Seeing the World in New Ways
In a long, but fascinating article in the journal, E-Media Studies, Lori Landay, examines the new frontiers of experience being explored within the context of computer games and virtual worlds. She begins with a reference to Soviet filmmaker, Dziga Vertov’s, description of those new perspectives opened up by the movie camera. In the 1920’s, he coined the term “kino-eye” as a way of personifying, and illuminating the power of a then, new media: film. In the following passage, Vertov gives voice to the camera:
“Now and forever, I free myself from human immobility, I am in constant motion, I draw near, then away from objects, I crawl under, I climb onto them. I move apace with the muzzle of a galloping horse, I pluge full speed into a crowd, I outstrip running soldiers, I fall on my back, I ascend with an airplane, I plunge and soar together with plunging and soaring bodies. Now I, a camera, fling myself … (into) the chaos of movement.”
Landay then springs forward eighty years to the present, discussing those new perspectives that are for the first time possible, not only for well financed film makers, but for anyone with a relatively up-to-date networked computer. Her article, “Virtual KinoEye: Kinetic Camera, Machinima, and Virtual Subjectivity in Second Life,” is well worth a read, capturing as it does, why many of us are finding that digital media in general and virtual worlds in particular are so full of promise.
The 3D Web
As Linden Labs and others continue to build out their “virtual worlds” and integrate them more fully into the web, others are coming at it from the opposite direction, building 3D functionality into the web browser itself, so that those who seek the immersive experience for a variety of reasons, won’t need to download special software or learn how to use it. Rather, the third dimension of depth will be built into the browser itself. An example of this approach is Katalabs new site with a demo of what a 3D enabled browser can do. Check it out.
Getting the Most Out of Twitter
Getting the Most Out of Twitter – http://nyti.ms/dqg9cU
Just reached 700 friends in Avatars United
Just reached 700 friends within Avatars United, aiming for 1000 …..
Wave of the Future?
While there has been much ink spilled and many pages printed about how teenagers communicate in the digital age, one thing is clear: an entire generation will soon be graduating from high school and college with a habit of building friendships, seeking entertainment, buying products and services in ways that circumvent the communications technologies of the past. It is also likely that this wave of young adults will seek out opportunities for education and enlightenment within their virtual worlds. The implications of these trends for the institutions that adults inhabit are profound.
Twitter Turns On the Stream
Twitter Turns On the Stream for Big and Small Alike – http://nyti.ms/9v0ZtO
Books About Virtual Reality
If you want to get an idea of how big the virtual reality movement is, and how broad its implications are, just take a quick tour of the books on this topic. Of course, one might consider it ironic that one of the main factors in what is supposed to be a migration away books and towards a culture centering around digital communications technologies has itself spawned so many books. May a thousand flowers bloom! Check out the latest book list now.
And amazingly, the press is covering the topic as well. Are newspapers tracking the story of their own demise?
Check out the latest news stories here.
Trying #SLViewer2
Trying #SLViewer2
Why Sales of Virtual Goods are Soaring
What is the most you’re willing to pay for a virtual item in a videogame or virtual world? Five, ten dollars? How about $26,500?
That’s the amount David Storey, a 27-year-old graduate student living in Sydney, Australia, paid for a virtual island, the “Most valuable object that is virtual,” according to Guinness World Records.
It’s easy to write off Storey, who goes by the name “Deathifier,” as a geek gone wild, but he now owns a million-dollar empire. Storey runs Amethera Treasure Island, which he purchased in the virtual world Entropia, as a rare game preserve and taxes hunters on his land. Storey says the taxes bring in more than $100,000 in real money per year. For the full story at Forbes.com (no pun intended).
I’m attending Virtual Worlds Best Practices
I’m attending Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2010 (VWBPE ‘10) — http://vwbpe10.eventbrite.com