Category: Second Life

SL17B exhibitor applications

Posted on by Inara Pey
via and © Linden Lab

On Friday, March 13th, 2020, Linden Lab opened applications for those wishing to exhibit at the upcoming 17th anniversary of Second Life.

SL17B will run from Friday, June 19th through until Friday, July 10th, with the core entertainments for the celebrations taking place between June 19th and Sunday, June 28th. This year the theme is vacations and road trips (or road trips and vacations as the Lab has previously referred to it – amounts to the same thing), with the official blog post announcing the opening of exhibitor applications reading in part:

In Second Life, you can explore the (virtual) world from the safety and comfort of your own home — and that’s why we’ve selected  “vacations and road trips”  as this year’s SL17B theme. Whether you teleport directly or travel to your favorite SL destinations by plane, train or automobile, we hope to see a wide variety of community exhibits and experiences that celebrate the spirit of Second Life escapism and travel.

However, in a change from previous years, those wishing to exhibit at SL17B are not being asked to tie their exhibit ideas just to the core theme of the event, as the blog post goes on to note:

A major change for exhibitors this year is the freedom to create an exhibit that reflects your own passions in Second Life. This means that while “vacations and road trips” is our official SL17B theme, exhibits will not be limited by it. We welcome a wider variety of topics this year, including exhibits that may serve as introductions to the varied and abundant communities throughout SL. We also are inviting original art installations and other personal projects that people want to share with the SL community at large.

Those who are interested in exhibiting in a 32x32m plot at SL17B are asked to both read the rules and policies and then complete and submit the official exhibitor application form before the end of Friday, May 22nd, 2020 (PST).

Music Fest

A reminder that applications for those interested at performing at the SL17B Music Fest, scheduled to take place over Friday 19th / Saturday 20th June 2020, can still apply to participate in auditions through until the end of Monday, May 18th 2020. The Lab is looking for at least a dozen performers, both veteran Second Life musicians and those new to the scene, with sets in the past running to 60 minutes per performance.

Auditions are to be held on a rolling basis held every other week at the the Bellisseria Fairgrounds, and as applications are received, performers will be asked to attend one of these auditions to perform. Every audition event will be open to the general public to attend as an audience, and details will be made available ahead of the first such audition via a Second Life blog post, with each audition session additionally advertised through the following in-world groups (both with open enrolment):

  • Second Life Birthday.
  • Bellisseria Citizens.

Those interested in auditioning for the Music Fest should be sure to complete the audition application form and submit it before the closing date.

Keep Up To Date and Early Access

Updates on SL17B preparations will be made via official blog posts and through the Second Life Birthday in-world group. In addition, and as indicated during the Lab Gab show featuring Patch Linden and the Moles, it is planned to offer members of that group early access to the SL17B grounds on Thursday, June 18th.

Related Links

2020 viewer release summaries week #11

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates for the week ending Sunday, March 15th

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version 6.3.7.535996, formerly the Yorsh Maintenance RC, dated February 7, promoted February 20 – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Premium RC viewer updated to version 6.3.8.538264 on March 12th.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer Stable branch updated to version 1.26.24.11 on March 14th – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Landscapes and avatars in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Focus Magazine: Charly Keating

Currently open at both the Focus Photo Gallery and the Focus Artist In Residence (FAIR) galleries, operated by Focus Magazine and curated by AngelaThespian and PatrickofIreland are a set of exhibitions I enjoyed viewing over the weekend for their mix of subject and styles.

Having opened on March 6th, the exhibition that the Focus Photo Gallery, located on the upper floors of the Magazine’s main building, features the landscape photography of Charly Keating (ladycharis). Described as a “painter of thoughts; photographer of dreams” her work is just that: art that offers settings as they might appear in thoughts and dreams.

Focus Magazine: Charly Keating

Dark-toned, carefully post-processed to emphasise certain elements – clouds, Sun, sky as a whole, the fall of light on a wall, and so on, and composed with an eye for harmony and balance between foreground and background, these are pieces in which it is easy to become lost. Such is the beauty of each scene offered, that it is both simultaneously new and yet familiar, regardless of whether or not we recognise the actual location where the original image may have been captured. They are evocative of memories that appear to be ours whilst in truth remaining Charly’s own vision.

Rich in colour and content, evocative in presentation, this exhibition served as my first exposure to Charly’s work in-world, and I look forward to seeing more in the future.

Focus Magazine: Rachel Magic

The remaining four artists considered here have their work exhibited at the FAIR gallery, a short walk across the sky platform from the Focus offices.

On the ground floor, Rachel Magic (larisalyn) similarly use her studies of landscapes settings and self-portraits to tell a story. She does so through a broad palette of styles, from black and white through to colour, with some using tonal approaches to their finish, others leaning more to painted scenes than photographs. All have touches of detail that help to draw the observer into them and frame their own narrative around the picture.

Focus Magazine: Jason Westfield

Across the hall, Jason Westfield offers a series of avatar studies that again offers a range of styles and approaches, from self-portraits through to subtle female studies rendered in a number of finishes that tend to draw the eye to them, although I personally felt the most evocative of the pieces displayed are Mask and Hand. The latter in particular is beautiful in its apparent simplicity, and yet deeply nuanced in potential interpretation and artfully presented.

The upper floor of the FAIR building presents what might be considered a join exhibition by SL partners Vin Soulstar and Airi Soulstar (AiriTryst).

Focus Magazine: Vin Soulstar

Both exhibits again focus on avatar studies and between them revel the couple’s relationship and a couple and as photographers. As such, these exhibits stand as both complimentary and complementary halves of the same coin, so to speak.

Within each side of the floor where they are displayed, we’re offered insight into the individual styles used by Vin and Airi – colour, tone, lighting, post-processing, finish – which sets them apart as individual photographers. At the same time, we are given witness to the manner in which they view their work and lives as an SL couple, which draws their respective exhibitions together into a single whole.

Focus Magazine: Airi Soulstar

An engaging series of exhibitions, nicely brought together in a single place, the Focus Magazine and FAIR galleries are well worth a visit. Should you do so, don’t forget to also pay a visit to the Exploratorium of Art, located under the main platform, and accessed via the building at its southern end.

SLurl Details

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Seanchai Library

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.

Sunday, March 15th: Celebrating and Dancing in the Green

Marking the upcoming Saint Patrick’s Day, Seanchai Library will be at Murphy’s Pub on Chiaroscuro Isle.

  • 13:00 – Celebrating the Green: stories read by Dubhna Rhiadra, Aoife Lorefield, Corwyn Allen, and Kayden Oconnell.
  • 14:00 – Dancing the Green at the square outside Murphy’s Pub with Aoife Lorefield at 14:00 and Caledonia Skytower at 15:00.

Monday, March 16th 19:00: The Ugly Little Boy

Gyro Muggins reads a tale that started life as a short story by Isaac Asimov, and was later expanded into a full length novel by Asimov writing in collaboration with Robert Silverberg.

A 21st century time travel experiment results in a Neanderthal boy being pulled from his time. The intention is to study the boy and understand how his kind lived. However because of the potential for time paradoxes, the boy must be kept in a within a stasis module, a place physically separated from modern time; but he must still be cared for. So the company behind the experiment hires a children’s nurse, Edith Fellowes, to look after him.

Initially horrified by the child, Edith comes to forms a bond with him, discovering he is intelligent and capable of both learning and love. However, to Stasis – the company behind the experiment – the boy is little more than a commodity to be observed and with a story to be sold to the media. As such, he is only of value for as long as there is public interest in his story. When that fades, the company determines the child must be returned to his own time, his place to be taken by a subject from another era. But Edith knows that, thanks to all she has taught him, his own time is no longer a place he is equipped to survive within, and determines she must take action to protect him.

Tuesday, March 17th 19:00: Saint Patrick’s Day

At Ceiliuradh Glen, Seanchai Library.

18:30: Corwyn Allen Live!

With Gyro Muggins.

19:10: The Quiet Man

Released in 1952, John Ford’s The Quiet Man is regarded as a classic Irish-American romantic comedy / drama. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara (and assorted members of their RL families!) and Barry Fitzgerald, it is a popular choice among critics and film-lovers.

The screenplay for the film was drawn in a large part from a short story of the same name originally published in 1933 in the Saturday Evening Post, and penned by Irish author, Maurice Welsh.

Together with a number of other short stories by Walsh, The Quiet Man was gathered into a single volume of his short stories, The Quiet Man and Other Stories, which dealt with many recurring characters living in rural Ireland of the 1920s, and set against the backdrop of the civil unrest which affected the country at that time, while examining the complexities and occasional intrigues of life, love and Irish traditions.

Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads Walsh’s original tale of The Quiet Man, Paddy Bawn Enright to Mark St. Patrick’s Day.

Wednesday, March 18th, 19:00: The Phantom Tollbooth

Finn Zeddmore reads Norton Juster’s fantasy adventure for younger readers.

For Milo, everything is a bore and all activities little more than a waste of time. Then one day he arrives home in his usual state of disinterest, only to find a package waiting for him. He has no idea where it has come from or who might have sent it, but is clearly intended for him, given the label. Opening it, he discovers a small tollbooth and a map of “the Lands Beyond,” illustrating the Kingdom of Wisdom.

Reading the limited instructions – that warn him to have a destination from the map in mind – and thinking the package to be some kind of game, he sets the tollbooth up, decides Dictionopolis should be his destination, and propels the accompanying little car through the tollbooth.

Immediately he finds himself driving an actual car through a city that is clearly not his own. Here he discovers he must remain focused, lest his thoughts wander, and his journey wanders as well; a lesson he only discovers when he does daydream and finds himself in the Doldrums.

Also as he travels and meets new friends, so he also realises something else: life is far from boring or dull; it actually offers much to be discovered.

Thursday, March 19th, 19:00: Liath Luachra: The Pursuit

Based on the Fionn legends.

Ireland, 189 A.D. Liath Luachra and her band of warriors rush to rescue the kidnapped wife of their employer. Facts are a bit hazy, the employer is unpleasant, but Liath and her men are barely surviving and need the job. As always with an O’Sullivan story, the landscape is almost a character in the tale.

With Shandon Loring, also in Kitely – grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI).

Advanced Announcement – Seanchai Celebrates a Dozen

On Sunday, March 22nd, Seanchai Library will mark its 12th anniversary with an afternoon of festivities.

VWBPE 2020: keynote speakers and recent updates

Posted on by Inara Pey
via vwbpe.org

The 2020  Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) conference will be taking place between , Thursday, March 26th and Saturday March 28th, 2019 inclusive. A grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments, VWBPE attracts 2200-3500 educational professionals from around the world each year.

Carrying the theme of Stellar, the conference will, as usual, take place in a group of dedicated regions which this year will see them designed in a matter to reflect the conference theme, and will comprise its usual engaging programme of events and activities. I’ll be offering more of a preview of the conference’s facilities in due course. In the meantime here is a round-up of the latest news from the organisers on the event programme.

Keynote Speakers

The keynote speakers for this year’s event comprise:

Thursday, March 26th – Dr. L. Robert Furman:  Dr. Furman is an educator, leader, scholar, speaker and author; but most notably, Dr. Rob is a true champion for education in the 21st century. Beyond speaking at venues across the country, Dr. Rob is also a contributing Educational blogger for The Huffington Post as well as Ed Tech Review. He has received numerous prestigious awards, such as being named in the National School Board Association’s 20 To Watch in technology education and an ISTE Best Selling Author.

Friday, March 27th – Dr. Michael Thomas: a Professor of Education with a focus on digital learning, social justice, social mobility and the student experience. Dr. Thomas is a Principal Fellow of the HEA and hold two PhDs, one from the Newcastle University, UK and a second from Lancaster University, UK. He has studied for an MBA in Educational Management at the University of Leicester, M.Ed at Manchester University, an MA at Newcastle University and change leadership at Cornell University, USA. He has worked at eight universities in Germany, Japan and the UK, from ancient, to Russell Group to modern, and led large, multinational research groups and project teams.

  • Address time: 08:50 SLT.
  • Address title: Virtual Worlds and Social Justice: An Impact and Civic Engagement Agenda
  • Biography at VWBPE.
Keynote speakers (l to r): Dr.Robert Furman, Dr. Michael Thomas, Lorelle VanFossen and Daniel Dyboski-Bryant

Saturday, March 28th – Lorelle VanFossen and Daniel Dyboski-Bryant : Lorelle VanFossen is a keynote, trainer, writer, and consultant on web writing, digital storytelling, content curation, social media, and blogging, especially working with WordPress and virtual reality. Called a digital evangelist, on Lorelle on WordPress she writes and teaches more than you may want to know about how all this social publishing business stuff works.

Daniel Dyboski-Bryant is a lifelong educator from a family of educators and speaks 5 languages. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant of VR in Education with clients including schools, colleges, universities, design teams, training companies, councils and private individuals. In his daytime job Daniel is the Project Lead for Exploring VR in Further Education, Remote Learning and Language, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Lecturer, and Trainer at Coleg Llandrillo, Grwp Llandrillo-Menaia in North Wales UK.

Note that all keynote addresses will by at the VWBPE main auditorium, SLurl to be made available closer to the conference opening.

VWBPE Programme

The VWBPE programme offers full range of presentation, social events, workshops, discussions and more. There is also a series of special Immersive Experiences that commence on March 15th and run through until April 5th.

Running to around 60 to 90 minutes each, these Immersive Experiences offer the chance to see what others are doing in virtual learning environments from Kitely to World of Warcraft.  Check the VWBPE 2020 Immersive Experiences page for more.

For full details of all events and activities so you can start planning your time at VWBPE, visit the VWBPE 2020 Programme page.

Volunteers

VWBPE would not be possible without the dedicated service and support of its volunteers. Roles are still available to be filled – if you are interested, please visit the VWBPE 2020 Volunteer Roles / Sign-Up page.

About VWBPE

VWBPE is a global grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments which attracts over 2,000 educational professionals from around the world each year, who participate in 150-200 online presentations including theoretical research, application of best practices, virtual world tours, hands-on workshops, discussion panels, machinima presentations, and poster exhibits.

In the context of the conference, a “virtual world” is an on-line community through which users can interact with one another and use and create ideas irrespective of time and space. As such, typical examples include Second Life, OpenSimulator, Unity, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and so on, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest or any virtual environments characterised by an open social presence and in which the direction of the platform’s evolution is manifest in the community.

Read more here.

Additional Links

A touch of Celtic magic in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Finian’s Dream, March 2020 – click any image for full size

Finian’s Dream has been a destination that’s been on our list since the region officially opened; in fact it is one that has given rise to a few recommendations coming my way in the time since (thank you Miro, et al), with the only reason for a delay in dropping in is to allow the initial rush of visitors to be over, so we can creep around and peek at things without getting in the way of others too much.

Designed by Noralie78 of Lost Unicorn Forest fame (read here for more), the region’s description is perfectly offered by her through an introductory note card that can be obtained at the landing point:

Welcome to Finian’s Dream! This beautiful land is in celebration of old Celtic Ireland with a touch of magic 🙂 Ireland is known for its many mystical secrets of the forest…after all, that’s where fairies came from! Walk through the deep and magical woods, you might just make some discoveries along the way. Stop by the pub and allow Donngal to make you a drink while you watch Rowan perform her Irish dance (no she never gets tired :P).

Finian’s Dream, March 2020

This is a place that harks back to a time when Ireland’s many forests were united to cover much of the land; a place where Ireland’s legends and myths may well have been born. wreathed in mist and caught in a perpetual dusk. In this realm, awaiting discovery, is so much.

From the landing point, the forest, deep in shadow beckons; a place where tiny fairies flit and fly.  Statues and glades with stone circles, the air within them cut by slanting Moonlight, await along natural trails a paths set wide between broad tree trunks that hold aloft the covering blanket of branches and leaves.

Finian’s Dream, March 2020

A stream cuts through the forest with logs, either fallen or felled, providing crossing points over it, pointing the way to where a rutted cart track skirts the woodlands. Follow this in one direction, and it leads the way to where stone steps climb the region’s uplands, in the other it offers the way to open farmlands presided over a homely cottage and a lone windmill. Here the land is cut neatly by dry stone walls, home to sheep and cattle.

Above the farm and the canopy of trees, the highlands form a stepped plateau, home to a stone castle that commands the land and those surrounding it. The Irish tricolour hangs above the castle’s portcullis, casting a more recent time to the setting (the flag was a gift to Ireland in 1848, but not officially adopted until the early 20th century), which makes it a slight anachronism given the sense of age and history invoked by the rest of the region.

Finian’s Dream, March 2020

Within the castle can be found a marvellous display of CybeleMoon’s fabulous digital art, which is keeping with the setting, echoing as it does the rich sense of history and legend evoked by the design. Also to be found with the region are three story givers that relate famous Irish legends as narrated by SL resident Sukibombuki Resident.

With the heavy mists, the hidden farm beyond the woods, the cottage in the forest and the twilight sky, its not hard to imagine this is some form of Irish Brigadoon – a place cut off from the rest of the world, filled with its own mystery that, rather than appearing once a century, can only be found  by wandering deep into the older IrishfForests and following the path that brings you to this mystical, magical place.

Finians Dream, March 2020

Beautifully conceived and executed, Finian’s Dream is a place that is gorgeous to witness, lovingly put together by the hands and eyes that make Lost Unicorn such a joy to visit.

SLurl Details