OpenSim – Page 7 – Ciaran Laval

April 25, 2014April 25, 2014

The Drax Files Radio Hour Episode 16 – Drax Meets The Lindens

The Drax Files Radio Hour Episode 16 : lindens are people too! [part 1] is another superb production from Draxtor Despres and Jo Yardley. A wide variety of topics are covered and as usual, I won’t go too deeply into them because the true richness comes from listening to the show!

However they cover education in Second Life and OpenSim. In terms of Second Life they talk of the recent Introduction to Second Life for Educators – a Course in Spanish, which Linden Lab blogged about. I must admit I got this a bit arse about face when I read the blog title because I thought it was teaching Spanish in Second Life, whereas it’s teaching Second Life to Spanish speakers.

In terms of OpenSim there’s an excellent feature on a school in Ireland using OpenSim and Oculus Rift to teach history by allowing the kids to experience historical settings in a virtual world. Virtual worlds do have a place within education but I feel the problem with virtual worlds and education remains the baggage with a one size fits all solution to delivery in terms of Second Life, indeed this is where OpenSim does have an advantage.

Now if Linden Lab were to make Second Life technology available to schools to host their own Second Life technology grid, away from the main grid, I feel real progress could be made there. Say for example if JANET in the UK hosted a grid powered by Second Life technology that educators could build on and collaborate with other institutions, there would be potential there. I thought this was where they were heading with SLEnterprise until I saw the pricing. However in this day and age when the public sector is still being squeezed, a presence on the Second Life main grid and all the associated baggage (much of which is overblown but still exists) is a difficult proposition for educators to sell as a business planning need.

I do believe Linden Lab need to consider such a setup because if they don’t deliver it, High Fidelity is likely to look very appealing to educators due to the nature of how that looks like it will allow people to create their own grids.

However back to the show, there are lots of features, lots worth listening to but the big news is that Draxtor has been out to Santa Cruz, where he was probably initiated into the FIC hall of fame as he fraternised with Ebbe Altberg and The Lindens … to those unfamiliar with Second Life, that is not the name of a rock band.

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March 22, 2014

The Drax Files Radio Hour Episode 11 – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Gray

Episode 11 of The Drax Files Radio hour opens with Bill May introducing the show and visiting Drax in real life. The show as usual covers a variety of topics, with the main attraction of this week’s show being an interview about virtual reality with Ben Lang of the road to VR Blog.

Ben talks about virtual reality hardware and its uses, where the technology is heading and why it isn’t as difficult to use some of this hardware as some may feel. This is a subject that Mona Eberhardt has been covering and Mona recently blogged : VR headset designs: Maybe we’re missing something? The interview with Ben makes for very interesting listening, this is something that Drax pulls off so very well.

They were due to interview Emily Short of Versu fame, but Emily has politely declined. Has Emily been knobbled? Has someone made her an offer she can’t refuse? Is this a case of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Gray wherein Emily is put in an impossible position by unknown forces? Well no, the reality is likely that Emily has said her piece on the subject and now wants to move on. I remain deeply disappointed by Linden Lab’s decision to turn their back on Versu, but the decision has been made and although it’s a massive loss, it remains Linden Lab’s right to make that call.

Then there’s the issue that has been irritating many people, especially Drax’s co-host Jo Yardley who recently blogged : Second Life advertising hits new low. The issue :

Second Life advert example — Second Life Advert

Bikini Babes without machine guns. Yes this is a tacky advert in many ways and yet it will appeal to some and that’s the aim of any advertising campaign. Are there better ways of advertising Second Life? Absolutely and Botgirl Questi touches this subject matter in a post entitled : Second Life Advertising: Beyond Bikinis and Vampires

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March 13, 2014March 13, 2014

The Hypergrid Stories Project – Interacting With The Fiction

Nara Malone greets me as I return to Nara’s Nook to start my quest on The Hypergrid Stories Project. Nara recognises that I’m a Hypergrid noob and tells me that if I want to keep my clothes on during this journey, I’m going to have to pack a suitcase. This troubles me but Nara simply explains that if I haven’t got a folder in my inventory entitled “My Suitcase”, then I need to make one and drag my worn items into said folder. This is how you keep your clothes when you travel to a different Hypergrid region. So suitcase duly packed I follow Nara.

Next up Nara points out the books and poetry offerings and almost dares me to walk through one. I hesitate but I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. I walk into Dear Charlie, a story by Tina Glasneck, who recently wrote about the project at Hypergrid Business. Without clicking anything, I’m teleported. However at this stage I haven’t left Greyville Writer’s Colony. However this soon changes.

I’m greeted with chat :

Dear Charlie, You can’t change a monster into a man and I should have known that when Otto walked into the club and smiled at me. [please proceed to Red Light Club in the provided teleporter] [1 of 21]

Walking into said teleporter and again without having to click to teleport, I find myself in the mysterious universe of Hypergrid travel. I arrive safely at my destination and my suitcase was indeed packed, as I am still fully clothed. Phew!

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March 11, 2014

Hypergrid Stories Project Launches

I’ve mentioned The Hypergrid Stories Project before, but now Nara Malone, who has a name that sounds like she’s some sort of super sleuth, has unveiled some meaty details about the project. Now this is a catch it whilst its hot deal because in its current form, it’s running until St Patrick’s day.

Now don’t be put off by the fact that this is billed as a Hypergrid stories project, yes it is largely an OpenSim venture, but not exclusively, from Nara’s blog post we can see a list of participating grids and they include Second Life:

Participating Grids

Next Reality Grid: Redlight Hotel from Mike Hart
Metropolis: Independetly Spoken from Crystal Brewton
Craft Grid: Spirit of Arcadia: Cogtown from Virtual Christine, Pitcairn: 111shawn from Shawn K Maloney, Aquarium from Tao Quan.
OS Grid: Virunga Mountains: from Debbie Edwards and Fred Beckhusen, Transmedia Learning 1 and 4 from Nara Malone.
NarasNookGrid: Greyville, Quarterz City, Siobhan Muir 1, Tina Glasneck 2, Series, Shadowling Manor, and Theria from the Greyville Authors.
Second Life: Phaze Demesnes from Debbie Edwards and Fred Beckhusen, Karpov from an anonymous donor.

The project is taking interactive fiction in a new direction, you actually walk into a giant book to follow the story! Then you’ll be teleported to a scene in the story and will eventually find a landmark to the next scene.

The stories are in the short story category, 500 – 1300 words but if you’re not that interested in stories you can follow the poetry trail instead or simply explore the builds.

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March 10, 2014

Philip Rosedale, Ebbe Altberg And Maria Korolov Amongst Keynote Speakers For VWBPE 2014

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) will be holding their 7th annual conference in Second Life and OSGrid between April 9th – 12th this year and the keynote and featured speakers have been pencilled in. Some of them should be extremely familiar, especially High Fidelity CEO Philip Rosedale.

Another familiar name for some of you, especially those in OpenSim circles, is Maria Korolov of Hybergrid Business.

Then of course there’s new Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg, who is a late addition to the schedule, so late that he wasn’t in the email I received about the conference!

The full schedule for the conference will be released soon, but here are the known keynote and featured speakers :

Opening Keynote: Closing the Gap: Virtual Reality & Education

Presenter: Philip Rosedale, CEO High Fidelity

Date/Time: Wednesday April 9th, at 1:00pm PDT

Location: Second Life – VWBPE Central Auditorium

Featured Keynote: Connections in an Open Place

Presenter: Justin Clark-Casey, President OpenSimulator umbrella Overte Foundation

Date/Time: Thursday April 10th, at 7:00am PDT

Location: OSGrid – VWBPE Gateway

Featured Keynote: The Coming 3D Future Shock

Presenter: Maria Korolov, Editor in Chief – Hypergrid Business

Date/Time: Thursday April 10th, at 10:05am PDT
Location: OSGrid – VWBPE Gateway

Featured Keynote: Using Virtual Worlds and Gamification to Enhance Learning

Presenter: Andrew Hughes, CEO Designing Digitally

Date/Time: Friday April 11th, at 7:00am PDT

Location: Second Life – VWBPE Central Auditorium

Featured Keynote: TBA

Presenter: Ebbe Altberg, CEO Linden Lab

Date/Time: Friday April 11th, at 1:00pm PDT

Location: Second Life – VWBPE Central Auditorium

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Category: OpenSim

The Drax Files Radio Hour Episode 16 – Drax Meets The Lindens

Second Life Para Docentes

The Hypergrid Stories Project – Interacting With The Fiction

Hypergrid Stories Project Launches

Philip Rosedale, Ebbe Altberg And Maria Korolov Amongst Keynote Speakers For VWBPE 2014