Day: July 6, 2023

July 2023 SL Web User Group (WUG) meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Web User Group meeting venue, Denby

The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday, July 5th, 2023.

WUG meetings:

  • Are held in-world, generally on the first Wednesday of the month – see the SL public calendar.
  • Cover Second Life front-end web properties (Marketplace, secondlife.com, the sign-up pages, the Lab’s corporate pages, etc.).
  • They are not intended for the discussion of Governance issues, land fees / issues, content creation & tools, viewer or simulator development / projects. Please refer to the SL calendar for information on available meetings for these topics.

A video of the meeting, courtesy of Pantera, can be found embedded at the end of this article (my thanks to her as always!), and subject timestamps to the relevant points in the video are provided. Again, the following is a summary of key topics / discussions, not a full transcript of everything mentioned.

This was not the “usual” for of meeting – little was said by way of web updates, etc., which have occurred since the last meeting and no updates on upcoming projects.

In Brief

  • A general discussion on how Flickr is used in relation to the Marketplace: creators using it to promote new products and / or encourage interest in their brands / as an alternative to using in-world Groups, etc., through photo competitions, giveaways, etc; fashion bloggers using it as a means to micro-blog about clothing, hair accessories, etc .; users being able to flow merchants and see images / videos of new releases directly on their Flickr feed, etc.
    • Not sure on the purpose of the question (from the Lab), and no-one asked in the meeting.
  • A request for people who would like to see ONE thing WRT SL web properties and services (preferably). Responses include:
    • Allowing multiple versions of items (e.g. different colours) within a single listing (as has been LOOONNG promised with the Marketplace Styles function, but has yet to actually surface); or to have different versions of an item to be individually listed, but have buttons  within their listings so that users can easily toggle between the, a-la Amazon (e.g. so if an item is offered in say, single, twin, triple and quadruple sets, the various sets (and their prices) appear as a button on one another’s listing page so that users can swap back and forth between them).
    • The ability to remove certain stores / items from Search results (e.g. search for “cars” and have an option to select “don’t show me products from this creator again”, and having further results from that creator removed / excluded from search results).
    • The ability to click on reviewers’ names and see a full list of all their reviews (allowing for better judgement of their bias, etc.).
    • The ability to contact sellers directly through the MP.
    • Having fields which state when an item was listed / last updated on the MP.
  • How does Search order results? It varies, but as a rule of thumb:
    • “First time” searches & general searches from the MP home page, should show results by relevance.
    • “First time” searches of stores should list in terms of newest first.
    • If an option to display search results has been previously selected from the drop-down, that is generally the option use to order the results of further searches (until changed).
  • A lot of discussion on the pros and cons of “brand tagging” listings + identifying folders in Inventory.
  • Very much a meeting where it is easiest to watch the video (enable closed caption if required).

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023.

Bamboo’s meditations on time in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

Midway through its run at Selen’s Gallery, operated and curated by Selen Minotaur, is Far From by Bamboo Barnes, featuring previously unseen works by the arts drawn together in a theme I always find fascinating: the nature of time and its relationship with personal experiences and the formation of self.

It’s a subject I’ve been fascinated by since first reading Burnt Norton, the first poem in what would become T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, a discussion on the nature of time, the relationship between past and future and both of them with the current moment in time, alternate realities, the contrast between the experience of the modern man and spirituality, mixed with ideas of unity with the cosmos, and more. Whilst The more spiritual reflections of time and human nature are not necessarily a part of Bamboo’s Far From, the central theme of Burnt Norton’s opening (perhaps the most famous lines of the poem / The Four Quartets as a whole) was immediately brought to mind for me when reading Bamboo’s introduction to Far From.

What do you feel now if you close your eyes? Do you see the faint flicker of light that your memory gives you as you reach out in total darkness? Or is it something you wish you could have forgotten? A past that has become distant yet drawing you in heavily. The now that seems so far from it, but it is a part of you. A part of you that can never be denied.  

– Bamboo Barnes, Far From

Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

In other words, what we has gone before, given if not fully remembered – even if we no longer wish to recall it – is as much a part of us today, just as what we now do will become a part of our tomorrow; that while we might live in the “now”, we also live with the shadows and light of the past, factors which perhaps distort, or at least consciously or not, direct our way towards the future, subliminally or directly influencing as they do the decisions we make in the now.

Compare this with Eliot’s opening reflection from Burnt Norton:

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

– T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

Again, which is not to say the Bamboo’s art is intended to be any kind of visual essay on Eliot’s works; far from it – this is a subjective parallel I saw, and which other may not see or agree to. However, it is these kinds of parallels I so often find in Bamboo’s work and which – for me – further elevate her art.

That is, within Far From she offers a unique and highly visual meditation on then theme of the interconnectedness of time, just as Eliot does through the ideas he offers within the five parts of Burn Norton. Bamboo does this not only through her introduction to this exhibition, but in the manner of the images themselves. Each is distorted, some somewhat fragmented, all utilise colour in a striking manner.

Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

These approaches are all elements which set Bamboo’s work apart from that of others, and can be found in many of her pieces. Here they combine to visually represent those memories and events which have shaped who are are now, and how we came to be who / where we are within our life (and, particularly, in our understanding of our own self). At the same time, elements of the images, combined with the 3D elements Bamboo has included in the exhibition space engage in themes of the past and present combing to shape our personal future – and that, but for decisions of the past, the idea that our life’s path might have taken a different course; the the flow of decision as much as the fluidity direct our lives.

This latter point might must clearly be suggested by the animated mosaic Bamboo presents as the landing point for the exhibition. The interconnectedness of past, present and future might also be see within those images which use repetition of images, the different colours within them underpinning the influence of past on present, and present on future (and, if we opt to extend – the manner in which the future itself informed those past actions which have brought us to where we are today.

Selen’s Gallery: Bamboo Barnes – Far From

A further beauty of Bamboo’s art is that her images can be enjoyed in their own right, as essays in style, colour, light, shade, subject and composition, each one standing entirely independently to the others around it. Thus, whether or not – like me – you opt to see an elegant artistic treatise within Far From, it offers a collection of richly engaging pieces which can each be appreciated on its own merits, making it a very worthwhile visit, and it will remain open to view through into August 2023.

SLurl Details