Understanding Virtual Worlds http://9scape.com and other things that connect us Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:56:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 A Virtual Conversation Overheard http://9scape.com/2010/02/26/a-virtual-conversation-overheard/ http://9scape.com/2010/02/26/a-virtual-conversation-overheard/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:55:47 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2010/02/26/a-virtual-conversation-overheard/ I love the deadpan voice-over in the context of this discussion (video below):

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2010/02/26/a-virtual-conversation-overheard/feed/ 0 Sending Info to WordPress using SLurlBlogger http://9scape.com/2009/08/20/sending-info-to-wordpress-using-slurlblogger/ http://9scape.com/2009/08/20/sending-info-to-wordpress-using-slurlblogger/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:12:15 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2009/08/20/sending-info-to-wordpress-using-slurlblogger/ Bristol Bay 180,105,25 – SLurlBlogger is a HUD made available from Ordinal Malprop that captures your coordinates in SL (SLurl) and allows you to post text to your blog or email address.

This could be used for taking notes on a class, conference, or even minutes from in-world meetings. Even copy/pasting conversation from chat is a quick and easy way to catch people up on what happened if they weren’t able to attend an event. I’ll be poking for the nuances of this HUD and will note what I find here an on my work blog – http://rhetorica.uaf.edu/christen

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2009/08/20/sending-info-to-wordpress-using-slurlblogger/feed/ 0 Script Me, Baby http://9scape.com/2009/04/04/script-me-baby/ http://9scape.com/2009/04/04/script-me-baby/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:29:12 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2009/04/04/script-me-baby/ Building in Second Life. Looking for an LSL script that can give an object, change a texture, play a sound, or similarly simple action? It seems easy enough to look these things up in the LSL wiki, even for those of us who are not programmers… but why do all that work? Hilary Mason has created an autoscript that will figure all that programmy stuff out for you. Now you have time for those more pressing things, like enjoying your coffee.

I’ve had luck with the scripts I’ve created using it and have suggested it to faculty members (definitely not programmers) who have also found it easy to use. Super tool. Hilary also has a blog that has some interesting stuff in it. You should check it out.

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2009/04/04/script-me-baby/feed/ 0 Future Virtual Worlds http://9scape.com/2009/03/05/future-virtual-worlds/ http://9scape.com/2009/03/05/future-virtual-worlds/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:48:02 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2009/03/05/future-virtual-worlds/
World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo. [via]]]> The concepts for the building tools in the virtual world featured in this film short are quite ingenious.


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

[via]

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2009/03/05/future-virtual-worlds/feed/ 0 Insight Into SL Prims http://9scape.com/2008/12/05/insight-into-sl-prims/ http://9scape.com/2008/12/05/insight-into-sl-prims/#comments Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:13:10 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2008/12/05/insight-into-sl-prims/ insightful summary of how and why primatives work the way they do in Second Life. The explanations are from the developer's perspective and include backfill on early decisions made when SL was still young. If you've ever wondered "Why?" while you were trying to build something, you'll get something from the article.]]> Avi Bar-Zeev from Reality Prime has written an insightful summary of how and why primatives work the way they do in Second Life. The explanations are from the developer’s perspective and include backfill on early decisions made when SL was still young. If you’ve ever wondered “Why?” while you were trying to build something, you’ll get something from the article.

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2008/12/05/insight-into-sl-prims/feed/ 0 Philip Rosedale at TED http://9scape.com/2008/12/04/philip-rosedale-at-ted/ http://9scape.com/2008/12/04/philip-rosedale-at-ted/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:29:02 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2008/12/04/philip-rosedale-at-ted/ Philip Rosedale speaks at TED about virtual worlds, creativity, and possibility. Video below:

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2008/12/04/philip-rosedale-at-ted/feed/ 0 One Step Toward Interoperable Virtual Worlds http://9scape.com/2008/06/15/one-step-toward-interoperable-virtual-worlds/ http://9scape.com/2008/06/15/one-step-toward-interoperable-virtual-worlds/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:23:53 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2008/06/15/one-step-toward-interoperable-virtual-worlds/ Linden Labs has successfully moved an SL avatar to OpenSim according to a post made earlier this month by Zha Ewery. Although the news was kept pretty low key, I can’t help but think this is the equivalent of what the first steps on the moon are for virtual worlds… being able to move from one platform to another.

Will it be common place, one day, for avatars to take vacations to grids on other platforms, or meet up with a friend on a different system? It is interesting to think about, and while I’m sure not everyone would have a need to do so, I can imagine many reasons when it would be desirable to be able to move so freely across worlds.

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2008/06/15/one-step-toward-interoperable-virtual-worlds/feed/ 0 Introduction to Second Life for GEO 493 http://9scape.com/2008/04/04/introduction-to-second-life-for-geo-493/ http://9scape.com/2008/04/04/introduction-to-second-life-for-geo-493/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:02:34 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2008/04/04/introduction-to-second-life-for-geo-493/ Below are the presentation and links mentioned in my visit to John Bailey’s GEO 493 class:

Screenshot of the slideshow

The Presentation Images
http://9scape.com/slpres/demo.html

A Few Destinations:
Orange:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Orange%204/21/227/46
Vernian Sea (Airship Tower):
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vernian%20Sea/204/65/106/
Sweden’s Virtual Embassy:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/swedish%20institute/70/212/30
GeoGlobe:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Commonwealth%20Island/193/83/315
Sculptie Earth:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Areumdeuli/111/121/214/
Top 20 List of Educational Locations in Second Life:
http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Top_20_Educational_Locations_in_Second_Life

Learn To Build and Script:
Torley’s Video Tutorials:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Torley
Linden Scripting Language (LSL) Wiki:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Portal
Learn to Do Stuff in Second Life With Tutorials:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Video_Tutorials

Links & Inspired Reading
The Congressional Committee Meeting on Virtual Worlds:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-ti-hrg.040108.VirtualWorlds.shtml
Digital Urban Blog:
http://digitalurban.blogspot.com/
UgoTrade Blog:
http://www.ugotrade.com
Not Possible in Real Life Blog:
http://npirl.blogspot.com

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2008/04/04/introduction-to-second-life-for-geo-493/feed/ 1 A Virtual World Metblog http://9scape.com/2008/03/12/a-virtual-world-metblog/ http://9scape.com/2008/03/12/a-virtual-world-metblog/#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:33:13 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2008/03/12/a-virtual-world-metblog/ There’s a lot of buzz right now about Metblogs, a collection of city-centric blogs from around the world, running off of the WordPress Multi-user platform. It is a great looking site, but more than that I like that they have included a blog about Azeroth, a place in WoW. I almost missed the link, but if you look at the Metblog map, there is a sign on the right that says Other Lands. Clicking that will display the link to the Azeroth blog.

screenshot of the Metblogs site

No Tags]]> http://9scape.com/2008/03/12/a-virtual-world-metblog/feed/ 0 Presentation about Second Life Using Stixy http://9scape.com/2008/03/07/presentations-using-stixy/ http://9scape.com/2008/03/07/presentations-using-stixy/#comments Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:40:11 +0000 admin http://9scape.com/2008/03/07/presentations-using-stixy/ Yesterday I gave a couple of small presentations about Second Life to small groups using Stixy instead of PowerPoint.There wasn’t a lot of time to prepare for these, so I collected images, some were mine and some I found on Flickr, included the proper attribution to the photos and was finished.

Unfortunately, for both presentations I ran into issues flashing my screen to the overhead projector and had to run it is if it were a second monitor. This created some navigation challenges during the presentation, but I thought it was an interesting way to approach the need for overhead display. Personally, I liked being able to see the rest of the images and I felt it gave me some “peripheral vision” as I talked. IT was nice to be able to move things around as I talked too. I’m not sure if the audiences cared either way in the end, though. During one of the presentations the display was way too dark and for the other I had to stand in a terrible location that didn’t allow me to see the screen very well. Those things may have made more of an impact than anything else. I will try this again though.

The presentation is available on Stixy if you’re curious. A note: I did have backup material with me just in case access to the internet wasn’t available during the presentations.

Second Life Presentation Using Stixy

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