Spotlight on Sasun Steinbeck - Art Maven and Artist Activist With 85,000 gallery information cards served from “The Galleries of Second Life” kiosks in the past 18 months, Sasun Steinbeck is one of the best-known supporters of the art community in Second Life. In a virtual world that gets most of the media attention from sex scandals and business, art has been a steadily growing community, with many accomplishments and victories. Steinbeck is one of the longest-running and invaluable catalysts spurring the development of the art world.

Japanese-Style Second Life A survey back in June found that most Japanese people equated the term “second life” with retirement, but I imagine that there are at least a few Japanese people out there who are aware of the crappy virtual world’s presence in their country. One clue that supports this theory is the presence of videos on YouTube showing Japanized areas of the Second Life game world.

Hublot first Luxury Watch Brand in Second Life Swiss luxury watch maker Hublot announces their presence in Second Life. Hublot’s island in 2nd Life features luxurious bars, a marina, exhibition area and even an online shop.

Tourist office for Second Life

The Netherlands Board Of Tourism and Conventions has announced the launch of the world’s first National Tourism Board in Second Life.

Brass Tacks on Non-Profit Presences In Second Life: To What End? Non-profits typically lag corporations when it comes to following trends (an article by itself!), and we all know that the corporate interest bubble of SecondLife has burst to some degree. It hasn’t completely fallen away, mind you - there are simply more realistic expectations. Some have made philanthropy a ‘big deal’tm in Second Life, but when you think about it - it just doesn’t make as much sense as it looks ‘cool’. Second Life Hype vs. Human Needs is very poignant in this regard.

Virtual reality One of the prime characteristics of human beings is not that they’re the only animals who blush, but that all of them yearn to step out of their own skin to inhabit other worlds. Fortunately, there is a piece of technology that enables them to do this. One that lets them take on new identities, explore new places and role-play with other beings. Millions have made use of it already; millions more are doing it right now.

Second Life? Nah. It’s called a book.

Second Life as Temporary Autonomous Zone Coming on the heels of the Linden’s recent excessively broad and vague definition of the “broadly offensive”, the hand wringing about the Leather and Lace Ball at the Second Life Community Convention got me thinking about Hakim Bey’s fringe culture classic, Temporary Autonomous Zones. Bey’s headline idea was how Temporary Autonomous Zones are liberated places where people can carry on festal activities so long as they occupy hidden cracks in the net. If they become too visible they are squashed out of existence by the State. To survive, the residents must, like nomads, fold up their tents and move on. The question is, has the Second Life Subculture become too visible? Will it be squashed out of existence? Will Second Lifers, like 21st century nomads, soon have to fold up their tents and move on to hidden corners of the metaverse?

Entertainment Ave! has a Movie Theater in Second Life. My Labor Day Weekend has been fun-filled, and I’ll talk with Stu Gotz about it tomorrow for our “Stu & The Dude’s Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, but one of the things I did accomplish was actually build something in the Internet realm of Second Life. Our staff member, The Dude on the Left, says Second Life is dead, but Entertainment Ave! has some virtual property, and a sort of vision for it, so with property in hand, and limited building skills, our first building to be functional is “The Movie Theater.”

Second Life: The beginning I’ve just been exploring Second life this evening. When I decided to assign my graduate students to go into SL, one reason was that it would push me into learning about it myself (very useful to be able to do that sort of thing). I’ve been in LJ for some years, so am feeling quite at ease. It was time to learn a new and different online environment, and SL was perfect. It now has free accounts; it accomodates many different communities and sub-cultures (including fandom ones which are my primary interest–no surprise to find a lot of elven and Tolkien-themed areas there!), and it’s freeform, not to mention that there are Education Islands and many educators working on using SL in teaching. I’ve decided to see if I can apply for a mini-grant to pay for a better video card and more memory for my work computer.

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What’s Akihabara Like in Second Life? So Second Life has launched in Japan. And there’s even a in-world branch of Japanese used book seller Book-Off to prove it! The Book-Off isn’t so bad, but the Akihabara nerd shop is depressing. Like more depressing that real Akiba. To be fair, the above clip isn’t brand-spankin’ new, so who knows, maybe this Moeya store looks “better.” The 2channel mascot stuff looks kooky, though. Hit the jump for that!

Webheads Tour #1 of Second Life: Real Life Cities in Second Life

The idea behind this tour was to visit a number of cities in Second Life that have been based on their Real Life counterparts. Their are lots of these and they are mainly European cities for some reason, so we decided to visit a number of them: Venice, Moscow, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Brussels, Liverpool and Dublin.

HBO Acquires ‘My Second Life: the Video Diaries of Molotov Alva’ HBO has acquired “My Second Life: the Video Diaries of Molotov Alva” (working title), the first documentary to be shot entirely in a virtual world. The animated documentary will premiere on the network in 2008.

Directed by Douglas Gayeton (”Johnny Mnemonic”), “My Second Life: The Video Diaries of Molotov Alva” tells the story of Gayeton’s avatar, Molotov Alva. Alva exists in Second Life, a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 9,188,392 residents from around the globe.

Innova JC students deal with real life issues in virtual world A new virtual teaching method, designed to help students develop critical thinking skills, is being used in Innova Junior College, which is the first junior college to use the programme under the Education Ministry.

Hublot Leads Luxury Watch Brands with Virtual Island Hublot - the Swiss luxury watchmaker - today revealed that it is to launch a Hublot island in the virtual world of Second Life. On 12th September, Hublot promises to open its virtual doors to all Second Life residents and journalists. After 6 months of development in partnership with Akira Web SA of Luxembourg, Hublot’s state of the art premises includes luxurious bars, a marina, exhibition area and even an online shop!

When not to get involved in Second Life More and more nonprofits are showing up in Second Life. Are you? UK fundraising guy (and my former colleague) Bryan Miller in his Giving in a digital world blog takes a realistic look at Second Life in A busy week for nonprofit brands in Second Life.

Second Life: over-hyped or scientifically significant? As a lifelong sci-fi fan who read the book, I joined Second Life about a year ago. I just wanted to see what it was like. I was prepared for a half-baked environment, and in that sense, Second Life met my expectations. Overall, the experience was still a bit disappointing.

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