Caly’s Crowns in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
NovaOwl Gallery: Caly Applewhyte – Crowns

Headgear has long played is significant role within societies around the world, particularly in terms of denoting spirituality or royalty. This is potentially for two reasons. The first is that, as the highest point on the human body, the head is the best point from which to indicate authority, and so elaborate or distinctive headgear the best means to signal said authority. The second is that, being the part of the body with the proximity to the heavens, and thus potentially the first point of contact with the divine or spirits descending from on high, the top of the head is considered, and thus should be covered as a sign of modesty and deference.

More widely, hats, headwear, traditional headdress, and so on, having long been a means of expression throughout societies and communities the world over. They can indicate everything from broader religious adherence to social status / profession, societal adherence (it is not that long ago that in many western societies it was considered uncouth for anyone of educated means – male or female – to appear in public without a hat, and one only has to travel back a little further to reach a time when women were expect to wear a hat, indoors and out), or basic social status. In this, just think of the worker’s flat cap, the British bowler, the Stetson, the fedora, the fez, and allow they evoke.

Some of these ideas are explored within the January / February 2023 art exhibition occupying at the ground level gallery at NovaOwl Gallery, curated and operated by ULi Jansma, Ceakay Ballyhoo & Owl Dragonash, featuring as it does the work of Caly Applewhyte.

NovaOwl Gallery: Caly Applewhyte – Crowns

Self-taught with Photoshop, Caly entered Second Life in 2010 with – as she describes it herself – “no specific goal”, but while exploring the grid, she found an outlet in Second Life photography. As her interest grew, so did a parallel interest in both her own avatar and the ability to use this virtual domain as a means to explore emotions, feelings and ideas, generally through the use of minimalist settings intended to bring the intended focus, the essential theme and emotion, of each piece to the fore.

Within Crowns, Caly offers a series of beautifully minimalist set of pictures exploring the expressive nature of headdress, particularly in terms of spirituality (although there is also a hint of royalty about them as well).  Each is highly individual in both form and the style of headdress, one to the next, yet all carry within them core recognition of the implied authority, faith and prowess of the wearer. Not, note that the wearer is necessarily gifted with these abilities – just that their headdress encourages us to view them as such.

In keeping with much of Caly’s work, Crowns does not require a lot to be written about it – each piece clearly and evocatively speaks for itself, with all of them collectively offering a narrative which is easy to follow. As such, I recommend Crowns should be viewed rather than written about – and I’ll leave you with the SLurl once more to allow you to do so.

NovaOwl Gallery: Caly Applewhyte – Crowns

SLurl Details

Elvion: mystical beauty in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Elvion, January 2023 – click any image for full size

Even before it was selected for highlight in the Destination Guide Editor’s picks, I’d heard that Bo Zano (BoZanoNL) had opened a new iteration of Elvion, and I’d added it to my list of regions to visit ASAP in 2023. I’ve always admired Bo’s work, and over the last several years he has brought us a range of visions for Elvion, and all of them have been utterly captivating and photogenic – and this latest version, once again a Homestead build – is no exception.

An island setting, Elvion emerges from the surrounding waters as a pair of low isles, the larger of the two running east from the landing point, initially as a narrow finger, then broadening out to the north and south, a shallow channel of water separating it from the smaller isle.

Elvion, January 2023

Reached via a simple bridge, the latter sits a the home of an ivy-draped cottage, a place that looks at first to be a little homestead, courtesy of the geese (both on the ground and circling overhead) and horses sharing the island with it. However, caught within the same EEP settings as the rest of the region – and which I recommend viewing it under -, this smaller island carries that same sense of mystery and age as its larger neighbour.

A path points eastwards from the landing point, and presents the best means by which to become immersed in that sense of mysticism and mystery. Along the way it passes under great broken columns which have tumbled to form gigantic arches pointing the way towards the ruins of an abbey-like building. Between the first and second of the giant “arches”, the bases of which are marked by exotic puffball plants also of large proportions, is a huge mushroom tree standing at the water’s edge.

Elvion, January 2023

Overlooked by a bench, this otherworldly tree marks the start of a way across the shallows – also marked by plants and reeds rising from the water – to where a stone tower rises from the thumb-tip of rock, standing like a guardian – or watcher – over the setting. From this lofty perch (reached by touching the door to teleport up to the single room), visitors can gain an eagle’s view of the main islands and their watery surrounds.

Lit by trees rich in autumnal colours and strung with lights, the abbey-like ruins offer a sense of timelessness; a place where peace holds sway and dreams come easy. Beyond it, a path leads onwards to a shrine caught within the branches of another tree whilst a second leads to the bridge and the second island beyond.

Elvion, January 2023

Within the broader part of the main island lay more ruins, suggestive of an outlying element of the abbey – perhaps what was once a small church. These sit at the edge of a stream issuing from rocks which oddly intrude into the ruins, as if the rocks arrive after the building had been built and collapsed.

The steam itself only flows a short distance before it enters the surrounding waters. In doing so, it indirectly points the way to where a swings sits off-shore under the branches of another tree. Close by sits a wooden pier marching across the water, yet itself separated from land by that same water. It offers a further retreat and place for reflection in solitude.

Elvion, January 2023

Through the setting there is a uniqueness that sets it apart from previous builds – notably, again, the EEP settings, which offer so much to the immersiveness that other Elvion builds perhaps haven’t quiet reached, as captivating as they have been. At the same time, there is enough within the region that offer links to past iterations – such as the shrine noted above, the two-wheeled cart on the edge of the smaller island and the presence of wildlife and animals throughout the setting.

Some of these – in the form of white stags – both offer a hark-back to past builds and add to the mystic / fantasy feel of this iteration. In this, they are joined by glowing chrysalis butterflies flying offshore and the magical rings of fish circling a Moon chair sitting part-way to the stone tower, the puffballs and mushroom trees and other exotic flora awaiting discovery. When combined, these move Elvion into a realm of the imagination, brought to life by the presence of the animals and wildlife.

Elvion, January 2023

Wandering Elvion is, for me, like coming home; there is a comforting sense of familiarity within each iteration of this region I find engaging. And I don’t mean a familiarity borne of similarities of design or the inclusion of familiar elements from one version to the next; rather there is a sense that Bo has an imagination and a flair for region designs I know are always going to be attractive to me; places I can appreciate and spend time within, wrapped in a since of freedom and exploratory delight.

Definitely not a location to be missed.

Elvion, January 2023

SLurl Details

  • Elvion (Forevermore, rated Moderate)

2023 week #1: SL CCUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Mullein Woods, November 2022 – blog post
The following notes were taken from m y audio recording and chat log transcript of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, January 5th 2023 at 13:00 SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and their dates and times can be obtained from the SL Public Calendar; also note that the following is a summary of the key topics discussed in the meeting and is not intended to be a full transcript of all points raised.

Official Viewers Status

  • On Wednesday, January 4th, 2023:
    • The Maintenance Q(uality) RC viewer updated to version 6.6.9.577418.
    • The Performance Floater / Auto-FPS RC viewer updated to version 6.6.9.577251.
  • Both the VS 2022 Build RC viewer and the LMR6 project viewer have been withdrawn.
This leaves the rest of the currently-available official viewer as:
  • Release viewer: Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version 6.6.8.576863 Monday, December 12, 2022.
  • Project viewers:
    • PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.577157, December 14, 2022. Note: this viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
    • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.8.576972, December 8, 2022.

Inventory Enhancement Project

Linden Lab is looking to enhance the Inventory system.
  • The first element of this work is to be the addition of a fixed-resolution thumbnail preview capability, allowing users to see a small image of a given object (where this makes sense – so the likes of note cards and scripts would be excluded) within inventory, with these thumbnails either being of individual items or entire folders.
    • The first phase of the work is determining how to generate the thumbnail images and ensure they maintain an association with the objects to which they are related (e.g. so if an item is sold or transferred to another user, the thumbnail goes with it).
    • Once this has been decided, the next phase will be to build-out the UI so that such thumbnails can be viewed from inventory.
    • This work will not replace the Outfit Folder image capability nor will it prevent creators from including high resolution images with their products if they wish.
  • Once the thumbnail preview work has been completed, it is possible the Lab will look to further enhancements to inventory management. One future enhancement under consideration is support for folders to be included in the Contents inventory of individual objects.

glTF Materials and Reflection Probes

Project Summary

  • To provide support for PBR materials using the core glTF 2.0 specification Section 3.9 and using mikkTSpace tangents, including the ability to have PBR Materials assets which can be applied to surfaces and also traded / sold.
  • To provide support for reflection probes and cubemap reflections.
  • The overall goal is to provide as much support for the glTF 2.0 specification as possible.
  • The project viewer is available via the Alternate Viewers page, but will only work on the following regions on Aditi (the Beta grid):  Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
  • Please also see previous CCUG meeting summaries for further background on this project.

Status

  • The focus remains on bug and regression issue fixing within the viewer and quality of life improvements, particularly as in wider grid testing, it has been found the PBR viewer can only generate single-digit FPS in some regions.
  • Screen Space Reflections (SSR): Geenz Linden continues to work on integrating SSR into the PBR viewer, but is encountering issues.

Animation System Enhancements – A Discussion

In response to requests for the animation system to be improved (e.g. via CCUG meetings, as a result of the Puppetry project, etc.), Vir Linden asked those at the meeting to state what they see as the most important changes / updates they would like to see. Responses included those expressed at the Server User Group meeting earlier in the week:
  • A procedural animation system to allow creators / users to set the rules of how avatars walk, run, jump; their timings, how animations play priority wise and mixing wise in the series, all able to be packaged up into an item – it has been suggested that whilst “old” the SL is well-placed to be folded into a procedural animation system.

  • Improved animation formats and easier means of animation import into Second Life.
  • The ability to dynamically set animation priorities for more fluid animation integration (e.g. when you are holding and pointing a gun, you continue to point it as you walk, rather than the avatar’s arm dropping to a walking animation when moving).
  • Viewer-side animation editor.
  • Better support for inverse kinematics.
  • Collaboration between the Puppetry team, the glTF team and any animation project to ensure consistency of decision-making about formats, proper LSL support / calls, etc.
This discussion covered a lot of ground, including the potential for the implementation of an “animation 2.0” system which could potentially operate alongside the existing system (much like PBR materials and “legacy” materials); the benefits in greater adherence to emerging standards – particularly in the area of avatar / skeleton formats and capabilities, and the fact that SL is both well-placed to be a part of defining those standards whilst also being hamper by the fact the existing SL avatar format is a niche product / approach, and more. However, the two key points of the discussion might be summarised as:
  • Changes to the animation  / avatar systems are not projects the Lab is working on at present.
  • However, the it demonstrates that, as with recent projects, the Lab is looking seriously at enhancing SL and moving it towards more readily understood standards. As such, it is taking the time to ascertain options that are exciting to creators an users and which might be seen s benefiting the platform and its future growth, and so might be formalised into active projects – and include user engagement where appropriate in their development.
In terms of what might be attempted by way of “small-scale” improvements to the animation system, the viewpoint from LL is that the ability to dynamically set animation priorities and adding scaling support to the animation format are seen as providing users / creators with recognisable benefits.

Next Meeting

  • Thursday, January 19th, 2023.

Through the eyes of Lunaspina in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Artsville: Lunaspina Anatine, January 2023

Opening on Friday, January 6th, 2023 at Frank Atisso’s Artsville gallery complex is Endless – Through My Eyes by Lunaspina Anatine. Occupying Gallery 2 at the complex, this is a selection of landscape pieces which have been taken within a single region, that of Sombre Nyx’s Endless: Birdlings Flat, each one utilising a minimalist approach and compositional style which immediate capture the eye and the imagination.

This is clearly evident from the first image within the series – Endless 01, located just inside the left side entrance to the hall as you enter it. The images presents a view of a set of communications dishes set against a cloudy sky. But where are they – what are they? Civilian? Military? On a building or high on a mast?

Artsville: Lunaspina Anatine, January 2023

In successive  images we encounter more – a field in a misty dawn (or perhaps late afternoon) and a grid of upright posts, slender wires strung between them. They appear to be sitting within a field – but again, what are they? A place where vines are to be planted and grown for their crop of grapes? If so, then where are the vertical lines for the vines to grow along? So if not that, then what?

Thus, as we progress around the images, these is the invitation for us to form a story around them. as to what they may represent. Of course, those familiar with Birdlings Flat (which I wrote about it here) may opt just to enjoy the images in this exhibition in their own right; and there is nothing wrong with this, nor do visitors need to be familiar with the region. Seeking a narrative is purely a matter of choice; these are images which can be enjoyed in their own right and as individual compositions.

Artsville: Lunaspina Anatine, January 2023

At the same time, these pieces – beautifully post-processed and making superb use of various EEP settings – speak to the marvels of Second Life, a place that can be visually expressive, filled with opportunities to explore yet also at times empty of of people  – just as many remote parts of the physical world (such as the eastern end of Kaitorete Spit on which Birdlings Flat is based) can be as well. Within each one, Lunaspina perfectly captures the essence of the term endless.

I confess that I’m not aware of having witnessed an individual exhibition by Lunaspina, and I was immediately captivated by her overall approach to her images – camera placement, angle, subject focus, used of depth-of-field, etc., – in that I could not help but see a strong similarity to the work of another artist I admire hugely – Melusina Parkin. This should not be taken to mean either artist is in any way derivative of the other; rather they both have a eye for composition that I find attractive and engaging and which teases out their subject gently to their audience.

Artsville: Lunaspina Anatine, January 2023

A warm, easy-to-appreciate exhibition of landscape art which is – as noted – also beautifully layered, Endless – Through My Eyes is well worth visiting.

SLurl Details

Walking a Cloud Edge in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Cloud Edge, January 2023 – click any image for full size

Funky Banana is a region designer with a keen eye for detail and an imagination capable of presenting settings which can attract and enthral. I’ve covered his work a number of times in these pages, going all the way back to 2016. However, it has been a while since I’ve made any visits, so when Cloud Edge popped up on my radar screen, I decided to set things to rights once more and hop over to take a look.

The last couple of times I did write about Funky’s work was in covering Wild Edge (in 2018) and Summer Edge (in 2019); designs which clearly share a common element in their naming with Cloud Edge. Both of these designs offered much for visitors to appreciate – and so does this one, but in a very different way; in fact, I’d go so far to say that in its disarmingly simple design, Cloud Edge is one of the most imaginative region builds I’ve seen of late.

Cloud Edge, January 2023

It is a setting more than adequately explained through its About Land description:

Welcome to Cloud Edge.
A high ground environment based above the clouds, surrounded by mountains. A place to escape, relax and enjoy the views.

And so it is that arrivals find themselves in the mountains, surrounded by high, snowy peaks and lower, snow-free ridges not so far above or below the tree-line that whilst the majority of their vegetation is moss on the rocks and hardy shrubs and bushes, a few stunted trees deformed by wind and cold into krummholz manage to survive. Between these ridges and peaks and the much higher surrounding mountains is a sea of white, the tops of clouds obscuring everything below from view and giving the impression that the peaks, ridges and mountain tops are islands sitting within an ocean of fluffy white.

Cloud Edge, January 2023

The landing point is set on a broad wooden deck, also rising above the cloud tops (which are formed using Fluff Clouds by Satomi XOXO), and moored to a slender ridge of rock by a single wood-and-rope bridge. Watched over by a single crow seemingly unaffected by the altitude, the bridge provides access to a rocky path as it skirts around a small peak to run along the spine of the ridge to a second peak, passing the krummholz tenaciously clinging to its flanks.

A further bridge stretches out over the hidden abyss at the end of this path, guarded by a young eagle that periodically takes the air before settling back on a rocky perch. The bridge itself extends out over and into the clouds, vanishing before connecting to land once more. This it does by way of a finger of rock of a semi-regular shape suggestive of interesting wind patterns flowing around these peaks, and which is in turn connected to a further pinnacle of rock via a second bridge.

Cloud Edge, January 2023

This bridge is allowed passage through the rock by means of a natural-looking tunnel burrowing its way through the flat top of this peak, which rises higher than the rocky finger to which it is linked, but not as high as the peak at the southern end of the ridge with its footpath. Beyond the tunnel lies a shoulder of rock on which a further deck has been built, offering superb views of the remaining peaks within the region’s boundaries, both of which are isolated from access by foot, and the largest of which features a powerful waterfall facing the deck like a shimmer curtain as it drops into the clouds below.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated with Funky’s region designs is the degree of minimalism he employs. Where others would be tempted to add life to a setting with – say – the addition of birds or animals or further flora, Funk keeps things such that there is know to give life to his settings and no more.

Cloud Edge, January 2023

Thus, while it might have been easy it add trees hither and thither, or add mountain goats to “enhance” the sense of elevation, Funky resists, offering only those trees and birds required to underscore the sense that we are indeed at some altitude, allowing the surrounding clouds to speak for themselves. Similarly, the soundscape for the region is kept to the perfect minimum of the lonely moan of wind over exposed rock, the occasional cry of a crow and the slow growth of water falling over rocks as you approach the deck overlooking the falls.

Beautifully conceived and executed, Cloud Edge is visually impressive and offers plenty of scope for art and photography. Those who do so are invited to add their images to the Cloud Edge Flickr stream, whilst visitors are invited to claim a small gift from Funky’s Marketplace store.

Cloud Edge, January 2023

SLurl Details

January 2023 SL Web User Group 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, January 4th, 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.

Updates for December 2022

Marketplace Elastic Search Overhaul

[Video: 3:41-5:27]

  • Following recent delays, it had been hoped the MP search updates would be deployed before the end of 2022. Unfortunately, issues with the updates continued to prevent this.
  • The hope is now to have thing deployed as the “first thing” for web-related deployments, hopefully by the end of January 2023.
  • As a reminder: this work is essentially the same kind of back-end update as carried out with Web search a few months ago, with the emphasis on faster, more robust performance, together with new search options, including:
    • Merchant and store names will no long be searched in product searches.
    • Wildcard (e.g. using *) will be possible.
    • Better exact matching against search terms
    • The back-end supports fuzzy matching to better handle typos when inputting searches.
    • There should be a noticeable increase in speed of search results being returned.
  • Once running, these updates will allow LL to add-in the relevance engine AI to the Marketplace search (as a separate API entity to the relevance engine already running on the web search).

“Land Ownership Journey”

[Video: 5:31-7:30]

Summary: A complete re-write of every route by which users can obtain and hold land, from Premium (+Plus) Linden Homes, obtaining Mainland (incl. Abandoned Land), and private island regions, and renting from private estates.

  • The first user-facing element of this work – the new Land Portal, a central hub from which to get to all aspects of land “ownership” – will likely be deployed by the end of January 2023.
  • The Portal layout is liable to be a template / proof of concept for overhauling the rest of the Second Life web properties to give them a coherent appearance, make them easier to maintain and add new pages, make SL’s web presence more performant overall and ensure it works on mobile devices as well as desktops / laptops.
  • Once the Portal has been deployed, the focus will shift to the Linden Homes selection pages.

Marketplace Styles

[Video: 56:08-56:55]

  • Work had been expected to resume on Styles (allowing multiple colours, etc., for an item to appear within a single listing rather than each requiring its own listing) following the deployment of the MP Search updates, with the plan for a deployment early-ish in 2023.
  • As the Search updates deployment has been delayed, the work on Styles is currently being “re-prioritised”.

Q&A Summary

  • [Video: 9:41-11:09] Marketplace Refresh / Rebuild:
    • This is still being looked at as a project for development and possible initial deployment in 2023.
    • There are still no firm plans in place as to what will be changed and why, how things will look, etc.
    • Feature requests and suggestions from users and merchants are welcome via the Second Life Jira.
  • [Video: 45:20-End] Marketplace suggestions:
    • LL provide an individual RSS feed to all Marketplace stores for announcing new releases, etc.
      • Whilst not refused as a suggestion, the point was made that implementing and maintaining such a service would not necessarily be easy or direct – as every MP store would require a feed, regardless of whether or not the store owner uses it / people actually subscribe to it via their RSS readers.
      • There is already functionality available for this within the MP via Favourite Stores > Age: Newest First. This gives a thumbnail view of the most recent 4 releases for every store a user has selected as a Favourite, providing something of an at-a-glance view. It is not as proactive as an RSS feed but has the benefit of already being available.
    • A request to include a Date Uploaded field in Marketplace descriptions. This would:
      • Help determine the overall age of a product, allowing it to be better (but not perfectly) assessed against more recent improvements to the platform.
      • If also included in the Favourite Stores summary list, would further help users determine new releases.
      • This is seen as being a part of LL’s wish list for MP improvements.
    • With the move towards supporting the glTF 2.0 specification (initially for PBR materials, but potentially to be expanded to mesh content in general (and eventually possibly animations), these request was made to enable a glTF specific description / search indicator to be added to MP listings.
      • This is something LL has not considered – but given the shift in emphasis involved in glTF adoption, it is something that should be considered over and above the simple “Mesh” definitions in listings.
      • For those unaware, details of the glTF / PBR project work can be found in by CCUG meeting summaries.
    • Requests were also made for:
      • The ability to preview the contents items sold on the MP as boxes – the problem here being the box is seen as just that; a single object, so a means to “access” its contents and then generate a listing them would need to be built.
      • The inclusions of triangle counts / VRAM usage / complexity values for objects and attachments – the problems here are numerous, from how would lists be generated  / populated (e.g. some form of automated analysis of folder / box contents would be required for accuracy),through how should it be presented without “overloading” listings with information, to the question of whether the results would be properly understood by potential purchasers).
    • The ability to add multiple items to a shopping basket, but then select which are to be purchased immediately, and which can be “shelved” for a later purchase (if required), rather than having to purchase everything in the basket.
      • This was also indicated as being on LL’s own wish list of future options for the MP.
  • [Video: 16:28-25:50] Place Pages:
    • Launched in 2017 (see: Linden Lab announces Second Life Place Pages available and Tutorial: creating Second Life Place Pages) Place Pages have never really been utilised or enhanced, which is acknowledged by LL.
    • Currently, there is no clearly-defined use case for Place Pages, although they do have a number of interesting features and capabilities.
    • The think at the Lab at the moment is whether Place Pages:
      • Should be given a degree of work to overhaul them in order to make them more broadly usable, or
      • Scrap them entirely and replace them with something more attractive to users overall – whatever that might be.
    • A perceived attraction with Place Pages is the ability for people to show off / promote their Second Life without necessarily having to have others log-in to the platform – or as a means to encourage them to do so – using tools that might be better attuned to presenting SL through the web compared to “ordinary” website building tools
    • The major reason for not overhauling Place Pages thus far is the fact that they underpin the land auction system.
    • It is acknowledged that given the plans for overhauling the SL web properties in general, there is potential the produce a version of Place Pages with better integration into SL’s web presence, etc.
    • User suggestions for Place Pages are welcome, again via the Second Life Jira.
  • [Video: 27:29-28:02] Communities: a request has been made to expand the range of Second Life communities represented through the Communities landing page (such as the furry community, the sci-fi community, etc). Feature Requests are suggested on these, although it was hinted the number of communities to be rotated on the landing page may be increased.
  • [Video: 34:24-39:00] “Premium a-la Carte”: whilst indicated as something LL would like to do, the idea of an “a-la carte” set of Premium benefits users can choose from and they pay a fee based on their selection, there are significant issues around general maintenance and billing and tracking which options each user has subscribed to.
    • What happens if a user selects option A as a part of their package, but then decides they don’t need it, and  they want to remove it (and its cost) or swap it for one or more other options + their costs? How frequently should this be allowed? How are the changes to track and recognised by the viewer and relevant back-end services? How is billing to be managed?
    • How much work is involved in managing an options list (adding new options to it or remove unpopular items from it, in order to maintain its appeal with users, etc.?
    • How complex any a-la carte system might be was demonstrated by the number of different views expressed in the meeting as to what options might be attractive to different people.
    • There is also the question as to whether an “a-la carte” option is required, or whether the existing Premium  / Premium Plus subscription levels need to be adjusted.

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, February 1st, 2023. Venue and time per top of this summary.