i-Anya

Australia’s Madison magazine (which doesn’t have a website) published the article below about Second Life in their January edition. The author was Alexandra Carlton, and I am reproducing it here with permission from the Deputy Editor, Lizzie Renkert.

I especially wanted to reproduce it not because of any startling revelations it has about Second Life (after all, the author of the article states she only spent 3 evening sessions in the world), but because it makes a link to one of the best magazines from inside Second Life, Second Style. I really like the fact that the author took the time to speak to Celebrity Trollop, the editor of Second Style, to better understand SL fashion. There’s repeated criticism about journalists and reporters who come into Second Life, spend a few hours there, and then make outlandish, unfounded, or very shallow comments about what it is and what it has to offer. Anyway, here is the article, with Philip Rosendale and Second Style featured on the final page. Click to get to the enlarged versions.

I am almost sufficiently recovered to blog about the continued events I have been involved in over the special 12 day NMC Symposium on The Impact of Digital Media.

Slatenight hosted a four hour series of events which, despite a few technical hitches, went really well. I am so pleased with how it all turned out!!

I started off the events by speaking about The Avatar as Communication. You can listen to the podcast version here.

Following my talk was a special kind of fashion show, where people were invited to showcase their unique identities and discuss their decisions and reasons behind constructing the avatar that they did. The podcast of this event is here.

Following this, Christy Dena spoke about Imaging Space, podcast here.

We had a panel discussion with some live musicians in SL who spoke about the SL live music scene. Ironically, there were some technical hitches with the audio so the podcast is brief but here.

Then we were entertained by the musicians with some live music from each in turn:

Mel Cheeky

Cybster DJ

and you can hear the music they played on the podcast here.

Next up was the incredible Dell Wilberg, who’s talk was entitled Future Perfect: Towards a Better Second Life. Using knowledge of trends in technology over the past several decades, Dell offered us an insight into what we might expect in our immediate future.

Very exciting indeed! Podcast here.

Finally we heard from Danielle Mirliss and Heidi Trotta who spoke about their work with Undergraduate students in Second Life: Engaging the Disengaged. It was fascinating to hear their experiences and to compare their thoughts with my own experiences with post-grads. The podcast is here.

And finally, at 4am, I gave a few brief closing remarks (podcast here).

In my closing remarks I mentioned that Christy was being interviewed in just a few hours time by the ABC media in Australia about Second Life, and here is the podcast for that (go Christy!!!).

The NMC blogging and recording of the four hour event was fantastic and my thanks go to Larry Pixel and CDB Barkley for inviting us to be a part of this very significant symposium. it was an honour and a thrill to be invited.

85 more photographs here, thanks also to Gary Hazlitt and NMC for many of the photographs in this set.

On Friday I am giving a talk titled The Avatar as Communication, as part of the The New Media Consortium’s Impact of Digital Media 12 day symposium. From their site comes this explanation:

The New Media Consortium will host the 12-day symposium on the NMC campus in Second Life, focusing on the impact of digital media on all aspects of our daily lives. The Symposium on the Impact of Digital Media will explore the ways we encounter and understand digital media — inside such a setting. This virtual symposium is informed by the MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, a two-year project in which the NMC is helping to explore the impact of digital media on our lives in a variety of ways, and encouraging dialogue among experts, visionaries, and thought leaders from around the globe.

In my dual role as an educator in Second Life and as editor of Slatenight (a magazine about the Arts, education, culture and entertainment in SL) I was invited to plan a live event inside Second Life for Sl residents.

I have planned a four hour series of events, and here is our program:

Friday October 20th 7am-11am - Live Event SLATENIGHT hosted events

* The Avatar as Communication - Dr Angela Thomas, Sydney University (Anya Ixchel, editor of Slatenight)

* Fashion parade: Fashioning the Avatar (showcasing the range of unique identities in SL)

* Remediation of the Art Space in SL - Christy Dena, Sydney University (Lythe Witte, writer for Slatenight)

* Music in Second Life: Panel Discussion and Live Music - with Silas Scarborough, ZeroOne Paz, Mel Cheeky, Cybster Curtis and Billy Thunders (Cletis Carr)

* Future Perfect: Projections forward to an even better world - Dell Wilberg (creative designer of Slatenight)

* Engaging the Disengaged: Using SL to Revitalize the Undergraduate Classroom - Danielle Mirliss and Heidi Trotta, Seton Hall University, NY (Danielle Damone and Heidi TeeCee, writers for Slatenight)

So, if you are in SL, come along and listen to us - our voices will be streamed into world as will the music, and you’ll probably hear lots of laughing and informal chatting during the fashion show - oh and the musicians tell me I will never be able to shut them up, so you may even hear me getting very stern trying to keep them in line *grin*

If you have Second Life downloaded already, and are a member of the NMC guests group (to access the NMC sim you need to be a guest of the group), here is the SLURL.

For a list of ongoing posts about the many other symposium events (including a talk with Howard Rheingold!), check the NMC Observer.

This is Codalisa, a friendly, magical sprite on Second Life. We often chat and she shows me her magical and creative objects. She creates lovely patterns and textures and colour combinations and made this kite with a particle effect trail. She stays in character a lot so I really don’t know anything more about her, except that I enjoy our conversations. She is writing a short story based on her avatar’s background and experiences which is something that really interests me. She also showed me a storytelling teddy bear - click the bear and it tells you part of a narrative. I am so impressed with the creativity of the people I am meeting on Second Life and the ways they are innovating on narrative or reinterpreting narrative through this space.

Thanks Sabrina, Christopher and others for some great comments about avatars and identity here. I’ve spent years of my life talking to kids about their choices of avatars but have never actually personally researched what adults are doing. And until Second Life I’ve never really been immersed in the practice of avatar construction before - not so intently or immersively or seriously anyway. Now with the modifiability of every little part of your virtual body, the art of body construction is highly significant - in terms of your own identity construction (whether real or fantasised aspects of identity), in terms of your own pleasure (how we wish to imagine ourselves), in terms of the pleasure of others (how we want others to perceive the image we are projecting) and in terms of the business practices in Second Life.

Personally I have tested out:

- 32 different skins until i found the perfect skin shade and texture I liked
- hundreds of different elements of my body shape - in the end I bought a default shape because somebody else did it so much better than I could manage
- over 60 different hairstyles - now my default hairstyle is the one here called “panache” and I have 30 different shades of this same style - my favourite being the blonde with pink tips. In 2004 I had blonde hair with tips and loved it - but the pink tips are too hard to maintain in real life.
- the skin I am wearing here comes with 8 different make-up shades, from natural to glamorous. I started wearing the glamorous one (heavy red lipstick and lots of smoky eyeshadow) as default but now I prefer the natural look - soft pink natural lips and just a touch of eyeliner.
- having said that, I was not happy with the “natural look” eyelashes, so in this image you can see my new “long and lush” eyelashes. Learning how to position the individual lashes in this set was more complicated than building my virtual house and flattening the land the put it on.
- and I have at least 40 or 50 different outfits, 5 different sets of jewellery, and 12 pairs of shoes for different occasions. Some of my shoes are scripted to include special animated walks, or to change colour with a voice activated command.
- next comes my animations. I have a special set of animations so that my avatar will randomly vary her sitting position / standing position / flying technique / landing technique / response to other avatars.
- following on from the response to other avatars, I have a set of commands to animate myself and others with their permission - to hug them, jump on them, greet them in certain ways etc… These animations are really helpful with respect to interpersonal connections in world, though I don’t use them with many people because I don’t know many people well enough to be hugging them or tickling them or making physical contact with them!

I am spelling this out in (possibly painful) detail because the issue of the avatar and identity is very very complex. There’s part of my avatar that reflects my real life features (I have blonde hair, blue eyes and long black eyelashes), there’s part that reflects my aesthetic preferences for a body that is way beyond achievable given my genetic genepool *laugh* (impossibly long legs, gorgeous figure etc), the clothes reflect my ever changing moods - some are similar in style and colour to the ones I own in my closet, others are not. The personal animations are just to make myself look more natural and ‘real’ in the virtual context (besides, the default standing position was legs wide apart with hands on hips, which looked a bit aggressive!), and the interpersonal animations reflect what I hope is my real life friendliness.

Second Life supports all different forms of avatars - dragons (see the interview with a dragon post below), goths, tiny creatures, furry animals and so on. I didn’t choose a purely fantasy image because I am not engaging in any sort of serious fantasy roleplaying and when I am there I am being my real self - talking about education, asking hundreds of questions, exploring the place and finding out what is what - probably being rather boring actually given the colourful and fascinating characters I keep meeting I am trying as much as time permits to be an insider within the world to be able to really appreciate it, but often times I switch back to outside observer mode. Even when I’ve explored some of the role-playing sims I wear a sign saying OBSERVER on top of my head so that I am not caught up in some terrible plot that could result in damage to my avatar (which can happen if it is an agreed part of the role-playing context, to answer a previous question from Chris).

So how can you define virtual identity? I continue to write about it because it continues to elude me. At one stage I was defining virtual identity in systemic terms - as a text. A text that changes according to context and is influenced by register: field, tenor, mode (the context, relationships, forms of text). But its a text that is intimately connected to something indefinable: the soul: our wishes, fasntasies, dreams, hopes. These are more than interpersonal meanings, they are an inner sensibility. At another stage I talked about virtual identity with respect to critical discursive psychology because that seemed to capture those elements of soul. But I still think its incredibly complex and needs much more thought. So, any thoughts, or explanations from people about their own avatar choices, would be most welcomed.

Meanwhile, don’t you just love my new eyelashes? *giggle*

Here’s a quick video of me playing the flute in Second Life. I’m playing one of the pre-uploaded songs, “Summertime”. But I’ve also been transcribing my own flute music slowly into files that can be read and converted into audio. It’s really quite clever. One of my favourite pieces of music to play is Debussy’s “Syrinx” and I am half way through transcribing and rearranging it to suit right now. Getting the changes in tempo and dynamics is tricky but it can be done thanks to the amazing design of the flute by a Second Life resident named Robbie Dingo.

More than any other online community I’ve studied, I’m having the most fun with this one. It has so many more creative and artistic possibilities, and I’m a great fan of animation. But I also loooove my avatar - crazy but true - I think because she has automatic poses and responses not controlled completely by me it feels like she’s a little real doll. The blurring of calling her “me” and “she” is strange too - because she has a life of her own I see her as more seperate from me yet she is more like me than any other avatar I’ve had (not in looks but in some intangible way I can’t quite articulate) - fascinating

Oh do you like the pink hair today? I couldn’t resist buying a set of different shades of my favourite hairstyle. Yes I know - another $5 spent on dressing myself up. I am addicted to shopping. I’ve been trying to think of a way to make money in SL itself to support my fashion addiction. I went to Barbie’s night club and they were hiring “exotic” dancers for $100s of dollars an hour plus any tips from viewers but despite Anya’s secret urge to try pole-dancing in skimpy outfits I decided not to allow it *laugh*. Something a bit more respectable is the song writing competition I am going to enter. The prize is $10,000 (Linden dollars) which equates to about $50 (Australian). If I win that it would keep me in shoes and clothes and hair and jewellery etc… for a while *laugh*. Incredibly, there are a number of Second Life fashion blogs, magazines, and online boutiques which are hilarious fun. Check out these: Linden Lifestyles, Second Life Boutique, and Second Style Fashionista. My absolute favourite designer (who must be at least $10 richer because of my trade) is Nonna Hedges. In fact, you may recognise some of these items of clothing from my previous posts:

Avatars are a bustling economy - big business But don’t you just love the authentic fashion genre in the images and composition of Nonna Hedges’ ads? It’s brilliant and she is genuinely talented!

And speaking of blogs and e-zines related to Second Life, there are thousands of them! I really like the video blog of Dagny Hemingway because she has some great videos of events (for example when Lawrence Lessig visited she filmed the event). Her blog is called The Faux Press in Second Life. There’s moves afoot for an e-zine called “Avatar Magazine” and people are getting paid to write about avatars! I think I should volunteer

In the past couple of days there has been a push by some of the liberal backbenchers (namely Bronwyn Bishop and Sophie Panopoulos) to outlaw the wearing of hijabs in schools. John Howard has disagreed with this view, but here’s some of the Sydney Morning Herald’s report:

Mr Howard said he opposed Mrs Bishop’s push to ban Muslim girls from wearing headscarves at public schools because it would be impractical. But he defended Ms Bishop’s “right to express a view”.

Mrs Bishop has called the headscarf “a sort of iconic item of defiance”, and echoed the call of the Victorian Liberal MP Sophie Panopoulos for a ban. Mrs Bishop’s remark prompted much criticism, including a rebuke from the NSW Minister for Education, Carmel Tebbutt, who yesterday ruled out any change to the uniform policy, which allows schools to develop a dress code in consultation with the community. She said she supported the right of students to wear the headscarf as long as it was within the school code.

Mr Howard said: “I don’t think it’s practical to bring in such a prohibition. If you ban a headscarf you might for consistency’s sake have to ban a yarmulke or a turban.

However, Labor’s education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said Mr Howard had not gone far enough in opposing the MPs. “John Howard must show leadership and pull [them] into line over their calls. We need national leadership … not extremist knee-jerk reactions.”

The federal Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, John Cobb, said Mrs Bishop’s comments were ignorant and an insult to many Australians. In a statement he said: “The government does not seek to impose cultural sameness on Australians … Do we ban nuns from wearing a habit?”

I am really shocked that two women politicians are behind the push to ban the hijabs. They’re using a feminist platform and claiming that the hijabs are an affront to women’s freedom (well, Sophie was, I couldn’t work out Bronwyn’s stance). Ummm what about religious freedom in a society that is multicultural and tolerant of difference in lifestyles? (I could write an essay on this but I don’t think the blog is the right place for it)

Guess what?? I bought myself a present! Yes! Finally! An exciting mobile phone with lots of features that I don’t know how to use (how do I get mp3s of jazz and classical pieces on it I have been wondering to myself). I finally bought a flip top phone, see here is how small and compact it is:

and here it is flipped open (with a wallpaper of some roses..awwww):

But of course, what is just as important was finding the perfect and mega-cheap accessories to go with it: a little red Chinese-ish mobile handbag, and (just because my niece has one) a dangly charm thing to go with it.

Of course, I totally embarrassed some older Italian male salesman when I VERY INNOCENTLY asked him: “Do you have any dangly things….” (he didn’t let me finish my sentence before going all red in the face and stuttering “errrr… scusi, my dangly things?”). Sheeeez. I finally managed to get what I wanted but it was with lots of gracias and pregos and he called me bella, bella, BELLA and showed me virtually every accessory he had there.

I have now downloaded the compulsory Sex and the City ringtone I simply had to have. I want to download some mp3s but can’t work out how to do it. Oh and I also have FM radio built in so I can at least listen to classic FM and the jazz channels there, though i really need one of those bluetooth headsets to do so properly (those other earphone thingies fall out of my ears and irritate me). But I couldn’t afford the teddy bear charm AND the bluetooth headset all in the one day, so that will have to wait.

There’s another CyberFashion show at MIT featuring all sorts of wonderful wearable technology including fashion and jewellery. Here are the details:

Cyber Fashion Show 2005
Wednesday, 3 August, 7:30 - 9:30 pm

The annual Cyber Fashion Show is again hosted by Psymbiote, the technology-clad cyborg who educates, elucidates, and entertains as she parades models down the runway garbed in the latest functional tech gear and aesthetic cyber wear. The show features a variety of wearable computers, head-mounted displays, smart clothes, luminous clothing and accessories, futuristic club wear, and CAD/CAM jewelry and bodywear. It also features exciting contributions from the Banff New Media Institute, the MIT Media Lab, WIN Wearable Fashion Group, ViewStation, (whisper research group), the Wearable Fashion Group at Keio University, The Innovation Centre @ Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, CuteCircuit, eMagin, Elise Co, Tina Gonsalves, Laura Bardier, and a number of other experimental artists, progressive designers, and hi-tech corporations. The wide-ranging selection of far-out products, innovative prototypes, and unique creations projects us into future realms of body-technology assimilation.

For a peek at the designers in the show and exhibition, go here.

My favourite item has to be this skirt:

Why? Ummm… I’ll let you read the description:

“exhale : breath between bodies” is a new collection of body area networked garments. Building on last year’s collection of responsive skirts with muscle sensors embedded in garter belts, this year they feature sensuous networked skirts and sleeves linked with elastic breast-bands that listen to the wearer’s breath. Made of natural silk & organza fibers in earthy and vibrant tones, “exhale” creates a shared public space of breath, revealing sensation, sound and light, exploring the notion of intimacy accessed through physiological data.

“exhale” is also being featured in the Siggraph 2005 Emerging Technologies exhibition, as an installation that utilizes the collective breath of participants to actuate small fans and vibrators embedded with the linings of evocative skirts. If viewers negotiate a shared group breath, the skirts glow with light that palpates in rhythm with it.

(Via Bruce Eisner)

The Uses of Cultural Studies is a book by Angela McRobbie that I have been dying to find time to read. Angela McRobbie is one of the most significant scholars writing about feminism, media and cultural studies, and I like reading her work and then overlaying it with my own questions. Because I seem to be writing more interdiscipinarily about literacies across vaying media and cultural contexts, I committed myself to studying the field of cultural studies. Some of the authors McRobbie discusses I know well from my own previous studies of literacy or gender, such as Bourdieu and Butler. But others she draws from include Bhabha and Jameson - two writers who I know very little about. Here’s a little synopsis from the website:

Students of cultural studies frequently struggle with the subject’s primary texts. For example, the work of Hall, Bhabha and Butler can be complex. Having grappled with these texts however, the student is then confronted with having to apply these insights to their own areas of study.

The heart of this book comprises a series of extended critical chapters on six of the foundational theorists of cultural studies - Hall, Bhabha, Butler, Gilroy, Bourdieu and Jameson. By looking at the key themes and central dynamics of these writers work, Angela McRobbie introduces their work and their contribution.

Alongside these chapters, McRobbie has added six shorter essays which demonstrate how one might actually do cultural studies using insights from these six key theorists.

Aimed at students of cultural studies this book offers an introduction to both the theory and practice of cultural studies. It also provides readers with an opportunity to regard Angela McRobbie ‘in dialogue’ with six of today’s leading cultural studies theorists. As such it will be eagerly welcomed by all students of media and cultural theory.

As that excerpt implies, its through a series of extended discussions and applications of each of the key theorists to contemporary pop culture that have been helping me understand these varying theories. The Bourdieu application for example, was a critique of the television show What Not to Wear as exemplifying instances of symbolic violence. The Bhabha application used The Kumars at No.42 to highlight aspects of Colonial theory. The Butler example used the movie 13 to explore her ideas about the social processes of “being girled”.

I really like the way the text is divided into one theorist at a time, with the theory and then an application of that theory to take the reader carefully through the field of cultural studies. This helped me especially with the theorists I didn’t know about. I guess its probably a first year undergrad text for the actual field of cultural studies, but I’ve been thinking about using it as a supplementary text for post-grads in Education because it provides a really strong theoretical framework to situate the more analytical lingusitic analyses. Too often I see students get excited about fine tuned analyses but they can’t answer the question: well, so what? What does this mean? Who cares? Theory theory theory, I love theory!

I do have to say I feel a bit upset about the critique of What Not to Wear though because I think Susannah and Trinny are a hoot. They remind me of me showing my friend’s younger sister how to shave her legs, or the girl in the grade above me at boarding school giving me some of her clothes because they suited me better than her, and we’d all have fashion shows in the girls dorm. But Angela McRobbie speaks of it as exemplifying symbolic violence against women. I fear my lack of understanding is connected with my lack of knowledge about the English class system because that seems to be one of the major critiques of it.