Monday, February 14, 2011

2013 HELP: Second life or OpenSim? Check list for choice

Second life or the OpenSim?  Check list for choice
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OpenSim in the cloud
On the web
  • Continued growth
  • Cloud-based access develops
  • Adventures continue
  • OpenSim Gets a voice
Vocabulary
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OpenSim
OpenSimulator, often referred to as OpenSim, is an open source server platform for hosting virtual worlds. While it is most recognized for compatibility with the Second Life client, it is also capable of hosting alternative worlds with differing feature sets with multiple protocols[1].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSimulator-
Hypergrid
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The hypergrid is an extension to opensim that allows you to link your opensim to other opensims on the internet, and that supports seamless agent transfers among those opensims.
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Major criteria for Choice
OpenSim costs much less that Second Life for equivalent space and prim allocation.  But nothing is cheap if it doesn't do the job for you. 
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You probably want to use Second Life if:
Your objectives call for having a lot of people visit your build.
You have no easy way of attracting people to your build via the internet.
You will need to get the cooperation of other people that you do not know.
You will need to hire builders and scripters

Examples of projects that will probably work best in Second Life
Entertainment venues
Video making start-up
Model Railway
Sailing
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You probably want to use OpenSim if:
You have an easy way of getting people to visit your build.
The skills (building, scripting, etc.) you will need are already available to you.
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Examples:
Classes in established academic institutions.
Work groups composed of people already working together
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The third way
If you have both kinds of needs, you probably want to work in both systems.  You can set up a presence in Second Life at low cost if you can keep down the amount of space you need. 
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For more detailed advice
How to pick a virtual platform — revisited – Hypergrid Business: 


*****
  • What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 
  • Search on page with Google Chrome: Ctrl+f, search bar upper right 
  • Google search this blog, column on right
  • or put site:virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com at the end of the search terms
  • Annotated screen shots made with Jing
  • Creative Commons License, attribution only.
  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • This blog is not affiliated with Second Life or anything else.  
  • Ads are  from Google
-
  

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Saturday, February 12, 2011

2013 1stHELP: See, Zoom, roam, and tag

Zoom in.  Zoom out. Roam the camera view
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You can zoom in on things for close-up -- to read signs better, for example.   You can pull back for wide view.  You can look all around.  Without moving your avatar.
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To zoom in on an object: put your cursor on the  object.  Hold down Alt.    The cursor will change to a rectangular magnifying glass with a plus sign in it.  

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

2013 HELP: Wear objects/edit them

Wear objects/edit them
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You can "wear" objects- attach them to your avatar.  You can  attach them to various positions on your avatar.  Once they are attached, you can position them as you wish.
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You need to know how to edit objects before you try to do this.
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Key distinction:  Objects can look like clothes, but they are handled differently.
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To wear an object (not previously worn), find it in your inventory, right click, put cursor on attach to.  You should see a submenu listing attachment places on your avatar.  Pick a place near where you want the object to stay.  It does not have to be exact -- you can later edit the object to relocate it just where you want it.
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You can have only one object attached to a particular attachment point, so choose an attachment point that you don't expect to use for something else.  (The submenu will show occupied points and the object that occupies them.)
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When you click to select the point, the object will attached to the point in a default position   The position of the object will be referenced to its center.  So don't be shocked when it is not where you expect. Here is what you do next:
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Right click the object and choose edit.  Move and rotate the object just as with ordinary editing.  The difference is that the coordinate system is referenced to the attachment point.
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When the object is positioned to suit you, detach the object:  Right click on the object and select Detach.  Or find it in your inventory (search for the word "Worn").  Right click on that and select "Detach."
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The object will go back to your inventory and will remember the attachment point and position. So in the future, you don't use the "attach to."  You right click and select "Wear."   If you give the object to another person, tell them to wear it.   It will take the same position on that person, but the shape of a different avatar may require custom editing.
*****
  • What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 
  • Search on page with Google Chrome: Ctrl+f, search bar upper right 
  • Google search this blog, column on right
  • or put site:virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com at the end of the search terms
  • Annotated screen shots made with Jing
  • Creative Commons License, attribution only.
  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • This blog is not affiliated with Second Life or anything else.  
  • Ads are  from Google
-
  

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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

2013 VIDEO: PROMO: HoBo Chronicles: Scenes from Hobo Island

Scenes from Hobo Island
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 Watch on YouTube
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Some of the people of Hobo Island show you what they do all day.
How do you promote your place?
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Video-Machinima
      

*****
  • What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 
  • Search on page with Google Chrome: Ctrl+f, search bar upper right 
  • Google search this blog, column on right
  • or put site:virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com at the end of the search terms
  • Annotated screen shots made with Jing
  • Creative Commons License, attribution only.
  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • This blog is not affiliated with Second Life or anything else.  
  • Ads are  from Google
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Saturday, January 29, 2011

2013 PROMO: Promote your events -- Chestnut Rau

Promote your events
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A recent post on this blog
Promote your events: short checklist

Comment by  Chestnut Rau JANUARY 26, 2011
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Chestnut added a thoughtful comment to the original post.  Here I present the comment (under the Chestnut byline) to make sure it gets the attention it deserves. - SE
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I spent two years writing about events for New World Notes and feel pretty qualified to comment on this post. What you have said about the notecard is spot on and people would do well to heed your advice. Having said that I would add a number of important points.

1) You need to get the word out about your event in advance! The day before or the day of is too late. A week to ten days in advance you want people to hear about your event.

2) Send the notice to bloggers! There are plenty of people who will write about your event if you just let them know.

3) Use social networks! Plurk is very Second Life focused and you should also make good use of Twitter.

4) Put your event in Linden Lab's event list! Its a little cumbersome to use but people check it when they are looking for something to do.

5) A day before your event send a reminder. Do NOT spam your groups and your FL or people will hate you forever. One notice a week in advance, one the day before and social networking or group IMs that say "come now! Here is the LM" is enough. 
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FL= friends list-- SE

6) To reiterate: spam=bad. gentle reminder=good.

7) Use complete sentences in your note card and if you are not a good writer then have someone proofread your notices! Typos are embarrassing and unclear writing will not produce the results you are after.

8) If you are going to do lots of events ask experience event planners for advice or consider hiring someone to help.

9) Put on an entertaining event and you are on the way to building an audience. If your event is disorganized or not fun you will have a hard time getting people back for a second time.

Wow that got long winded. I guess I have a thing or two to say on the subject. I should think about doing some posts on my own blog on this topic.

Chestnut Rau
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Valuable advice.  I get to add a few comments here;
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The original post is only a small part of what I have in the inworld Hobo Kit at Cookie.  The length represents another promotion principle:  Don't overload your page.  I will later be posting several more kit articles with more specific suggestions about particular aspects of this subject
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Plurk is very Second Life focused and you should also make good use of Twitter.
I use Twitter and Facebook extensively, as do many of my friends.  I don't use Plurk.  I think I have an account there, but prefer Facebook for its large audience.  I have spent a little time building up a friends list. 
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Send the notice to bloggers!  
Don't just send a notice.  Send usable copy, following the suggestions in my post.
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group IMs that say "come now! Here is the LM" is enough. 
No.  Not enough for active people.  I get several event notices a day.  If I got one like that, I would not know which event it meant.  So I would ignore it.  What I want at the time of the event  is an IM with the event or performer name, the time of the event, and the slurl.
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Video-Machinima
      

*****
  • What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 
  • Search on page with Google Chrome: Ctrl+f, search bar upper right 
  • Google search this blog, column on right
  • or put site:virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com at the end of the search terms
  • Annotated screen shots made with Jing
  • Creative Commons License, attribution only.
  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • This blog is not affiliated with Second Life or anything else.  
  • Ads are  from Google
-
  

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

2013 EDU: A model for educational games?

Search for the Sy: model for educational games?
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Watch on YouTube
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The search for the SY caught my attention.
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for several reasons.
  • It is a game of exploration and discovery.
  • It is designed to allow collaborative exploration.
  • It displays a backstory, a clear story line, and some interaction with characters. 
  • It leads the player to illustrate the work of an anthropologist or archaeologist.
These features look like aspects one would want as a basis for educational games.
===================================
First off, it is interesting.  Read these comments: 
Division Street / Divided Path:
"The Search for the Sy opened recently at IBM Exhibition C. It's an interesting build, both for its own sake and for its connection to recent discussions on the nature and future of Second Life."

 Honour's Post Menopausal View: Search results for the sy:
"Forgive me if I have to do a little victory dance here. I've mentioned before how awful I am at hunts and quests but having gotten a tour of The Search for the Sy I felt compelled to go back and attempt to carry it through."

 Search for the Sy « Ahuva’s Blog: "In-Land Search for the Sy is one of the current exhibits at the IBM Exhibition Space in SL. It is among the most interesting and creative exhibits/builds I have seen in SL. It is beautiful."
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Second, it illustrates the work of an anthropologist or archaeologist

 In fact, Annabelle Fanshaw, the main creator of the game, had input from a professor of anthropology as she wrote the backstory.    More generally, most aspects science can be cast as stories of exploration and discovery, at least at the introductory level.  It is this kind of thing that leads me to imagine the creation of educational games based on real scientific investigations.

 Virtual worlds give experience, the web only gives information
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Annabelle recently gave me a tour of the game--behind the scenes.  I had originally intended to play at least though the opening part of the game as a player, so I could report on the experience.    But I haven't had the time to do more than I reported in the links above. And I don't think I am very good at these games anyway.

So when Annabelle indicated that the game would close in February, I decided to get the tour for the close..  Annabelle told me that she plans to open the build up for visitors about the beginning of February.  Visitors will be able to tour the build and see everything without having to solve the puzzles.

 I hope Annabelle does other story games like this one.  It still reminds me of Myst.
*****
  • What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 
  • Search on page with Google Chrome: Ctrl+f, search bar upper right 
  • Google search this blog, column on right
  • or put site:virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com at the end of the search terms
  • Annotated screen shots made with Jing
  • Creative Commons License, attribution only.
  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • This blog is not affiliated with Second Life or anything else.  
  • Ads are  from Google
-
  

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

2013 PROMO: WRITE: Collaborative blogging, invited articles. Overview

Collaborative blogging, invited articles
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Collaborative Blog: A blog in which some group of people work together in pursuit of an objective, possibly divided into several sub-goals assigned to different contributors.
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Interblogging: Two or more blogs carry on a conversation about their common interests.  Each blog carries its own posts, but links to the other(s).
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Comment collaborators:  People add thoughtful and carefully written comments to particular posts.  The primary author picks up the comments and uses them as a basis for new main article.
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Invited articles: People you know may provide content, particularly if you have many readers and if they have something they want to publicize.       
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If you aren't social media, you are old media
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Examples:
Comment collaborators: I sometimes pick up comments to articles on this blog. and post them on the article or in subsequent articles.
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Invited articles
I am glad to get content  for this blog on topics related to the mission of the blog:

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Video-Machinima
      

*****
  • What do we do in Virtual Worlds? 
  • Search on page with Google Chrome: Ctrl+f, search bar upper right 
  • Google search this blog, column on right
  • or put site:virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com at the end of the search terms
  • Annotated screen shots made with Jing
  • Creative Commons License, attribution only.
  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • This blog is not affiliated with Second Life or anything else.  
  • Ads are  from Google
-
  

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2013 PROMO: Promote your events: short checklist

Event promotion checklist
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I hate to see people go to the trouble of preparing for an event and then have a low turnout because they did not promote it effectively.
- Here are my suggestions for effective promotion of an event:
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

2013 BIZ: S-tech is here. E-tech is last year

S-tech, the social internet, and 
the future of virtual worlds 
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S-tech is the social sciences: Economics, Sociology, Psychology.
Electronics don't buy things. People buy things.

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2013 2ndHELP: Music and video, hear and see

What you need to know 
to hear/see audio and video  
Instructions for V3.x viewers. 
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Sound & Media
Preferences, Sound & media tab
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