WOOWW: NOAA Comes to Second Life!!!!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) have arrived in Second Life, and they brought all the fun and excitement you have naturally come to expect from fluid dynamics! In case you haven't been on any submarine rides lately, the NOAA is the governmental agency tasked with researching the oceans, climate, weather, and anything else having to do with gigantic masses of air and water. (Full disclosure, I was part of this project.)

The NOAA's sim is called Meteroa, which is derived from the Greek adjective meteoras which means 'suspended in the air' (Full disclosure, I'm Greek). On this lovely island sim you can find fully interactive educational demonstrations about the ocean and weather. Examples include a sea life submarine ride created by The Magicians, and two different tsnuami demos by Aimee Weber Studios and Electric Sheep Company. Other fun stuff includes a demonstration of a real-time temperature map powered by Yahoo, narration by Exploratorium Chief Scientist Paul Doherty, an airplane ride into a hurricane, and a melting glacier demonstration.

The NOAA's arrival may be a great sign of things to come. United States government agencies aren't exactly what you call flamboyant, trendy, or fashionable. Their interest in Second Life as a solid educational tool may give other companies a greater sense of comfort in the stability of the platform. We can only hope!

If you can't make it out to the actual exhibit, then you may want to check out Aimee's tsunami demo in movie form created by SL resident and friend Isruel Asturias here. And for chuckles, a parody version here.

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Open an SL Forum!!

Filed under: News, Business

There is a new fad in town that may rival CB radios, pet rocks, and parachute pants in terms of participation. I'm talking about having your own Second Life Forum! If you don't have one by now, you run the risk of having few examples of youthful folly for your future kids to make fun of years from now. Quick! Grow a mullet!

As the official Second Life forums close their doors, we see hopeful replacements spring up like dandelions. OK, lets see what we have here...

Metaverse Media Forums
Prokofy Neva's Police Blotter forum
SL-Forum
New World Notes
SecondLifes

Now, of course there has always been special interest forums about Second Life. These forums typically have a singular focus and a relatively small following. Little will change about that. What we are talking about now is, who will own the new de facto standard for Second Life discussions? The Big Kahuna of forums! Many people want in on this action but as they say, there can be only one!

"Only one??!" asked the voices in Aimee's head, "why must there be only one?!"

Well, voices, it's Malthusian growth. People attract people. Even if the race starts out neck-and-neck, in the long run any forum that enjoys a slight edge in active participants will continue to use that edge to attract still more users from competing forums. Eventually one forum will rule them all, leaving the rest to flounder in the long tail.

New arrivals on the scene may find it very challenging to compete with the venerable and respected SL Universe, especially with Snapzilla in tow. Second Citizen has also been around for the better part of a year and currently enjoys a highly active user base plus a bad-boy image. But this early in the game I wouldn't feel comfortable declaring a winner, especially with the potential for some of Second Life's high rollers to introduce their own forum, complete with a high budget marketing campaign and strong-arm tactics.

So, when mathematical fate declares a winner, what will things be like? Well, the word "impartial" doesn't come to mind. One might imagine the moderation policies if the new standard SL Forum finds itself covered in sheep like 3PointD. Well that's not as bad as the possibility of Aimeeland Forums, which would sport a strict "no-pants" policy. But lucky for you guys, this is a fad I will be skipping, TYVM.

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My So-Called Life - Daily Breeze

My So-Called Life Daily Breeze, CA - 12 hours ago By Jonathan Sidener. Second Life is a place where people and companies pay millions for exclusive real estate, designer clothes and luxury vehicles. ... WORLDBEAT - Second Life creates a millionaire Infoworld Get yourself a free phone in Second Life MMORPG blog Doing business in Second Life InfoWorld TheStreet.com - United Press International all 26 news articles

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ABN Amro opens virtual branch in Second Life

Dutch banking group ABN Amro has set up a virtual financial advice centre in Second Life, the Internet-based role playing game that has a real economy.

Second Life has a population of over 380,000 who use virtual currency, known as Linden dollars, to buy and sell virtual goods. Linden dollars can be swapped for real money and many regular players make a significant income from transactions.

According to a Reuters report, ABN Amro has opened a virtual bank in Second Life, which resembles the Dutch bank's real-life outlets and offer online citizens financial advice.

However ABN Amro won't be offering personal finance services at first, although a bank spokeswoman told reporters that such services may be available in the future.

Commenting on the move, Wietze Reehoorn, a member of ABN's executive board, says communicating with customers via the Internet can become more personal and more direct and competition between Dutch banks will be determined by finding the best way to establish personal contact with customers.

A number of firms have set up operations in Second Life, including IBM, Japanese car maker Toyota and Adidas which sells vitural clothes and accessories to gamers.

In October UK news and information group Reuters opened a virtual news desk in Second Life. Second Life citizens can access the latest headlines via a mobile device called The Reuters News Centre.

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IBM's Second Life Day: the main highlights

Yesterday I gave my rather flabby and under-used live blogging muscle a bit of a workout. I was over at IBM's big offices in Feltham, near Heathrow, checking out IBM's Second Life "Virtual Worlds European Media & Influencer Event". I'm still not entirely sure what that means, but it seemed to involve a room full of UK and European journalists, some guys from IBM and a handful of PRs, all sat round IBM laptops, hooked up to Second Life for a day. After a morning of real life discussion, we all moved into Second Life to continue debating. Here, we were joined by numerous journalists from around Europe, who all congregated on IBM's SL island (in the IQ region) for more virtual chit chat. Keep reading for the main highlights of the day - or head over to Tech Digest to read all my live blogging entries.

The IBM people were: Roo Reynolds "metaverse evangelist" which has to be the best job title ever; Rob Smart, "emerging technology specialist"; Holly Stewart "infrastructure architect" and Andy Piper "software services specialist". I've put all personal commentary in italics.

Just why is SL so popular right now?
With around 1.6million users it's not actually all that popular. Personally, I suspect a lot of it is down to some very good PR recently that has provided a few easy stories for mainstream journalists. Every time another of those stories goes out - the Reuters news desk, the first virtual millionaire, the Copybot controversy - membership shoots up. The BBC concert that was put on a while back saw UK subscription increase significantly, and popular musicians such as Ben Folds and Duran Duran have also got people signing up who maybe wouldn't have before.

And what is IBM's interest in SL?
Back in March a few of the IBM "central core" started to pay an interest, seeing it as a place that could potentially be useful for some of their clients. From that small gang, there are now over 600 IBM staff members using SL. They originally had their own pocket of land, but now there's a giant IBM island.

IBM has done some consulting work on virtual worlds, helping out with things like Wimbledon, which had a virtual centre court, using data from Hawkeye (the ball tracking camera that gives us those fancy virtual replays). Their view is that using it in this way makes the event more of a collaborative experience, and IBM users have begun to see this as a more sociable way of IMing other staff, having internal meetings as well as meeting non-IBM people in a social capacity. What I found strange about the day was that we all left feeling none the wiser about what IBM is actually doing with SL. This large company, which has dealings with huge business enterprises, seems poorly equipped to work with the smaller, boutiquey type businesses that are currently finding homes in SL - and in the online space in general. And while the staff seem genuinely excited by the technology, it was strange not to hear any specific annoucements about IBM's plans for the space.

Interesting titbit.
After a few IBM staff members were put off SL thanks to too many normal punters approaching them with offers of virtual intimacy, IBM now has its own personal orientation trail away from the prying eyes of the public. Which leaves me thinking "ooo, get you".

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Online virtual world creates classroom for students

Typically, one of the main benefits of taking a course online is that you don’t actually have to go to class. However, the online world of Second Life has changed that for eight multimedia students at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.

Ed Lamoureux, an associate professor of the Multimedia Program and Department of Communication at Bradley University, will be teaching a course, as "Professor Beliveau," in the virtual universe. The course aims to familiarize students with working in virtual environments and new media.

“Most of the multimedia students at Bradley want to learn to author 3-D, immersive media,” Lamoureux said in a presentation to the New Media Consortium on Nov. 8. “Doing meaningful things in Second Life, like holding class, making presentations, observing others, will help them further understand the products they want to someday make.”

Developed in 2003 by Linden Labs in San Francisco, Second Life is a 3-D virtual world in which people can interact, play, do business and otherwise communicate. The site now has more than one million residents online that spend an average of $600,000 “real” dollars per day in the online world.

Second Life allows its residents to create an online version of themselves, called an avatar, as well as purchase land, build homes and businesses, socialize and earn money that can be cashed out for real money.

Lamoureux’s course, which is scheduled to begin in January 2007, Field Research Methods in Second Life, aims to study learning in online environments.

He has developed a virtual campus in the Second Life universe, complete with buildings that resemble the “real” buildings on Bradley’s campus, where students will meet in the game for class.

The students will meet for one hour daily in a conference room on the virtual campus, where they will hear his lectures, engage in question-and-answer sessions and report on their out-of-class work, Lamoureux said in a statement.

“Distance and online learning are interesting to me and, in my view, are of crucial importance to the future of education,” Lamoureux said in his blog. “Our program is pretty interested in innovation --our students need exposure to great new stuff, though we can’t keep up with everyone on everything.”

Lamoureux said that online courses such as his might appeal to students who are interested in gaming and virtual environments online.

“My students are, generally, multimedia degree majors, some gamers -- almost all want to make games or do animation,” he told the New Media Consortium. “They have equipment, network and know how.”

Lamoureux said Second Life has much more to offer than the average online game.

“I’m the theory guy in our program,” he said to the New Media Consortium. “I have been opposed to teaching games directly as I’m uninterested in shooting, killing and fantasy. But Second Life presents us with a wonderful opportunity to learn and teach about virtual environments for living and learning.”

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Second Life Residents Embrace SurveysXpress Business Model

Residents of Second have overwhelmingly embraced the survey concept introduced by SurveysXpress. Second Life has its own currency, the Linden Dollar, and as a means of compensation each resident who qualifies and completes their SurveysXpress survey, are paid in Linden dollars. SurveysXpress is a business and consumer survey company that has become a true innovator in leveraging their real world experience and integrating within the virtual reality world of Second Life.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) November 30, 2006 -- Residents of Second have overwhelmingly embraced the survey concept introduced by SurveysXpress. Second Life has its own currency, the Linden Dollar, and as a means of compensation each resident who qualifies and completes their SurveysXpress survey, are paid in Linden dollars. SurveysXpress is a business and consumer survey company that has become a true innovator in leveraging their real world experience and integrating within the virtual reality world of Second Life.
   
Ms. Maryann (Szostak) Wolf, the creative leader of SurveysXpress, stated that "Second Life's resident population is growing at an explosive rate. Since August of this year the residents have more than tripled in population to approximately 1.7MM residents." Ms. Wolf also said "Many of the worlds Major Corporations have recognized the tremendous value in the Second Life community and are committing millions of their marketing dollars to secure their position within this exploding medium." SurveysXpress also recognized the incredible opportunity that is associated with the growth of business within Second Life. Opinions and comments are always an essential aspect of valued marketing decisions and SurveysXpress provides immediate feedback.
   
TouchTrak, a southern California software and technology developer working in conjunction with SurveysXpress produced a simple yet feature rich product. Clients can enjoy immediate access to survey tracking, activity reports, and can effect real time changes as required. TouchTrak's software is a powerful web-based engine that provides self-service capabilities as well as online administrative tools which make it easy and efficient for the client to manage their survey. SurveysXpress brings a truly professional product to the residents of Second Life and those clients who wish to know the residents opinions.   
   
The Ricardo Group (Nevada Corporation) development team envisioned a business model that would explore the rapidly growing virtual reality world of Second Life. SurveysXpress was developed as that model. SurveysXpress continues to move forward within Second Life as a professional service provider and direct link for Real World businesses. SurveysXpress believes the Second Life world will continue to explode and present significant business opportunities for those who embrace the concept. As SurveysXpress evolves their vision will not be limited to the virtual world community, ultimately the technology will expand through out the Real World.

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