Thursday, July 31, 2014

Contents obsolete


Wednesday, July 30, 2014

2014 EDU: RezMela in Kitely: Simulations for disaster response training! Updated with contest results.

RezMela in Kitely: Simulations 
for disaster response training!
Updated with contest results. 

Scroll down for News and notes (including articles about new TOS)
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How to use Rezmala to set up your own disaster simulation
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Contests closed: Report on contest results

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

2015 IPRIGHTS: HELP: Second Life TOS (probably) relinquishes its claims on your creations. Finally!

Second Life TOS (probably) relinquishes 
its claims on your creations.  Finally!
updated 1/12/2015Scroll down for News and notes (including articles about new TOS)

Executive summary

  • The good news:  LL modifies its claim to the right to sell your creations.
  • The mixed news:  The new language is unclear.
  • The bad news:  LL is not likely to moderate its claims further.
  • The troubling news: LL has not had its legal team pay attention to the legal interests of the content creators.
  • Content creators: LL will probably not sell your products without your permission
  • If LL can transfer your products to SL2, it will probably share receipts with you.
  • Writers and video producers: you still may lose exclusive rights to content that passes through SL.   
  • Caution 1:  Salebankruptcy, or closure of SL could make your products available for sale by a subsequent owner.
  • Caution 2.  LL could change the TOS any time and you would have to agree or no longer have access to your products.  The Catch 22 of Linden Lab's new Terms of Service
  • Caution 3.  The language of the new TOS is unclear and can probably be clarified only by legal action.
  • Caution 4.  Only the content of the TOS is legally binding on LL.  No other statement has any legal standing with respect to the TOS. 

Monday, July 28, 2014

2014 EDU: VIRTUAL: Applied Research in Immersive Environments for Learning (ARiEL SIG): conferences and journals

Applied Research in Immersive Environments 
for Learning (ARiEL SIG):

conferences and journals
Scroll down for News and notes (including articles about new TOS)
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ARiEL SIG

Our mission is to, “steward a community of educators, scholars, and practitioners dedicated toward research in and on digitally-enhanced immersive learning environments. Using a variety of research methods, we support a diverse approach to understanding the optimal use of immersive worlds and environments for educational purposes. We’re interested in developing a comprehensive research agenda, intended to encompass the breadth and scope of learning potentialities, affordances, challenges, and shortcomings of immersive (strikethrough “virtual”) learning environments.”
ARiEL Knowledge Base
The ARiEL Knowledge Base is a collaborative scholarship project with the objective of collecting and showcasing the evidence for “what works” in immersive learning; open to official SIG Members and invited scholar affiliates and practitioners, The ARiEL Knowledge Base summarizes seminal and emerging literature in immersive learning. 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

2014 EDU: TKR: Can You Make Yourself Smarter?

Can You Make Yourself Smarter?
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Award-winning science journalist Dan Hurley investigates the new field of intelligence training, and asks: can we really boost our brain power?
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    Friday, July 25, 2014

    2014 VIDEO: Coding for audio and visual files. AMP video notes

    Coding for audio and visual files.  AMP video notes
    -
    When you produce a video, you make lots of video and audio clips  In Avatar Media Productions, we are making about three video clips for each line of dialog.  Then we have to put them together to make a scene.  We needed a coding scheme so that we could easily identify the clips.  Here it is and here is how we are using it.
    -
    Scene from the set of 
    flying saucers return
    on Kitely

    This coding

    • goes into the screenplay/shot list, 
    • is how to name a file, 
    • goes on the virtual clapboards to mark each clip

    Form

    • XXXXX-Snn-Lnnn-Desc-ShotAbbrev-avi or .wav or .png
    • Added specification may be included in the shot list
    • (Production ID)-(SScene number)-(LScript line number)-(subject description)-(Shot abbreviation)-(type of file)
    • The part in bold is used to name or rename the capture file.  
    • The remainder shows the type of file as instructions for capture.
    • That part will be added automatically when the file is created.
    • Note: do not include blanks or special characters in the name of a file.

    Examples:

    • FSR01-S01-L005-Space-EWS.avi - FSR episode 1, scene 1, line 005 Space extra wide
    • FSR01-S01-L028-Red-CU.avi - FSR episode 1, scene 1, line 028 Red closeup
    Shot list + abbreviations:
    • EWS - Extreme Wide Shot - for establishing
    • VWS - Very Wide Shot - we can see our subject, barely, places him in the space
    • LS - Long Shot - subject takes full height or width of frame
    • MS - Mid Shot - some part of subject (waist up usually) - casual conversation
    • MCU - Medium Close Up - chest and head
    • CU - Close Up - head
    • ECU - Extreme Close Up - part of head, usually eyes or mouth
    • CA - Cutaway - shot of something other than subject
    • Cut-In - some other part of subject, like hands
    • 2S - Two-Shot - two subjects
    • OSS - Over the shoulder - a two shot with one facing away from cam
    • RS - Reaction Shot.
    • POV - Point of View Shot - showing a view from the subject's perspective, often with a bit of the subject (hands, part of head) in the shot
    • RC - Reverse cut. Crossing the Line (Reverse Cut)
    Camera movement terms:
    • Arc
    • Crab
    • Dolly
    • DZ - Dolly Zoom
    • Follow
    • Pedestal
    • Pan
    • PB - Pullback
    • Tilt
    • Tracking
    • Trucking
    • Zoom
    Camera angles:
    • Eye-level - most common
    • High angle - to diminish the subject
    • Low angle - to make a subject look more powerful
    • Bird's eye
    • Slanted or Dutch tilt (as in Citizen Kane, Batman, MTV etc.). Great for animation.

    Some 'rules' of framing

    • Horizon and poles should be at a right angle, unless it's a  deliberate tilt shot
    • Head room - show space where subject is looking or moving toward.  Too much is amateurish looking, too little is uncomfortable. So if subject is moving or looking toward screen right, position subject at screen left with some place to go.
    • Make sure unwanted stuff is not at the edges of the shot - distracting

    Document repositories

    • Shared repository for each script:  We use Google Drive.  
    • Shared repository  for clips (audio, video, stills)  We use Google Drive.  
    ***********************************

    Video-Machinima in virtual worlds

    *****

    Wednesday, July 23, 2014

    2014 PEOPLE: BIZ: Why I gave up on virtual world communications and shifted to social media

    Why I gave up on virtual world communications 
    and shifted to social media
    Scroll down for News and notes (including articles about new TOS)
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    SL communication deficiencies

    • IMs capped.
    • Ran out of groups.
    • Notecards inconvenient and unreliable.
    • Notecards have awkward handling of links to websites.
    • Can't contact friends on Hypergrid.
    • Have to start viewer to communicate in notecards and chat.
    • How do I maintain contact if SL closes?
    • Posts removed from forums with no explanation.

    Hypergrid communication deficiencies

    • Have to handle a second set of contacts
    • Can't contact friends in SL 
    • Awkward handling of links to websites
    • Have to start viewer to communicate
    • Awkward handling of back messages
    • Hypergrid connections uncertain
    • How do I maintain contact if my grid closes?

    Social media advantages

    • Available in my browser, smart phone, or tablet
    • No limits on number of messages or contacts
    • All contacts on same list
    • Easy handling of links to web sites
    • Easy handling of back messages
    • Easy to pass notes on to other groups,
    • Google+, at least, accommodates pseudonyms*
    • Accommodates friends who are not into virtual worlds
    • Extends community reach beyond virtual worlds, 
    • Several connections.  They won't all close

    Tuesday, July 22, 2014

    2014 ART: EDU: Fallingwater, gem of American architecture, at Seanchai Library on Kitely Grid

    Fallingwater, gem of American architecture, 
    at Seanchai Library on Kitely Grid
    Scroll down for News and notes (including articles about new TOS)
    Falling Water was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 1991,  American Institute of Architects named the house the "best all-time work of American architecture" and in 2007, it was twenty-ninth on the list of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA.   Here is an approximate model in the virtual world of Kitely, a model you can walk into and explore.
    Fallingwater

    Go there

    If you are in Kitely and running Firestorm paste the line below into the address bar (may work on other viewers).
    • hop://osgrid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/366/283/27

    Hypergrid address: 

    Put the line below in the find bar of your world map, click find, click teleport:
    • grid.kitely.com:8002:Seanchai

    Monday, July 21, 2014

    2014 PEOPLE: OPENSIM: Tweets stream about OpenSim Conference

    Twitter stream about OpenSim Conference
    Scroll down for News and notes (including articles about new TOS)
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    Below is a Twitter stream directed to @opensimcc .  

    This post is used to create a web poster that displays the current Twitter search for Tweets about Opensim  The web poster will available on Cookie II in Kitely in a day or so after publication.  
    • Here is the entry page to Cookie II:  Cookie II on Kitely 
    • Hypergate address: grid.kitely.com:8002:Cookie II 
    • Look near the entry point,  coordinates 125x125
    • Full perm, public domain license-use as you please, no attribution 
    -
    How to: 

    Sunday, July 20, 2014

    2014 EDU: VIDEO: Question & Answer Session on Education in SecondLife, Abbe Altberg, CEO Linden Lab

    Question & Answer Session on 
    Education in SecondLife, 
    Abbe Altberg, CEO Linden Lab & Peter Gray
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    Abbe Altberg, CEO Linden Lab & Peter Gray, Director of Global Communications at Linden Lab


    Related


    Friday, July 18, 2014

    2014 STAGE: MANNERS & MATTERS OF THE HEART, FRIDAY, Avatar Repertory Theater! 5 pm SLT 7-18-14

    MANNERS & MATTERS OF THE HEART, FRIDAY, 
    Avatar Repertory Theater! 5 pm SLT 7-18-14
    Scroll down for News and notes
    -
    COMING FRIDAY TO Avatar Repertory Theater!
    MANNERS & MATTERS OF THE HEART - Scenes from Alfred Sutro and Floyd Dell that explore the odd and touching places we travel when we follow our hearts.
    -


    Friday Night at 5pm Pacific Time at A.R.T.'s Theater on Cookie 

    Avatar Repertory Theater – Plays Around
    Alfred Sutro OBE (7 August 1863 – 11 September 1933) was an English author, dramatist and translator. 
    Floyd James Dell (June 28, 1887 – July 23, 1969) was an American newspaper and magazine editor, literary criticnovelistplaywright, and poet. Dell has been called "one of the most flamboyant, versatile and influential American Men of Letters of the first third of the 20th Century."[1]As editor and critic, Dell's influence is alive in the work of many major American writers from the first half of the 20th century. A lifelong poet, he was also a best-selling author, as well as a playwright whose hit Broadway comedy, Little Accident (1928),[2] was made into a Hollywood movie.[3]
    “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.” ~ Helen Keller 

    Presented live in Voice, free to all residents.  Donations accepted.
    -
    For announcements about Avatar Repertory Theater (ART) and ART Plays Around, Join  this Google+ Community: 
    Avatar Repertory Theater is a project of New Media Arts, Inc., a nonprofit organization tax exempt under IRC 501(c)(3).  You may be able to take a tax deduction for a donation depending on your circumstances.

    Support theater and video in virtual worlds when you shop at Amazon: Avatar Repertory Theater, New Media Arts
    -
    New Media Arts Inc
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    Education

    ******

    Video-Machinima in virtual worlds
    *****

    Thursday, July 17, 2014

    2014 ART: LEA FULL SIM ART SERIES (July 2014): Miso Susanowa's 'State of Mind II'

    LEA FULL SIM ART SERIES (July 2014): 
    Miso Susanowa's 'State of Mind II'
    Scroll down for News and notes
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    "Four years ago, in April 2010 "State of Mind" made its first appearance... pre-Chelsea Manning, pre-Thomas Drake, pre-Edward Snowden, pre-Julian Assange... what looked like overblown paranoia and cynicism then has only confirmed our deepest fears about the shadow world and its effect on our lives. This is the struggle of our time; come and experience the installation; read the new material about tools and techniques to take back your internet." -- Miso Susanowa
      But I haven't done anything

      That is what makes you a suspicious person

      Wednesday, July 16, 2014

      2014 OPENSIM: HELP: Why Kitely for blogs and video production? Kitely vs Inworldz vs Second Life

      Why Kitely for blogs and video production?   
      Kitely vs Inworldz vs Second Life
      Scroll down for News and notes
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      -
      Some people have asked me why I have moved some of my activities to Kitely rather than to Inworlds.  Here is my explanation:

      1.  I needed to move my video production activities out of Second Life because of the new terms of service there.  

      2. I wanted to expand my activities and blog coverage into the Opensim world because Second Life's: 
      • current TOS, 
      • persistent failure to grow, and 
      • repeated turn-over in upper management 
      raised my concern about the future of Second Life and suggested that the future of virtual worlds might lie with Opensim.    Second Life 2.0 raises further concern, but had not been announced at the time I was considering an alternative.  

      These considerations led me to a set of selection criteria for a second grid that would suit these objectives.   That does not mean that I have stopped using Second Life.  Only that I am using Second Life less and have a plan B in case Second Life changes further in directions that do not fit my objectives.

      Tuesday, July 15, 2014

      2014 EDU: NEW: UWA offers free online courses to help newcomers start doing things in virtual worlds

      UWA offers free online courses 
      to help newcomers 
      start doing things in virtual worlds
      Scroll down for News and notes
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      • Free
      • No need to create an account.  Log in as a guest.
      • Standardized instruction for bringing students into virtual worlds.
      • Study and practice.  
      • Study on the web.  Practice in Second Life.
      • Study and practice with friends.
      • Outcomes stated in terms of what you will be able to do

      Monday, July 14, 2014

      2014 PROMO: WRITE: A video proposal for a literary project from a virtual world

      A video proposal for a literary project from a virtual world
      Scroll down for News and notes
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      A  video that #seanchailibrary  created for their proposal presentation to Seattle's Book-It Repertory Theater today to create an interactive virtual environment in tandem with their fall presentation of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice".  
      -

      Grids mentioned


      Sunday, July 13, 2014

      2014 VIDEO: HOBBY: SL Aviation Magazine Issue 22, hobbies in virtual worlds

      SL Aviation Magazine Issue 22

      hobbies in virtual worlds

      Scroll down for News and notes
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      Second Life Aviation news presented in TV news magazine format. 
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      **********************************************

      News and Notes

      Newcomer Help in Virtual Worlds. 

      Education

      ***********************************
      THIS WEEK at Seanchai Library July 12 -19
      All stories told in open voice. All times SLT
      -
      For schedule updates and information on content.  CHECK OUT THIS WEEK'S "From The Lead's Desk"  - Why Kitely?  What about Second Life?  
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      Sunday, July 13th at NOON  - Seanchai Library and Lightning Productions sponsors a Benefit Concert for the Community Virtual Library  - ALOHA!  THE BLUES BROTHERS at Imagination Island!
      -
      Monday, July 14th at 7 pm -  SPACE WARS, with Gyro Muggins.  THIS WEEK: "The Colonel's Tiger" continues
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      Tuesday, July 15th  at 7 pm -  More Stories from the OZLAND GALLERY - "Christmas in July" with Llola Lane
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      Wednesday, July 16th at  7 pm - OLD WOMAN: Cailleach Tales with Aoife Niphredil
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      Thursday, July 17th at:  
                    7 pm  - TALES FROM PETER BENCHLEY  with Shandon Loring
                    9 pm - SEANCHAI LATE NIGHT with Finn Zeddmore
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      All stories in voice.   
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      In July & August we'll be inviting you to join us in donating towards the real world charity WildAid: their mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through public awareness campaigns and providing comprehensive marine protection . (visit www.wildaid.org/ to learn about them) 
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      "Like" and "Friend" us on facebook!  
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      Video-Machinima in virtual worlds
      *****