I thought I’d make a running history log of writing events, and meetings I’ve attended in Second Life, some with success, some not so much. Such is Second Life.
Horror Fest – a Weekend of Events over March 7 – 8
Horror Fest included many gothic themed writing events, and concluded with a Fantasy Dress event. However I was unable to attend – due to timings - most of the events. The Horror Fest weekend was brought to us by Bookstacks, The Guild of UK Writers, and several other sponsors.
The one event I did attend was the Beauty and the Beast Fashion Show, which ran for an hour at 7pm my UK time. From this, I actually went out and bought one of the outfits I had been shown from a store called Hectic Moon. I missed out on the goodie bag, however – never saw it. But I was impressed by the models, provided by Focus Fashion Agency, and would have liked an excuse to buy one of those mermaid costumes.
London School of Journalism lecture on Media Law by Andrew Knight March 10th.
Provided by the UK Writing Group, and held in the Titan Ampitheatre, London School of Journalism (which has a SIM on Second Life). The first time I turned up for this it was on the wrong day – an error which occured in the communications and the fact that Second Life time system had clocked over to Pacific Daylight Savings time (who would have thought this would effect a virtual world, huh?).
This lecture on Writing Law was particularly relevant to freelancers and journalists, and held in voice. At the start of the lecture several attendees had difficulty with hearing the voice sound, but LSJ provided some people to help resolve those issues.
To be fair, most of the attendees in the crowd were LSJ students of distance courses, but there was a smattering of other writers in the lecture, invited by the Guild of UK Writers messages – as I was.
These lectures were interesting from a secondary viewpoint. In entering the ampitheatre with our avatars, we are warned that we may actually be appearing in online media such as YouTube or Myspace on sites maintained by The London School of Journalism. In fact, I took a snapshot of the crowd where you can see me in the middle end row to the right, and the camera man with all his gear at the front.
I was also disconcerted to find that people were teleporting into the lecture late and ending up landing on my knees.
Andrew Knight’s actual presentation (he goes under the handle of Selwyn Scribe in SL) revolved around the conflicts between freedom of expression, public interest, and the ethical standards and laws for the media, and an individual’s right to privacy. It was interesting from a UK writing viewpoint, particularly when hearing about the differences in laws and understanding with our European colleagues. And phrases such as ‘defamation’ and ‘suing’ were enough to make many a freelancer or student journalist mindful of the legal world they are treading within.
From the audience itself, a good supply of relevant questions came through on the local chat facility, which were responded to by Andrew / Selwyn in good time. I found the final discussion over Libel tourism of interest – apparently Britain’s libel laws are leading to foreign business people suing American authors in British courts over books not published in this country, but where there are a couple of copies available. The burden of proof sits in this case on the Authors, leaving it easy to sue from outside this country.
There – see, I actually learnt quite a lot.
SLCN Live Taping of Meta Makeover
On the same hour as I attended my first SL lecture (above) I received an IM notification towards a live taping for the SL TV network. At the SLCN headquarters I grabbed up fresh copies of the latest editions of SL magazines, and then made my way to the television studios. Meta Makeover is to do with houses and designs, but there are also live taping sessions for fashion and other topics available to attend.
This particular session was dealing with a topic worthwhile as a discussion amongst the authoring community publishing on Second Life – the subject of protecting intellectual property rights on Second Life. There were some horrendous tales of designed work being taken by others and called their own, including a six month build project by one developer which was handed over, and taken into Open Life, a clone of Second Life, prim for prim, but without the creative credits or scripts working.
During the taping we were introduced to the CCA, or Content Creators Association, which is focussed on providing information and legal recourse for those suffering from copyright and IP infringements. In the second part of the show I learnt about the copybot feature.
SLCN.tv is available online, and via screens inworld. I happen to have a television set in my own house which can – with a bit of tweaking – pick up the live broadcasts of SLCN channels.
SLCN Live Taping of Meet An Author
Written Word invited me to a live taping of Meet An Author – this time with the author of one of the published guides on Second Life. It was held at the Red Sky Club, but I turned up a whole one day late, having got the message – which wasn’t time specific – through my group mails the morning after the event taping.
I sat at Red Sky, however, and watched the re-showing alone, impressed by the fact that the avatars were moving their mouths semi-inline with their vocalisation.
The Meet An Author taping is currently available to watch on SLCN.tv online, or it was until today when the page can’t be found.
First Podcast Taping of Literary Podcast Taping – Off the Shelf, Bookstacks
At the time that I was sitting alone viewing my missed Meet the Author, a group message came through inviting me to the first Off the Shelf literary podcast.
The seating at this first ever taping quickly filled up with fellow writers. Interviewed that night (7pm my time on a Sunday) was a Librarian from the West of Ireland Library; and the Founder of Storybook Island, who was there to discuss the upcoming Second Life Story Quest (see below).
Bookstacks.org holds the podcasts.
World Storytelling Day, March 20th : The Virtual Worlds Story Project – The Second Life Story Quest.
Coming up this Friday is something I am looking forward to participating in. The Second Life Story Quest commences from midnight and finishes SL Time at around 9pm on the 20th. The midnight start means that I can participate in my UK morning for the quest.
With a goal of helping writers and storytellers imagine, craft, and share Second Life stories, the Quest will lead participants along one of four Story Trails. Along each trail will be a series of Enchanted Books. Touching the books will not only provide information to include in the story, but clues that lead to other points on the trail as well.
The Quest will allow participants to choose from one of four genres, and be held across multiple sims in Second Life. The Quest’s final stop will be Karuna (the new HIV/AIDS sim) where participants can sit in scenic surroundings to write, submit their stories, and/or get help from writing coaches.
The day will conclude with story readings, the awarding of prizes, live music, and dancing.
LinkMes:
- U.S. Society for Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.
- The LSJ Law in Media lecture itself is also available on YouTube where the LSJ put up several lectures.
- SLCN.tv – live broadcasts as they happen of Meta Makeover and Meet The Author amongst other channels and topics. Check out the Snail Racing which happens every Tuesday also.
- Bookstacks.org – Off the Shelf Podcasts
These posts may also be of interest:
March 17th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Hi Michelle,
I’m glad you were able to make some of our events at Horror Fest and for the Off the Shelf taping. I hope you can make more of our events in the future!
Kghia
June 15th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Hullo – stumbled across your blog while searching for something else (serendipty strikes again!), and decided to read your entries rather than continue chasing windmills.
I can sympathize with your intial frustration in Sl; there used to be quite a good ‘beginners’ island, where new avatars were taught how to complete simple tasks, but Linden Labs appears to feel it’s no longer necessary.
Re: quitting in public places (in your second or third post) – most people don’t find this too bothersome, as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now; all too often people have SL crash, or power goes out, ISP goes down, any number of things. I’ve heard people refer to it as “crashitis”.
Re: canoodling, snogging, and more strenuous activities (:-D). – I’ve not visited the sim to which you refer, so I can’t speak to the specifics, but I’ve found generally that any sim rated Mature is likely to have poseballs for that. Some want people to keep it indoors so as not to frighten the horses, others don’t seem to care, or actively encourage it.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for your interesting commentary on your experiences so far, and that I’ll keep reading. If you have questions about how stuff works in SL, I’d be happy to answer them as I can.
Ginger MacMoragh (SL name)