Locale: NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Robert Karplus Lecture: Can String Theory Be An Educational Force Multiplier?
Presenters: Sylvester J. Gates, Jr. John S. Toll, Professor of Physics
Overview of Talk The Public Of A Science Educational Possibility NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Key Slides on the Slideshow
Slide 7: Being Informed By The Public Of A Science Educational Possibility NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Slide 8: String Theory Has Made A Breakthrough In the Public Consciousness * A search on “string theory” at www.google.com reveals 1,080,000 webpages.
Slide 10: String Theory Has Made A Breakthrough In the Public Consciousness * A search on “string theory” at www.google.com reveals 1,080,000 webpages. * “The Elegant Universe,” a book by Brian Greene, was an international best-seller and paved the way for numbers of other such books. * “The Elegant Universe,” a NOVA/PBS television documentary, repeated this success for video presentations. NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Slide 11: Hundreds of popular-level presentations on this topic have been given at lectures, symposia, etc. at universities, laboratories, colleges, libraries & museums. NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Slide 14: ‘Superstring Theory: The DNA of Reality,’ (a 12 hour, 24 DvD collection of lectures on string theory at the popular level) generated approximately half a million dollars in sales within six months of its release.
Slide 15: This Raises Questions: “Can This Remarkable Amount Of Public Interest In String Theory Be Made To Serve An Educational Goal?” “If The Answer Is Affirmative Then How Is This To Occur?” For several years, considerations and deliberations on this have occurred for the speaker. A model course was envisioned to test this as a project in curriculum development.
Slide 23: Five Course Intellectual Foci (Examples) CULTURE & SCIENCE The Two Cultures: An Essay by C. P. Snow HISTORY & SCIENCE Leucippus, Democritus & the Atom Aristarchus, Eratosthenes, the Size & Shape of the Earth J.G. Stoney & The Electron NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Slide 24: Five Course Intellectual Foci (Examples) PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematiics in the Natural Sciences: An Essay by E. Wigner Karl R. Popper & Science as Falsification Thomas Kuhn & Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Slide 25: Five Course Intellectual Foci (Examples) RELIGION & SCIENCE Giordano Bruno & Galileo James Clerk Maxwell and the Christian Proposition Einstein’s View of Creation Father Georges-Henri Lemaître: A Jesuit Cosmologist NSTA 2007 Conference SJ Gates, Jr University of Maryland
Slide 26: Five Course Intellectual Foci (Examples) SCIENCE Illustrative `tour’ of the major strands of physics: • Theory of Newtonian Physics, Theory of Thermodynamics, Theory of Electromagnetism, Quantum Theory, Relativity Theory , Theories of Particle Physics & Cosmology NSTA
Slide 49: Interim Report The course is apparently serving distinct purposes for its two populations: (a.) non-STEM students learn they can ‘get it,’ contrary to their own expectations.
Slide 50: Interim Report (b.) STEM students are being forced to confront issues outside of science that are important (history, philosophy, communication skills, fostering serious science related discussion, faith-based beliefs, and scientists responsibility to society).
Slide 51: Interim Report (c.) The unforeseen level of popularity of this course with STEM students has had the benefit that a high degree of peer-to-peer mentoring (p2pM) occurs.
I apologize for the late April Fool’s Joke, but I prefer being out of sync, …(Scott Jangro has a funny video on April Fool jokes and includes some of my own history around jokes). You see why I had to publish something after the day of joking around. I also liked Jen Goode’s Penguin page. However Sam Harrelson sort of blew up every possible neuron I had left for lack of a better word. Hat tip to all you pranksters and story tellers. I laugh and I cry.
So on with my story on collissions and the value of generalization in a world of specialists and why being a specialist isn’t always great…I am thinking out loud because I can. (My Isaac Asimov beard is almost ready for video.)
Attention Serves Many Masters
My recent posts on Twitter and collisions received some play as I found it Stumbled, on many social networking pages and in some RSS feeds. Neat. It also got my attention as I ran through some stats and saw an alarming change in SERPs for my own blog (e.g. Right here.). I admit that I do not pay much attention to SEO because resources are better spent elsewhere and this blog often serves as my own sounding board, or “thinking out loud” place for others I know. I run small and large experiments, try creative approaches, and sometimes just keep an eye out for who (or what) shows up. Primarily I like to explore and share observations or give an opinion. I am not a lawyer.
I do not mean one should disregard SEO best practice- Don’t Be Evil is nice but perhaps too vague or too simple for the here and now. I think best practice might be to try to add to the value of the Internet through participation, discussion, and perhaps some basic common sense.
As a marketer if your site does not follow some basic architecture rules for Search Engines you will miss out on some of the “influentials” (potential collisions) that can happen.
If you rely on “search” as your primary attention tool you are probably missing out on a number of emerging technologies that connect people to people and therefore people to information. There are lots of sources of free information, there are plenty of people, but putting it together takes knowledge, experience and time and perhaps even a bit of luck. (Makes a side note to Ev- what might have caught your attention was not Unicode but perhaps the nature of chance e.g. gambling on Twitter or it could have been pure chance, on a quantum level just about anything “could” be responsible.)
Quick Review
I allready knew that my blog was dated and I have started the processes for cleaning up and proofing it for problems. In short a “force unknown” injected some pretty nasty links into a YouTube video post about self learning and another repeat injection another entry. It was injected in such a way as to be cloaked and the content I found extremely “disturbing”. Having researched, as a trade, some of the shadier sides of the Internet economy it really has to be nasty to make me flinch. This was pretty rude.
I am still tracking down how it happened, but it did get my attention as I realize how difficult it is to make everything secure in a period of hyper-change. The charge of being the steward of one’s own blog is a tough task today. However I realize that exploration means a trade-off in security. I value exploration and the liberty to do so and believe it worth the risk. Life is all about taking risks and the outcomes from those risks determine the future. I am a skeptical optomist.
I am not the only one battling it with issues of security, stewardship and liberty as I note various search engines and large media sites have either struggled, are struggling or trying to find their own way in a very chaotic world or at least one that seems chaotic. Reality is broken to the point of being “fake”. Actually I would argue “reality is not even real”, but that is beyond the scope of this post and my understanding. Remember I am merely thinking out loud.
Quick thoughts for my friends to ponder:
- Assume new rules are in play and have been in play for some time.
- Computers are truly acting and growing exponentially in ability.
- We need to start assuming personal responsability for our actions.
- This will take some time as no one wants to be ultimately responsible.
- Technology is pacing faster than our legal system and even our human brains can handle.
- A good place to start practicing stewardship is at your home- and online your home is everywhere.
- Wayne should heed the very advice he gives, but he sometimes gets lost in exploration. (Smack- because he is only human.)
- It is ok to make mistakes and learn, but try not to keep making a mistake over and over.
The Outcome and Dust
Over the next weeks you should expect some dust here as I clean-up some things, update Word Press and the various plug-ins I have tested, and continue working on streamlining my own “work processes” for better vigilance, productivity and fun. I add fun because I know I will be a better steward if I really love what I do and I really enjoy games. Make no mistake, as much as I like Word Press, a quick search on any specialist’s sites about various security vulnerabilities and it gives you an idea of how fragile the concept of security can be.
Think about this- There is much talk in game circles about “gold farming” and World of Warcraft. What does it mean when people start outsourcing their fun?
Spammers Kindle Interests
One cannot spend all the time dwelling on the negative- much of the media will happily do this for you. This is a part of the learning process and step one is a reality check. No amount of money, formal education or mentorship can replace experience. I could spend all day, and probably many nights, talking about the nature of reality, but I won’t bore you with mental gymnastics or semantics. I will add that I firmly believe in getting one’s hands dirty. It is important not to accept everything at face value. It is important to remain as explorers and to try to understand that the very construct we operate in shapes what we do or do not do. Even technology can obscure what we do, how we think, and our intent. We are not even aware of this layer.
So a nasty spam injection on an entry about informal learning forced me to open my eyes up further to how Search Engineers might have to cope with this stuff from a pragmatic standpoint, from an engineering standpoint and from an internal and external competition standpoint. I can cite cases like WorldCup Blogspit technique, Spazbox or the Kmeth worm as prime examples of past research I have worked on and just how difficult this can be to sort out. Search Quality Assurance guards another very important ecosystem- SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). It makes me wonder if the philosophy of “Right Livelihood” can, from a pragmatic view, be maintained and who gets to set the rules?
Quality Really is Relative
I admit years of going after spyware pushers and scummy adware makers may have left me blinded from a more “holistic view”. I go on record that I dislike spam. However, I must see spam for what it is- a key parasite that sends signals about our society and our systems.
“Although parasites are often omitted in depictions of food webs, they usually occupy the top position. Parasites can function like keystone species, reducing the dominance of superior competitors and allowing competing species to co-exist.”
To put it bluntly, as much as I hate it- spam, in certain periods, probably serves a more important function than a WII Mote.
Motivations Behind Spam and Stewardship
I would guess that quick economic gain is the primary motivating force behind a spammer’s actions, however this doesn’t mean economic gain is intrinsically “evil”, it could mean that short-term thinking is not healthy for our species as a whole. This has been rehashed over and over recently in the hot debate around affiliates (note Google’s recent moves with Performics and DoubleClick). From experience I know that affiliates are often “the patsy” for spam, lacking resources they will try and test many systems to survive. However, not all affiliates are spammers, nor are all spammers affiliates. Bad apples do exist, but to lump everyone together is a dangerous road to walk down.
It is important to remember gain can be money, influence, social capital, etc. Where and how it is converted is important. “Right Livelihood” is a philosophical concept you can look up in a basic philosophy primer or probably one of those “guides for idiots”. As I examine my own life and experiences I have come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, what I want to strive for is good stewardship. My father taught me this action by example. He maintained very complex communication equipment over a large region, yet he would never hesitate to do the most basic tasks he would ask of other technicians. When leaving a tower site he always took the time to use a broom to clean the site.
It is odd how small actions I see over and over shape my vision and even other’s perception. I am sure in ways I do not know and cannot know. (e.g. Johari Window Communications Theory)
Power of Collisions…
In my interim posts about “collisions”, and a good and constant reason to be a social collider I happened upon a real-life metaphor on how powerful colliders are being built. I found this via Phillip Lessin’s bookmark on his FriendFeed. (Note my FriendFeed and disclosure of using an Amazon “affiliate link” as a crude form of “attention measurement”. This is like caveman era measurement.)
The world’s physicists have spent 14 years and $8 billion building the Large Hadron Collider, in which the colliding protons will recreate energies and conditions last seen a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Researchers will sift the debris from these primordial recreations for clues to the nature of mass and new forces and symmetries of nature.
Wow. That is some heavy stuff, yet companies are spending much more on mobile marketing. That is a constant you can bank on for a little while anyway.
Yet, and I cite the New York Times again:
“The possibility that a black hole eats up the Earth is too serious a threat to leave it as a matter of argument among crackpots,” said Michelangelo Mangano, a CERN theorist who said he was part of the group. The others prefer to remain anonymous, Mr. Mangano said, for various reasons. Their report was due in January.”
Double Wow. This is the New York Times and while we are looking at weird mobile advertising figures while some physicists are potentially creating collisions that could make the earth a black hole, in theory. What next? The cure for cancer? Even if we had such a cure I think it would be important for many people to talk about it first because we probably couldn’t handle it. I would suggest printing it on the back of baseball cards in some sort of statistical code so people could find it later. Everything takes time and time is a finite resource for people. Come to think about it, baseball might not be valuable so I might use rocks or stone.
The Meme Code- Spam or Brilliance?
A game from the creator of FriendFeed…
I think it is quite interesting, yet I worry about diversity. Note how the web pages are encoded to “die”.
The meme code generates a page from a visitor who arrives from Google, the page will create a new modified and randomized version of itself via a database back-end, and creates a link to it in a visible place. The new page will continue do the same as the old page. After some time a page is taken offline or “dies” although how it dies is not made clear.
Over time several pages would be able to specialize on search niches in the Web – word combonations people are looking for that are not yet covered online are created. This makes “evolutionary pages” turn up in the top results which people will actually click on. A search phrase entered by a search engine visitor is just like food in our nature’s ecosystem. Primarily our ecosystem is full of corn- I might add as an aside. The dynamic process of the meme game means there will be specialized or niche pages to catch this “food”.
A page’s “meme code” will lead it to become a successful species with a lot of offspring, or if not popular it will die and be forgotten…this is not new as Lessig’s game has been around for sometime….even affiliates have been doing it with web services and/or datafeeds too only I doubt they encoded a “termination gene” into the pages. Limited resources and financial incentives would probably force smaller publishers to ensure all pages live and to not practice disclosure because it selects against their visability.
See Kids Forbidden to Use Google this is good food for thought. The comments are even more illuminating. As I collide along I start to make some neat connections and new ways of seeing and experiencing the world. I share them because I am able to do so. I think therefore I am.
How Can You Collide with People and Have Fun? Here is a simple and short list. Five simple concepts or exercises.
Break your pattern: This is much harder than it seems because patterns are so ingrained.
Talk with others outside of your core discipline from time to time. Exchange information. Be tolerant.
Spend some time in the humanities, music, or philosophy to find common ground or evaluate new and old views.
Understand that collissions can be bumpy, but you will grow your business and you will grow. That is OK.
Help someone out. I don’t want get into the philosphical arguments about the nature of altruism (selfish or not)- just help someone or take the time to thank them. It simply makes the experience here more fun.
Example Exercise. Think about Music and why you listen to what you do? How does it make you feel? Today my son is using the Wii to play songs on Guitar Hero. The songs or genres he finds “main stream” did not even exist when I was his age, and when I was a foolish teenager they were considered “taboo”. I am an adult, I am still foolish yet wise enough to know I am foolish, but at any age I can appreciate music.
Here is some music via a video (Semi-Random- I selected it from someone’s Last.fm feed) and it is not a band I follow: Faith & the Muse - Burning season. Do you like it or not? What do the images conjure in your mind? Who listens to this? What neurotransmitters change in the brain when you watch or listen to music? I don’t know- that is the downside of being a generalist in a specialized world. I am asking the same questions because I think they are good questions to ask and by building bridges I can find some experts.
So excuse me while I randomly select someone from Twitter or maybe somewhere else for my next experiment. I plan to use a new O/S, and a couple of dice rolls, and the room temperature to help with the randomness- there are some things in life I don’t want to outsource e.g. being random.
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.
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.
I am not saying educators do not! The system does not get it and when I see this
The Immersive Education Initiative is an international collaboration of universities, colleges, research institutes, consortia and companies that are working together to define and develop open standards, best practices, platforms, and communities of support for virtual reality and game-based learning and training systems.
Immersive Education combines 3D and virtual reality (VR) technology with digital media to bring distance learning and self-directed learning to a new level. Unlike traditional distance learning, Immersive Education is designed to immerse and engage students in the same way that today’s best video games grab and keep the attention of players. Immersive Education combines interactive virtual reality and sophisticated digital media (voice chat, game-based learning modules, audio/video, and so forth) with collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Immersive Education gives students a sense of “being there” even when attending class in person isn’t possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides faculty and remote students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the learning experience.
Immersive Education and the Media Grid public compute utility on which it is built were recently recognized with a national award by Computerworld as “…innovative, promising technologies which hold the potential to significantly affect society in the near future.”
A) No kidding. Second Lifers have known this for a long time.
B) I do not need pixels to get immersion…(they are fun though)
SOME LOWER TECH EXAMPLES:
PLAYING WITH MUD
SNORKELING FRESHWATER PONDS
WALKING IN THE WOODS TO GATHER HERBS
TEARING SHIT APART FOR FUN (just got my blog censored for that- maybe this is why the system doesn’t get it- protecting ourselves from ourselves?)
MAKING STUFF OUT OF ODDS AND ENDS TO SOLVE A PROBLEM OR SEE HOW IT WORKS
LISTENING TO STORIES AROUND A CAMP FIRE
Which is why I try not to ever get to immersed in some mechanical “college marketing books”.
Phillip Jose Farmer
The World of Tiers: Volume One (World of Tiers)
In the World of Tiers we meet earthlings Robert Wolff and Paul Janus Finnigan (alias Kickaha) who through strange circumstances are “gated” into a parallel pocket universe. These pocket universes are maintained by mostly insane “Lords” who are paranoid and spend most of their time trying to kill each other to stave off ennui. The World of Tiers is just that, a multi-tiered world that spans a virtual garden of Eden and changes each level until we come to a deadly palace at the top. I won’t spoil it, but the first three are really good, old-fashioned rip roaring reads.
Farmer’s books went on to inspire the late Roger Zelazny who wrote The Chronicles of Amber. He was so inspired by The World of Tiers Zelanzy actually dedicated one of the books in the series to the main characters Jadawin and Kickaha. I have found Amber to be an incredibly accurate metaphor for Second Life. (Matter of fact you might find the quixotic Chevaliers names and behavior to be quite similar to those of Amberites at times.). In the Amber stories, Amber and the Courts of Chaos are the only two “true” worlds. Everything else, even Earth, are called or simply the byproducts of “shadows”. The royal family of Amber that negotiates the Pattern, and the equivalent Chaos nobility who have walked the Logrus, can freely travel through the shadows and alter them at will. The obvious metaphor for Second Life being that of some arbitrary static reality and the existence of an infinite number of “negotiated realities”. Furthermore we have the metaphor of a scripter or builder who can literally “create” whatever they choose- it is nothing but Shadow and really quite malleable- even the physics.
The books are narrated by Corwin who suffers from amnesia, escapes, tracks down his sister Florimel, and discovers that he is a prince of Amber. He is taken by his brother Random to walk the Pattern. The Pattern is the construct which gives the multiverse its order. Walking the Pattern restores Corwin’s memory and his powers to travel through shadow…I won’t spoil the rest and since it is late I will let the Wikipedia hammer at the metaverse concepts within.
Amber and Second Life Parallels
The series is based on the concept of parallel worlds, domination over them being fought between the kingdoms at the extreme ends of Shadow—Amber, the one true world of Order, and the Courts of Chaos. Amberites of royal blood—those descended from Oberon (and ultimately his parents, Dworkin, formerly of the Courts of Chaos, and the Unicorn of Order herself) —are able to “walk in Shadow”, mentally willing changes to occur around them. These changes are, in effect, representative of the Shadow-walker passing through different realities. There are apparently infinite realities, either found by the Shadow-walker locating such worlds or by creating them (we the readers are never sure; neither are the characters).
Within this multiverse, Zelazny deals with some interesting philosophical concepts about the nature of existence, compares and contrasts the ideas of Order and Chaos, and plays with the laws of physics—they can differ from Shadow to Shadow; for instance, gunpowder does not ignite in Amber, which is why the characters all carry swords. Other Shadows have green skies and blue suns, cities of glass and Kentucki Fried Lizzard Partes, and worlds out of our own fiction can come to life.
In short, as I have maintained, reality is what we mutually negotiate- like modems we will find a common protocol. A game is what we choose to make out of it and if left idle humans will create their own rules and games to satisfy their needs.
Pixels, Mud, Time and Collaboration…oh yeah and Permission to break the pattern. Oh yes and teaching us how to think…
An interesting reflection by RoboJiannis on Torrentspy and evidence, Apple and ChangeSecret and Yahoo!, Baidu, China and infringement. Is this really all about putting the Web (the Net) under control? (ChangeMod (abbreviated from change mode) appears to be a play on words on the shell command in Unix and Unix-like environments known as Chmod)
Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather….
…Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here….
…In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media…
…We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.
John Perry Barlow, of Davos, Switzerland, penned this manifesto on February 8, 1996, A declaration of the independence of cyberspace. Barlow is also known as a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization which promotes freedom of expression in digital media where he now serves as its Vice Chairman.
Do you recall the words of the declaration of the independence of cyberspace- written over a decade ago? That is a long time in the computing era. (I have made some edits made for clarity based on today’s ChangeMode feedback post and comments. This shows that I am suffering from dementia perhaps…
(While we are at it I would love to find a definitive source on the lost art of netiquette.)
The Triad of Developments
The Changemod.com piece goes on to recap a triad of disturbing developments:
TorrentSpy, a Peer-to-Peer Network, according to the verdict of a California judge has violated copyrights owned by the MPAA. TorrentSpy was also found guilty of destroying evidence e.g. example deleting logs of user IP adresses. In the Blogosphere- recall the debate over Apple getting the Think Secret blog shut down- although the settlement was “amicable”. A quick stop to China which found Yahoo! guilty of copyright infringement. The rub is that China wasn’t actually serving up any pirated music. They were simply engaged in “deep linking.”
Philosophy behind Freenet Covers free flow of information, communication is humanity, knowledge is good, democracy assumes a well informed population, censorship and freedom, solutions, anonymity, copyrights, rewards, alternatives and new approaches like Fairshare.
Eff.org: From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — well before the Internet was on most people’s radar — and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.
I believe it all comes down to this: The cyberspace is increasingly gaining in popularity and everybody wants a piece of the pie; and control is the way to get that piece.
My own Conclusion
I found this quote from EFF’s Mike Godwin located on the The Free Network Project. Freenetproject.org provides free software which lets people publish and obtain information on the Internet without fear of censorship. The network is entirely decentralized and publishers and readers of information are anonymous. FreeNet believes without anonymity there can never be true freedom of speech, and without decentralization the network will be vulnerable to attack. Some may disagree with anonymity but I find decentralization to be technically on target.
“I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she’s too young to have logged on yet. Here’s what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say ‘Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?’”
–Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Fleep Tuque (aka Chris Collins), an educator who I have a lot of respect for and know through an interesting string of “chain reactions” incited by micro media, had an interesting comment on the introduction of Live Gamer into the mix…it seemed like cheating. I replied back, but my blog seems to be eating comments so I figured I would expend what thought I had left looking at this and some other topics. This is not a term paper, but more “thinking out loud”.
Fleep Speaks
To quote her comment.
My first thought regarding these game goods trading or buying/selling platforms is: how does this not just perpetuate the “person with the most money wins” paradigm that already exists in the real world? This is beginning to happen to some extent in Second Life - though indie content creators and long term residents still have the edge because they know what actually works - that advantage will disappear with time as the big boys figure out how to do things right. But in a narrative game world like WoW? It feels like outright _cheating_.
Fleep how about the sixteen year old who has much more TIME in which to play a game? What are the conditions for a “win”? Is this maxim really true for the “real world”? I certainly think having a ton of money can help, but doesn’t mean you will win and winning is often subjective. I am not sure if the indie content creators will lose their edge at all. The big boys have been wrong for a long time and television is a great example. That is why we have Ask the Ninja, Bus Uncle or even the perpetuation of shock memes like Tub Girl and GoatSe Guy. Real life is simply more entertaining than the carefully prepared baby food they want us to eat.
She goes on…
What’s the incentive to play for hours to win the Flaming Sword of Super Powerz if you can just go out and buy the thing? Sure there are gold farmers and the like, but I say most people are playing MMORPGs for the fun, the camaraderie, the _escapism_ from real world pressures. Bring in a profit motive to play and then it just becomes another job where some jerk who already has more than you in the real world can now buy her way ahead of you in the game world too. What’s the incentive to actually play the game when it can just be bought?
Because one can buy the game does not mean they will derive some the core benefits you cite like camaraderie, escapism, fun and perhaps most important- a sense of belonging to a group and shared accomplishment. WoW pros tell me, and I have asked, that they can spot a power jacked character right away and typically shun them. They may have the “loot” but they do not have the cultural mannerisms of one properly indoctrinated through blood and fire. They are missing the secret handshakes, or the native linguistic touches. They are simply a noob in +5 Plate Mail.
Suggested Science Fiction Reading
Since I am so fond of science fiction I would recommend a couple of texts written circa 1970’s. They are fantastic fiction and great metaphors for Second Life.
In the World of Tiers we meet earthlings Robert Wolff and Paul Janus Finnigan (alias Kickaha) who through strange circumstances are “gated” into a parallel pocket universe. These pocket universes are maintained by mostly insane “Lords” who are paranoid and spend most of their time trying to kill each other to stave off ennui. The World of Tiers is just that, a multi-tiered world that spans a virtual garden of Eden and changes each level until we come to a deadly palace at the top. I won’t spoil it, but the first three are really good, old-fashioned rip roaring reads.
Farmer’s books went on to inspire the late Roger Zelazny who wrote The Chronicles of Amber. He was so inspired by The World of Tiers Zelanzy actually dedicated one of the books in the series to the main characters Jadawin and Kickaha. I have found Amber to be an incredibly accurate metaphor for Second Life. (Matter of fact you might find the quixotic Chevaliers names and behavior to be quite similar to those of Amberites at times.). In the Amber stories, Amber and the Courts of Chaos are the only two “true” worlds. Everything else, even Earth, are called or simply the byproducts of “shadows”. The royal family of Amber that negotiates the Pattern, and the equivalent Chaos nobility who have walked the Logrus, can freely travel through the shadows and alter them at will. The obvious metaphor for Second Life being that of some arbitrary static reality and the existence of an infinite number of “negotiated realities”. Furthermore we have the metaphor of a scripter or builder who can literally “create” whatever they choose- it is nothing but Shadow and really quite malleable- even the physics.
The books are narrated by Corwin who suffers from amnesia, escapes, tracks down his sister Florimel, and discovers that he is a prince of Amber. He is taken by his brother Random to walk the Pattern. The Pattern is the construct which gives the multiverse its order. Walking the Pattern restores Corwin’s memory and his powers to travel through shadow…I won’t spoil the rest and since it is late I will let the Wikipedia hammer at the metaverse concepts within.
Amber and Second Life Parallels
The series is based on the concept of parallel worlds, domination over them being fought between the kingdoms at the extreme ends of Shadow—Amber, the one true world of Order, and the Courts of Chaos. Amberites of royal blood—those descended from Oberon (and ultimately his parents, Dworkin, formerly of the Courts of Chaos, and the Unicorn of Order herself) —are able to “walk in Shadow”, mentally willing changes to occur around them. These changes are, in effect, representative of the Shadow-walker passing through different realities. There are apparently infinite realities, either found by the Shadow-walker locating such worlds or by creating them (we the readers are never sure; neither are the characters).
Within this multiverse, Zelazny deals with some interesting philosophical concepts about the nature of existence, compares and contrasts the ideas of Order and Chaos, and plays with the laws of physics—they can differ from Shadow to Shadow; for instance, gunpowder does not ignite in Amber, which is why the characters all carry swords. Other Shadows have green skies and blue suns, cities of glass and Kentucki Fried Lizzard Partes, and worlds out of our own fiction can come to life.
In short, as I have maintained, reality is what we mutually negotiate- like modems we will find a common protocol. A game is what we choose to make out of it and if left idle humans will create their own rules and games to satisfy their needs.
Metaverse History
I just finished The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse By Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace. This gelled or provided a much needed history for me that is often lacking in the fast-paced world of the “synthetic”- although i am not sure they are really synthetic at all- it just makes us feel better to say that.
I would add this is a must read too. It fits together so many of the missing pieces when you see how and why the refugees from the Sims Online started showing up on Second Life’s doorstep- mostly because “skilling” (playing the game) your avatars up the ladder sucked- it was more fun to form virtual mafias and berate people, perhaps the same reason we have “griefers” in Second Life. As a bonus you get to track some of the history and birth of the more interesting personalities like Ludlow or Prok who challenges me to write on the virtual chalk board about humility- in The Sims Online known as DyerBrook a.k.a. Prokofky Neva. (Yes- it was cut and paste.)
They touch on the “cheating” phenomena and I was actually able to catch up with one of the major “gold farmers” in Dibbel’s book. The amounts being made are staggering so clearly people, and many of them want this. Perhaps this should be a clue to game makers? Are most people really mechanics driven Monty-haul gamers or dedicated role-players who love true immersion?
What to Do with Noobs
If we go back to October of last year I pulled and commented on this TechCrunch Gem.
i went on second life; its rather boringand most people where just running around changing their apperance…i’m not realy going to waste my time and money doing this; expecially since i know they got hacked and all their customer data was compromised.
probably tha main point of contention in this game for me is: i don’t get to kill anyone…it lame in that i have to have clothes and the appearance sucks; and i wanted a chance to start a business/make money…and i couldn’t figure it out…and i’m not going to stay up at night making polygons…so maybe the audience is limited to people who use animation software…not me….i want a game where i can go kill something and steal gold, and then use that to start a business or something.
i was fun walking around though…but if you’ve played online games before, like Arena, etc…its kinda boring.
Sad but true and really some of this moron’s complaints are probably valid. Their appearance probably did suck and a complicated GUI (which has improved) and dedicated skill set are needed to look better. Low and behold it wasn’t so easy to get wealthy and make money especially if you aren’t willing to sit up late and “make polygons”- that isn’t even a game- that sounds like work! This guy just wanted to kill people and steal gold and use THAT to start his business. Interesting. There is a major disconnect between the uninitiated and the real virtual world.
Why Can’t You Buy a Better Second Life?
Second Life is not easy to absorb at first- sort of like nicotine. Often veterans take for granted the amount of indoctrination that is needed. From idiosyncratic speech (e.g. Tier, Prim and Orbit) to a completely self-absorbed and alien culture where people often experience vertigo from initial participation. Then again that is why veterans put up with just about anything including frequent grid failure. Once you participate in the world, once you have earned the skills through experience- you don’t want to go. Clearly you CANNOT really even BUY a better Second Life like you can in say WoW. You can look better perhaps, but participation and friends are not bought. The only thing that shocks me are people who say “I’m bored”. I really believe there is little to no hope for them.
I find it an interesting parallel between buying virtual goods like World of WarCraft Power leveling or Second Life Linden buying and the swapping of “joost beta accounts” for tangible or intangible goods. Both are subjective in value. Both are desired by “fans”. Both would seem to have relatively limited life spans. The only prime difference is that one (beta accounts) are predestined to become ubiquitous. At least I am sure Joost hopes so
People were paying for Joost betas because they wanted to be first or they wanted to satisfy a need immediately.
Dusan Writer touches on many things I agree with in her follow-up. One being Edward Castranova’s desire for protecting the magic circle. Users will define what the magic circle will be and in the not so near future, if they wish, they will be creating the entire magic circle.. When does the game begin and end? It varies from individual to individual. Like turn of the century Quake matches via TCP/IP…you were not the best until you mastered Ping flood protection, learned to send a string of out of band data against your foe on TCP port 139, coordinated via ICQ, kept up with the birth of the Stooge bot and a host of other challenges. The game demanded players improve their security skills or suffer. The game went far beyond the game’s own boundaries- yet people played and they still play.
Second Life and Second Iteration
Conversely, however, platform owners can play tricks with virtual economies in ways that aren’t transparent to users who may be highly invested in particular virtual worlds. The example of Second Life pegging the Linden to the US dollar is an example. This is arbitrary, and the spread of the actual rise and fall of the Linden is covered by Linden Labs. But just as it’s in their power to control against a sudden decrease in the value of the Linden, it’s also in their power to remove their hands from the wheel (for financial or other reasons) and let the economy spin off on its own.
Let’s face it - with X billions of objects in Second Life, few of which deteriorate (although MANY of which are lost in someone’s inventory), surely the value of a shirt is worth less now than it was a year ago. How many shirts have been made? But so long as the Linden is pegged at an artificial rate, the illusion of an economy can be maintained. The real SL economy is in the island and off-world economy, but these statistics aren’t tracked (or if they are, they aren’t published).
Users often take it for granted, in a cycle of trust, that the platform owners are working in their best interests - they have an interest in working economies that don’t collapse, otherwise they lose their users. But as virtual worlds grow and real economic value starts to accrue to them, this might be courting disaster.
I have a lot of thoughts here on Second Life and new technologies like hashed validation of “virtual goods” to guarantee scarcity. I would love to reveal it all but I simply want to try it first. I will say as a micro-content “facilitator” that I see the exact SAME patterns I saw in performance marketing from late 90’s until now. Most of us were amateurs who organically built up from small operations- just like we see now in SL. We had the good fortune of being in the right place and at the right time and most worked hard. Some even made millions, but it was clear with each passing year that those who had not networked, had not built a brand, had not acquired disruptive technology or strategies were doomed.
Attention Still Equals Revenue
So called “social media” was another pocket of opportunity with a different attention=revenue pay off- influence. However, just as in performance marketing, and we will probably see it with micro or social media, the bar will rise higher and higher AND / OR technology will make it so simple it will no longer be a “skill” or barrier to entry. Second Life has clearly set itself up to be disrupted and I hope to help that along- I call it Second Iteration (Second Foundation?) and it is a good thing that does NOT make Second Life “bad”. However, the bar still has a long way to drop. I grant it is easy to create things but just like in performance marketing I do not think content creation follows The Pareto distribution or principle (aka the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) like I often hear. I think it might be better expressed as a joint ratio of 96:4- very imbalanced.
It is the big players that should be sweating when amateurs in their bedroom can suddenly duplicate the work that was walled off to the elite with high-end graphics and 3D programs. They have to have noticed by now.
What is to Come
Metaplace is a taste of what’s to come. Islands and builds in Second Life are CLEARLY a sign of things to come. Games will be created by kids in their basement, companies wanting a quick new way to train staff on a new product line, and educators wanting to throw together a virtual classroom with live collaborative project and presentation spaces.
I concur with everything but I say let us dispense with the classroom. In a world where you can create or cheaply procure whatever you need I see no reason to have classrooms or ill-fitting desks. I truly hope educators don’t try to replicate everything. The game, the world, and the experience are the real classrooms and most students, like their games, will define it if you let them. You need only enable and guide them.
In case you missed it Eldritch Errors Part II has commenced and was shot in the mountains of West Virginia. (See Production Crew) My only regret was not being able to make the journey due to health so I have to be content with story line development and watching it unfold. I do regret missing my acting debut, then again, maybe the world is better for it. Oh the lament as this ARG (not sure if that fits or just immersive fiction) was in my home state.
For marketers or story tellers, or SIM builders or anyone wanting to see the style of creation dissected I refer you to http://www.schmeldritch.com.
You are a Sentry, part of a group that discovered something unspeakable in April 2007, something that has pursued you ever since. Together we are Providence, part of a dream prophecy about a city in chaos that fills the nightmares of B.A. Saint-Feline, who does not dream alone. This is your story, this is our story.
Book 2 (09.07): Scream in the Mountains
“Two minutes later, another cat came into the room. It was black as midnight, and as large as the biggest dog. It lay down among the red-hot coals, lazily batting them with enormous paws. Then it walked over to the other cat and said: ‘What shall we do with him?’
“The first cat replied: ‘We should not do anything until Emmet comes’.”
- “Wait Until Emmet Comes,” traditional folktale as retold by S.E. Schlosser
When JJason dared the Conclave to contact him via a maildrop, he didn’t imagine that the shadowy group would take him up on the offer. The letter from Exu hinted at answers, included the strange annontations and symbols he wrote on a map of swan migrations. The more we looked into the map, the more we found stories of telescopes, quiet zones and things hidden in the mountains of the Virginias. Exu implied whatever we had stumbled into was related to these tantalizing bits. That investigation lead us to fragments in a filesharing system from Dr. Elizabeth Riley — a presentation, a poem, a song and yet another map. Together, they suggested our world is full of unexplained noises, including something called the “Scream” in the Virginias responsible for the collapse of a radio telescope. What is Exu trying to tell us, and what have we gotten ourselves into?
OBSERVATION POINTS
From Eldritch http://www.eldritcherrors.com/about.php
protagonist
As an immersive experience, the story is as much about you and your experiences as it is any fictional creation. You will find yourself interacting with others, real and seemingly real, throughout your stay. The discoveries that you make, alone or together, can change your entire experience. The world may have been conceived by us, but the story is yours.
Brian Clark of GMD has always been light years ahead of the pack and I am fortunate to call him a mentor and collaborator on many strange projects. This is where I and others feel “advertising” might head. An experience of immersion where the backdrop is created, but people interact and move the story along. Sound familiar? Think Audi: Art of the Heist, or Sega’s Beta-7.
This one tackles the dangers of computer security in a way that is downright scary and meant to be. Challenging the one immersed to really think about “Pressing OK”. Because you SHOULD think long and hard…
computer security
Oh, the dangers that lie hidden in the bits and bytes swirling around us on a daily basis. The Sentry Outpost is filled with experts on all matters of computer security and, although danger will always be lurking in the shadows, the integrity of both your machine and your mind is of great concern. Don’t fear your lack of technical prowess; there is always somebody close at hand with a deeper understanding of these matters, and you’re always in a position to learn more. The question of “how” may often be asked, but it is no more important than the question of “why” - a question that even the most innocent computer user can answer.
Why computer security with Lovecraft? After years of fighting in the trenches I still do not feel we are getting the message across, and it truly is disheartening. What better way to teach than to immerse? It is no secret Clark plucked me up (used) as a primary character (I can say no more), but you can get his take here on Sentries.
Chris Boyd (a/k/a PaperGhost) and Wayne Porter are Sentries in a very real sense of the word. Capturing a taste of what their experience is like when they track down malware and the people behind it was part of the inspiration for the Sentry Outpost and what horrors might be waiting out there for you to discover. In the right circles, their exploits are legendary — not only for revealing whole new types of threats, but also for the sense of snarky humor with which they document those discoveries.
Snarky humor is more a function of Boyd’s legendary style and he had no idea… Aye- sorry Chris.
I still think the computer security industry could take clues from this model and there must be a push toward education. Paperghost’s VitalSecurity.org is a good start and some of the work at Spywareguide.com Blog hits the ribs. It is in the story telling and not dry reports and numbers that reach people. If we can reach people and entertain while we do it we might reform some of the more wanton and dangerous behaviors. That was my hope at least. The current path is not working and not enough is spent on prevention.
For that matter marketers, teachers, advertisers, even virtual world creators in Second Life or anyone creative or wanting to rise above the din might look at this and wonder if story telling is a more effective way to rise above the clutter of messages that people are barraged with everyday. I think so. However it is not easy and takes a talented crew to pull off a full-blast campaign. The number of cogs and wheels that must turn would astound a Swiss watch maker.
STILL PLAYING
NOW PLAYING: The Scream in the Mountains - CATCH UP & JUMP IN. Dive in or play it safe and watch from the sidelines…
Caught this twitter via Steve Hodson after reading about the death of Sam Harrelson’s cousin. I agree with Steve and I feel for Sam. Bitter irony given some recent work with virtual war memorials.
@SamHarrelson It *is* Twitter material my friend, more so than the latest tech sighting…thoughts are with you & family of your cousin.
WHAT IS TWITTER MATERIAL?
I am surprised Sam doubted it.
Twitter material, in my eyes, is playing Scrabble with Robert Scobel until 5 am after Monkey phone calling him on a podcast and calling his cellphone to waste his time and get his opinion, or talking X-Box Smack with Steve Rubel who I feel needs Twitter therapy.This twitter discussion weeks after offering him a monkey phone call via LinkedIn after some Edelman crap. I truly felt for the guy- but maybe I wasn’t very compassionate, but it was as compassionate as I could be about his employer I suppose.
Steve please try to keep being human and not an agency, continue to tear into magazines you don’t like. As you can see I am a laughing prankster and jerkweed, but I really do have a soft center.
Perhaps it is meeting up with Fleep and learning about her life and work at University of Cincinnati- a chain reaction I have dissected ad naseaum on this blog- just search “Fleep”. (Thanks for the dance Chris!)
Twitters are little pieces of our lives, fragments of our existence, or little earthquakes if I wanted to go all Tori Amos on you…in part, or as a whole or mix them together. They are tiny ignition switches.
One of the biggest selling points that Web 2.0 proponents like to wave about is the immense social change that it is going; or has brought about. It is the incredible democratization of our society that will forever change the way we interact with each other and the world at large. It is the warm and fuzzy on a global village scale were everyone knows your name and is your friend.
Well I have only one thing to say about this idealized rose colored view of the cyber-landscape - bullshit.
Proof is in the pudding, there are changes on a microlevel maybe, but it certainly hasn’t trickled up to how we act as a “society”
or “global community”…one more key paragraph (although the jabs at data, information and the power of Facebook I can appreciate- read the privacy policy- hell don’t - no one does.)
Myself I do believe whole heartily that the web and technology can still effect great social changes but not as long as we continually get distracted by catch phrases like Web 2.0 which are nothing more that cool catchy marketing terms. Funnily enough and even though Robert Scoble might have declared them dead and boring I do think that blogs can play an important part in any future social changes. I even think that the Web 2.0 darling Twitter can be more than a bit player. The future social fabric of our society will depend on more that Facebook nudges or pat on the back groups. It will depend on more than bland second rate web applications that feed monstrous advertising money machines. It will depend on more than us snacking on bit size morsels of information.
As long as we keep falling for this illusion of how Web 2.0 is going to change the world though the kool-aid makers will keep getting rich off of us, the technological divide will continue to grow and social change will continue to be a marketing catch phrase used to further fleece us of our information.
WHAT WILL MAKE THE CHANGE
I think Twitter is a big deal. I think blogs will have their place. To Steve Hodson- most people don’t take the time to read well-thought out pieces or even shitty ones. The ones that do are probably forward thinking change agents anyway. Many do not contribute or take action. Simply sharing their lives, pulling back that veil is a good step. Small, but positive. Bite sized info won’t do it, at best it serves as a catalyst one would hope. You hope it makes people think, stop, halt and maybe to nudge them to act.
Ultimately Web 2.0 will *not* change the world- it will only change how we negotiate our reality.
People, individuals and folks en masse, ultimately have to make the changes.
ONE BLOG EXPERIENCE and WHERE AVATARS FAIL
I understood that clearly after a decade of writing and blogging basically what I now consider mental gymnastics- of which I will return too I am sure. I laid out a post after being flat out depressed and unable to write anything. I was
Posted in Future Shock by wayne.porter on May 10th, 2008 
Aye- sorry Chris.