The BURN2 team have announced the latest in the series of BURN2 events for 2015. with it, come invitations to artists, builders, DJs, musicians, blogger and the Second Life populace as a whole to join with them for three days of art, music and events that will take place between Friday, July 10th and Sunday July 12th, 2015.
Find a way to look back at how our beloved Playa may once have been, so a window was opened to one fanciful possibility of the past.
A primeval jungle surrounds the Playa as it was long long ago, a great lake. On the edges here and there are hot springs and geysers, some of which remain even until today. Steam drifts from them out across the water in the same way the dust we know so well does today. Thick mats of vegetation float upon the surface, some large and strong enough to hold sizeable structures. Other mats are less substantial. You must pick your path across the maze of them; one wrong step and you drop below into briny water. Who knows what else has slipped below? What rests or lives there awaiting its genesis, ready to emerge in the next stage of our growth?
Parcels for artists, builders and creators on the Playa are being provided free of charge, and are available for builds on land, in / on the water or floating over the water. Those interested in applying for a parcel should:
Be familiar with the 10 Principles of Burning Man (those who have not performed at BURN2 before will be asked to complete a short orientation, as per the sign-up guidelines)
No closing dates for applications appear to be given, but as BURN2 events are very popular, parcels and stage slots are liable to fill-up fast – so the sooner those intending to apply do so, the better their chances!
About BURN2
BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man festival and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man regional event, and the only virtual world event out of more than 100 real world Regional groups and the only regional event allowed to burn the man.
The BURN2 Team operates events year around, culminating in an annual major festival of community, art and fire in the fall – a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.
It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to our virtual lives by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and all events in Second Life are held at the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island. OR, from Thursday, May 27th, Bradley University. Locations for events in InWorldz and Kitely are given within the write-ups for those events.
Sunday, May 24th: Tea-time at Baker Street
Caledonia Skytower, Kaydon Oconnell and Corwyn Allen open the covers of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, originally published in 1894, and which brings together twelve (or eleven in US editions of the volume) adventures featuring Holmes and Watson, as originally published in The Strand Magazine. This week: Silver Blaze.
Silver Blaze, an Illustration by Sidney Paget, 1892
“I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go,” said Holmes, as we sat down together to our breakfast one morning.
“Go! Where to?”
“To Dartmoor; to King’s Pyland.”
I was not surprised. Indeed, my only wonder was that he had not already been mixed upon this extraordinary case, which was the one topic of conversation through the length and breadth of England. For a whole day my companion had rambled about the room with his chin upon his chest and his brows knitted, charging and recharging his pipe with the strongest black tobacco, and absolutely deaf to any of my questions or remarks. Fresh editions of every paper had been sent up by our news agent, only to be glanced over and tossed down into a corner. Yet, silent as he was, I knew perfectly well what it was over which he was brooding.
Thus begins one of the most popular of all tales concerning Holmes and Watson: the disappearance of the famous racing horse Silver Blaze on the eve of a great race, and the apparent murder of the horse’s trainer.
First published in 1982, Silver Blaze is set in the brooding surrounds of Dartmoor, and involves what is regarded as one of Conan Doyle’s most subtle but effective, plot points: “the dog in the night-time”!
Monday May 25th, 19:00: The Pathways of Desire
Gyro Muggins reads Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1979 short story The Pathways of Desire, which also features as one of 20 of her stories gathered together in 1982 to form the volume, The Compass Rose.
The Pathways of Desire forms study of perception, reality, dreams, creation, and exploration, focusing on a group of anthropologists studying a distant world’s society where there’s barely a culture and few myths, but whose language seems to be based on English.
“There is room. There is time. All the galaxies. All the universes. That is infinity. There is room. Room for all the dreams, all the desires. No end to it. Worlds without end.”
Tuesday May 26th, The Great Gatsby, Part 1
Caledonia Skytower, Corwyn Allen and Kaydan Oconnell commence, by popular demand, a a reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnificent 1925 novel.
In 1922, Nick Carraway arrives in New York to learn about the bond business. He rents a small cottage in West Egg, home of the newly-rich, only to discover the owner of the huge Gothic mansion next door, the deeply mysterious Jay Gatsby, is prone to throwing lavish parties every weekend, to which in seems everyone comes. Everyone it seems, except Nick’s cousin Daisy, who is married to Tom Buchanan. Together they live across the bay in the more fashion East Egg, where the “old money” resides.
Following a visit with them, Nick is slowly drawn into their world, both discovering Tom Buchanan has a mistress who lives in the Valley of Ashes, an industrial area lying between the Eggs and New York city, and finding himself increasingly attracted to the Buchanan’s friend, the beautiful, if cynically minded, Jordan Baker.
Then, one Saturday, Nick finds himself invited to one of Jay Gatsby’s great parties, and is thus drawn into an increasingly deep well of infatuation, lust, and tragedy, witnessing first hand a darker side of the so-called American Dream.
Wednesday May 27th – “Farewell, Imagination Island”
Seanchai Library closes its doors at Imagination island with a final set of readings prior to a move to a new location and venue setting.
06:00: Forever Erma
Erma Bombeck achieved great popularity for her newspaper column that described suburban home life from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s. She also published 15 books, most of which became bestsellers. From 1965 to 1996, Erma Bombeck wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes eloquent humour, chronicling the ordinary life of a mid-western suburban housewife. By the 1970s, her columns were read twice-weekly by 30 million readers of the 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada
Join Freda Frostbite and Trolly Trollop as the delve into Erma’s wit and wisdom of everyday life, joined by Caledonia Skytower.
Seanchai Library opens its doors at their new venue at Bradley University – more details to follow on the official Seanchai blog, but see below for the events!
19:00: Celtic Flash
With Shandon Loring.
21:00 Seanchai Late Night
With Finn Zeddmore.
Saturday May 30th, Seanchai InWorldz 12:00 Noon: The Reluctant Dragon
Caledonia and Shandon read Kenneth Grahame’s 1898 short story (turned into a film in 1941 by Walt Disney), which plays on the legend of St. George and the Dragon.
When a dragon is discovered living in a cave on the downs near a medieval village, the most unsurprised of the village’s inhabitants is a young boy. He’d always thought the cave to be a dragon’s cave, so the news that one had been seen living there didn’t faze him at all. In fact, given a dragon did live there, it seemed only natural he should go pay it a visit.
What he finds is not entirely what he expected. Rather than being all involved in battling with knights and making a general nuisance of itself, this particular dragon has a passion for poetry and a willingness to be friend with those willing to be friendly towards it.
Unfortunately, the rest of the village don’t take kindly to the dragon’s hospitable ways, and determine that this “pestilential scourge” must be done away with, and call upon none other than St. George to administer the dragon’s dispatch. Hearing of the plan, the boy arranges to bring St. George to meet the dragon and the two become fast friends, and determine not to fight.
Problem is, the villagers are expecting a fight, demand a fight, and by golly, they’re going to make sure there is a fight; something which leaves St. George and the dragon with a bit of problem: how can they fight without actually hurting or killing one another?
—–
Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for April / May is Habitat for Humanity, with a vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live – a safe and clean place to call home.
It’s a weekend of Peace Love and Hope, Great Music and yes, lots of MUD! So read the opening words about RelayStock, a special homage to the great a glorious days of Woodstock, and which is taking place in support of Relay for Life of SL over the weekend of Saturday, May 23rd and Sunday May 24th 2015. Hosted by the indomitable Relay Rockers team, RelayStock provides a very Woodsotck-esque look and feel, with Relay teams provided with a tent or minivan (both in 60’s style finishes), which are spread before the festival stage across a field woven with dirt tracks and – as the note above suggests – lots on puddles and pools of mud people can slosh through (or indeed, dance in!). Vendors and kiosks have been set-up in and around the various camps, and all is ready for a weekend of music, fun and fund-raising – and let’s not forget that is 2014, RelayStock raised L$ 1.5 million over two days!
Special Events for the Weekend
The event venue is already open, and things will kick-off from 08:00 on Saturday, May 23rd and continue through until 20:00 SLT on Sunday, May 24th. The main schedule of events includes: Saturday, May 23rd
13:00 – 17:15: the Relay Rocker’s 2015 CRFB Top Dj Contest finals
13:00 – 15:00: CRFB 2nd Seeded Finalist
15:00 – 17:00: CRFB 1st Seeded Finalist
17:00 – 17:15: Presentation of 2015 CRFB Top DJ Trophies and Awards
17:15 – 21:00: Saturday BYOK Fever, featuring the music of:
17:00 – 20:00: The famous T1Radio TIme Machine and a Trip to the Sixties with Trader Whiplash and Team Relay Rockers BYOK
In addition, Relay Teams will be hosting their own DJ-led events at the following times:
Saturday, May 23rd: 08:00-10:00; 10:00-12:00 noon; 12:00 noon-13:00
Sunday, May 24th: 08:00-10:00; 10:00-12:00 noon; 12:00 noon-14:00; 14:00-15:00
So, let the age of Aquarius enter your life this weekend, don your kaftan (and galoshes!), put flowers in your hair and head on over to RelayStock for get music, great dancing, great fun – and all in a good cause!
RelayStock will take place at Relay dAlliez, a region dedicated to the memory of dAlliez Estates estates founder Alliez Mysterio, who along with Nuala Maracas and Trader Whiplash, helped found the Relay Rockers team in 2005. Alliez was lost to breast cancer in 2013. The region was first made available in 2014 to any Relay Teams wishing to host their own RFL of SL fund-raising events. Currently, there are still several prime weekend dates open in the 2015 RFL of SL season which can be used by Relay Teams to host their own events. Representatives from teams interested in doing so can visit the Relay dAlliez InfoHub for more information and to submit a reservation request.
Experience Keys are being used as a part of the new user experience – click for full size (note viewer UI is intentionally turned off)
update, April 2016: The Lab is apparently A/B testing the use of Experience Keys with task-oriented learning at a set the Social Islands. See my article on this for further details.
As a part of my periodic poking at things in Second Life, I recently logged-in using the avatar I keep “parked” at one of the Learning Islands which are the initial arrival points for new users, and noticed that the Lab has added Experience Keys capabilities to the first-time log-in experience for new users as part of continuing efforts to improve the experience new arrivals have when arriving in-world for the first time.
For those not already in the know, and keeping things to their briefest, Experience Key (also referred to as Experience Tools) are a relatively new (and at the time of writing, yet to be fully deployed) feature that allow users to opt-in to an “experience” – which could be a game, a tour, an educational activity, and so on – just once, rather than having to repeatedly grant specific permission each time something wants to act upon their avatar – such as a teleport offer, attaching an object, etc. This means that the experience can be enjoyed much more fluidly and without the distraction of multiple dialogue boxes constantly popping-up. when the user leaves the experience area, their status in the experience is saved (e.g. their progress and items collected), all permissions are revoked, and all attachments removed.
Experience Keys in use as a part of the New User Experience
Within the first-time log-in environment, Experience Keys are being used to help guide new users through the basic steps of using the viewer. The focus (at least at the time when i noticed the use of Experience Keys) is specifically on avatar movement. However, there is no reason why the approach couldn’t be expanded in the future to cover other aspects of viewer use, and other aspects of gaining familiarity with SL.
A key difference between the use of Experience Keys in the new user experience is that the HUD system is attached seamlessly when logging-in for the first time; there’s no initial pop-up dialogue box for the users to accept as they log in.
This is a good idea, as it avoids potential concern which might otherwise occur for a new user in having a potentially confusing / worrying dialogue box displayed as soon as they log-in, stating it wants to take control of this and that. Instead, the HUD attaches, and a couple of seconds later, the first pop-up displayed, providing a brief, basic overview of walking and turning.
In all, there are four pop-up hints given as the user progresses around Social island, each one appearing at an appropriate point in their travels. The hint on flying, for example, comes just ahead of the user reaching a broken bridge which should otherwise span a chasm.
The four pop-up helpers which appear as a part of the experience as the new user progresses around Learning Island – click for full size
The process stops when the user passes through the portal leading to one of the Social Islands, with the experience HUD detaching automatically as they do. Once at the latter, things become more of the familiar mix (to those of us familiar with the new user experience, at least!) of potential confusion, wandering and poking at things in order to work out what to do, even with the help from established users, who have for a while now been able to access the Social Islands (and some of whom can themselves be somewhat unhelpful, and do act as an illustration of the Lab’s misgivings on this area).
However, to stick with the use of Experience Keys, the current deployment is pretty basic, but it does offer a rough foundation on which more might be built. As such, I asked Peter Gray, the Lab’s Director of Global Communications about the use of the Experience Keys capability, and whether it might be extended within the new user experience.
“We’ve been using Experience Keys for some time with the new user experience,” Peter confirmed, before continuing, “We plan to continue to test and improve the new user experience, but at this time, we’re not able to share a pipeline for planned changes.”
The How To guide provide a range of information on movement, communications and other basic aspects of using the viewer – yet seems oddly overlooked; it is not opened by default on a first time log-in, nor are new users directed to it
How this might be done is a matter of speculation; Experience Keys certainly offer a raft of opportunities for easy learning activities along the lines of the old Orientation Islands of yesteryear, but with a potentially greater level of engagement and interaction.
As it is, the viewer does have a reasonably good introduction to the basics of using the viewer in the form of the How To guide (which has never seemed to really form a part of the various attempts to tweak the on-boarding process). It would be interesting to see the information this contains put to far better use, possibly as part and parcel of a more immersive, interactive means of guiding new users through the basics of the viewer utilising Experience Keys.
Getting to grips with the viewer is, of course, only one aspect of bringing new users into SL and getting them to stick – and it is one perhaps we focus on a little too much. The key to getting people to stay is to get them engaged in the platform – and that comes through positive interaction with others, preferably by helping them to find people within environments and activities which interest the incoming users.
This is perhaps a harder aspect of the problem to solve. However, as write Beau Hindman demonstrates in his recent video on the new user experience; there are options which might be considered. One in particular could be to direct incoming users more towards Experience Keys-led activities within SL, as more and more come on-stream, as it is likely these will tend to be something of a focus of established users as well, thus providing a potential mix of activity and interaction with others. It also fits with the Lab’s vision for on-boarding people in their Next Generation Platform.
As noted above, what is currently employed at the Leaning Islands is rudimentary; but it is also a start. Experience Keys will hopefully be fully deployed across the grid in the near future. Once that’s the case, it’ll also be interesting to see how the various mentor groups might leverage them to help new users as well.
The UKanDo viewer, maintained by Connor Monaron updated to version 3.7.28.34230 on May 11th.
As the version number suggests, this brings the viewer to parity with the Lab’s 3.7.28 code base, and specifically with the Viewer-Managed Marketplace (VMM) functionality.
For those who may not recognise VMM, and keeping things relatively brief, the aim of the project is to enable merchants to manage the creation and management of Marketplace product listing through the viewer, bypassing the need to use the Merchant Outbox (and have copies of items stored on the Marketplace inventory servers) or using Magic Boxes.
It does this by adding a new Marketplace Listing panel to to viewer, which will eventually replace the Merchant Outbox entirely, and by adding additional back-end and web functionality which allows merchants to carry out a number of tasks associated with their Marketplace listings from within the viewer, and by enabling products to be delivered to customers directly from the Lab’s asset servers, rather than having to store them as separate inventory on the Marketplace servers.
Rather than go into a detailed explanation of all the functionality here, if you haven’t come across VMM before, please read my notes from the initial testing in 2014.
The Merchant Listing panel for VMM, as see in the UKanDo beta, with some of my migrated items
The key point here is that, at the time of writing, VMM is still very much undergoing beta testing, and the viewer-side code has yet to reach a release candidate status in the official viewer, so the 3.7.28 release of UKanDo is slightly ahead of the curve – the Lab prefer that TPVs don’t release code which the Lab themselves have not issues in release candidate form.
To this end, Connor has clearly indicated this 3.7.28 release is a beta version of UKanDo, and the earlier 3.7.27 update remains available as the full release.
It’s also worth pointing out that initially, the current VMM beta was by invitation, so if you want to try the functionality either using the UKanDo beta or the Lab’s own project viewer, you’ll have to apply to join the beta via the link towards the bottom of your Merchant Home Page on the Marketplace.
All that said, I’ve been driving the VMM version of UKanDo over the last couple of days, using it to gradually convert my own modest store on the Marketplace from Direct Delivery to VMM (as shown in the image above right, taken as I got started), and have found absolutely no issues with it – not that I was actually expecting any. Everything works smoothly, and updates made via UKanDo are accurately reflected when checked in the official VMM project viewer.
For Merchants who prefer using UKanDo over the official viewer, and who would like to try-out VMM as the Lab moves it gradually towards full deployment (which could occur in June 2015), the 3.7.28 presents an opportunity to do so.
Note that as a VMM beta release, the 3.7.28 update does not contain any other functional or other updates compared to the UKanDo 3.7.27 release.
VMM allows merchants to carry out some Marketplace listing related tasks from within the viewer (subject to how they have web browsing set-up) – here I’m editing a listing associated with an item in my Merchant Listing panel – click for full size, if required
Holly Kai Park Pavilion – will launch and close the Sail4Life silent art auction in support of Relay for Life and taking place over the weekend of May 22nd through 24th
Taking place over the weekend of the 22nd through 24th May is a special silent art auction organised by the Sail4Life team, with all proceeds raised going directly to Relay for Life of Second Life.
On offer to the highest bidders are a number of original maritime pieces offered by SL artists, all of which can be previewed and bid for on the hills of the beautiful Holy Kai Park on the north side of Blake Sea (you can read my write-up on the opening of the park here).
Sail4Life silent art auction for RFL of SL, May 22nd-24th, 2015
The pieces on offer are all original works, and represent a range of styles and approaches to maritime art that will grace any home in Second Life. What’s more, a donor who wishes to remain anonymous has offered to match the total amount raised through the donation kiosks during the course of the auction.
Things kick-off at 17:00 SLT on Friday, May 22nd, with a special auction launch party at the Holy Kai Park Pavilion, featuring DJ Joy Canadeo. The party will run through until 19:00 SLT on Friday. The auction will run through until Sunday, May 24th, with a further closing party at the Holy Kai Park Pavilion with DJ G Winz, from 15:00 through 17:00 SLT.
Sail4Life silent art auction for RFL of SL, May 22nd-24th, 2015
Further information on the event can be obtained from Winnie Sweetwater, chair, Sail4Life team.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 