Secondference in Gijon, Spain

My Spanish colleagues, Claudio and Gemma, maintain a blog - Virtual World Works - largely aimed at highlighting their work in Virtual Worlds on behalf of our parent company. They also kindly link to the posts I make here at Slambling - so you run a distinct risk of falling into an infinite loop if you follow the links.

Checking out their blog, I see that they are attending /secondference, the first meeting of Second Life’s users and professionals in Spain, which is being held tomorrow, 19th May. I mention this, because I've not seen anything about this elsewhere, and thought you might like to know about it. If you are a cheapskate like me, then one of the more appealing aspects of this conference is the price tag - it's free! What is more, you can save those carbon miles and attend it from the comfort of your PC (Mac or other weapon of choice), as it is being held in both the atomic and virtual towns of Gijón.

According the '/secondference' website: "It is the first meeting of Second Life's users and professionals in Spain, which also includes the participation of Linden Lab. Companies and users will speak about Second Life as a business, educational and entertaining platform. Everett Linden, director of community initiatives and social networks from Linden Lab, will travel to Spain and participate in the event, which will be attended by major industry and user groups. /Secondference will be broadcast in Second Life, and (only by reservation), you will be able to participate in the event in real or virtual Gijon. The event is free, but registration is required."

Date ----: Saturday May 17th in the afternoon (sorry - I don't know what time!)
Venue --: Hotel Asturias, Gijón or Second Gijon in Second Life

Leaving it late, maybe: but you can register here.

VWCE2008M

OK, come on, 'fess up... what am I missing? I was minding my own business, out for a late night stroll among the islands of SL, and stumbled upon VWCE2008M. Now, if you know my modus operandi, you will see immediately why I went for a squint at this sim. If not, let me explain: one of the small and distinctly dodgy tools I use in deciding to check out a site is whether the name seems to consist of initials. If it does, it is likely to be non-residential and generally of relevance to this blog. So.....

I can tell you that the name is shorthand for VW 2008 Conference and Expo, that the sim is Japanese, and that IBM (Japan?) have a pavillion here (with a couple of freebies). At which point I hit a metaphorical (if not virtual) brick wall. Oh... apart from: there's a whole ruck of "VWCE08" groups in Second Life. A little light googling has not turned up what I expected to find, namely: a Virtual Worlds conference, hosted in Japan, with sponsorship by IBM and Sun, amongst others. Meanwhile, the sim itself is in a fairly early stage of development, which would suggest that the conference is a few months away - but it lacks any links to websites, or other obvious clues.

There's a couple of rudimentary stands so far - including one for "Lamity", which I understand to be a Japanese cellphone-based game world.

Here's a piccy or two... if you know more, then do tell:


Oh... and of course, I have to wonder why I was able to simply blunder in here in the first place.

UPDATE May 10th: See comments. My thanks to Ak Yip, who has nailed this one for me.

Euro-VirtWorlders, 2 For Your Diary

If you are a virtual worlding conference junkie - and particularly if you are based in Europe (and, depending on your political sensitivities about such things, the UK) - you will be thrilled to the core by the news that, not one, but two Virtual Worlds conferences are on the way to London in 2008.

First up, State of Play VI will be held from 22-24, July. According to the website, it "will examine the social significance of virtual worlds within Europe. With the support of the UK Intellectual Property Office and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, New York Law School’s State of Play conference series will come to Britain for the first time... With the increasing significance of the European market for MMOGs, with the scale of deals now being done by European developers, and with the importance of the European regulatory environment to all virtual worlds, we believe that it is the perfect time to convene a conference in London that takes virtual worlds seriously...The major themes of the conference will be the special challenges that regulation has in these environments; the way that virtual worlds are providing new models for innovation; and how physical locations are being integrated with these online environments to create new immersive experiences. The European experience with regulatory oversight in federated systems provides for a wonderful opportunity to explore the best ways to ensure vibrant spaces for innovative content, speech and life." I don't have any venue information.

If that clashes with your Summer holiday, then you might want to wait until October instead; the 20th and 21st to be precise.

Virtual World News reports that Virtual Worlds Management, who publish their blog, will be hosting "Virtual Worlds London, a conference and expo, to take place October 20-21, 2008 at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, a beautiful venue right across the street from Westminster Abbey. This will be our first conference and expo in London. Last year we hosted a party with the same name but did not host a full conference. After 18 months of operating the leading virtual worlds events in the US we're extremely excited to bring the same high-caliber speakers and content to the United Kingdom and Europe. Virtual Worlds London should not confused with the Virtual Worlds Forum event (operated by another company) that took place in London last year."

Who knows? I might actually get to one of these events this year. Or maybe not.