October 17, 2006
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.
October 13, 2006
Slatenight 1.2 is available now - in Second Life at any Slatenight kiosk, and at the website slatenight.com
Articles this issue include the following:
and there’s lots more about art, identity, relationships in SL, musical events, SL lifestyles and more! Phew… and issue 3 is shaping up nicely, with some fabulous articles covering the arts, education, culture, and life in Second Life.
October 4, 2006
September 21, 2006
August 21, 2006
I am so delighted to be able to announce that a pdf version of Slatenight magazine is available, thanks to the great work of our layout, design and artist team (Dell Wilberg, Scarlet Singer, Richie Waves). Dell has spent countless hours on this and it shows, it is a stunning visual masterpeice! Once again I am humbled by the talented people I work with in my new moonlighting career 
Meanwhile, thanks to power blogger Christy, we are featured at the following blogs and sites that I know of:
Cross Media Entertainment
Writer Response Theory
Dramatech Space
Rhizome.org
Networked Performance
During the crazed rush to get everything finished, we did manage to enjoy an impromptu Friday evening party thanks to Lythe (again!) and the fabulous Cybster who was our fun live DJ. Here are some shots from the party:
The art easel you see in this final shot is our “kiosk” - a magazine dispenser in world with the virtual version of our magazine. The kiosk is located in the slatenight reception area, and I have also started placing them all over Second Life at infohubs, friend’s spaces, and some of the SL libraries. Just click on the easel with the Slatenight sign and you get a free copy of the magazine
You might also be able to make out some special gift bags on the boardroom table there - these have the magazines in them as well as some info cards, landmarks and free gifts. If you want one, just ask me
Edit: Now also blogged about by Tao Takashi
August 10, 2006
Well, the launch party for slatenight.com is being held this weekend (see info here) and I was thrilled to see this lovely write-up of the magazine here (thanks to Linda Zimmer). Jokay has also blogged about it, and Danielle also mentioned it here on the NMC Observer.
Life seems to have taken off and entered the crazy lane right now, with so many deadlines, writing contracts, classes, students and projects going on but hey, why not launch a new magazine in the middle of it!! smiles…
I thought this Slatenight project would be a great outlet for creativity and fun, and maybe it would even sustain my SL fashion habits later down the track… but I also thought it would be as easy as writing on a group blog. Ummmm… I was wrong, it’s much more complex, with a lot to learn and consider. I am sure I am making tons of mistakes and that as a business woman I had better not give up my day job… but hey, as long as it remains fun and people enjoy it, I will be very happy indeed.
If you haven’t read the online version, go and have a look!! The website architecture, design, and general technical wow factor is all due to my wonderful partner in crime, Dell Wilberg. We are hoping to have a stunning pdf version finished shortly, and an in world version to follow. With a group of volunteers (who all have very busy “first” lives), no funding or budget, and ad hoc resources, I am actually amazed at what we have been able to accomplish. My thanks in advance to all involved.
August 2, 2006
Well some of you may be wondering why my blog has quietened down a little lately, and besides the usual writing deadlines, semester beginning, art classes, and general life as usual, I have also embarked upon a little project in Second Life with some friends, and that is *drum rolllllllllllllllllllll* developing a magazine which focusses on the Arts, education, culture and entertainment in Second Life.
Although there are some great magazines about fashion, some great podcasts about SL, some great forums about dducation, some great news-like blogs…. I think this is the first magazine catering explicitly for the Arts and education and entertainment in a virtual world.
So we have an online version, a pdf version, and an in-world version, and our big launch party is in just under two weeks!!! Everybody is welcome and we will have the fabulous Jaycatt and Frogg streaming live music at the event.
Ummmm…. and we are looking for advertisers (you can go here for information) and sponsorship so if you want to support the arts and education in virtual worlds, please let me know! Hope to see many of you there.
Also, I am still looking for enthusiastic writers on any of these topics (see the website for examples of all the content covered), so if you are a Second Life citizen who enjoys writing, can manage to take snapshots and is reasonably familiar with blogging software (and wants to earn a few extra Lindens) please let me know - just im me - Anya Ixchel - in world.
July 31, 2006
Yay!!! Uses of Blogs, which has my chapter on Fictional Blogs in it, is now available!
Links to the table of contents, chapter one, and the contributors can be found here. This is very exciting!
July 28, 2006
Thanks to Danielle, I had a fascinating visit to the NMC Campus (NMC: New Media Consortium) last night! I met CDB (whose work I had read about before here) and Larry (who actually reads this blog!!!), and also met up with Corwin who has been talking to me about teaching in SL lately too. We had a great chat about teaching in SL but the most interesting part of the visit was checking out Robbie Dingo’s “Whisper Box” - surround sound musical isntallation that responds to chat. It is so interesting: playful and poetic, another new form of performance conversation that Robbie Dingo calls “a 21st Century Folk Song”. It is truly amazing - check it out at the NMC campus if you’re in Second Life!!
And…. my visit to NMC was called “a nice bonus” here!! How kind *smile* Thanks everybody for making me so welcome!
Credit for these photos goes to CDB
Well, after months of thinking about it, talking about it, and preparing for it…. yesterday I held my first class in SL for the semester. I was very excited and although I had to go into the labs an hour before the class started to install an updated version of SL on every single machine (*groan* and will have to do that next week as well!) the class went very well indeed.
I have some students in the campus computer lab with me, and also have distance mode students (well, only one was with us yesterday) joining us in SL. I had arranged to do a conference call using skype but alas the skype wasn’t working for some reason, so it was just SL and typing.
Not having skype actually worked in our favour I think because it meant I lectured very slowly - talking to the students in the lab, then typing in Second Life. The lab students just watched the action on the large projected screen for the first part and this helped them to see how things worked and how I was communicating with other people in the SL environment. There’s so much to show and explain to people who are totally new to online worlds, and then Second Life has a completely unique set of features which need further explaining. So I talked and typed and talked and typed and responded to questions and made the online distance student do some demonstrations. All my lecture notes were actually inside SL (though i put them on the course blog as well) so I felt that it was a very strange way to lecture - partly outside and yet partly inside SL. The slowness of it meant students could take their time to get their head around what was going on and I think this helped to lessen the degree to which they were overwhelmed.
I was quite happy with the lecture part of the session, and felt quite in control, but then came the whole registration and initiation into Second Life for the lab students. I sent the distance mode student off exploring while concentrating on the lab students. The registration process was OK though again it took longer than expected - thinking of a name to use took some students quite a while, and interpreting the security words took many failed attempts (is it just me or are these really difficult to see!?). Once inside Second Life the introductory tutorials are very good so I just let them work their way through those for a while. Again this took longer than I expected. Interestingly for me, one female student chose to be a male - I can’t wait to read her first assignment (which is a semiotic analysis of the avatar they form and fashion for themselves)! And of all the students, it was a male student who spent the most time working on editing his appearance at this stage.
Once I teleported all the students into the classroom there were some administrative things we had to do: like making “friends” with each other, signing them all up to the class group, and making landmarks. Everything is so strange and new when you first start and it is easy to forget that confusion. Learning how to right click on somebody and select “add friend” from the pie menu to establish a friends list takes a little practice, especially for students who are self-confessed “internet illiterates”. The next item of business was giving them their giftbags - when I told them I had free clothes, a free aeroplane, a free motorbike, and all sorts of other goodies for them, I noticed a visible shift from anxiety to excitement in many faces!!
Next was practising talking to each other through text, and learning where to chat versus where to im. This went really well thanks to the distance mode student who asked lots of questions and kept the conversation rolling while I walked around the lab making sure all of the individuals were doing and feeling OK. Some students relaxed right into it, others took a little longer to find things and work things out.
I think most students were excited and enthused by the end of the session, although I still saw a look of slight terror on one woman’s face and even though I promised her that I would hold her hand and help her each step of the way she did not look entirely convinced.
The biggest lesson for me was that I needed to slow right down and not expect to get into the theory too much at this early stage. It will be a difficult balancing act I feel to keep a high level of theory and scholarship whilst allowing enough time for exploration, learning and play. I think the “play stage” is very important but there’s only so much time in each session. I talked a lot about my philosophy of being an insider, and I can see that most of the students will take up the challenge and immerse themselves into the world to learn about its social and discursive practices. I am not convinced yet that I will be able to convert them all (*grin* do I sound evangelistic?) but I am sure going to try!
The best question of the night? Do I consider Second Life to be ontologically new? FABULOUS QUESTION!!!! The answer: yes and no! I love it that the students are already pushing my thinking and theorising.
Now.. off to make a scavenger hunt for them to do next week….
June 2, 2006
Random Calliope from Second Life has created the most intriguing quest / alternate reality game / distributed narrative (all of the above!) called “The Mata Hari Quest“. When I read about it I simply had to rush over and start the quest for myself! So I went to Random’s shop - a shop that sells the most gorgeous prim based jewellery:
and discovered the poster with information on it about the quest:
The poster told me to head off to an art musem to begin the quest, and so I did:
I was so enthralled with finding this museum / gallery that I spent quite a bit of time just enjoying it before getting down to the serious business of hunting for clues. But what a JOY it was when I discoverd my first batch of clues, in the form of a series of letters and postcards telling the story of Mata Hari and her missing jewels. Here is a little taste:
January 27th, 1917
My Dear Mr. Calliope,
I am flattered that you have approached my agent, Gabriel Astruc, with the offer to host my shows on a regular basis. Agents are so formal, so I wanted to answer you personally on the matter. My answer is “Yes! Yes!” The Grand Ballroom will be a perfect new second home for my show. The proximity to the railway line certainly makes it easier for me to continue my traveling schedule back and forth between there and the Musee Gimet.
I cannot wait for our first show in just three weeks! I am preparing a new act, just for the occasion. I will be there with bells on. Ha! I hope I do not disappoint you or my fans!
Hugs and Thanks,
Mata Hari
August 1st, 1917
Dear Random,
I was entirely caught off-guard by your proposal of marriage last weekend. I am so honored, but completely undeserving of a man of your merit. I cannot entertain the idea of settling down. We are of different worlds, you and I. You enjoy your seclusion while I enjoy the crowds and adoration of fans.
I thank you deeply for your kind gift of the diamond ring, which was able to pay off all my debt in Versailles. I cannot overstate how your kindness makes my mind whirl with delight. Oh, my sweet Random. The days and nights we have known were delightful, but they are just a few of a thousand more you will enjoy with others over the years. You really should get out more, my shy man.
Don’t forget the games we played. I know I won’t.
Sincerely,
Margaretha
I love it!!! And…. as you piece together the puzzles, solve the clues and progress with the quest, you are rewarded with free jewels at different stages!! I am yet to actually find my first free jewel because the quest has only just begun for me… but it is rather exciting and I don’t mind taking my time over it to puzzle it out - that is part of the fun and of course an important part of gaming: reader/player interaction! I can see so much fun for kids in this too, but lets not talk about education now - I have free prim jewellery to find!! *smile*
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