Hey y'all,

I'm really glad I took this class, and I'm really glad it was structured the way it was. It's forced me to constantly reevaluate a complex medium, and to find a role in a virtual world that I didn't understand. I also really like the "one huge project" format, which fits well with the Comm major, and should be expanded upon. I think it's more practical, students learn more and it provides RL XP (real life experience) that could be very valuable after graduation. I would also suggest evaluating its potential for senior seminars. I would condense the class size to five or six, make the project more ambitious and provide diverse options: One seminar could design and implement an ambitious Public Relations campaign, while another could found an online news agency, for example. There's a great deal of flexibility, and I think this class works better than the traditional lecture format.

I have especially enjoyed coordinating the concert, which I really think was a cultural festival. Indie bands, concert hall coordinators, college audiences and Second Life avatars all came together to listen to an awesome concert, and it quickly became clear during the planning stages that I couldn't use the same vocabulary and communication techniques with each group. PI, PR and SL meant little to me before this class, but I had to learn their meanings, and discover which groups used which vocabulary when, and why. I also learned how to explain each term to each group, which was interesting.

Most importantly, I found a way to help them all meet and learn about each other, which I consider a great success. Before, two San Antonio bands knew nothing about Second Life, much of Second Life knew a limited amount about San Antonio, and nothing about the two bands, and one independent music venue didn't know how to logistically configure a simulcast show. Now, the bands think SL is pretty cool, SL avatars got to enjoy an awesome show, and the venue learned a new way to ghetto- rig audio cables, and has asked if we'd be willing to simulcast an upcoming concert series this summer. Rock on.

And really, that's what the Comm major is all about, and if new technology (including SL) is ever going to be successful, it has to integrate with other social groups and media cultures. We did that, both with the concert and the website, and I'm glad I helped.

But, I will say this: Whoever designed the Second Life interface needs to be slapped in the face and feet with a giant fish. A dry one, maybe a Chilean tuna, so all the scales scrape against his skin, and he had to walk around clutching his head and yelling "I can't see where I'm going, I can't walk at a steady pace, and I don't know why!! Who am I???"

I mean really, for the love of crap, if you can't design a better interface, then just steal one. Halflife and Unreal both have excellent engines that are open source and readily available, and I can move around without tearing my hair out in both of those, so why not evolve? Just a teeny bit, please?

Current Location: apartment
Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: Dispatch

To make a long story short, this class has attempted to build an interactive and fully integrated social networking service into three different mediums: Second Life, the wider internet, and the San Antonio social scene. Our product, Sleuth, is basically a combination of MySpace and Second Life, but is far more tangible because of the SL program. An extensive advertising campaign has also drawn upon traditional media and communication tactics, and the culminating launch concert (May 6th, 10 pm, Limelight on St. Mary's) has combined public relations, online promotion and simple emails, and has been a surprisingly interesting endeavor.
I've been focusing mostly on planning the concert, partially because I have experience with traditional media, and partially because the Second Life interface drives me absolutely insane. But, teams working within SL have done an exceptional job planning the physical building, and I don't mean to let my skepticism toward the program imply a lack of dedication on anyones part. On the contrary; this is a diverse class attempting to sell a complicated product, and I think our differences have greatly contributed to its success.
My marketing has mainly been devoted to communicating between certain groups of people to meet an arrangement, but others have been building Facebook and MySpace pages, writing satirical quizzes to promote the site, and filming a machinima video. These techniques are split, much like the entirety of Second Life, into two categories: the informative and the entertaining. The press releases I've written communicate information quickly and efficiently, but only the simplest of machinima films can communicate a complicated message in a matter of seconds, and more time is needed to communicate the theme. In this case, it's not much more time: Our videos are only about 15 seconds long, but the distinction is nevertheless clear. Entertainment media, like the machinima videos, is about the portrayal and explanation of information; news media (I'm using this term loosely to include press releases), by contrast, are about the information, and how quickly it can go from speaker to listener or writer to reader.
Personally, I feel the same distinction will ultimately cause problems for Second Life, and the entire concept of "Web 3D." People crave information, and media has evolved to frontload that information at every available opportunity: Newspaper ledes, TV news banners and even Wikipedia are all designed to include speed. Its about access, and how quickly it can be gained. Second Life is an entertainment medium, which is different. Like movies or plays, it is intended to absorb to user, rather than simply provide a product. There's a huge difference, and I can't really see that difference eroding: Why would anyone want to wander around in a physical space to get their news or information? Even if there were an instant search engine interface transposed over the 3D world, it still seems simpler not to complicate that information by combining it with the 3D interface. If the gas main in your neighborhood explodes, you're not going to wander around in Make Believe World to figure out if you're in any danger, and if your favorite TV star is suddenly fired, you're going to want the scoop ASAP.
Even if Web 3D can provide that in conjunction with its 3Dness, why bother?

To configure my computer for maximum connectivity to this course, I configured Firefox to automatically load my gmail account, the class groups page, my google calendar and the google blogs on independent tabs within my Firefox server. I allowed the primary tab to remain my homepage, but I’m only one click away from each of the course’s components, and this formation allows a great deal of accessibility.
I’m not sure if it’s possible to load this configuration on a secondary computer, but because the computers save usernames and other keywords on the machines, I’m wondering if I can configure the setup on a computer once, and then return to the same computer with the same username and reload the same settings. That may not even be kosher with the Comm lab policies though, so I’ll have to check.
For my SL blogs, I decided to stick with the writers I already studied for this assignment: James au Wagner and Rik Riel, both of whom have numerous blogs on Second Life. I liked Wagner’s analysis of conventional themes and trends (like charity work) within the virtual community, and I also liked his informal style of writing. It also seemed more mature than many other blogs, both devoted to SL and otherwise.
Rather than a third blog, I opted to also include the Reuters page on SL as one of my tabs, which gives me access to more objective news about the medium. Perhaps I’m just a print dinosaur, but I’d prefer to get more official news reports than conjecture, regardless of the nature or level of sophistication of the medium or the conjecture. The blogs are interesting, but I like the official stuff better, personally.

Title: “My friend Mensajero, the virtual panhandler” and “Homeless for the holidays.”

Article author: Rik Riel & James au Wagner

Full citation: Rik Riel (2006). "My friend Mensajero, the virtual panhandler," The Click Heard Around the World, December 5, 2006. (PDF) and Wagner James Au (2006). "Homeless for the holidays," New World Notes, December
5, 2006 (PDF).

Summary by: Marcus Funk

Key concepts, terms, and buzzwords:
• Internationalized Internet
• Globalization
• International Charity
• International relations
• user-driven content

Summary:
Jamer Wagner and Rik Riel highlight digital efforts to raise awareness of real life problems in this article. After helping a Mexican user find an online translator, they speak to him of his impoverished Mexican state, and discussed political problems and situations that he would otherwise be completely unaware of. Afterwards, he noticed a homeless avatar collecting donations for a real life charity who, although he never spoke, appeared quite genuine.
What made these interactions so interesting was their setting, rather than their content. A digital conversation on poverty seems out of place of its own accord, but these discussions were set in a virtual New York City, immediately beside Rockefeller Center and its giant Christmas tree. As Wagner points out, it would be hard to find greater contrast: A virtual child, in a rich virtual world, surrounded by predominately rich (albeit global) citizens in a model of the world’s richest city, speaking of real poverty in the real world? Wagner ventures that such contrast could potentially bring even more attention to charity causes than conventional online avenues or traditional charity collections.
This relates to our project somewhat indirectly, since the bulk of our efforts are concentrated on leisure rather than charity relief. However, the nature of the Second Life user base is also a factor: If SL users were concerned exclusively with the game, and not connected to outside events, then they would be less likely to participate in the social aspects of our service, and many of them would be unlikely to take the time to investigate us at all. However, if SL user interest has globalized alongside the physical user locations, then interest in a wide variety of issues (like foreign poverty) will likely be reflected by those interests. As such, we could expect to see an increase in foreign participation in our service, and perhaps even efforts to incorporate nonprofit efforts into our search engines. The level of sophistication is really at the heart of our project, and if a SL audience is cultured enough to care for foreign orphans, they are likely to care for our project as well.

Title: “Guarding Darfur” & “Return to Darfur”

Article author: James au Wagner

Full citation: Wagner James Au (2006). "Guarding Darfur," New World Notes, May 1, 2006.

Summary by: Marcus Funk

Key concepts, terms, and buzzwords:
• Internationalized Internet
• Globalization
• International Charity
• International relations
• user-driven content

Summary:
James Wagner’s posts on the genocide in Darfur reflect a disagreement with Harvard’s Ethan Zuckerman about the effectiveness of Second Life programs on real life events. Firstly, Wagner categorizes the efforts of SL users to create awareness of the Sudanese genocide by creating a Second Life “Camp Darfur,” which used real satellite imagery and facts to educate users about the genocide. Ultimately, users had to volunteer to protect the site from “griefers” and others who didn’t take the location seriously. The project was entirely run by volunteers, and Wagner claimed it reflected genuine concern about world events by people otherwise unconnected to the crisis.
His second post was a response to Zuckerman, who claimed the project was an overrated waste of time. By focusing on awareness in a digital world, users avoided engaging the crisis in a real way, and in doing so predetermined that their efforts would be ineffective. Zuckerman claimed the Metaverse was not unimportant; it was simply not a high priority. Any social activism will struggle to find a predominately sexually oriented audience, and according to Zuckerman, Second Life closely mimics Reagan America’s fixation on real estate and sex.
Wagner responded by saying SL social activism was at least as effective as most political blogs, and was designed to call attention to a crisis to people who would otherwise be unaware. Wagner agreed that such a site could not solve the crisis, but it could lead to an awareness which the issue badly needs.
This relates to our project because of it’s focus on Second Life, and its use of an alternative media to affect real change in the outside world. If Second Life is, as Zuckerman claims, simply a deviant and onanistic society, then our attempts to provide a serious service may be a moot point. But, if users are more cognizant of world events than Zuckerman gives them credit for, then they may be as willing (if not more so) to participate in online social activism (like helping new users) as they are in raising awareness of outside tragedies.

Title: “The World is Flat”

Article author: Thomas Friedman

Full citation: Thomas Friedman (2006) "While I Was Sleeping," Excerpt from The World is Flat: The Globalized World in the Twenty-First Century.

Summary by: Marcus Funk

Key concepts, terms, and buzzwords:
• Internationalized Internet
• Globalization
• Developing nations
• International relations
• user-driven content

Summary:
Thomas Friedman’s work The World is Flat directly correlates to our class project; in particular, the internationalism of it all. Friedman, an award winning New York Times columnist and political analyst, dissects the subtleties of globalization which many Americans do not recognize: Namely, that vast leaps in technology have enabled individual participation on a global scale, and that corporate integration throughout the world has homogenized the global market.
Much of his work relates exclusively to business. American outsourcing has combined with foreign eagerness to create enormous and profitable markets for the sale and production of traditionally Western goods. For example, American fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC have invaded Latin America, information technology help lines and production centers have installed themselves throughout India. The phenomenon has been so successful that many “developing” nations are now turning the trend on its head: Most Japanese corporations manufacture their products in the United States to exploit the same profitability that most American IT firms find by outsourcing their production lines to India.
Friedman claims this trend is a direct result of technological improvements. By arming individuals with personal computers, high speed internet and fiber optic lines to every corner of the globe, technology has lowered the bar for individual participation in the world economy. Without such radical advances, globalization would be restricted to only giant corporations and national governments; today, the world has been flattened for everyone.
It is through this technological angle that our project discovers a parallel. Second Life is simply one avenue of technological globalization, and because the online community is so diversified nationally, we must make efforts to engage foreign users and compensate for language barriers. Ten years ago, a game like Second Life would be limited to a local area network, where only a handful of users in the same building could connect and interact. Now, that building and network have expanded to encompass the entire globe, and we must be cognizant of that increase if our project is to succeed.

I still think that either 'SLAMM' or 'The Source' would be the best titles. I don't really see 'SLAMM' as a negative term, and I think it invokes a degree of curiousity that could be really helpful to our project. But, if some folks in the class interpret it negatively, then odds are others in SL might, too. 'The Source' provides the same benefits without the potential problems, so that may work better. Either way, though, I think a degree of mystery is necessary for this to work, and I don't want to ruin the intrigue with the title.

To be honest, I see limited potential in the 3D web, simply because it's too time consuming for information gathering. If you break it down, it seems like most media was intended for one of two purposes: Either it was meant for entertainment value, like most films and music, or it was designed to facilitate the rapid expression of information. Web3D has a future in one of these categorites; in the other, it does not.

All information based media, be it print journalism or Amazon.com, is focused on streamlining information. The most pertinent parts of a news broadcast come at the very beginning for a reason: People want to know now, rather than later. Google would be useless if you had to wander around a digital arena looking for information; it's effective precisely because of its instant access to information. Making the internet three dimensional adds a great deal of complication. Why digitize library shelves and books, and force users to navigate between them, when a traditional search engine is much more effective?

By contrast, entertainment based media hinges upon portrayal and delivery. It makes sense for a movie to take its time explaining the plot, since the media isn't based upon intant access. By the same token, a 3D Web could suceed for the same reason that Second Life suceeds: People like wandering around and being entertained. As long as there's potential novelty, there will be a market for it, particularly if it's considered an advance in technology.

So, could a 3D Web replace the traditional one entirely? Probably not. There's no point in creating an avatar to send an email when you can send it much easier by yourself. But, traditional Web surfing already has the exploratory elements necessary for a 3D internet to flourish, so there likely is a market for it. To me, it seems more likely that programs like Second Life will become more like the internet than the other way around, but I doubt the current software represents the end of the online third dimension.

Also, incidentally, Yahoo! had the following article about the Second Life Liberation Army featured on its page the other day. I think they have a point: Doesn't revolution require a certain degree of seclusion for the revolutionaries? How can you lead a coup when the establishment can track your every move, log your every word, and potentially control your every step, all of the time?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070224/ts_alt_afp/usitinternetattacks_070224005516

Marcus

For my assignment, I investigated broader online dating trends and site histories. I thought the best way to do that was to do a Google News search and see what popped up. I thought of scouring the library for psychology and sociology books on dating, but I thought better of it for three reasons: 1) Since we’re not investigating trends or sociological needs, I’m not sure how useful wider psychological research would be. We already know what (more or less) online daters are looking for, and why they’re looking. More information would probably be helpful, but ultimately less useful than more pragmatic information about online dating communities. 2) We’re not really inventing a product, or directly filling a need; we’re actually just creating a kind of specialized search engine, and people can use that to find their particular needs. So, knowledge of the search engines themselves are more important than their searchable items. 3) With my luck, the minute I wander into the ‘self help dating section’ of the library for “academic research” the day before Valentine’s Day, every Trinity girl and their dog will walk by and laugh.

So, for now, I figured I’d keep it at this. I’ve provided bullet points and links to the articles I found, and I’ll dig deeper later if I need to. Most of these dites really seem like adaptations of real world dating environments onto the internet, since there are only a few ideas which aren't applicable in the real world, and I think we can use that for our project.

- Online dating in the United States has seen a marked increase over the last several years, but much of the growth has been devoted to free services rather than payment-oriented companies. Payment methods are becoming more advanced on many servers, but many online daters are switching to free sites.
- By contrast, the smaller European market has seen significant growth, and total profits are expected to climb from 243 million Euros in 2006 to 549 million Euros in 2011. The total number of European users has climbed from 4% in 2005 to 6% to 2006.
o http://www.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=8487

- Several studies have indicated that many users turn to online dating with inflated expectations, only to be disappointed when the initial euphoria wears off. Studies showed that many users, particularly women, hope to find romantic perfection or a “soul mate” online, and vague profiles tend to encourage this fantasy. It’s easy for many to get carried away with a flattering photograph and an incomplete profile, but once more details surface and incompatibilities arise, many hopeful lovers become disillusioned with the entire process. By contrast, many male online daters are searching for casual relationships or sexual encounters rather than lifelong commitments.
- To be honest, though, I’m not convinced this is any different than the real world. Perhaps the entire process is expedited, since it takes less time to notice an unattractive detail on a profile than it does to give up on a lost conversation, but losing interest in someone is an inevitable part of many relationships. I’ve never joined an online matchmaking site, but I’ve had plenty of relationships tank after a little while, so I’d imagine it's more or less the same thing when the dialogue begins online.
o http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070212_speed_date.html

- SnogLondon.com, a free online dating site in London, offered 10 tips for online dating for Valentine’s Day. To be honest, most of them seem like they could be applied to the real world as well. Things like “Don’t bombard the other person with messages, give them space,” “take time to investigate them personally instead of trolling the entire site (or group),” and most importantly, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” – i.e. don’t obsess with online dating, and keep a diversified social life. Most of it seems pretty straight-forward.
o http://www.responsesource.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=29568&hilite=

- Match.com and Yahoo! Personals have both seen significant growth among the 50+ age market, as well as increases in divorced and widowed members. Match.com especially has shifted to older demographics because they are more likely to subscribe to a service, as well as remain interested over a long period of time, than the often spastic younger markets. Younger demographics also generate profits from advertising revenue, which can be generate problems when associated with significant turnover rates.
o http://www.spokesmanreview.com/business/story.asp?ID=173953
- Online dating has facilitated and expedited workplace dating, according to one study. As many as half of American companies officially forbid workplace relationships, and most discourage them even if they lack official policies, but online sites like myspace allow employees a wealth of personal information about each other, which can facilitate the development of a relationship. I’m not sure about the real world, but I do know that Facebook has provided Trinitonian employees plenty of drama, so I can see how that could happen outside of college.
o http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?from=rss_IOLTechHome&iSectionId=2883&iArticleId=3677897

Current Location: ghetto apartment
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Matisyahu

It seems to me that the bulk of the potential in Second Life pertains to promotion and advertising, much like any other media. Reports of promotional campaigns for Cancer benefits and automobile corporations were common among the SL media (A good Comm major would remember how to code links inside blogs from Web Design, but since I'm not, uhm ... http://www.3pointd.com/20070206/sl-relay-for-life-kicks-off-february-17/, http://www.3pointd.com/20070206/mazda-concept-car-zoom-zooms-into-sl/ and http://www.3pointd.com/20070201/roomba-cleans-up-in-second-life/)

The other mainstream topic was integration between the real and digital worlds. There may have been a commercial for the sitcom "Two and a Half Men" was filmed in SL (http://www.3pointd.com/20070204/cbs-airs-machinima-spot-ahead-of-superbowl/) and the uber weird "design your real coffin in a digital space" offer from a Dutch mortuary clearly crosses the line between quirky novelty and creepy fetish, but is certainly deserves points for originality. (http://www.3pointd.com/20070206/contest-design-your-own-coffin-in-second-life/)

What I didn't see too much of, though, were role reversals. Plenty of articles talked about new businesses, trends and gossip IN Second Life, but fewer discussed expansions or return trips OUTSIDE of Second Life. The biggest exceptions were conferences and meetings about the program, and I'm not sure those should count. Rather than giving companies or projects a Second Life, would it not be better to build upon their first lives with this cool technology? Instead of creating a promotional campaign in the game for inside the game, why don't we record some Machinema and use it to promote real products in the real world? Or, use the flexible creation tools in SL to create a detailed advertising campaign in traditional media?

Second Life and its entourage spend a great deal of time encouraging people to think independently about their program and accept it, but that independence at times seems contingent upon immersion. Instead of diving deep into the ocean of an alternative world, why don't we dig a channel, and use smaller streams to enrich what we already have?

How we should do that, though ... I'm still working on that. To be honest, I got really distracted by an article (http://www.3pointd.com/20070205/a-deep-look-at-lifelogging/) on "Lifelogging," or recording giant swaths of your own life onto a digital device. It's a really good article, although it's not entirely connected to the course material. Basically, the author went a few weeks with a digital recorder hanging from his neck, and talked to a bunch of enthusiasts who see total records as the way of the future. I can't see it, personally, since (as he points out) people act very differently when they know they're being watched, and it also really ruins the fun of history and journalism, and most other things as well. Much of our identity and our power is devoted to ambiguity, and even as a college journalist, I don't want to take that away.

But mostly, it bugged me that I know I've done this before. The author compared it to YouTube and Facebook, saying those were examples of personal recording archives, but I know in high school I had a really bad habit of saving my own AIM conversations when things got weird, and I think that's the better example. A little nostalgia can be nice ... but too much can be really dangerous, both socially and emotionally. Admittedly, it's complicated, but at least on a personal level, I there's a reason we can't predict the future or fully remember the past, and maybe we should keep it that way. Especially when the records in question were ultra lame high school dramas ... barf.