Linden Labs is rolling out an age verification program called “Identity Verification (IDV).”

Linden Labs states “Identity verification provides an additional layer of trust for in-world businesses and Residents. It also helps ensure that minors can not gain access to inappropriate content in Second Life or have access to restricted content in-world.”

As Reuters points out, this will allow “Linden to tie a real-world legal jurisdiction to an avatar, allowing the company to selectively enforce local laws.”

Identity Verification is voluntary, but allows estate owners to mark land as restricted to a certain age group. However, if an avatar is interested in entering an adult area, they will eventually, according to Linden labs, be restricted from entering adult-flagged land unless their account is verified.

WWF recently opened up shop in Second Life in order to help educate people about environmental problems and offer a few simulation to aid with this mission. The amphitheater, which is still under construction, will offer a venue for events on wildlife conservation efforts.

This island is well done and serves the purpose of offering information, however, I would have liked to see some more animated animals, while offering some sort of immersive and engaging experiences.

Nonetheless, it is definitely worth a look!

What is the future of medicine?

UK’s National Physical Laboratory and Imperial College London have created SecondHealth: a virtual hospital in Second Life built to offer a glimpse into the future of medicine and clinics in London.

The UgoTrade Blog reported that Dave Taylor, who is leading the SecondHealth initiative, “introduced Second Health by explaining that most of today’s most pressing social concerns, like healthcare, have underlying technical considerations. And, that the mass media does not always lend itself to the nuances of technical issues. Through a series of recent newspaper headlines he demonstrated how traditional media is unable to communicate the complex issues facing healthcare today.”

According the SecondHealth, “This is an experimental, innovative and efficient means of communicating complex healthcare messages as well as illustrating what healthcare of the future could look like.”

Take a look at this machinima piece they put together:

I invested time in this document only recently, but it’s the best of it’s kind:

http://metaverseroadmap.org/MetaverseRoadmapOverview.pdf

Here is a another good find by way of Advertising Lab:

http://cms.mit.edu/research/theses.php

I’m currently on page 36 of ILYA VEDRASHKO’s “Advertising in Computer Games” - excellent.

Here is a link to the Second Life Marketing Conference taking place in New York on September 24th-26th.

Note Bene: This is not our conference but we may be slated to speak there. Please contact us for a discount.

Matt Shapoff created this print of combinedstory Island using the cyanotype technique:

Here are his comments on the proces:

This greeting card is a one-of-a-kind print called a cyanotype.
The cyanotype is a nineteenth century photographic process,
Combining photo sensitized paper with objects and a natural
Light source to create white silhouettes on a Prussian blue ground.
Matthew Shapoff uses local botanical specimens, acid free paper
And modern non-toxic photographic chemistry,
to create his cyanotypes.

Reading books that applause your industry is good – reading ones that vilify it is even better. “The Cult of the Amateur” by Andrew Keen is a self-styled polemic about web 2.0 technologies and social medias. I read it closely over the weekend - it’s more hellfire and brimstone sermon than evenhanded discussion, but I’m still glad I bought it. Keen is an articulate naysayer and the book’s exaggeration is entertaining, causing me to chuckle every now and then, which is a good thing.

I can’t state strongly enough that I believe we are living in a true artistic and cultural Renaissance that spans linear and interactive media. The films of the 2000s match those of the 70s in their depth and originality. The visual opulence of user-generated content in Second Life is astounding. Social media enhances real-time communication in ways impossible to fathom before. With respect to social virtual reality and the semantic web, I see the benefits far outweighing the negatives.

I‘ve stated before and will stand by this time and time again: democratization of authoring tools benefits everyone including those schooled in traditional media.

-Dimitri

Combinedstory is pleased to announce publication of “The Virtual Brand Footprint: The Marketing Opportunity in Second Life” co-authored by combinedstory, DMD New York, and Market Truths.

http://www.combinedstory.com/combinedstory_whitepaper.pdf

The white paper is designed to be both a quick read and extensive resource. The comprehensive appendix will help you navigate the compelling world of Second Life and really get a feel for virtual worlds.

-Dimitri

Any exposure of virtual reality on the silver screen or DVD is a good thing. Indeed there’s word that Hollywood is exploring the world of the avatar. Though no “Matrix”, “Videodrome”, or “Tron”, Gamebox1.0 is low budget, but the general idea is cool. A distraught video gamer gets trapped in several virtual worlds and has to fight his way out. We’ve seen this conceit before - i.e. you die in the dream or video game, you die in real life. With blue screen and a little imagination, the simulation works. Apparently the film won an award for machinima technique. The screenplay is predictable, but shows some heart.

-Dimitri

In “Is this Man Cheating on his Wife”, Wall Street Journal Writer Alexandra Alter writes about virtual infidelity. The piece profiles a married Second Life resident and his virtual wife. I couldn’t help but be reminded of a passage in the book “The Victorian Intent” by Tom Standage. Standage cites an article published in “Western Electrician” published in 1891 called “Making Love by Telegraph”. A frustrated wire operator finds intimacy while “working the wires”. I’m not going to comment on moral obligation, Victorian mores, or domestic issues. Transformative technologies however bring about spirited debate on these subjects and bring people far apart together. As Standage writes on page 127, “..within a few months of the electric telegraph being opened to the public, it was being used for something even the most farsighted of telegraph advocates had never dared to imagine: to conduct an on-line wedding”

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

-Dimitri