart- it is a serious bilateral promise to do or not do something specified in an agreement- a promise. Rather than the typical covenant read he got an entire history lesson on Caledon instead. Later he wondered out loud in Twitter- “Caledon amazes me- what amazes me more is the history of Caledon. Must talk to librarians.”

They came to him with help. If you know anything of Caledon you understand that politeness and courtesy are the cornerstones of behavior. Ironically Chev had just been muted, ejected and banned in the span of five minutes by Prok, but that that is another tale.

Patricia informed me, in typical polite Caledon fashion, that Master JJ Drinkwater, Head of all the Caledonian Libraries was presenting to their group on Friday of this week. There is actually a group email for the Caledon Librarians! I am now wondering if Master JJ Drinkwater is the same person who curates The Hermenautic Circle?

The Hermenautic Circle is a select and secretive web enclave of 100 thinkers, writers, editors, journalists, bloggers, artists, designers, musicians, multimedia producers, activists, grad school refugees, and other friends. Hosted by Joshua Glenn. The group is not accepting new members.

I sort of hope so, because secretive enclaves are the kind of things that attract a Chev. Closed or not…

Patricia also, rather sagely, pointed out to me in an e-mail that I have truncated for maximum “sageness”:

For my own two cents, I am a fan of preserving widely and broadly…. however
there are other ways to preserve bits of the flavor of the time and culture
of a place — chatlogs, snapshots, machinma and such.

We are still getting fragments of history, but I suppose that is what history really is. Reconstructed fragments.

Preserving Pixels

I too am a fan of preservation, but preservering the virtual is far trickier than it looks.

I became very interested in the preservation of virtual worlds after Chev bought “land” at Darkwood. Darkwood, I believe, was one of the first fantasy RPG sims in Second Life and I’ll have Chev put the history up somewhere. It seemed a shame for a land baron to be holding a large parcel at an outrageous price to only let the community become littered with Darleks and the like.

I say community because there is a definite, and in Second Life terms, elder community at Darkwood…it was one of the first places a neighbor actually came out to greet Chev- thank you lady Rhiannon Chatnoir for doing that. As the tale goes Chev, out of sheer stubbornness, went ahead and paid the outrageous rate and declared Darkwood free.

He had wanted to curate the previous build, for sake of history, but that is another story entirely. In the end, it was wiped and some talented builders worked it back to a shop for wizards and the like, and an underground cavern full of monsters. Angus Mesmer being one the developers. I believe, if the words of royalty be true, he is a Caledonian well known and highly regarded for his talent and passion. He is one of few people that I know that uses a quill pen and ink and believes it is more efficient- he is also a habitual “prim trimmer”, his work is magnificient no less and if rumors are true- his latest creations are taking shape in “Dancing” located here.

From this thought and experience Chev formed a group, oviously poking fun at himself and Harry Potter a little because the thought of Corwin sitting still in a university or college setting is rather laughable. The group essentially focuses on asking the right questions- are we even doing so? One was surprised by the number of people who joined and some of the questions they brought up…should we preserve these worlds? If so- how? Authentication, DNA, genetics, etc…and we keep questioning.

Caledon and Keys

At any rate Caledon holds a lot of the keys to questions I have so I asked Patricia to send these to Master Drinkwater if she would be so kind. I have many more, but three was a good start, and I was really tired. I think I know the answers, but better to get it from experts.

Questions for the Caledonian Librarians

1) Does the Caledonian citizen’s interests in literature influence how well curated the history of the build seems to be?

2) Are there any specialized tools or processes that a community can use to “keep its identity”. Regain its identity?

3) How has having a “history” helped the overall community at Caledon?

Community and Beyond

If you think about about Caledon, about its citizens, their DNA, and covenant it isn’t that surprising we see a lush history- although it seems a bit scattered about the Web. Moreover, it doesn’t matter if Second Life were to go down tomorrow- the community, the fan base, the people are there and united. They are quite solid and capable of a journey to any virtual destination needed, to erect a new Caledon should disaster strike.

I think Caledon is a big deal if you think about what it really means. Brands, agencies, marketers, pundits and new media evangelists should pay attention to steampunk on the grid.

Caledon is a community, a community with a history and therefore a community with an identity, and if you have spent any time in the deep digital jungles of Second Life or other worlds you will know that idenity is everything…or nothing?

Addendum:

Mr. Edward Pearse, Earl of Primbroke, kindly directed my attention,via the comment thread, to the following websites. I feel they may be of interest to readers:

The Caledon Wiki

as well as a “*mostly* Caledon collection of blogs:” Caledon Blog Collection

I would enjoy hearing from any other Caledonians on their state and I do thank the Earl for the information.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Share This

Having a history analyzing data and metrics for real world charities I was very interested in how virtual worlds, in particular Second Life, have or are using lindens to do the same.

One stellar success sticks out- http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/relay/. Here is an official blog post from avatar, Fayandria Foley on relayforlife.orgin Second Life. As I understand it they raised $140,000 US last year. That is quite an accomplishment and one worthy of note.

I started thinking on how non-virtual entities leverage the web to generate funds, the performance marketing industry in general, and some quick bullet points came to mind as raw ideas. I realize some of these tactics have been probably been used before, like items created by “top content creators” in a vendor, but I feel it could be more efficacious to activate the content creators who tell me- “I would never sell this- it is personal- but I would get involved if it raised funds for a charity I believed in.” I also understand that if you do not have a background in online advertising or marketing that some of this can be confusing. Don’t worry- focus on the larger concepts.

I, and others, noted AM Radio’s success. In a previous post about AM Radio’s The Far Away how many avatars told me they would 50L (lindens- a form of fiat currency) for the identical item priced at 10L if it went to a worthy cause. IDENTICAL. The Second Life group is a giving bunch…so I put together some quick bullets and what might be accomplish by adopting or experimenting with some of these ideas.

Caveat- some of these concepts are based on many years of real world experience, however one or two years is not enough time for me to study what all that has or can be done in a metaverse. Also let it stand that some of it is purely anecdote and not scientific.

1. Pay More - Give More: People will pay for a digital item, and more for it if it is for a charity or cause they believe in. Pay more is really- give more.

2. Release Dark Content: In my talks with some content creators, both “top guns” and “lesser knowns” (that produce quality none-the-less) many tell me never sell their items or intend to. However, if it were to benefit a cause- they would be inclined to do so. This is great because great content or ideas that might never see the light of day enters into the marketplace and raises the bar. It also helps galvanize a diverse world around causes which is important as the world seems to disagree on so many things. Altruism and good will are aspects avatars seem to be in sync with. I call this the release of “dark content”. The content exists, most never see it. This adds value to the world and attracts new people. Sustainable builds means less population attrition as more time is allocated to teaching or indoctrination.

3. Bi-lateral Exchange & WOM (Word of Mouth Advertising) over Time: There is a tangible value exchange beyond altruism in the form of a digital item or “gift”. This does not weaken the altruistic spirit, but serves as a reminder or a viral “totem” to propagate the cause through word of mouth as this item moves into virtual space. After all, much interaction occurs in small group clusters inside of residences or small parties. The item itself could be scripted so that anyone can make a donation at any time. There are other risks, but I am positive they can be solved. At the very least you have a contextually significant virtual item injected into the discussion mix.

4. Old Systems Adapted to New Metrics: To do this you would need robust tracking vendors that can analyze the efficacy of campaigns and goods. Useful metrics can be produced, in a non-invasive manner, that would provide insight into future deployment. This is something I have been working on with Bleys and we are very near completion of two of the last primary components- gifting an item and multiple splits.

5. Sustaining the Sustainer: I raise the issue of multiple splits because some charities may allow or enable content creators to split revenue on their creations- thus solving another problem, or helping solve it. I call it bi-lateral altruism others might call it brand equity transference. The content creator, can help sustain their build, adding longevity to a world in flux and this makes the build or exhibit sustainable. In turn it lowers the churn in a system by imparting a boost from the brand equity of a charity to the creator- a fair exchange. Some merchants, like Amazon, have rejected this on the web, but I don’t see it being a problem in a metaverse on a micro-content scale. Also many large name merchants have no problem with this e.g. Wal-mart. I plan to talk to igive and upromise when I attend Affiliate Summit this month.

6. Metrics with Meaning: We would now have granular metrics with meaning. For example some creators may only wish to donate a portion of an item’s proceeds to a cause. We designed it so it was web based in control (color, shape, reload, kill, title change, FPS delta, etc) and merchants (fund raisers) can run metrics, at least metrics I CAN’T FIND, on efficacy.

For example, The average spend from an avatar of greater than two years age from a single prim vendor in a plot size less than 2000 m2 or the average Earnings Per Teleport (EPT) on a set of thematically created content residing on mainland versus estate. There are so many missing pieces to the puzzle it is difficult to make decisions or plans. This is because Virtual worlds are young, but I am seeing the exact pattern in CPA/CPS (Cost Per Action - Cost Per Sale) driven Performance industry that is now a multi-billion dollar powerhouse.

EPC Calibration Tangent: I realized the value of not only performance metrics but engagement metrics years ago while developing EPC calibration (earnings per click), a technique to select placement of merchant relationships on performance by comparing return to a median eCPC (effective cost per click) in a thematic shopping vertical- for example many flower merchants. (The article is archived at CJ University- perhaps I can talk them into liberating it as it was commissioned). Merchants falling below the “calibrated EPC” could be retained by renegotiating either coupon or commission raise. It set a meaningful bar for negotiation. Some, like Tim Storm, took this to a dynamic level and used it on the fly! It also led to other concepts like network concentration risk or merchant mix concentration risk.

7. Evangelism of a Platform: This process advances many other needed causes in a digital world struggling to prove its worth to the outside. Insiders get it- they are indoctrinated- outsiders do not and it is completely alien. Anyone can get behind goodwill and for avatars the added benefit of what I called earlier “dark content”, more interaction, sense of personal involvement beyond giving lindens and moving on, and the production of thematic and contextual items that are aligned with a particular niche or “land”.

8. Uniting on a Personal Level: Because content creation is not limited to few, but many, and control lies in the hand of the charity, there is far less potential for brand damage or non-alignment, yet the system scales and again a metaverse is more united and on a more personal level. I not only gave- I gave something even more valuable- time, a creation, a piece of one’s DNA- legacy. Giving to a world attaches one to a world.

9. Diversity is Strength: We now have Virtual World involvement on many different levels. Content creators, artists, singers, music creators, essay writers, performers, can choose to participate on a level they desire and they are the subject matter experts. Charities can select brand equity transferral or not. The more diverse the offering, the more robust the market and the more money will change hands- it is bi-lateral.

10. Terrain that Blends: Obviously this sets the stage for a web (HTTP) blend or terrain cross-over. I have seen nothing of this, or very, very little in the virtual world and that is probably because concepts of Signature Tracking, Flex Tracking or SID* usage are all new to them. They speak a language all their own. Some argue not breaking the “magic circle”, I argue the circle is as large as we make it and metaverses are not isolated. Right now we see their trails like comets, the particles are tweets, Flickr photo streams, and forums. (*The tracking systems above are proprietary mechanisms used by major networks to match transactions in charity, cash-back, or point systems.)

11. The Door Opens: These are ideas not only for RFL, but for other charities that are entering the virtul like Kiva and another lady I was speaking before my client crashed (please feel free to contact me).

12. Reset The Market: This is where we can start an important “reset” and possibly alter a model in a way that sustains the sustainer, grows virtual worlds, and enhances our existence or life- no matter what number you give or what you give. I know networks are interested in this as I have talked to their executives about it, yet the virtual terrain is so alien to them they don’t know where to begin. Executives- you will know where to find me in February.

Anyone else is welcome to contact me about these ideas or leave their comments, or educate me. wporter@gmail.com or skype wporter. In world Corwin Chevalier (notecard please) or linkedin.

P.S. Yes Tim Storm- that is what that e-mail was about- and hopefully I will see you at the summit. $140,000 is a powerful proof for an emerging virtual world, but knowing that much more can be done and that charities can enable the very pioneers of a struggling digital space is a compelling value proposition in my eyes. These worlds are educational, they break open new ideas, fuse new relationships and they are on the horizon.

Addendum: I heard colleague Jiminy Roo on the RLFL cast- so Mr. Roo- expect an IM on this buddy and I am glad you are leading the technological team.

Addendum Two: Additional edits made for clarity, and some explanation of acronyms.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Share This

On to the Association of Virtual Worlds.com redux

The Association of Virtual Worlds believes that virtual worlds represent a major information and technological revolution in how we work, play and live per the site. I think any long-time user agrees, despite setbacks, these pocket universes are major market disrupters. “The Association mission is to serve those companies and individuals who are dedicated to the advancement of this multi-billion dollar global industry and reach out to those who have not yet found virtual worlds.”

I might add I’d like to see more of the “multi” going out to the content creators, where the rubber meets the road. Like it or not scripting will in many ways become commoditized for common applications, and builds will be prefabricated or modular. However, the story tellers, the community facilitators, the people who know WHAT tools and HOW to use them effectively and creatively…are getting left out in the cold and their work, coupled with builders and scripters makes a world. Otherwise we have static code and primitive objects. We need bards, and we must value their work and time. Because the work is virtual does not make it less valuable.

This revolution started with people decades ago and it needs to get back to people. That is the essence of the “virtual world” or “web 2.0″, or any name you want to place on this compressed, immersive and fast paced media consumption and interaction. Think about it- no matter how immersive I am willing to be the majority of time users spend- chatting and talking. The visual element provides “presence”

The Goals of The Association of Virtual Worlds are:

1. To create a forum for the discussion of issues affecting the industry
2. To assist in the development of industry procedures and standards
3. To promote the virtual worlds industry, its interest and developments
4. To educate on the benefits of virtual worlds to enhance work and play
5. To offer business and social networking opportunities
6. To connect the public and consumers with members of the virtual worlds industry
7. To participate in the determination of the collective interests of the industry
8. To further the common interests of the industry
9. To provide leadership for the betterment of the industry
10. To recognize accomplishment within the virtual worlds industry

I had a long discussion about the history of various virtual worlds with Timeless Prototype. He joined and I hope will be committed as any group needs DNA from elder thought shapers. We had some discussion about direction and what compelled me to get involved on a deeper level was the agnostic focus and the need, as Time called it, for a “bridge component”- in short a second wave person of varied skillsets who had NOT been indoctrinated into the old system. I can see wisdom in this. I am second wave, and I do see things differently and I certainly have different ideas.

I am passionate about the future of these spaces, their preserveration and what they can do for humanity. I also realize they are very immature in their development. That is ok- this means we are ahead of the curve and a good thing too- they are not as easy as they look. Get started now.

To address the goals, or my personal thoughts on them.

1. There are many forums. Each has its distinct flavor and place. However, I rarely find people who want to interact using their surname. I would like to see that in a professional forum- accountability.

2. To assist in the development of industry procedures and standards. This is sorely needed. In every aspect from media standards to privacy disclosures and well- to about everything. This is a big deal, and I don’t think it is an easy task. People must be sure they don’t give up their rights and rants and raves are not going to protect them.

3. To promote the virtual worlds industry, its interest and developments. Evangelism. Pure and simple, an emerging industry needs wins and good examples to point out. In business this means measureable ROI or a sound promise of ROI down the road. ROI doesn’t always mean immediate dollars. These worlds are here to stay, I believe that and it requires unlearning some things and learning new ones- the time to get started in earnest is now. Nor does this all fall on Second Life’s shoulders. There are many promising candidates that are up and coming.

4. To educate on the benefits of virtual worlds to enhance work and play. In my opinion this is where lines have really gotten crossed. We have went horribly wrong when our work is no longer enjoyable, when people must work extreme hours in miserable environments to survive or for commendation. We have went astray as humans if we have kicked play out of our work.

Play is that creative spark that causes breakthroughs in our work. I recall doing research on unicode and domain name redirection and wondering if unicode could be injected into twitter. To be honest I was looking for an offensive sign to express disgust in a compressed fashion. I ended up with a pack of playing cards and concept of betting via twitter which Ev, the CEO, seemed to like. I did too. Look at the hand I drew. This was work, but it evolved into play that, if I can get Bleys motivated to finish it up, could provide a means to completely subvert the micro-blogging channel for a completely different purpose- relaxation and entertainment. Healthy work can be play, and play is healthy work.

5. To offer business and social networking opportunities. Oddly enough I find myself often socializing with my closest friends via skype paired with the Second Life client. The same bonding took place for affiliatesummit.com or RSA where I have worked virtually in e-commerce, and security for ten years. Networking opportunities, especially face to face, are important steps in a relationship. Virtual worlds do seem to accelerate these relationships, but they are often cemented face to face. This is how I knew Dave was in earnest from the day he told me liked the concept of “flying” to when I met him in Chicago. Virtual world users know it is a powerful tool, but not a complete replacement.

6. To connect the public and consumers with members of the virtual worlds industry. This is a good thing, because the media likes to beat the drum of the fringe and the negative. The fringe was always there. It was in USENET, it was and still is in IRC and it will be in virtual worlds. That does not devalue the medium.

7. To participate in the determination of the collective interests of the industry. Right now that is a priority, alot is needed and hopefully this won’t get mired down in muck. However, again let’s use Linden Labs (I stress Labs and not Second Life- they are a lab.)- they simply cannot solve all the problems. A concerted effort, and probably compromise will be needed, on behalf of users. The status quo has not pushed it ahead quickly enough. It is our world and our imagination- people must dispense of the idea that Lindens are gods, and that they are people like us and systematically work towards change. It will take time, in the last two industry births I witnessed and took part this meant years. I see the same pattern. People are people. Mistakes are made. We move on, we only fail if we do not learn from them.

8. To further the common interests of the industry. At this point I think recognizing and proving it is really viable, and it needs some turns and twists to get back to that direction. Campers to gather traffic is a poor tactical push. Land you “buy” is a rather shaky concept. Viability means people staying. People staying means there is community. Communities are viable. Big brands who want lift need only sponsor wholesome things and learn by interacting through the builds. That is step one. This is not a fast fused turn around. Go buy CPC and hope a botnet doesn’t tear you apart.

9. To provide leadership for the betterment of the industry. Here one has to be careful that leadership does not become agenda laden. Personally I like the idea of leaders with stewardship. It should should have a diverse mix of age and discipline expertise.

10. To recognize accomplishment within the virtual worlds industry. This is needed too. For example, Second Life is really a “closed community” and if you are not in the circle- it is dizzying. Everyone is eager to point out faults, but let’s look at the strides. Everyday I look back at the evolution of the PC and think “wow- I can’t believe I can do this now”. It annoys me that I am trying to run viability tests in a medium that breaks down frequently, but I know that risk going in. Those who accomplish something realize this and either move on to safer ground or stay at high risk.

I’ll leave you with what Dave posted:

Yes, Wayne, I do love to fly. No question about it. Since our first meeting, though, I’ve dug a bit deeper.

Seems that virtual worlds do a very good job at simulating real life experiences. So, flying inside of a virtual world feels like flying. Meeting up with some avatars in a virtual world feels like a real life, in-person interaction. Recently, I was spending time with an avatar while we watched a third putting up a structure in front of us. Despite the fact that my friend was in Edmonton, I was in Colorado, and the builder was physically at her desk in China, it felt only slightly different than standing with a friend peeking into a construction site. Amazing.

I understand that this feeling of being together is called “presence” or “co-presence” and to my knowledge, other more traditional communications media don’t capture this effect nearly as well as virtual worlds do. As someone who’s worked in long distance situations for years, I believe strongly that the workplace could benefit significantly from this effect – which, by the way, is inexpensively achieved and “green.”

How long before we forego air travel and corporate real estate to work together in virtual worlds? Well, it’s happening to a minor extent today, but it’s bound to increase dramatically and soon. Consider Forrester Research’s recent report “Getting Real Work Done in Virtual Worlds,” which recommends experimentation with virtual worlds now, because they may be as important for work as the web is, in five years time. In any event, the Association is here, in part to get this message out to the public. Exciting stuff. Thanks.

I do find it exciting. I am ready to participate and see where ALL these virtual worlds might lead. Conflict I imagine, but that is the normal course of things. Change always brings conflicts, it is how they are resolved they test our mettle as people- or avatars.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Share This

I’m looking for bugs. Insects, spiders, creepy crawlys, little flying things. I figured instead of shopping, though, that I’d open up a little competition for friends and then figured why shouldn’t everyone have a chance to earn some Lindens. The insects will be used on a sim that isn’t yet open. Creators will keep full rights to their work, all I ask is the right to use them on my sim, and promise not to resell.

Pick up a copy of the rules here:

Dusan- why not pay each bug or creature creator a US Dollar bounty, let them retain full rights, a credit on the work, and make the bugs actively purchasable on the SIM (or in a shop on sim)? This is one blend of commerce I am doing at the “Primula Rasa” experiment…let people purchase parts they like, to help sustain the sim, gauge interest, and also gather information on engagement and sustainability.

Several ways to vend really…

a) Multi-Prim Vendors

b) Single Prim Vendors

c) Standalone Product

d) Standalone with Sign

Standalone works great, especially if you have auto-return turned off. We have vendors for all the situations, even SLX integration, (and you can easily change from web or add sub affiliates), but we need to write scripting for stand alone products. I don’t know if it that “bugs your plans” but rather than contests where only one benefits- many get a stipend and the real contest is on performance- well their bug does in the micro-transaction races. Data is very useful…and this is definitely “interest” data.

BTW- just what size is an insect? I know we have a whole range of horrible things, insects, and what not… Very curious.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Share This

Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, and Dennis Hwang, Webmaster Manager and Chief Google Doodler Asks…. what if you could have your doodle on the page of Google in place of the logo?

Heh. Personally I would probably doodle something that would land me in trouble…they probably figured adults like me shouldn’t be turned loose with crayons. Therefore the kids get a whack at the scholarship.

However, with the Doodle 4 Google competition, we’re making an exception…

Doodle 4 Google gives U.S. students in grades K-12 the opportunity to design a doodle for the Google homepage. Students will be asked to draw a doodle that best represents the theme “What if…?” We ask ourselves this question every day when we build our products, so we thought we would ask the same of the future doodlers.

A panel of expert judges and Googlers will select 40 regional winners, who will be invited to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, in May. Four national finalists will be announced as the result of a public vote. From there, Dennis will select one lucky student whose doodle will be on the Google homepage for a day in the U.S. This winner will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship and a technology grant for his or her school.

Googleplex…ensure your children have security clearance! Seriously I am going to take my own shot at a doodle and try to sneak it in and save a kid (he or she can have the scholarship)…not like my GUID gives away my age…well I know it does, but I will try it anyway.

And for all of you that tried to draw Tippy the Turtle for years…this is your chance to subvert the system since we are going to stop taking it all so seriously.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Two divergent, yet similar posts came in, one from Skype, one via e-mail. Both from trusted sources and sources I follow and interact with on Twitter as well as in Second Life- odd overlaps.

For those who don’t “get” Twitter- you probably won’t. (Note to EV we are still working on that blackjack game.)

I’d feel worse about my inability to convey to others any level of understanding of why Twitter is important but in comparison to some explanations I’ve seen and heard, I do a decent job. But, unfortunately, we all fail because we drift into explaining Twitter by telling how we use it. But the most amazing thing about Twitter is this: everyone uses it differently.

It’s a little like trying to explain the telephone by describing what people talk about on the phone. “Telephones are devices that teenagers use to spread gossip.” “Telephones are the devices people use to contact police when bad things happen.” “Telephones are the devices you use to call the 7-11 to ask if they have Prince Albert in a can.”

The Electric Sheep company talk about the value of virtual worlds and how all of us in the “know” know they are still quite immature. That is o.k. People, serious adults, like to laugh at a name like Twitter or a concept like being able to “fly”. It is odd that my kids don’t. They are little kids they haven’t closed down their minds and lost their magical thinking. To play- to do. That is where innovation, interaction and real learning happen.

Sheep say-

Marketing gurus have always said that word of mouth is the best form of advertising (”where did you get that dress?”) but under a broadcast advertising model that was hard to tap into. Both virtual worlds and product review systems allow your customers to engage with each other directly and become your best sales people.

I continue to believe that word of mouth doesn’t work well across the social graph, i.e. across multiple degrees of separation. Word of mouth online (where you cannot see or respond to the actual dress someone is wearing) is derived from trust and trust is derived from shared experience. Shared experience is real time, and the best form of real time communication online today is virtual worlds.

Four Keys to Twitter and Virtual Worlds

As a “so-called” marketing guru I can sum up how I see it. Twitter and virtual worlds are very simple on the surface.

- Trust

- Communication

- Being Human

- Connecting with Others

That is why I am not so concerned about the scalability of Second Life at the moment. People have meaningful, serious interactions inside the Grid and develop trust. Take one look at Flickr or Twitter and you will see Second Life is really a powerful engine that shoots out a lot of interaction, and some friction, but it is very meaningful. Look at how the output scales on other terrain!

Communication, Conduits, Catalysts and Connections

Because people have developed trust, they are communicating as open human beings and making connections. Twitter, Second Life, Facebook, etc are all just conduits and catalysts for this rather wholesome process. Don’t worry about the purpose, or getting it just right (there are better approaches, but just play a bit, you don’t even have to be you and other people will help you along)- you really can’t screw it up too bad because the platforms are used in radically different forms from person to person. Like Second Life- just stop mass marketing- start creating or sponsoring wholesome and good things and let nature take its course. Evangelists, fans and friends will form if you are just receptive and make an investment into the people. Loosen up- let them have control.

I could sit and count all day the revelations made between these two diverse terrains, but I won’t. You’ll just have to find me there and communicate and discover I am a human {with good and bad traits} that enjoys connecting and hopefully trust will follow and I can connect you to someone and vice versa. Social chain reactions are real and Twitter like-conduits should be in EVERY enterprise. Less time meeting, more time knowing.

What am I doing right now?

Evangelizing…

There is no magic spell or “mumbo jumbo”…don’t take it too serious and have fun. Caveat- don’t be flip and forget the importance of communication.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

I caught this from Dave Elchoness’ linkedin profile and checked it out- have not pinged him yet. I met David very early on in his foray into the Second Life grid, and without revealing his old profession, I asked him what would make him leave the comforts of a hard won corporate ladder climb to enter into the wild and ever-changing high velocity ride of virtual worlds- Second Life in particular.

His answer, I felt, was a revealing and earnest one- and I liked him right away. I’ll paraphrase as it was sometime ago.

“I like it because I can fly.”

Pretty simple. Defiance of physics and other trappings is certainly a strong appeal. I liked it.

The Association of Virtual Worlds is where virtual worlds, the people who share the vision, and those who wish to experiment and explore virtual worlds technology, come together. The virtual worlds industry is now part of a multi-billion dollar industry representing hundreds of millions of members. This Internet segment is growing at lightning speed where capabilities and technology advance in the blink of an eye. The Association for Virtual Worlds is where we can all meet to establish an agenda, discuss issues, and introduce newcomers to this exciting technology.

The rapid growth of virtual worlds has resulted in issues and questions that need to be considered and addressed by the industry as a whole. Global regulatory issues, taxation, intellectual property, safety, marketing, and virtual economies are among those coming to the forefront with massive implications. They need to be discussed and the Association will strive to bring interested parties together to develop and offer positions in response to these questions. Similarly, the public needs additional information about virtual worlds to ensure that virtual worlds becomes a primary communications medium of the future. The Association will reach out to the public in this regard.

Mission Statement

The Association of Virtual Worlds believes that virtual worlds represent a major information and technological revolution in how we work, play and live. The Association mission is to serve those companies and individuals who are dedicated to the advancement of this multi-billion dollar global industry and reach out to those who have not yet found virtual worlds.

The Goals of The Association of Virtual Worlds are:

1. To create a forum for the discussion of issues affecting the industry
2. To assist in the development of industry procedures and standards
3. To promote the virtual worlds industry, its interest and developments
4. To educate on the benefits of virtual worlds to enhance work and play
5. To offer business and social networking opportunities
6. To connect the public and consumers with members of the virtual worlds industry
7. To participate in the determination of the collective interests of the industry
8. To further the common interests of the industry
9. To provide leadership for the betterment of the industry
10. To recognize accomplishment within the virtual worlds industry

Edita Kaye
Founder
edita@associationofvirtualworlds.com

David Elchoness
Executive Director
dave@associationofvirtualworlds.com

I believe in the mission statement and have always liked David’s vision and after meeting in Chicago I knew he was in earnest. However, the simple conviction that being able to meet diverse people, try new ideas and simply appreciating the ability to “fly” is really all the spark you need to change a life course is pretty compelling- so I am willing to participate and see where it goes. Afterall many of the relationships, ideas, experiences and intelligent people I have met “in world” are certainly shaping my course- and it is an exciting time in which to live.

Association of Virtual Worlds

Popularity: 3% [?]

Share This

Developer Autodesk states with the next revolution of 3ds Max, it will be splitting the release into two products, 3ds Max 2009 Entertainment, for game and movie producers, and 3ds Max Design 2009, for architects, designers and visualization specialists.

The gaming/entertainment version will feature aa new Reveal rendering toolset to streamline iterative workflows, a ProMaterials material library for simulating real-world surfaces, and new UV editing tools. It will also include Recognize, a new scene-loading technology which it says will significantly improve the inter-application workflow with Revit Architecture 2009.