Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum

Scrabbulous - it's More than Idle Chatter

If you've been around me lately you know that I play scrabble via a facebook application that I've enthused about before. In the example at the right I'm the master scrabbler who makes words like NUT and SIT.

Suffice it to say that most opponents have nothing to worry about unless I get a lucky rack of letters. I'm not there to prove my spelling prowess.

Like most of the facebook applications I use, the idea behind it is connecting in some way not normally available to me.

And luckily enough for me, it turns out that tweaks in this game make for improved interaction during the game - beyond just moving letters around on a board and finding out who's got a great vocabulary and who's ruthless.

Before the changes I could send a little message to other players but it wasn't obvious if they didn't know it was there.

Now there's a scrolling screen at the right side of the playing board above the letter tiles I'm playing. Hard to miss it even though the type is still minuscule. The comments go back and forth, from the serious to the mundane.

So how does this address connectedness, outreach, community?

Imagine you want to chat about a possible collaboration, but in a way that feels like having drinks. Less focused on the project and more focused on interacting and making a connection. Bingo.

Or you know someone from twitter just well enough to respond back and forth a bit.

Playing scrabble with them and chatting on and off during the course of the game - which generally takes several days, with some players not making a move as often as others - could be just the way to make the move to being more than passing tweeters.

Might work for you. Game playing isn't always a bad thing.

Blog Action Day and My Junk Mail Beef

I said I'd contribute to Blog Action Day but I'm not taking on the big issues. Maybe getting older or experiencing more makes me less likely to deal with saving the whole planet. I figure the Action Blog has it all covered

Or, I'm just a pragmatist. Or today I just want less mail that goes directly into the recycling bin.  Or I'm stunned that according to 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth: 

• Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail.
• 250,000 homes could be heated with one day's supply of junk mail.
• Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year.
• The yearly production and disposal of junk mail consumes more energy than 2.8 million cars.

But to whittle the issue down even further, I'm only going to talk about getting your address removed from those "occupant" lists, not dumping the myriad of catalogs that you get because you ordered one item from LL Bean in 1980.

A caveat before I go on though. You may have to ask a distribution company more than once to make sure that your address has been removed from the mailing lists. And once it comes off how do you know? I've yet to find that out.

Then, when it has been removed you still will wind up having to remind the letter carrier not to just stuff your box like everyone else's.

Sigh - but it you'd still like to try to get your name removed, here's what to try:

How to Find the Good Stuff - and Make it Come to You

A quick video about finding Blogs, Podcasts, all kinds of great stuff without the hassle of  . .  well without ANY hassle?

Using the 3-d Web for the Greater Good

So I'm not the only one that thinks Second Life is now mainstream? This public service announcement is cute and uses the virtual world for the greater good.

It approaches people in a way that is geared to them. It gets attention. It's not a hard sell, It makes us chuckle and - well maybe shake our heads.

Twitter: Whoops! indeed

Let's just say twitter's been acting a little funky and there are bloggers ready to take - um - action against the tweety little bird:  Snipperoo: Twitter: Whoops! indeed.

Slices of Life - Baby Pictures

Life, in all it's dimensions and facets effects every other part of what I do.

And one of the most rewarding parts of my life are my children - and the little bits of heaven each of them brings along with them.

This spring my daughter Kerry is bringing yet another gift into the family and you've met him or her here first.

Say hi to the first photos of grandbaby Reynolds whose perfect little lips and nose just about say it all for me.

And when you think about it, this baby fits perfectly into the pattern. This little bit of love and humanity is what this blog is really about,

S/he's a genuine piece of art. A way of connecting. A community strengthener. Providing links and conversations and all the things that make our lives worthwhile.

And I bet this isn't the last baby photo you see here.

Sheep Lead to Second Life Along a Private Path?

The new clip below, complements of Giff Constable of the Electric Sheep gives a peek into the episode of CSI I wrote about last night.

Troubling and interesting at the same time, I'd say. See for yourself in the clip.

CSI Does SL - Education, Drama, or Something Else?

It it just a sign that virtual worlds are becoming part of the mainstream as later this month a character from an episode of CSI will escape into Second Life, as the clip here shows? Am I behind the times if I even ask the question?

More innovative perhaps than the story line is that we'll be strung along until sometime 2008 with Second Life residents taking part in the "investigation." Anthony Zuiker, creator of CSI himself logs in to Second Life every day and is working to create a: "multimedia, virtual crime lab.

According to Zuiker "You’ll now be able to actually solve one crime per month, like a real investigator."

Does that sound a little simplistic? It's hard to put into words what makes me skeptical that we'll actually be able to "recreate" experiments and tests from CSI.

Is it that I've come to think of Second Life as a way to do business and make connections while CSI approaches the game aspect? Or is it that my hairs stand on end that they seem to be spinning a kind of education aspect too? What I'm sure of is that CBS has to be throwing a ton of money into Second Life with this project.

It all leaves me curious. Will a this scare people away from the 3-d web or draw them towards it? Will the people it draws add to the community or detract from it? Perhaps a little of each,

 

Coworking - A Place to Hang Our Digital Hats

Sharing office virtual space didn't start off as a way to create a community. It was born from necessity. I needed a place to base the Second Life arm of the work I do.

Other solutions I'd tried offered more in the way of unfortunate surprises than opportunities to network or work on meaningful projects.

If anyone had any visions of sharing they seemed to be hallucinating or not telling. What I was looking for either didn't exist in Second Life or was off the radar screen.

But I kept meeting people across the digital landscape who clearly would be well served by having the automatic head start of an office in Second Life. Sharing space started to pop into my head. I took the opportunity to just as regularly push that idea firmly down.

I didn't want to build. I didn't want to shop. I didn't want to organize. I didn't want to be responsible for the land fees, I wanted it to just happen.

Pfft. The just happening part - well - it wasn't happening. Looking at offices I found stark spaces on nearly uninhabited grey-beige islands. The rooms were tiny closed-in feeling, offering nothing in the way of community and networking options and few options as far as creature comforts.

More noddling around the idea made me sure that we needed more than desk space but less than a commune. The space had to be workable for people either alone or in groups. It had to enable if not foster working cooperatively. It had to work for larger group meetings if needed. And it had to be functional for those with diverse skill-sets and interests.

Almost from the beginning it was clear what we needed to avoid building. It shouldn't be a hangout since that need would be better served by a cafe.

No it shouldn't be a building full of sterile cubicles. That's depressing enough in the real world. Lots of coworking set-ups showed up in Google. The creative space concept seemed as if they were expecting a little too much collaboration

The real life model of Cubespace came closest to what I was looking for. Workspace sounded appealing as well. Both are shared meeting and work spaces that allow and foster relationships but do not force them.

So the task was set to make thie work on the 3-d web. Steps one through ten complete. Next to get important things like a bulletin board and coffee machine set up - and a fruit bowl on the table because even virtual selves need a nosh to feel like they really belong.

The Role of *Stuff* in a Virtual World

Pumpkins sit on the footbridge though some thought the virtual turkey wandering about is over the top.  But it's autumn in the US and this sets a tone that works even in an unreal world. In other words, in my corner of Second Life we're realistic but offbeat.

And to be truthful, it's been more fun shopping for animated desk chairs and stuff to give the Second Life Offices a sense of place than it is to shop for dresses and hair.

Moreover the process has given me time to think about what I'm picking up and why.

In virtual reality we don't have bad backs or tired feet so we could sit on the ground - or stand for that matter  - but somehow we want chairs and sofas because they organize us in familiar ways.

Lamps give areas a certain glow, plants soften the look, rugs define areas and yet we still look for something personal to show the real humans behind the avatar that takes our place in virtual meetings.

Reading glasses, papers and books placed strategically augment laptops on desks and flat screens TVs on the wall.

A sextant and maybe a globe might work too. Subtle scene setters disguised as decor. Indicating that we're adventurers, explorers, travelers in many ways. 

The New York Times touched on this in a recent article:

"It’s not just vanity that drives people to dress up in Second Life. It’s also seen as good for business. Ms. Fitzpatrick, the landlady, says she doesn’t really care about how her avatar looks. But she cares about what prospective tenants think. “I felt I had to go, finally, and buy the hair and the suit,” she said, “or my customers might think I’m too weird.”

"Appearances count in Second Life’s financial world, too. Banks and stock exchanges are housed in huge, formal structures draped in marble and glass. “People in the banking industry wear shiny silver suits and are absurdly tall and have hired a couple people to walk behind them in black suits with ear bugs and shoulder holsters,” said Benjamin Duranske, a lawyer who blogs about legal issues related to the virtual world.

The psychology of being comfortable interacting with other people often demands a sense of what feels safe and also what feels familiar. A tweedy grey room may be right for some and a room with red silk furniture and books lying around may appeal to others.

So I need to provide both if the shared office space concept is going to work.

As I shop and observe others, and read about how acquisition prone we are in Second Life I can't help but think that it's not so much commercialism at work, but a need for comfort. Both we and others feel better with certain things around us. Familiarity lets us focus on the conversation and the person we're talking with not the surroundings.

And in the end, that's what matters. In the meantime having a seat that looks comfy can't hurt. And if the turkey walking around in front of the series of office areas makes us laugh. That's good for me too.