Lively not looking so lively anymore

Lively - Google's chat room with knobs on - is to close.  I can't say I'm sorry - I didn't like it much anyway!  But I am a little surprised.  Not because I thought it was good enough to stick around but because I thought Google might have the will, and the effort, to make it better.

Object zero

Hanging around in the ReLive 08 area on Open Life where we briefly discussed object zero - the desire to tidy up your inventory such that there are no items called 'Object'.

For the record... my inventory - which is quite small I think - is nowhere near!

Notice the 'avatar wall' in the background - presumably representing all the delegates at ReLive 08.  Nice.

Would have been nice to have the video streams displayed in-world though - I don't understand why this didn't happen.  The streams were in the right format and everything.  Shame :-(  It would have made it a much more immersive experience for those of us not able to be there in person.

Voice survey

I'm not a big fan of voice in SL for various reasons.  Just about the only time I use it is if I am giving an in-world presentation (usually to a group of avatars).  Other than that I use chat.

I note that Fleep Tuque is currently running a survey about people reaction to and use of voice in Second Life:

We are inviting you to tell us about your experiences in Second Life as part of a research study. 

 

Since Linden Lab released voice communication options in August, 2007, some residents have chosen to use it and other have not.  The following survey will help us understand how you communicate with others in-world.  The results of this questionnaire will help give advice to new residents and provide a better understanding of your experiences in-world as current residents. 

 

It should only take about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.  Even if you did not use voice, please consider giving us your feedback.

The Linden Prize

An interesting announcement from Linden Labs, with a significant incentive to get busy:

The Linden Prize will award one Second Life Resident or team with $10,000 USD for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. This annual award is intended to align with Linden Lab’s company mission, which is to connect all people to an online world that advances the human condition.

Yes... that's USD not L$!

On the face of it, I think educational, healthcare or charitable projects in SL should stand a good chance, given that all three use Second Life to bring about change for the better in the real world.

Club Penguin

Again from the virtualworlds@jiscmail.ac.uk mailing list:

Thursday 6th November at 8am SL time (4pm UK time) on Infolit iSchool.  Children in a virtual world: Jackie Darkstone (Professor Jackie Marsh, Department of Education, University of Sheffield, UK in RL) will talk about her research into schoolchildren's use of the virtual world Club Penguin.  

Location is http://slurl.com/secondlife/infolit%20ischool/131/243/21/

This is part of the regular CILR/ Infolit iSchool discussion series. 

UK educators

From the UK virtualworlds@jiscmail.ac.uk mailing list:

Sheila Yoshikawa (Sheila Webber in RL) will lead an exploration of Sheffield University's island, Infolit iSchool, from the Departmental offices to the Hobbit House and beyond. Sheila will discuss the different types of space and their uses, the value of using prefabs, and issues concerned with embedding information in SL locations without leading to notecard hell. 

Infolit iSchool has been used by Information Studies for a year (for teaching and educator/librarian discussions), and now Sheffield's Education Department has also started activities.

Monday Nov 10, 12 noon SL time (8pm UK time)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infolit iSchool/104/220/22/