Italianieuropie

I've not blogged about any sims for a few days, so I thought I should rectify that. This is the first of 2 posts featuring sites about which I can't really muster great gushing enthusiasm. But they're sites I don't recall seeing before - and am not likely to see again - so I suppose I should just get stuck in.

The first is Italianieuropei. This is an Italian sim (surpruise!) belonging to a non-governmental organisation of the same name. According to their website, Italianieuropei is: "a Foundation established in 1998 with the aim of promoting a Europe-minded political culture and of bringing to the fore new leaders in the various public arenas: politics, business, public administration and culture. It is a think tank designed to promote discussions, within public opinion, on the main issues posed by political and economic innovation and on the steps Italy must take in order to redefine its political and cultural foundations." And there's more where that came from.

In terms of their Second Life presence, it seems they are another outfit who have been inworld since the Summer of 2007 and yet whose existence has only just registered with me. They have a website (in Italian) that tracks their various inworld events.

I'm actually quite surprised that they have been inworld for so long. My reason for saying this is the relative immaturity of the sim. It has an attactive auditorium, information centre and photo wall, but the rest of the sim feels like work in progress. An Italaniate palazzo serves as office space, and is quite nicely done out, but there is something indefinably unfinished about it, while the formal garden next door is bordering on the rudimentary.

I have to say, though, why would I go to Second Life to attend a meeting if I had the choice of some of the atomic world locations they use? Some of the photos on display bring to mind some wonderful, satirical photomontage, juxtaposing modern day be-suited worthies, with Old Master Renaissance interiors. I needed a doubletake to realise that these people really are sitting amid all this splendour!


And here's rest of the sim:

In a Politik Land

Most of us who spout forth our dodgy views on the future of the internet, web3.D and so on, tend to take web1.0 as our starting point, then sashay through the joys of web2.0 before arriving at our destination. The site I want to mention in this post, Politik Land, is an interesting example of this evolution. The sim belongs to politik.de, which my flaky grasp of German suggests is a portal for those interested in politics and democracy. You can watch a YouTube vid that gives a great overview of the site:



The portal offers a number of web2.0 social networking facilities, with discussion forums, groups and many other opportunities for interaction and participation (assuming politics is your "thing"). And all of this within a user-configurable portal that allows you to select and position the onscreen components. Given this high degree of 2D networking, the logical next step is to add 3D immersive networking - hence this island in Second Life.

The island itself is well laid out, light and airy. Branching off a central hub are 7 zones, with meeting areas of varying sizes, ranging from a couple of seats up to a large open air auditorium. A group of buildings have been set aside for use by (or to provide information about) various German political parties. There are quizzes, web links and regular events. I say "regular" - the most recent I found was November 8th (about 2 weeks ago) that involved a discussion with representatives of 4 political parties.

My lack of German rather hampered my efforts to extract much more from this island - however, you may fare rather better. In any case, here are my snaps:

Music and Politics

The island of misneach is owned by SL group Four Winds Entertainment, who describe their mission as "to provide quality entertainment to SL residents." The island is under construction, but already has areas set aside for 2 bands:

• First up are The Invaders, a Milwaukee-based Ska band; I would never have associated Ska with Wisconsin.

• Then there is On A Sun, also from Milwaukee, who specialise in a blend of electronica and rock.

Beyond that, the island has a multi-floored dance block, a couple of outdoor screens and a beach area for more relaxing pastimes. Presumably as a bid to cover some of the expense of running an island, there is a small number of shops for rent. You are also invited to leave a tip in order to cheer up Sad Bob.

The build, which has a look of the able and enthusiastic amateur about it, clearly has a number of weeks before it is completed.

+++

Progressive Island is home to a number of... well... progressive organisations. It is the place to sign up for the YearlyKos Second Life convention in August (blogged before). It also hosts IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare); the Wes Clark 2008 election group; NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network); Trellon - "a political consulting firm specializing in the Internet and New Media" - and a number of other, smaller micro-sites.

Construction is still in progress, mainly under Nobody Fugazi, with one building (at least) still to be be completed. The island is group owned by Team Trellon.

YearlyKos Convention in RL and SL

While rambling around the islands of SL this evening I came across a little cluster of new islands labelled "YearlyKos". I rapidly concluded that this was probably not an annual lettuce convention, or a meet-up of exiles from a small Greek island. But the term still meant nothing to me. As ever, though, Google came to my assistance. For those of you as ignorant as me, it transpires that YearlyKos is an organisation " to encourage and facilitate the promotion of progressive values."

The organisation hosts annual conventions, "gathering people from all walks of life who belong to the Netroots community, the US-based (but globally focused and inclusive) non-partisan grassroots political action community that uses the Internet and blogs as primary tools for: expressing viewpoints, building consensus, acting to change the status quo, mobilizing huge numbers of people and informing each other and the world about current events, grassroots actions, networks, meetings, policy and more."

Recognising that not every interested party will be able to make it to their 2007 Convention, to be held in August in Chicago, YearlyKos have taken the step of twinning their Real Life event with a corresponding presence in Second Life. Full details, as they emerge, can be found by following this link. The aim is to support up to 600 virtual delegates, though I only saw 4 islands, so I am not sure how realistic this target will prove - unless more islands are planned to come on-stream later. Delegates will be able to watch live streamed video from Chicago, and participate in discussions both with the SL attendees and with the Chicago convention itself. Special "in-world only" events will also be held. They will also "have hospitality suites, an exhibit hall and meet-up areas for you to sit down, virtually, with the friends and allies you've made."

Registration for the SL event will set you back 25 USD, but that's a lot cheaper than attending the event in person.

No pictures I'm afraid - there simply isn't anything to see yet.

Uncle Sam is out to lunch...

Al has put his cannon away for now and has sought out those noble defenders of democracy on Capitol Hill. Aside from a bloke from The Press and a few bored-looking pigeons, the place was deserted - and the guy from The Press b*ggered off, too. Al, you must need better personal hygiene.

As for Capitol Hill - not much to say really - it probably works best when there's something to observe, though it does have a number of useful web links to US Govt stuff. As for the nature of Democracy - well in SL, maybe everbody's a democracy-of-one nowadays. There are noble, well-intention folk like the Neufreistadters being frightfully grownup - but even there, the SL political parties seem to be having internal spats, which (if taken to their illogical conclusion) will result in a whole raft of Party-of-Me's.

With these thoughts rattling around his pea-like (in size and shape - and probably, consistency) brain, Al went to visit the Sundance Channel island torelax with a movie or two. A general absence of hotdogs, popcorn and fizzy, tooth-dissolving beverages detracted from the experience - and the main movie no longer seems to be running. But to make up for that, Al did get a free bag of goodies - and saw a brilliant animated short: "Sou". You can see a brief snippet at YouTube.


And finally - just to show there's more to Life than politics and popcorn, here's some Pie. The Anime Pie Diner (warning! No guarantee this link is worksafe) starts to take shape - but needs some decent pie-throwing scripts. Any ideas?

Oh.. and you have noticed that Al is sporting a virtual bluetooth headset. That's his Second Talk, Skype-based phone. An idea that looks great to begin with, but ... more of this in a post on slmascot.blogspot.com.

Getting Serious for a mo...

Al is off in SL somewhere, so I thought I had better fill in for him on this entry.
The Guardian newspaper today printed an article about the French Nat1onal Fr0nt in Second Life. Somehow it had passed me by that these neo-fascists had entered SL - but seemingly they've been there for a couple of months. And the problem for a do-goodie-good liberal/libertarian like me is how to respond. This unholy crew is utterly repugnant to me, so do I have to acknowledge their right to be in SL? Regrettably, the answer is "yes", even though I suspect they would not extend the same right to me, if they had the power.

OK then, given that they have a right to be in SL, how should I react? There are 2 choices as I see it: ignore them, or confront them.

It brings to my mind the words of Dietrich Bonnhoeffer, talking about suppression in Nazi Germany: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

So.. confrontation it is. See you sometime in Porcupine.

UPDATE: Al has just been to Porcupine and was impressed by the Autism Museum & Library. He's still exploring - and may post an item later.

Meanwhile, in other news...

• Vodafone's director of brand strategy and manifestation (ed: "manifestation"? wtf is that?), David Erixon, announced at the Marketing Week Interactive Conference earlier this week that they would be launching a mobile phone business within Second Life. What's new about it (apparently) is that there is no phone booth needed to make calls (unlike Vivox). Vodafone's service makes the phones untethered, and allows users to have conversations between avis in Second Life or between Second Life and the real world. Haven't they heard about Second Talk, the new Skype-based service?
• The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has expressed an interest in creating a virtual space within Second Life, according to SLinsider. Maybe that'd explain the appearance of a new island in the Aussie area of SL called, imaginatively, "ABC Island". Also of note - there is a SL Oz forum for Aussies to discuss SL-related stuff (I suppose).