A Foray Into The Seedy Underbelly Of Second Life by Earl B Morris

Filed Under BBT Magazine, WoW, Geeks, Filk, Filking, Earl B Morris, Web 2.0, Throwing Screwy Pills In The Bathtub, Zombies, Nerds, Tron, second life, mmorpg, Dungeons & Dragons, From The Desk Of Earl B Morris | 4 Comments

 

After reading Ariesgeeks latest web-blogger of futuristic ponderings about world of the computer attached to the WWW (World Wide Internet), specifically the use of graphic representations of the self called “avatars,” with which one may communicate to other people in US and Canada, I found myself inspired to give it a go. The software he was promoting was called Second Life, by Mattel I believe, and has proven very popular among the In Crowd for the past several months.

I’m no stranger to the WWW myself, so after drawing my great aunt a sitz bath, and putting Frederick, our little Cairn Terrier in the garage to urinate, I sat down and began to research the Second Life. I found a large community of people had web-bloggers of their own regarding this phenomenon, and one in particular attracted my interest – a review of Houses of Ill Repute that are available in the virtual arena. It seems that even here we are not immune to the influence of the seedy underbelly of humanity.

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The Future of Meetings. Sweet, Sweet Meetings.

Filed Under BBT Magazine, The Future, meetings, second life, Arsgeek, technology | 15 Comments

Arsgeek
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Since I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in meetings this week, my column will focus on the joy and wonderfulness that will be the meetings of the future. Technology will bring us to new heights of group ineffectiveness as our simulated shelfs doodle on simulated note pads or dream simulated dreams while emulating a light doze.

Wait, perhaps that’s not quite the image I’m looking to get across as we peer into the future of the online meeting. Let’s lay down a little ground work on what will power these virtual meeting spaces and our virtual selves who’ll meet in them.

avatar.gifThe first thing we’ll need to bring to a virtual meeting is – ourselves. How will we be represented? Why by the avatar of course. If you’d like to see a current and wonderful example of just how avatars work, I suggest you head on over to Second Life (after you finish reading this here article of course) and sign yourself up. Avatars are virtual representations of ourselves. They can take the form of well, ourselves but in pixilated joy or they could be dragons, giant furry pandas or a walking, talking waffle iron. Whatever form they take, they’re supposed to represent our consciousness as we stride around virtual space killing orcs or building virtual palaces. Or attending meetings.
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