Cybergrrl Oh: Living a 2nd Life in the Virtual World Second Life

Me and My Monkey

2011-07-08T15:25:00.001-08:00

Straddling two worlds

2011-07-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

I've been out of Second Life for far too long. I'm back to bumping into walls, flying into trees, and feeling like a stranger in a strange land. And yet, it also feels like returning home but with different eyes.

Just checked out Utherverse today, and once again fully appreciated what we have in Second Life. The avatars over there were fidgety and dressed like they were ready for a pole. I did find a conservative outfit to attend a virtual convention, but then never could really find the presenters or many attendees.

I want to be supportive of virtual spaces for online conventions and events so will certainly attend another if I can figure out how to get where I need to be. Like any space, one can get lost. Finding one's way - and finding others to help show the way - is always a great moment in a virtual world.

Where are you hanging out these days, virtually speaking?

This Weeks Guest: Chestnut Rau

2010-09-08T04:13:00.001-08:00

Chestnut Rau has been exploring Second Life since June 2007 and has been the events writer for the popular New World Notes blog since early in 2009. Chestnut writes about music, art, and other social activities that make SL the place where so many people spend their leisure time. Her posts on NWN, which appear every Thursday, are where many look to find cutting edge entertainment.

Chestnut has been writing about Second Life since her early days inworld on her personal blog http://slofdreams.blogspot.com/ and is close to the end of a 365 project through which she publishes a self portrait every day for a year. In RL Chestnut is a New York based University administrator.

Meet Chestnut this Thursday, September 9th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Weeks Guest: Diana Allendale

2010-08-31T18:56:00.002-08:00

Diana Hunter became interested in writing stories with bondage and D/s themes when she found a dearth of them on the web. Nothing she read seemed to have the romantic element she knew was possible in such relationships. Challenged by a friend to write a better one, she wrote her first full-length novel, Secret Submission.

Each book Diana writes contains a kernel of truth or deeply held conviction from her own life, but don't ask her where truth ends and fantasy begins, she'll never tell! When not writing, Diana is either at her loom, weaving thread lines of a different sort, or playing Mommy-taxi to her two teenage children. Married for over twenty-five years to the same man, she is grateful for all the wonderful encouragement he gives her.

http://www.dianahunter.net

Meet Diana this Thursday, September 2nd at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Wiz Nordberg

2010-08-25T05:27:00.002-08:00

Wiz Nordberg is the founder of Treet TV (formerlly known as SLCN), the world's first virtual television network of entertainment and lifestyle programs. SLCN started streaming live events from Second Life in March of 2007 and now as Treet TV continues to cover live high-profile events for Linden Lab and others.

In the physical world, Wiz is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur who has years of experience in the tech sector and venture funded start-ups. He was the system architect in several large commercial software products and in 1996 Wiz established a respected web development company in Melbourne Australia. Projects focused on entertainment properties for major record companies like BMG, Universal Music, Warner Music, and others. 1999 led to a new division that pioneered broadband webcasting in Australia with several large outdoor stadium concerts.

Wiz currently lives in a small bay village on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne.

Meet Wiz this Thursday, August 26th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: epredator Potato

2010-08-17T05:37:00.002-08:00

Ian Hughes a.k.a epredator when online, is a Metaverse Evangelist. He set about leading a band of like minded individuals and subsequently many thousands of colleagues in IBM into virtual worlds like Second Life in 2006, and beyond. This sparked the massive growth in interest from enterprises and press alike. As a public figure in Web 2.0 and a leading blogger on http://www.eightbar.com he has shown that leadership can be driven by the digital native and innovators can gather together regardless of geography or organization. Cultural and technology changes and new ways to operate across companies is a core theme. In 2008 he received the first industry award for Innovation in Virtual Worlds in the Enterprise . As a digital native his epredator persona spans many Web 2.0 places, blogs, PSN, WoW, Xbox Live, Twitter, Flickr, Linkedin etc. Understanding how to use that presence, still representing himself but with elements of theatre brought about by more creative expression online leads him to no longer be the programmer he grew up as.

Virtual worlds also extend to more than just entertainment or corporate communication. Representing past cultures, existing places, instrumenting the planet, showing business process models in actions the list goes on. Metaverses can also be used to deliver virtual goods, but now making those virtual goods real again is possible. Rapid fabrication and the rise of the fabricaneur heralds another phase in our existence online

A former IBM Consulting IT Specialist who has worked on leading edge emerging technologies for the past 20 years, and now an independent consultant and director of Feeding Edge Ltd. A programmer since he was 14. As a gamer he has seen a massive increase in the capability and design ethics within games and the rise of online gaming. In 1997 Ian started working on all things web, changing his perspective on the technology and the business due the much richer mix of people involved in the web revolution. Graphic Designer, Producers and Programmers all having to work together.

As a public speaker he shares his experiences both of the growing virtual worlds industry, the changes in culture, personal experiences of challenging the status quo and leading through doing.

He is chairman of the British Computer Society Animation and Games Specialist Group. Promoting the games industry and associated technology within the BCs but also reaching out to the games industry to help provide professional recognition to the development community.

Meet epredator this Thursday, August 19th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Se7en Wirsing

2010-08-09T04:57:00.002-08:00

Bio of Se7en Wirsing

I first rezzed in February of 2009. Within a few weeks, I started blogging about my experiences in Second
Life. I got my first SL writing job working for Second Chick, a now defunct women's blog. My editor, Zillow
Dejavu, taught me about taking photos in SL. Since then, I have written and photographed for Role
Magazine, OI Magazine, Siren Magazine and Help People Island blog. At the moment, I write for Press
Pass Media and write and edit for AFK Magazine, as well as my own blogs Savoy Cabbage Journeys and
2nd Journal.

I have always wanted to write in real life and, finally, all my SL writing has inspired me to begin a novel on
Textnovel. I also write poetry and short stories. My other interests are Autism/Asperger's Syndrome and
art and, in SL, writing about business, the arts and people.

Meet Se7en this Thursday, August 12th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Malburns Writer

2010-07-28T05:37:00.002-08:00

Join us this week as we chat with Malburns Writer of MetaVerse TV. http://mbtv.live.nu/

Meet Malburns THURSDAY, July 29th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Georgianna Blackburn

2010-07-19T05:07:00.001-08:00

This week we will be joined by Georgianna Blackburn, to discuss marketing in Second Life.

Meet Georgianna THURSDAY, July 22nd at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

Upcoming Guest on the Cybergrrl Oh Podcast

2010-07-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

So sorry for the last minute cancellation but our producer Stu Warf had a family emergency. Our hearts go out to Stuart and his family at this time.

Nika Dreamscape, associate producer for the podcast, and I have been booking some great guests coming up. Here is the calendar so far (subject to change):

7/22/2010 Georgianna Blackburn talking about marketing in Second Life

7/29/2010 Malburn Writer talking aboutproducing shows in SL - TV Station: http://mbtv.live.nu (6 channels, 24/7)

8/5/2010 NO SHOW - I'll be at BlogHer (or maybe we can do a show live from BlogHer?)

8/12/2010 Se7en Wirsing talking about blogs and blogging in SL

8/19/2010 epredator Potato talking about Feeding Edge

8/26/2010 Wiz Nordberg, founder of Treet.tv, talking about building an SL media empire ;)

9/2/2010 Diana Allendale talking about her writing workshops and writing in SL

9/9/2010 Chestnut Rau talking about compiling event listings for New World Notes and great SL events

9/16/2010 Selina Greene Owner of Vision, Vision Paperbacks & Fusion Press in FL and owners of Book Island and Book Publishing Village as well as host of SL Book Fair in SL. Lot's to talk about in terms of books, writers and publishers in SL!

This is just a taste of the many great guests and topics coming up. We have a few opening slots in November and December before the holidays if you'd like to be on the show! Email cybergrrloh AT gmail DOT com.

Who would you like to hear from on the Cybergrrl Oh podcast?

This Week's Guest: Gregory Meredith

2010-07-13T19:00:00.002-08:00

This week we will be joined by Gregory Meredity, of Games For Democracy.

http://www.gamesfordemocracy.org/main.html
Games for Democracy is a not-for-profit organization that promotes
democratic discourse through the use of serious games.

They help progressive organizations and the public sector with
consensus-building, offering in-person and online tools to address
issues to seek agreement.

Games for Democracy applies serious games to:

democratic discourse
participatory governance
collaborative problem-solving

Meet Gregory THURSDAY, July 15th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Shenlei Flasheart

2010-07-06T05:07:00.001-08:00

Shenlei Winkler (Shenlei Flasheart in SL) is a 30 year veteran of the fashion industry. Her work spans both couture and mass market design and development for the real life apparel industry. A successful designer, her lifetime sales of her real life apparel designs have now reached more than $70 million USD, with more than 25 million-dollar styles in her portfolio. Her couture work has appeared extensively on stage and movie screen.

Winkler has also enjoyed success in Second Life, where she has designed fashion since 2005, with three popular brands including Prim & Proper (one of the top Second Life earners in 2006), Flash &Trash, and Debutante. Her educational background includes three design degrees, including two from the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology.

She has also been instrumental in developing large-scale creative installations in OpenSim-based worlds, most notably Shengri La Spirit, previously hosted by IBM, and Shengri La Gallery, both of which may be visited as publicly accessible regions hosted by Intel Corporation.

Author of Shengri La Spirit: A Designer's Perspective of the Making of OpenSim, and Designing Dreams: The Art & Business of Avatar Apparel Design & Development, Winkler's third book, Scouts, Pioneers, and Settlers will be published in Q1 2010.

Founder of the Fashion Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on helping designers achieve their dreams with dignity, integrity and respect, she is currently the CEO of the Fashion Research Institute which is focused on researching and developing virtualization technologies with particular emphasis for the apparel industry. FRI's flagship product, Black Dress Design Studio, is the result of a research collaboration with IBM to develop a fully integrated product lifecycle management solution coupled with a virtual world product design capabilities that enables the apparel industry to cut costs, cut time to market, reduce its carbon footprint, and develop comprehensively better products quickly, easily, and simply.

Winkler is an adjunct instructor at FIT and Buffalo State University. Her research areas include content licensing for virtual goods, virtualization of enterprise in immersive workspaces, OpenSim enterprise application development, and user immersion in virtual worlds. Winkler may often be found in the Fashion Research Institute Shengri La regions in Second Life, where her seminal orientation program for immersive spaces may be experienced.

Meet Shenlei THURSDAY, July 8th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Slim Warrior

2010-06-28T17:06:00.002-08:00

Cybergrrl Oh is on the road! Please join us in celebrating Second Life's 7th birthday at the Rezzed.tv exhibit at SL7B.

Thursday, July 1st at 11:00 AM SLT
Special Guest - Slim Warrior
SLURL FOR THIS EVENT: http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Miraculous/23/37/22

International Award Winning Recording Artist/Musician/Producer based in London, UK.
About Slimmie:
Slimmie was the first UK musician, to perform live in Second Life. She created a dedicated music island called Menorca, which still serves as one of the premiere live music venues for Second Life musicians from around the world. Inside Second Life she has had the opportunity to work with musicians from all genres, each passionate about their music and she helped pioneer the concept of live virtual world concerts. She is a dedicated Event Host and Organiser.

Founder of the Indpendent Musicians Group and the SL Music Community Forums she shows a passion and dedication for supporting Independent artists as the concept of Virtual World music concerts becomes ever more popular.

Reflecting influences from many genres, her vocals, original compositions and overall production sound reflect an intriguing blend of dance and house, with trance and techno overtones.
With an eclectic and original mixture of songs she composes and produces herself from Ambient to Dance, Slimmie has a unique presentation and style for each of her shows. As the 1st UK artist to perform Live in SL, Slims shows ensure both a mixture of singing and good music.

With credits ranging from Radio One to National TV appearances and numerous media publications Slim will certainly provide a professional and entertaining show for your event.

Slim is also available as a DJ for your event featuring Nu Jazz, Dance and Downtempo.

Unauthorized recording, re-transmitting, re-directing, re-selling of Slims music is prohibited in-world or on the internet. All songs are copyright protected.

A few samples of her music can be found here
http://www.myspace.com/slimmie

Meet Slim Warrior on Thursday, July 1st at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Miraculous/23/37/22

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

Why Second Life for marketing?

2010-06-22T15:17:00.002-08:00

I was recently asked the question:

What problems with real life marketing are solved by using Second Life?

My response was:

This question could be easily answered with these questions:

What problems with real life marketing are solved by using email newsletters?
What problems with real life marketing are solved by using a web site?
What problems with real life marketing are solved by using an online press room?

Offline or "real life" marketing has many limitations that have been clearly revealed over the last 15 years since the advent of online marketing. And what have we learned?

Online marketing provides us with:

exponentially greater reach
more efficient processes
time/money savers (when leveraged well)
cross timezone/cross geography (eliminate barriers of location)
more customer touchpoints

So it stands to reason, that executed well, Second Life marketing provides:

exponentially greater reach
more efficient processes
time/money savers (when leveraged well)
cross timezone/cross geography (eliminate barriers of location)
more customer touchpoints

We don't think of real life marketing that we do as "solving problems" although it could be construed that way. You could say marketing solves the problems of lack of awareness, a weak brand, lack of customers, etc. - it addresses a "lack" to get a "gain" such as brand awareness, sales (or donations), customer service (or serving a constituency), etc.

Why would we frame a question about marketing in Second Life as needing to solve a problem? You can also say that marketing in Second Life does address the problems of lack of awareness, a weak brand, lack of customers, etc. - it addresses a "lack" to get a "gain" such as brand awareness, sales (or donations), customer service (or serving a constituency), etc.

But marketing in general - regardless of the platform - isn't really solving problems but enhancing things, right?

Pitting Second Life against "real life marketing" doesn't make sense. Instead, simply look at Second Life as another tool in a strategic, effective and efficient marketing toolkit.

How are YOU using Second Life to market?

Cybergrrl Oh at SL7B!

2010-06-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Cybergrrl Oh is on the road! Please join us in celebrating Second Life's 7th birthday at the Rezzed.tv exhibit at SL7B.

Thursday, June 24th at 11:00 AM SLT
Special Guest - Aleja Asturias
SLURL FOR THIS EVENT: http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Miraculous/23/37/22

Alejandra Ospina (Second Life: Aleja Asturias) is the Program Representative for the GimpGirl Community (a program of People Helping People) Supporting women with disabilities, partners, and allies since 1998
http://www.gimpgirl.com

Meet Aleja THURSDAY, June 24th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL7B%20Miraculous/23/37/22

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest: Twstd Ruggles

2010-06-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

"Co- owner and creator of Oahu, Hawaii and Kauai, Hawaii islands. Both islands belong to my non profit organization The Compassionate Coalition in which i serve as Chairman of The Board of Directors for. I am also producer and creator of The Stream Scene on Metaverse television. The Stream Scene is a bi-weekly tv show that keeps people in touch with the live music community by showcasing their music and doing interviews with them. I am the Communications VP for Metaverse TV and getting ready to start new music channel called Grid Hitz where we will show case live music from around the grid. Among those things i also own company called LZ Productions, Weddings in Oahu and i am owner of the Miss Tropic Hawaiian Pageant which is in its 3rd year running and its a non profit fundraiser we do to help benefit The Compassionate Coalition. This years pageant will happen on June 19th at 12pm slt."

Meet Twstd THURSDAY, June 17th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Week's Guest- Nexeus Fatale

2010-05-30T13:15:00.005-08:00

Nexeus has been an online DJ since 2003, even before joining Second Life. His DJ career began with the online radio station GridStream Productions, based in the MMORPG Anarchy Online. In the summer of 2004 Nexeus discovered Second Life, and became a resident to perform within the budding and exciting virtual world. In 2005 he began to perform for live audiences in bars and clubs throughout New York City, at several conferences within the United States, while maintaining his virtual and online performances.

Nexeus has performed for several events and organizations small and large, from popular Second Life residents to companies such as The Electric Sheep, Millions of Us, and H&R Block.

In the past, Nexeus has also worked as a content creator, an organizer for the Second Life Community Convention, and mixed-reality projects such as Virtualive.tv. Currently Nexeus is working on several projects based within the virtual world, along with maintaining an active DJing schedule.

Meet Nexeus THURSDAY, June 3rd at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

Prepping for the Rasmuson Foundation Event in Second Life

2010-05-18T05:14:00.000-08:00

Here are some behind-the-scenes images from the Rasmuson Foundation Gallery of Alaska Artists where we're holding an opening today:

18 May Tuesday
10:30am SLT - performance by JueL Resistance
11:00am SLT - unveiling of new art in the gallery

SLURL TO EVENT: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rhetorica/185/237/44

The gallery represents a taste of art by grant recipients of the Individual Artist Awards over the past three years. The 2010 awards will be presented both in Second Life and in Anchorage, Alaska this morning.

Read the press release to learn more about the Foundation and this event.

What are your favorite art galleries in Second Life?

Guest: Mystical Demina

2010-05-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

interviewing Mystical Demina

friends in the audience including Bevan Whitfield and Slim Warrior.

finished the morning off with a chat with good SL friends.

This Weeks Guest- Mytical Demina

2010-05-12T17:22:00.003-08:00

Shenlei Flasheart's appearance this week will be postponed, but she will be joining us very soon. Instead, Mystical Demina of Extreme Reality has been gracious enough to fill in for the show.

Extreme Reality
Extreme Reality innovates and develops browser, mobile and desktop virtual reality simulations in Unity3D, Second Life and OpenSim.

Since being founded by the following we have been working with the Duke University School of Nursing and with Rockcliffe University on next generation nurse training simulator that is very similar to the project you are envisioning except they are practicing the actual medical diagnosis and intervention.

Creator of the Extreme Reality Skins, photo realistic skins.

He also worked on XNA based Second Life client. Xenki which is a browser based Second Life client. Developed a .NET 3.0 version of the OpenSim servers using WCF, Windows Workflow and Entity Framework. Been an active member of Second Life for over 3 years involved any many content related projects

Kevin Tweedy
Responsible for the technology products and services of Extreme Reality, Kevin has been an IT solution architect with 25+ years experience with companies like Anheuser-Bush, Digital, Amdocs, Influence, Koch International Supply and Trade, Merrill-Lynch and Rosetta Marketing.

Mystical recently was a speaker at Metameets 2010 on next generation virtual worlds for education

Meet Mystical THURSDAY, May 13th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

This Weeks Guest: Shenlei Flasheart!

2010-05-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

Winkler is an adjunct instructor at FIT and Buffalo State University. Her research areas include content licensing for virtual goods, virtualization of enterprise in immersive workspaces, OpenSim enterprise application development, and user immersion in virtual worlds. Winkler may often be found in the Fashion Research Institute Shengri La regions in Second Life, where her seminal orientation program for immersive spaces may be experienced.

Meet Shenlei THURSDAY, May 13th at 11:00 AM SLT/PST at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/42/210/25

Want to be a guest on the show? Email Cybergrrl Oh AT Gmail DOT com.

Brief Hiatus

2010-04-28T17:42:00.002-08:00

Hello! Nika Dreamscape, here. I am a new assistant to Cybergrrl Oh and will be contributing on this blog from time to time, so I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. I also do some blogging and occasional podcasting of my own, and help Stuart Warf behind the scenes at Rezzed.tv. So, it is my pleasure to be working with Cybergrrl Oh now, as well. :)

I wanted to take this time to give everyone a couple of brief updates. The show will be on a brief hiatus for a couple of weeks, as both Cybergrrl and Stuart will be traveling on business. But, we will be returning before you know it, and we have a couple of great guests lined up.

Please join us on Thursday, May 13th as we chat with Shenlei Flasheart of Fashion Research Institute.

Then, on Thursday, May 20th we will be joined by Aleja Asturias of the GimpGirl Community to discuss disability and SL.

Also, please be aware that the Rezzed.tv Ampitheatre where the Cybergrrl Oh shows are held has moved slightly. It is still located on the same sim, but has changed location to another parcel. Please update your slurls and landmarks!
CLICK HERE for updated slurl.

See you on May 13th!

-Nika Dreamscape

This Week's Guest: Robin Roar, Sim Diva!

2010-04-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

Our guest this week - Robin Roar - is a POWERHOUSE. She has been working with major brands in Second Life for a number of years helping to coordinate the building and managing of virtual islands and parcels. Her list of clients is long. Here's a sampling:

Assisting in the 3D Virtual World Brand Marketing...

* Member of Second Life 11/15/06
* 6/07- 1800Flowers
* 7/07 - Imax & Imax 3D
* Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
* 7/07 - CareerBuilder.Com
* 12/07 - Nestle's Coffee - Mate
* 12/07 - Aqua Hotel and Resorts
* 12/07 - Colgate
* 3/08 - The August Jackson Co.
* 3/08 - Promote and Market Donfranko Dagostino - SL/RL performer out of Germany
* 5/08 - Overstock.Com
* 4/08 - Microsystem Sun convention
* 6/08 - Gazooky.Com
* 9/08-Myglengarry.com
* 10/08- CTK Christ The King Lutheran Church
* 10/08- The World Bank, Doing Business 2009
* 11/08- The Club

Meet Robin Roar THURSDAY at 11am SLT/PST on Rezzed.TV's Island!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzed%20TV%20Island/27/146/22

Want to be a guest on my show? Email me at cybergrrl oh AT gmail DOT com.

Cybergrrl Oh and Guests - Pictures

2010-04-20T06:25:00.003-08:00

My show tapes live in Second Life almost every week. I say almost because sometimes I'm traveling and can't get inworld and sometimes my producer is traveling.

Please tell us when they make a way for our avatar to operate without us. Hello Caprica writers - do you know something we don't?!?

Join us live every Thursday (almost) inworld at http://bit.ly/ccOUvb.

This week's guest: Aleja Asturias from the GimpGirl Community

2010-02-10T19:47:00.002-09:00

Alejandra Ospina (Second Life: Aleja Asturias) is the Program Representative for the GimpGirl Community (a program of People Helping People) Supporting women with disabilities, partners, and allies since 1998
http://www.gimpgirl.com

Stop by Rezzed.tv Amphitheatre for the live recording of "Living a 2nd Life" in front of a live inworld studio audience.

Thu 11am PST - got to http://htxt.it/KdRq

Upcoming Cybergrrl Oh Podcast Guests February 2010

2010-01-31T17:18:00.002-09:00

We're cooking, baby! Here are some of our upcoming guests for "Living a 2nd Life" hosted by me, Cybergrrl Oh and produced in audio format by Stu Warf and video format by Malburns Writer.

2/4/2010 Thirza Ember, SLArtsPark
2/11/2010 Aleja Asturias, GimpGirl community - disability & SL
2/18/2010 Persephone Phoenix, Publishing on LuLu, Poetry open Mic
2/25/2010 Bernard Drax, Machinima and controversy in SL

Who else would you like to meet in Second Life? Or if you'd like to be on the show, just let me know!

Cybergrrl Oh speaks with Robbie Kiama of metaLIFE

2010-01-14T10:22:00.005-09:00

Speaking with Robbie Kiama about virtual commerce and the MetaLife HUD that lets you tag and review people, places and things in Second Life.

You can pick up a HUD or a metaVOTER for your sim.

We spoke about Linden Lab's changes to XStreet marketplace.

Meet Robbie on Twitter and Facebook.

Next week: Cellendra Zon talking about creativity and video in SL!

NEW TEMPORARY SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Corona%20Cay/149/30/27

Upcoming December/January Guests on Cybergrrl Oh Podcast

2009-12-09T15:29:00.002-09:00

10 Dec Throughthesewalls Moody talking about Music and managing musicians in SL
17 Dec Gracie Kendal thesis about mixed realities art
24 and 31 Dec Production Break

Starting in January 2010 , here's my tentative schedule!

1/7/2010 Twstd Ruggles hosting an SL TV show
1/14/2010 Robbie Kiama http://meta-LIFE.net
1/21/2010 Cellandra Zon video in SL
2/4/2010 Thirza Ember SLArtsPark
2/11/2010 Aleja Asturias GimpGirl community - disability & SL

Guest: Bronco Skytower from Wyoming Small Business Development Centers

2009-12-03T10:50:00.001-09:00

Today's guest talking about the Wyoming initiative to reach out to entrepreneurs statewide via Second Life. Stay tuned for information about their April Native Arts show on Wyoming Entrepreneur Island.

Watch live streaming video from metaworld2 at livestream.com

December Guests on Cybergrrl Oh Podcast

2009-11-28T12:08:00.002-09:00

We have 3 more shows before taking 2 weeks off for the holiday.

3 Dec 2009 Bronco Skytower talking about Wyoming Small Business Development Centers helping entrepreneurs inworld

10 Dec 2009 Throughthesewalls Moody talking about music and managing musicians in SL

17 Dec 2009 Gracie Kendal talking about her thesis about mixed realities art

24 Dec 2009 Production Break
31 Dec 2009 Production Break

Happy Holidays! Stay tuned for January guests and more!

Until then, you can follow me on Twitter, Fan me on Facebook and link with me on LinkedIn (avatars & SL enthusiasts only on LinkedIn, please).

Nasus Dumart & Apple MacKay

2009-11-12T08:39:00.005-09:00

Please tune in or stop by Corona Cay in Second Life today to meet...

Today's Guest: Sue Mahar aka Nasus Dumart and Jay Mahar aka Apple McKay, the wife/husband team behind the book:

The Unofficial Guide to Building Your Business in the Second Life Virtual World: Marketing and Selling Your Product, Services, and Brand In-World

BUY THE BOOK

Or buy the KINDLE VERSION!

Go to Corona Cay in Second Life & be part of the Live Studio Audience!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Corona%20Cay/40/137/22

Coming up on the Cybergrrl Oh Podcast!

2009-09-24T15:18:00.001-08:00

Don't forget to become a fan at the Cybergrrl Oh Page on Facebook!

Upcoming guests on my podcast:

10/15/2009 Doubledown Tandino
10/22/2009 lynsey Fleury
10/29/2009 Coughran Mayo

See you there!

This week's podcast guest: Nazz Lane

2009-09-23T16:17:00.003-08:00

Like any good journalist, Nazz Lane has a nicely written bio with an introduction and everything! ;-)

Introduction:

Rezzing into his second life in March of 2007, Nazz Lane served for an interim period as a business consultant to a leading SL fashion designer and in managing the in-world events for her charitable organization. He began his career in journalism with the launch of his blog, "Lane's List" which is a personal travelogue of people and places in virtuality. Shortly after that he began freelancing for the SL Newspaper where his stories can be found generally in the Arts and Entertainment section of that publication. He is also a Freelance Reporter for the Second Arts Blog, Avenue Magazine, Nu Vibez Magazine and the Metaverse-Tribune. Nazz Lane is also an author in Second Life having recently published in SL the first five chapters of his serialized novel "Borders of Our Lives", based on characters and the setting of Second Life.

Bio:

As a resident of Second Life, freelance journalist and author Nazz Lane leads an active business and social life. Rezzing into his second life in March of 2007, Nazz served for an interim period as a business consultant for a leading fashion designer, and in leading the in-world events for her second life charity. He began his career in journalism with the launch of his blog, "Lane's List" which is a personal travelogue of people and places in virtuality. Shortly after that he began freelancing for the SL Newspaper where his stories can be found generally in the People or Arts and Entertainment section of that publication. Nazz has spoken to and chronicled the stories of Musicians, Venues Owners, Artists, Gallery Openings and Owners, Nonprofit Events, People and Places for the SL Newspaper, Second Arts Blog, Avenue Magazine, Nu Vibez Magazine and the Metaverse Tribune. Since the inception of Lane's List and as a freelancer, he's met some of SL's most talented and creative people and has visited a host of sites, from captivating gardens, to affable and welcoming coffeehouses, classic ballrooms, stylish art gallery's and neighborhood gin joints.

As an author Nazz has published in SL the first five chapters of his serialized novel, “Borders of Our Lives”, which is based on characters and the setting of SL. Since the characters don’t exist solely in the metaverse, the stories integrate their lives, both virtual and real into a mixed reality. The stories cross over because the characters exist in both, the virtual and real, and their experiences on either side of the keyboard affect who they are in both lives. The stories follow the life and activities of Jeffrey Goff (aka Jeffrey Stone a lawyer from Chicago) as he explores this mixed reality.

Nazz is planning to continue working on both his novel and other fiction along with chronicling the lives of the people he meets or places he visits in SL or in any one of the several other virtual worlds he inhabits.

This week's podcast guest: Pooky Amsterdam

2009-09-16T14:00:00.005-08:00

Our guest this week is Pooky Amsterdam from Pooky Media. Hope to see you at Corona Cay for the live recording in front of a studio audience.

TIME 10am SLT for 1/2 hour LIVE TAPING (please show up 5-10 minutes early)
This event uses Inworld Voice.

Go to the SLURL below to sit in the "studio" audience and participate in the back chat:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Corona%20Cay/40/137/22

You can hear recent podcasts at:
http://cybergrrloh.libsyn.com or http://www.rezzed.tv

From Pooky's bio:

Pooky believes this is the Golden Age of the Internet, and the possibilities for live TV and original production of the entertainment kind are incredible, unique and valuable.

Pooky has been producing entertainment in Multi User Virtual Environments for over 6 years, and is the Host, Producer and Writer for the 1st Question, treet.tv's weekly "Quiz Show To the Stars," which is a fast paced and fact based hour of remarkable and intelligent programming.

Head of an award winning machinima company, PookyMedia, she is currently developing 2 series as well and using Second Life as her engine of choice upon which to film. The Dating Casino, a dating game show will be starting it's second season in the Fall.
Returning on Sept 20th!

Pooky has produced over 80 hours of quality entertainment on Second Life since March of 2008.

Pooky Amsterdam was born and raised in Manhattan and has a degree in Economics. She is also an accomplished artist and has had art shows at the Ocean Bay Historical Society.

Cybergrrl Oh podcast live in SL

2009-08-19T17:55:00.003-08:00

Having a blast with my new format for the Cybergrrl Oh podcast "Living a 2nd Life." Like a chatty radio talk show with special guests. My new producer, SLPN (Stu Warf) rocks!

The show tapes live inworld with SL voice every Thursday at 10am SLT. Here are some of my upcoming guests and topics...

8/20/2009 Alas Zerbino
about writers and writing in SL

8/27/2009 Sioban McMahon
about West of Ireland and Project Children charity

9/3/2009 Cienega Soon
about the arts and art galleries in SL

9/10/2009 Maggie Barkley
about publishing from SL to RL

9/17/2009 Pooky Amsterdam
about using SL as a media platform

9/24/2009 Nazz Lane
about journalism and journalists in SL

Hope to see you there! Click for the SLURL to get to Corona Cay.

Virtual Meetings in Second Life

2009-05-23T07:37:00.006-08:00

My social media marketing company Conversify recently held our first virtual team meeting in Second Life. We were looking for a compelling way to bring everyone together because we work from Alaska, Colorado, California, Wyoming, Florida and the UK. Many of our team members have never met in person, most haven't even spoken with one another over the phone.

What was surprising was that it was my business partner's idea to bring everyone together in Second Life - and only surprising because she hasn't spent a lot of time inworld and Second Life is more "my thing." Still, she realized the inherent value of bringing disparate workers together into a virtual space as a way of strengthening the team.

We didn't do anything special for our first meeting other than I laid out some comfortable teak lounge chairs for seating and had a cheese platter, coffee, daiquiris and tequila shots available for refreshments. All but one had voice so we were able to have essentially a conference call with over half a dozen people "on the line." The person who couldn't get their voice to work just used text chat.

The only structured thing we did was asked each person to introduce themselves to the others and tell everyone something interesting about themselves. Everyone came away from the event excited for a number of reasons, namely they were finally getting to meet team members and many of them were trying out Second Life for the first time so discovering it was a thrill.

Here are a few tips for holding meetings in Second Life:

1. Capacity. The biggest challenge with Second Life is technical, and making sure that each participant has a computer with the capacity to handle SL can take some time. Send them to the specs page for Second Life to verify that their system is suitable.

2. Appearance. Don't underestimate the importance of avatar appearance in an inworld meeting, especially if some people have more experience in Second Life than others. Those who are "noobs" could feel self-conscious about their appearance. One of our team members expressed feeling out of sorts because her avatar looked so terrible. I ended up shopping for several team members to purchase hair, skin, outfits, and great shoes for their first foray in a virtual world. (See 2nd photo above for the results).

3. Training. Understand that some of your team may need a little hand-holding. I talked several team members through the basics of walking and sitting, two essential actions that can actually take a while to figure out.

4. Voice. The beauty of using voice in SL is that you can see when someone is speaking (green sound waves over their head) and avatars can even gesture to give far more of a sense of presence than a telephone conference call. Voice, however, is only as good as the person's system and a USB headset with microphone is a must. We spent a good chunk of time troubleshooting everyone's sound.

5. Mics off. When using voice in SL, everyone who is not speaking at a given time should mute their sound to eliminate echoing which happens when someone is using voice without a headset. This works when people are taking turns speaking. However, in a natural conversation, either everyone must have headsets and have voice working properly or you may want to revert to text chatting.

6. Moderator. Even an informal chat needs a host or hostess to keep the conversation flowing. A more formal one - such as going around the room with introductions - can benefit from someone calling on the next person to speak. This can save time as people fumble about deciding who's next and accidentally talking over one another.

These are only a few lessons learned regarding meeting in the virtual world. Happy meeting!

What have you learned regarding holding meetings in Second Life?

I won! I won! Second Life Game Show 1st Question

2009-04-22T11:12:00.008-08:00

I didn't realize I was even ahead during the live gameshow 1st Question so was really surprised when they said I had won. For those of you who don't know, 1st Question is a fun game show on TreetTV and run by the lovely Pooky Amsterdam.

What's the latest fun thing you have done in Second Life?
check out my appearance!

Back in SL for an Inauguration Party - Quaker Oatmeal & a Good Cause

2009-01-19T21:59:00.002-09:00

8am SLT to 10am SLT on Tuesday, we'll be holding an Inauguration Viewing Party on SL.

I am so excited to be back in Second Life. I'm also thrilled to be working with friends to create the SL version of the "Start with Substance" Inauguration Viewing Party to correspond with the RL events.

Here are some "behind-the-scenes" pics as we get ready for the event. The oatmeal bowl is by MincedMedia Clip and gives out individual hot oatmeal and spoons. The tshirts are by me - via my SL tshirt biz Cybergrrl Teez. Decor by Lilith Heart - had fun shopping there!

Stop by for a hot virtual breakfast of oatmeal from Quaker Oatmeal, free t-shirts and chat with us as we all watch the inauguration!

BARRED FROM SECOND LIFE? - Pat Davis, CEO of Passion Parties may or may not appear

2008-10-18T16:06:00.002-08:00

Once again, Second Life makes it difficult to do business. Why in the world would they make it hard to help a guest to a Second Life event get into Second Life?

I've been working with Pat Davis, CEO of Passion Parties, an $80+ million US company that sells adult products through representatives across the country holding tasteful and educational events about sexuality and sensuality. She is really taken by Second Life and appeared on Athena Isle in Second Life back in March.

I've been trying to access her avatar to fix her up for another roundtable discussion on Athena Isle on Tuesday, however, when I called to retrieve her password (the one I had thought I used when I set up her account was not working), the Second Life rep refused to provide me with the password even though I could respond to ANY security question because I was the one who set up the account in the first place.

She insisted that Pat call Second Life herself and get her own password.

Well, tell that to any CEO of a multimillion dollar company. Chances are either their assistant or their consultant would do something like that for them.

The last time Pat appeared in Second Life, she was unable to actually log in (firewall at her offices) so I had two laptops on my desk and operated both her avatar and Cybergrrl Oh. I had Pat on a cellphone dictating her responses to me after I relayed the questions from the roundtable participants. She was an incredible guest and the conversation was mature and educational.

I'm just so frustrated with Second Life making things difficult for members who could be very good for Second Life. I've been hoping that Passion Parties would open up a Great Sex educational sim and store, but these kinds of barriers make doing business with Second Life a pain in the virtual and real rear end.

The other option, of course, is change her avatar's name from PatDavis Destiny to a new one. That may be our only solution at this point.

Either way, stop by on Athena Isle for the real Pat Davis but possibly the FAKE avatar.

Back by popular demand! Pat Davis, CEO of Passion Parties!

Stop by Athena Isle on Tuesday, October 20 at 12pm SLT to meet Pat Davis, president of Passion Parties, "the North American leader of at-home party business specializing in sensual products" - an $80 million+ company in the U.S.

Earlier in 2008, Davis released the Random House best-selling book The Passion Parties Guide to Great Sex. The book utilizes real-life tips and techniques to improve couples passion she has learned over the years working with tens of thousands of her consultants and the hundreds of thousands of women Passion Parties has helped.

Get your questions ready for this lively text-chat roundtable discussion!
Fnd out more about Pat's company at: www.PassionParties.com.

InSL - Just signed up!

2008-09-06T06:31:00.003-08:00

Just signed up for InSL - will start using the logo to show that I'm both inworld and in the "real world." Sign up here...

Leslie Carol Roberts in Second Life to talk about Antarctica

2008-08-06T12:34:00.004-08:00

Check out the deets for 12 August at 12pm PST/SLT for a sit-down chat with author and explorer Leslie Carol Roberts:

Go to Athena Isle Events blog.

Transcript for Sarah Susanka's 1st Second Life Chat

2008-06-22T21:22:00.004-08:00

You can read the transcript here for Sarah Susanka's chat (as Susanka Queler) on the Athena Isle Women's blog.

Sarah is the author of the book The Not So Big Life. She spoke about "The Waking Dream: Second Life as a Metaphor for Our True Self."

Transcript Here

Author Sarah Susanka talks about Second Life as a metaphor for our true self

2008-06-16T10:35:00.003-08:00

Gearing up for weekly events again on Athena Isle starting with...

Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big Life, will kick off the Athena Isle Summer series of events on Tuesday, June 17 at 12pm PST with "The Waking Dream: Second Life as a Metaphor for Our True Self." The event will take place in the Athena Isle Dome in Second Life.

Read her essay about Second Life.

The event will be hosted by Athena Isle Women and take place on Athena Isle owned by Second Life personality Cybergrrl Oh. The discussion will be conducted in a roundtable format to allow Susanka to answer questions posed directly by Second Life residents in attendance.

In May, Random House released Sarah’s book "The Not So Big Life." In her book, she presents the antidote to the “bigger is better” mentality that drives our McLives.

In conjunction with her latest book, she has written about Second Life in her blog, explaining how it provides an excellent metaphor for understanding how we create our own realities.

"In my book, I introduce the concept of the Waking Dream, the notion that everything that is happening in our lives is a kind of dream in which every character and every event that happens to us is a reflection of an aspect of who we really are," said Sarah. "This is a truth that’s very difficult for most humans to grapple with because it disavows the separate existence of that which they’ve always taken themselves to be."

Sarah said that when she heard recently of the virtual reality world Second Life, she realized that it provides an entirely new metaphor for people's perceptual conundrum, one that allows everyone "to see from the perspective of the source or supreme Self, rather than the individual character."

Audience members can participate in the chat by setting up a free Second Life account at http://www.secondlife.com then going to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Athena%20Isle/51/48/23.

For more information, contact Cybergrrl Oh at cybergrrloh@gmail.com or visit Sarah's site at http://www.notsobiglife.com.

Cybergrrl Productions is Hiring for May 12th Event

2008-05-08T06:54:00.002-08:00

I'm looking to hire the following for a 3 hour block from 1:00pm SLT to 3:00pm SLTL on Monday 12 May (next week).

Interested parties please email me at cybergrrloh AT gmail DOT com with your Second Life resume.

1. Bartender - L$500/hour

2. Cocktail Waitress (hiring 2) - L$500/hour

3. Machinima videographer - (hiring 3) - 1 hour max, price negotiable. Please include your rates in your email.

The event is the unveiling of real life artists who have received a grant this year for their work and takes place in a new nonprofit gallery in Second Life. The video will be of a 5 minute announcement (SL voice), footage of the new art, footage of the gallery, and B-roll of the attendees.

Cybergrrl Oh: Living a Second Life podcast

2008-05-01T10:59:00.002-08:00

This is my very first podcast about my life and work in Second Life:

cybergrrloh.lib nsyn.com

Please be gentle. Just getting the hang of this stuff!

Panel Discussion - 10AM SLT - Publishing Island stage

2008-04-26T08:14:00.002-08:00

I'll be on this panel this morning! Attend by clicking here for SLURL!

What's Up with Amazon and Print-on-Demand (POD)

Panel Chair - Babu Writer (aka Nicole Schultheis) is a staff writer for The AvaStar, http://www.The-AvaStar.com, and in real life is a writer and trial lawyer who ran her own law firm for over 20 years before retiring from law to write full time. She is also a past President of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, now called Public Justice, where with Executive Director Aurthur Bryant she founded Project Access in the late 1980s, to oppose unnecessary secrecy in the courts. Since then Public Justice has fought tirelessly to support access to information affecting the public interest, and to oppose overly restrictive secrecy orders in significant public interest litigation, such as Exxon Valdez oil spill, tobacco litigation and many many other cases.

Panelist - DannyOSnow Sygall (aka Danny O. Snow ) is co-author with Dan Poynter of a popular guide to self publishing called "U-Publish.com," at http://u-publish.com/. He's also a Senior Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research, a nonprofit global think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new and emerging media. A Harvard graduate, Snow has been widely quoted about new publishing technologies by major media coast-to-coast, including AP, NPR, UPI, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and others. He has also served as a contributing editor to BookTech: The Magazine for Publishers, as a panelist and moderator at national publishing events such as the North American Publishing Company's "PrintMedia" expos and PMA's "Publishing University," as senior planning consultant to Lulu.com, and as a POD book publisher with Unlimited Publishing LLC.

Panelist - Cybergrrl Oh (aka Aliza Sherman) is an award-winning author, an e-marketing expert, freelance writer, a television & radio producer, and a filmmaker. In Second Life, her show, RealBiz in SL, airs on SLCN.tv. Her books Streetwise ECommerce (upcoming), The Everything Blogging Book, and many others, can be ordered here: http://www.mediaegg.com/books.html. You can also find her on Second Life here:
http://cybergrrloh.blogspot.com/
http://realbizinsl.blogspot.com/
http://secondlifewomensclub.blogspot.com/

Pollywog Gardenvale (aka Claire Condra) is a publisher, technical communicator, and interactive producer with a special interest in emerging technology. She has spent the better part of three decades introducing new technologies and concepts to nontechnical people. During the 90s, her company Ellipsys International Publications, Inc., produced books on emerging technogy and also provided packaging services for other publishers. Today, Pollywog Press (www.PollywogPress.com) provides many services in multiple media for print and Web applications. She also publishes The Seventh Sun (http://www.TheSeventhSun.com), an online magazine that provides in-depth coverage of issues, technologies, and culture in the emerging communities of the virtual world.

Africa Day in Second Life

2008-04-25T08:14:00.008-08:00

In its usual fashion, real life got in the way of my Second Life which meant I missed much of the happenings on Orange Island for Africa Day yesterday. The day was a resounding success!

Check out some of the coverage so far for Africa Day and Virtual Africa!

Streaming Africa: Cape Town NGO Opens SL Outreach Club

Virtual Africa - Africa Day in Second Life

Virtual Africa opening in Second Life

SL Africa Day!

Africa Day Orange Island

Stay tuned for a feature in The Looking Glass and SLNN as well.

I also hopped over briefly to the Clever Zebra VBusiness Expo to see how that was going. They put a lot of effort into the event and although the pace was a bit slow, the speakers were stellar. The downside of a 4 sim venue is that it looks really really empty even though you have good attendance.

Overall, a busy day both inworld and offine.

Linden Lab Nixes Second Life Clubs

2008-04-16T07:21:00.004-08:00

Linden Lab is now very clear about the use of their Second Life trademark. As with so many tech startups, this hasn't always been the case, however, one would think any company starting up after 1999 would know that setting up trademark policies and enforcing them are paramount to establishing and protecting one's company assets.

As a resident and entrepreneur in Second Life (I am using the SL trademark here as a blogger/reporter and acknowledge that Second Life is a registered trademark owned by Linden Lab), I am feeling the sting of the company's latest fumbled efforts to get their company assets in order.

Despite my own extensive experience in the new media industry with trademark issues, laws and enforcement dating back to the mid-90s with my company Cybergrrl, Inc. and organization I founded Webgrrls International, I also flubbed.

In the flush of newfound love of Second Life last year, I started several "affinity groups" or clubs to meet like-minded people and to provide forums for authors and other experts to come into Second Life - most for the first time - and reach a savvy, engaged audience. I thought I was clever to name my clubs:

Second Life Women's Club
Moms in Second Life
Second Life Entrepreneurs Club
Second Life Marketers Club
Second Life Writers Club & the Ning group

Somehow, my brain failed to tap into my wealth of knowledge - and pain - surrounding trademark disputes and instead I focused on "Linden Lab will be so pleased that I'm driving traffic to their service." (I duly smack myself on the forehead. What was I thinking?!?)

Now I have no other choice but to change the names of these clubs. I don't have the means - and my Second Life revenues currently do not cover - the costs of licensing the Second Life name from Linden Lab. The challenge to me now isn't branding a new name. It is getting the current members of these clubs to switch over to a new club.

So far, my experience with changing group names means creating an entirely new group and urging members of the old one to join the new. This has not worked well in the past. Even when the old group is totally dead, people tend to stick around until they decide to weed out a group to make room for something new. Laziness? Too much of a hassle to switch? I simply do not know the answer to this SL mystery.

Because I'm in the process of buying a sim and calling it Athena Isle (yes, doing the right thing here with trademarking), it makes sense to change my club names as follows:

Groups Ready for Transition:

Second Life Women's Club - Athena Isle Women
Moms in Second Life - Athena Isle Moms
Second Life Writers Club - Athena Isle Writers

Right now, I'm going to focus on Athena Isle Women, Moms and Writers. In my enthusiasm to create and build in Second Life, I think I overextended myself. I've been coming inworld 5 days a week, 3-4 of which are to host live events with special guests that I have booked, trained, created avatars for, and marketed. I remain committed to my Second Life ventures, however, I really need to pare them down and focus more on my main mission: empowering women through technology.

(Special thanks to my good SL friends who have given me honest feedback about my SL work. You know who you are!)

I'm also changing the names for these clubs just to have them on hand:

Second Life Entrepreneurs Club - Athena Isle Entrepreneurs
Second Life Marketers Club - Athena Isle Marketers

As Linden Lab struggles to get their act together, I am painfully reminded of the blog post by venture capitalist and entrepreneur Charlie O'Donnell, "10 Reasons to Go Short on Second Life."

Second Life is a business. Linden Labs has taken venture capital investment and those firms are going to look for an "exit" at some point over the next four years or so. Maybe Linden Labs will be profitable enough to go public. In that case, the founders could remain at the helm, but they'd still have the pressure to grow revenues which may be at odds with the authenticity of the service. Contrast that with Craigslist, which makes its team enough money to be comfortable and not feel pressure to do anything that it's users might not like... no quarterly numbers to meet and no pressure to grow the business.

While it would be interesting to revisit Charlie's 10 points (written November 26, 2006) because, for example, he said Second Life would never go mobile, the point he made about Second Life being a business - owned and run by Linden Lab - is critical in all of our own business decisions about what we are doing in this particular virtual world. Including mine. (I did respond in Nov of 2007 here.)

Whoever said being on the cutting edge was easy? We all should pat ourselves and each other on the back for sticking it out this long and riding the tumultuous waves of innovation. I may be a bit battered and bruised, but I'm in it for the long haul. It remains to be seen if Linden Lab is as well.

More Second Life trademark links for your reading pleasure:

The Trademark Blog: NY Times On Second Life

New World Notes: Second Life(tm) Trademark Turmoil Continues-- And ...

Clickable Culture - ‘Second Life’ Trademark Infringement Quantified

Trademark Issues in Second Life » Propeller

Rampant Trademark Infringement in Second Life Costs Millions ...

Second Life -- A Whole New World of Trademark Infringement ...

Reuters/Second Life » Protecting real brand names in a virtual world

On Buying an Island

2008-04-13T15:29:00.002-08:00

I'm buying a sim on Second Life. Actually, the technical way it is happening is that my current landlord is transferring ownership to me - and a small consortium of incredible women who I either know personally or have met in Second Life.

The name of the sim will change from Second Shores to Athena Isle. I'll retain my 1/16th portion of the sim and expand so that I have 1/6th of it along with 5 other women who will each get 1/6th.

The mission of Athena Isle will be:

1. To empower the women in the consortium to realize personal and professional dreams utilizing Second Life. For example, one woman is a watercolor artist who is incredibly talented but until she exhibited her art in Athena Isle, she wasn't putting herself out there as an artist in the real world. Now I'm helping her get a real world art exhibit in a boutique in Anchorage, Alaska.

2. To empower women in Second Life, from newbies to "oldies." The Isle will facilitate networking, business exchange, learning, and sharing. Each of us will have our distinct area of concentration such as an Orientation area, a Business zone, an Arts section, a Writers Retreat, etc. - so that a visitor can find diverse offerings.

3. To empower anyone in Second Life who wants to learn and be inspired. We are definitely NOT excluding men, however, there is a need for a place for businesswomen to gather, for creative women to meet, for moms to find support. Athena Isle will be the place.

In order to handle the new demands of sim ownership, I will be consolidating some of my inworld activites. I'll still be doing my SLCN.tv show REAL BIZ in SL, however, will merge Second Life Entrepreneurs Club and Second Life Marketers Club into Second Life Women's Club to keep things focused on empowering women.

I'll also keep doing the Athena Gallery of Women's Art and First Friday events but hope to migrate that over to the Arts-focused section and share the duties with others in the consortium. And I'll keep the Athena Wares shop open for women-created products but maybe move it into a more "commercial" area of the sim.

Expect a lot more news as we get up and running. First, we are waiting for the transfer to be complete through Linden Lab. Next, we'll work on making our visions a collaborative reality.

Stay tuned!

My SLUtterz - Second Life Utterz

2008-04-03T09:14:00.002-08:00

I'm alternating between Utterz about Second Life and other topics (including MommyUtterz). Here are my latest SLUtterz...

Dealing with and being the media in Second Life

2008-03-30T16:50:00.004-08:00

I've had some interesting encounters as a reporter in Second Life that have prompted this post. As a reporter in "real life" since the 80s, I brought the same high standards and ethics into my Second Life reporting career even though I was being paid a mere fraction of what First Life journalism pays.

To me, what I put out there as my writing is a reflection of not only my skills and abilities but my values even though I am careful to keep my personal opinion out of articles and report "just the facts." Still, I always want to be proud of my published writing as my childhood dream was to become a writer to "touch people's lives." I can't always write about things in a positive way, particularly if the facts are not as positive as a company or PR rep would like to portray.

So here are some of my tips for people dealing with the media in Second Life and for those who call themselves Second Life reporters.

For PR People and Anyone Looking for Positive PR

1. Everyone is Media.

If you hold an event in Second Life, somebody in attendance could be media so you should prepare for this and have a plan to handle this reality. Even private parties could have media in attendance unbeknownst to you because with the advent of blogs, everyone is potential "media" with some semblance of a readership.

2. Be Responsive.

If someone at your event identifies themselves as media, you should have someone in place as a spokesperson or as a media coordinator - just to make sure the questions are answered promptly, accurately and that the journalist doesn't wander aimlessly speaking to people who may not be the best voices for your project, event, organization or company. A reporter asking around for a contact or source is not a nuisance or troublemaker - they are a responsible journalist doing their job.

3. Be Honest.

If your event wasn't meant for public consumption or your project isn't ready for prime time, let a reporter know this and ask if they could keep information you give them as "off the record" or "embargoed." These are terms that any reputable and experienced journalist knows and usually respects, but you have to use these exact terms. Saying something like "Oh, this was meant to be a private affair" or "We didn't expect media show up and aren't ready " might say to the reporter that you are just making excuses. This doesn't say to them "please do not report on this yet - all of this is off the record." And make sure you say "Off the Record" before you start talking.

4. Return the Favor.

If a journalist holds something as off the record, remember that they did not have to do this and take it as an overture to having a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship. Nurture this relationship by providing them access when it is appropriate to reveal the full story. If a reporter has truly helped to protect your interests, they are doing it not only out of high morals or ethics but also because they hope it will forge a closer relationship so they can get to better news from you in the future.

5. Give Scoops With Care.

When you really have a good relationship with a journalist, consider giving them a scoop now and then to solidify that relationship. But don't give the same journalist a scoop all the time unless you have a strategic reason to do so. You could end up alienating other journalists which will not bode well for future coverage in competitor publications.

6. Make the Reporter's Job Easier.

Reporters are not here to make your job easier. They are not here to enhance your profile or your company's profile. They are out to do a job in the best way they know how. By standing in their way, criticizing or insulting them, or badmouthing them to their editors or publishers, you are setting yourself up for PR blacklisting.

There are many times when your hands are tied or someone within your company has made a mistake and said something to a reporter they didn't mean to say. Rather than accusing the journalist of something unethical or unprofessional for reporting it, find a way to diplomatically explain the situation the bad PR has caused and look for ways to work through the situation.

7. Suck It Up.

Most reporters are not out to make you look bad. If a reputable journalist makes a mistake, they will admit it and offer to print a retraction. If the mistake is yours and they still offer to clear up the error, you've found a truly rare breed of journalist. Most reporters are too busy - not too callous - to help you fix the PR mess you got yourself into.

If the mistake was yours and nothing can be done to correct the situation, then just suck it up and learn from your own mistakes. Don't use the reporter as a punching bag.

That said, if you encounter a disreputable reporter who has either lied or fabricated the details of a story, severely misquoted you to the point of causing serious damage or is grossly rude and disruptive at your event or place of work, this is definitely something you should bring up with their editor. Put your grievance in writing without threats. Explain the situation and ask for a remedy. Good publishers and editors will not tolerate bad reporters.

PR is a 2-ways street. Unfortunately because the nature of the business, the onus is on the company or organization to make sure everything is put forth professionally, strategically and positively. The reporter reports what he or she observes, is told and is given. But ultimately, you cannot control a reporter or what they glean from what you do, say or produce.

For Reporters and Reporter Wannabes in Second Life

I don't think any of these need much further explanation - just a simple list of things to do to be a good reporter in Second Life.

1. Report the Facts, Not Opinion. (unless you are writing an essay or opinion piece, of course!)

2. Honor "Off the Record" and "Embargoed."

3. Get and Use Direct Quotes When Possible.

4. Back Up Your Chat and IM Transcripts.

5. Protect Your Sources.

6. Correct Your Mistakes. (As best as you can or are able to do.)

7. Be Respectful.

Recent Events on Athena Isle

2008-03-19T14:32:00.007-08:00

I've been holding weekly events on Athena Isle for several months now. I do this entirely as a volunteer thing - looking to bring experts and authors into Second Life to provide valuable information and contacts for SL residents. And I love playing hostess.

We have our events Monday at 11am SLT, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12pm SLT on Athena Isle.

Here are scenes from recent events...

Don Peppers speaks to Second Life Marketers Club.

Pat Davis, CEO of Passion Parties, speaks to Second Life Women's Club.

Beth Groundwater, mystery writer and VP of Pikes Peak Writers, speaks to Second Life Writers Club.

Mary Ellen Gordon of Market Truths speaks to Second Life Marketers Club.

Elzbiet Meili teaches a workshop to Second Life Entrepreneurs Club.

Avarie Parker, editor-in-chief of SLentrepreneur magazine, speaks to Second Life Writers Club.

Great Sex Day a Success!

2008-03-11T23:53:00.012-08:00

Just a few snaps from Great Sex Day on Athena Isle. Thanks to Pat Davis, CEO of Passion Parties, for kicking off the day with a rolicking chat about sex. TRANSCRIPT HERE.

And kisses to JueL Resistance who just rocked our world with her sexy sounds.

Also, congrats to Malburns Writer for judging our Sexy Diva Outfit contest and to the winners:

First Place - Evansmom Goodspeed (L$1000 gift certificate from Nyte'N'Day)
Runner up - Emme Eales (L$500 gift certificate from Nyte'N'Day)
Honorable Mentions - Isadora Ansaldo, Liadona Rau, and iAlja Writer (A colorful sex toy from Strokerz Toys)

Pat Davis, CEO of Passion Parties, flanked by two brave avies who joined the conversation about sex.

The sexy JueL Resistance.

Me looking around Athena Isle.

Runner up Sexy Diva Outfit - Emme Eales

Honorable Mention Diva Outfit - Liadona Rau (right)

Our judge Malburns Writer

Always lovely couple IYan and iAlja Writer (iAlja was another honorable mention for Sexy Diva Outfit)

The winner! Evansmom Goodspeed takes First place!

I Heart Jack Linden, Second Life Magic Man

2008-03-10T08:48:00.003-08:00

Cybergrrl is in the building!

After being locked out of Second Life since Thursday evening and going through the gamut of emotions, Cybergrrl Oh is standing in Athena Isle, watching her hummingbirds and butterflies.

I owe it all to Jack, the Linden guru who resurrected CG after "hijacking" her (was that a euphemyism for "checking her out") and giving me some quick and easy instructions. After showering the man with virtual kisses, I was back to business prepping for the Don Peppers & Martha Rogers chat today.

A heartfelt thanks to my true and wonderful SL friends who helped me through this difficult time. Between the virtual hugs and the immediate acceptance of my alt new personal assistant Safra Jetcity, I was able to ride the waves of loneliness into that warm place called Home.

I had gone so far as recreating Safra as Cybergrrl, using the same lovely shape created by JueL Resistance but I couldn't afford the RAC Carina skin on Safra's tiny budget (all my Linden was tied up in Cybergrrl and LL wouldn't let me buy L$4000 to make the purchase) so the result was a very blonde & goth CG lookalike. Well, she would have worked in a pinch, especially to film today's REAL BIZ in SL at the Playboy sim!

So I'm in. SL is wonky today so I'm afraid to log out. But at least I know I have a guardian angel in Jack. Mwah mwah!

Linden Lab Holds Cybergrrl Oh Hostage

2008-03-08T17:04:00.002-09:00

So this is why I have not had any help from Linden Lab for the Cybergrrl Oh debacle. This just pisses me off. I'm resubmitting a ticket as a guest.

Anyone have any suggestions for a solution to this situation? I can't think clearly right now.

From: no-reply@secondlife.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC:
Subject: Ticket #4051-4566306: Created (Unable to log in since yesterday)
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 11:44:38 -0500

Hello!

Our system shows that you submitted this ticket from either a Basic account or with Guest Access. Basic account holders and guests may only submit tickets using the ticket type "Special Questions - Basic account or Guest Login". You did not select that ticket type, so the ticket will not be reviewed.

If your issue is one of the ones we offer support to, please submit another ticket with the information corrected.

Thanks!

Banned From Second Life & Gone Fishing...

2008-03-07T08:12:00.006-09:00

I can't get into Second Life. I can't get to my Second Life. They won't let me in!

I've been trying to log in since last night around 8pm SLT. I received an error message that said I was logged out and to try again in an hour. An hour later, I tried again and received the same error. Then at 10pm, 11pm, 12am and now at 7am and 8am the following day.

Have I been banned from Second Life?

The weird thing is that I was able to log in as some of the avatars that I created for my clients - just not my own account.

What does this mean? Have I been marked for suspicious activity? Has someone reported me for being in Second Life far too much and this is some kind of addiction intervention? I feel like I'm being punished for something I don't even know I've done.

Well, this sucks. I have events to prepare for, I have some inworld meetings to attend this morning, I have a very busy Second Life and being kept out is already throwing a wrench into my day. Because I don't own an estate in SL and am not a major corporation or notable "friend of Linden Lab," I don't have Concierge Level status so cannot get a phone number to call in for help. I'm screwed.

I feel like I've been a good Second Life citizen. I've contributed to the community building by holding several events every week with authors and experts on my little parcel of land, Athena Isle, to not only bring valuable information and opportunities to Second Life residents but to entice First Lifers to see the benefits and values of living a Second Life. I know my efforts are only a drop in the Second Life sea, but I'm passionate about what I do.

I'm getting a sinking feeling knowing I'm supposed to meet with the guest for my SLCN.tv show REAL BIZ in SL at 11am SLT today and that I may not get in to the meeting. I'm a responsible avie. I try to live up to all of my inworld commitments with the same sense of responsibility as my FL ones. I bring all of my RL values and work ethic into SL. I'm not a slacker. But if I miss this meeting, I fall behind on getting information to my crew for the show on Monday. And what if I can't get inworld on Monday for my show?

My SL work is part and parcel of what I do and who I am. This is worse than having my Internet connection go down because at least I could head over to a wifi hotspot in town and get back online. This is like being locked out of my home and told to come back some other time over and over again. Will I not be allowed to go home??

While I sit and fret, please enjoy this photo from my recent fishing jaunt with some of my favorite avies. I'm going off to have a good cry now.

Metanomics Sinks Into the Second Life Sea!

2008-03-03T10:22:00.007-09:00

Trying to get out more and get my nose off the grindstone for a breather. Headed to Metanomics today. First, I ended up in a total no-man's-land, but eventually found my way with TPs from friends.

Then, just as I settled in and got my sound working, half the sim fell into the ocean. No kidding! Pics below and posted at the request of Beyers Sellers who got a good chuckle when I sent one of these to him.

Immediately after taking the 2nd pic, I crashed, then made my way back to the sim. Many of us were stuck standing above the seating, and we began cracking some jokes about getting stuck on top of the glass ceiling versus under it.

This is Second Life.

Racing Dog Sleds in Second Life's Virtual Iditarod

2008-03-02T07:58:00.009-09:00

Saturday morning, I went inworld for a moment and received a notecard about the Virturod - the virtual Iditarod - with the start of the event happening within the hour to coincide with the real life Iditarod race start time.

I couldn't resist checking things out so followed the link to the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau's web site to another link with the SLURL. I arrived less than half an hour or so before the event and the place was basically empty except for a handful of avies including Lou Tones who I eventually learned heads Virtual World Builders, the company behind the build.

I decided this would be a great event to write about for SLNN.com so put on my SLNN.com Reporter name tag and began searching for a PR person or a rep from ACVB while trying to get Lou Tones attention to answer a few questions.

He was clearly busy making last minute arrangements so I began chatting up the other avies in attendance. One woman ran over to me and told me to contact Anchorage Dreamscape who I later found floating in midair but away from her keyboard where she seemd to remain for most of the morning.

I was excited to find SeymourMoose Alter, however. He's the ACVB mascot for their "Big Wild Life" campaign for Anchorage and was quite a good looking moose in Second Life. He offered to help but when he realized I was a reporter, he quickly referred me back to Lou who did take the time to answer a few of my probing reporter questions.

When I realized that the turnout was going to be sparce, I began inviting my friends to join me for the race. At first, I thought we were going to watch a race, but soon realized that we could actually BE the racers.

That's how I ended up being part of the first official race of the Virturod along with dear friends Ilanna Aya and Alanagh Recreant. Also in the lineup was Cabela Lorenz who was the first to figure out how to rez a dog sled and had taken a tour around the racetrack before our race began.

Here is Cabela, Inanna, Alanagh and me ready to start the race with Lou Tones and SeymourMoose in the back giving us instructions.

The race was fantastic! Tons of fun. Lou flew overhead to observe the racers as we tangled with one another, getting stuck in the ice, falling off the track, swerving, skidding, sliding. I had a blast!

Eventually, the race was down to Cabela and me. She was a tough competitor and we switched places often. Suddenly, she got stuck and I slowly took a lead, then my lead got bigger. I creeped up an ice hill and when I reached the top, there was a board with our times posted (it wasn't working) and Lou Tomes was floating close to the ground.

I thought it was the finish line.

"Where do we go from here?" I asked but he didn't respond and just hovered.

I looked around for some sign of an actual finish line just as Cabela came up the hill. Lou flew back up into the air and Cabela turned onto the path where Lou had been and headed down the hill. What?!? There's more?

Maneuvering around the top of the hill to point down the path was tricky. When I finally did it, I could see the finish line below and Cabela hanging out with Lou beside it. Darn!

Lou had inadvertently blocked my path to get down the hill. Double darn!

With my adrenaline pumping, I made my way recklessly down the hill and got stuck at the finish line. I started chiding Lou for flying too low and blocking my path. He and Cabela laughed and probably thought I was a poor loser.

I later chatted a little more with Cabela and invited her to race with me and my friends again. She agreed so I sent her a Friend message. She declined.

"You're the first person in the year that I've been on SL who has declined a friend offer..." I said, hoping for some explanation. "How else can I find you to invite you to race with us again?"

"Don't take it personally," she said.

Not discouraged, I gave her a few tokens of friendship including one of the rare fish I caught the other day fishing with Soph, Ally and others (photos to follow) and one of my custom tshirts that says "Still Rezzing."

But alas, no friend here. She did, however, later IM me to critique some of my wording in the article I had turned in a few minutes before the race began: Virtual Iditarod Off to a Bumpy Start. Oh well, such is Second Life.

Let me know if you'd like to join me over the next 3 weeks to race a dog sled!

Falling for a Scam

2008-02-25T21:39:00.004-09:00

Okay, I would like to think I'm not gullible and that I wouldn't fall for any online scam. And in fact, I almost got away with NOT falling for a recent scam, but then I let my heart get in the way of my head.

Someone spammed my Second Life Women's Club list, asking for some Linden. L$25 to be exact. Not a lot of money, of course, but I had two reactions:

1. I sensed a scam so wanted to protect my members from this old trick of IMing groups asking for a little Linden and getting a lot of it;

2. I didn't like someone spamming my group.

So I did what any good moderator would do - I immediately removed them from the list. Okay, maybe I should have first said: You are violating this group. Off with your head!

Anyway, I figured that was that.

Then I get a private IM from this person - Pam Caudron to be exact about his/her avatar name - and it said simply:

"Thanks a LOT!!!"

Sarcasm? Real disappointment and resentment?

Then I got to thinking: "Wow, that was sure abrupt and mean of me. Maybe they are really a nice newbie who needs a little Linden. And heck, it is only L$25. Maybe they didn't know it was bad to spam someone else's group."

So I IM'd back and apologized, explaining what I did and why. I then asked them if they still needed the Linden.

No answer.

Still angry? Embarrassed? On to the next scam? I began to overthink their motives.

Damn, it was only L$25, I thought. I give way more than that to newbies I meet inworld and take shopping for nice clothes.

So I paid Pam Caudron L$25.

And never heard from him/her again.

I fell for the scam. I admit it. I talk about it here so others can learn from my mistakes rather than making the same ones.

Yeah, it was only L$25, but I'm sure they got that from a lot of other people who either:

a) didn't realize it was a scam;
b) had that soft spot in their heart that negated the scam warning signals.

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Around Second Life in First Half of February

2008-02-14T11:34:00.011-09:00

Somehow my avatar ended up at the bottom of the water, lying down, unable to get up. Guess Second Life was having a senior moment.

This is Inanna Aya, watercolor artists. Her work is currently being shown at Athena Gallery of Women's Art. SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Shores/40/60/22

Friend Ziggy Figaro invited me to an 18th century RP sim. We never really got to explore it, but I did spend some Linden on this lovely outfit.

I was gifted this absolutely wonderful elephant who talks. His name is Woody.

Another Second Life blooper - a purple and blue checked outfit on my avatar. You don't think I'd BUY something like this?

Second Life Women's Club hosted author Janice Taylor on Feb 12th. She wrote the book "Our Lady of Weight Loss."

Me setting up for the Second Life Writers' Club special guest on Feb 13th, Maria Liberati, author and celebrity chef.

Me relaxing on Athena Isle.

All dressed up for a Valentine's Day party that TheDiva Rockin was giving but couldn't get in. Story of my Second Life. All dressed up and no place to go.

Feb 8 Friday: Art Opening, Athena Gallery

2008-02-08T07:13:00.000-09:00

Stop by Athena Isle from 1-3pm SLT for the official opening of "Her Seasons," an exhibit of watercolors by Inanna Aya and photographs by Liadona Rau.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Shores/51/50/23. Athena Gallery of Women's Art displays work from women artists in SL with new shows every month.

Inanna Aya is a child of the sea. Born in a coastal Alaska town in the mid-1970s, her artwork reflects the shifting moods of an ocean that both gives and takes life. Fluid, organic, visceral. The inner reflecting the outer, the outer giving form to the inner.

After receiving a formal art education at Marylhurst University, in Oregon, Inanna returned to her roots. She moved back to her hometown, became a mom and a massage therapist, and continued developing as an artist. Her primary medium is watercolor, with periodic forays into silver and wood carving.

Read more about Inanna...

Liadona Rau is fairly new to SL, but not new to the world of nature photography having been behind the camera for more than 30 years in her first life. Her first RL show took place a few years ago at Randolph-Macon College when she showed pieces taken at Chincateague and Assateague islands in the Chesapeake bay in Virginia.

Read more about Liadona...

Second Life Shrinks My Avatar!

2008-01-06T10:33:00.001-09:00

I've had virtually no experience with tinies but with the help of my two tiny friends iAlja & iYan, I purchased a perfect tiny avatar for myself and began my transformation.

Photos below...

iYan gave me instructions step by step. But what he forgot to tell me was that when I "make an outfit," I need to check ALL the boxes.

So after I experienced my tiny cuteness and was getting back to regular size to rush off to the first dress rehearsal of my new SLCN.tv show, I was unable to revert. I was stuck halfway between tiny & full size with knobbly legs and brown fur, yet wearing my nice new business outfit and lovely red hair.

I arrived at the TV shoot in my partial tiny-ness much to everyone's amusement. Just before we began shooting, I finally decided to revert my avatar back to the default - "girl next door" - then build it back quickly with the bits & pieces I had saved over the last few months. And was able to do the shoot at my regular shape and size.

NOTE TO SELF: Check all boxes when making an outfit to return to my regular avi.

Second Life Gallery Opening Features Women's Art

2008-01-03T15:15:00.000-09:00

YOU ARE INVITED... to the 1st First Friday Gallery Tour hosted by Athena Isle & the Athena Gallery. Every first Friday of each month, we'll host a gallery tour of women's art.

Stop by our OFFICIAL GALLERY OPENING:
Fri, Jan. 4 from 2pm-4pm SLT
MUSIC by JueL Resistance!
SLURL TO ATHENA ISLE

For the month of January, we are hosting the FLORA & FAUNA exhibit of women's art. Additional art by JueL Resistance. Fashions by Rolig Loon.

If you are interested in participating in a future First Friday Gallery Tour or exhibit your work in Athena Gallery, please IM Safra Jetcity or drop her a notecard. Safra Jetcity is the gallery curator. Land and building donated by Cybergrrl Oh.

Join the group Second Life Women Artists or the Athena Isle group for upcoming events. Or "friend" AthenaIsle Republic for IM notices.

The End of 2007 in Second Life: Friends

2008-01-01T11:26:00.000-09:00

I noticed that in the last few weeks of 2007, I was connecting with my SL friends and making some new ones so I thought I'd devote the first post of 2008 to friendship in virtual worlds.

I've had a lot of experience making friends and maintaining friendships online via email and online forums, but Second Life provides e-friendships with entirely new dimensions. We can actually DO things with our friends in virtual spaces, not just communicate - although communication in SL seems so much more interactive and expressive than email. Emoticons just don't cut it, but an avie smile or hug is actually really nice.

In a way, I don't really make a strong distinction between SL and RL friends anymore. They are all my friends, we just interact in different places and spaces. I see no less value in SL friends than RL friends. They are simply long distance friends who I haven't yet met F2F.

In some cases, my SL friends are actual RL friends who I've known F2F for a long time, and we are not meeting up in SL. That adds a whole new dimension to my friendships in SL.

Overall, while I have a growing list of "Friends" in SL, the ones who I have emotional bonds with number only a dozen or so, even fewer in terms of who I totally would confide in. This mirrors my list of RL friends, most of whom are far away from me.

Needless to say, I am far less lonely living up here in the Far North now that I've met so many wonderful people in SL. I'm still working hard to cultivate my friendships in RL, too. Making friends in Second Life is not to the exclusion of friends in my First Life. But they do help to stave off loneliness and help me feel much more connected.

Here are a few snapshots of me with some of my SL friends...

(There are a few good SL friends who are not featured here only because I didn't run into them in the last 2 weeks of December. You know who you are & that I love ya!)

Hope Clary invited me to go skiing with her friends DuckyFresh Watanabe, but unfortunately, I didn't have room in my Groups to join the one necessary to actually be able to ski. Still, it was nice to be invited and always nice meeting new people. As in First Life, I find I meet the nicest people in Second Life through the people I already know and like. (Note to Linden Lab: 25 groups are NOT enough to combine business and fun interests. Please up the limit.)

Beautiful Sophrosyne Stenvaag is a creator of Extropia and a great Second Life blogger. She is one of my SL friends who is purely avatar. She won't do SL voice, she won't reveal her true identity. We all can speculate that she is really a man but in the end, it doesn't really matter, does it? She is a smart, generous and kind person who I consider a true friend.

I do have a few male friends in SL, and here I am with two of my favorites - Malburns Writer and Joi Koi. Both are creative and interesting. Very generous with their time and knowledge. They're always willing to help me when I'm in a quandry.

This is Lifefactory Writer. I just met her, and she is GREAT! She's entered into the 48 Hour Film Project. I look forward to getting to know her better as well as seeing more of Panther Chenille who is involved with the same film project.

This is Grace McDonnough who has a fantastic voice and is a wonderful person. I finally participated in her Musimmersion project - music immersion. Loved it!

Here is Grace along with either iAlja Writer or IYan Writer and Alanagh Recreant's tiny. They are my first tiny friends. I love them but can't remember if iAlja is the black cat or IYan. I htink it is IYan. I'm learning about making a venue tiny friendly to accommodate my new small friends.

Hanging with friends at the new set for my SLCN.tv show REAL BIZ in SL. Lauren Weyland is a comedian (not a typo), Sloan Skjellerup is in education and is full of ideas, and Eshi Otawara is a talented artist. All three are very strong, opinionated and funny as hell.

I haven't spent enough time with Caterin Semyorka or Therese Carfagno but they invited me to dance with them at a great blues club and introduced me to their friend Peter Stindberg. Had a blast line dancing with them.

Now this photo warms my heart. This is Soph; Alanagh Recreant of Uthango in Cape Town, South Africa; and iAlja with IYan goofing around in the background. The four of us female friends basically stood in this photo pose for a long time - several hours? - and talked via SL voice or typed (in Soph's case and mine when my ears hurt from my headset), and just really solidified our friendship. Great female bonding moment.

After all the heavy discussions about challenges we've faced, iAlja and IYan lightened up the mood with a dance ball. Yes, that is me dancing on the sofa.

This is the money shot. Strong, powerful, beautiful, talented, creative, women. Friends in 2007. Friends in 2008 and beyond.

Merry Xmas & a SLappy New Year from Cybergrrl Oh!

2007-12-23T13:31:00.000-09:00

Free tshirt to anyone who posts their SL avie name here!

Late November, Early December in Second Life

2007-12-22T07:32:00.001-09:00

End of November, meeting with powerwomen and friends Sophrosyne Stenvaag and Alanagh Recreant. Brainstorming about Uthango, the FreeRice contest and fundraiser, Virtual Africa...

Sitting on a MillionsofUs panel with Celebrity MillionsofUs moderating and special guests including the incomparable Starr Sonic.

Making new friends - and learning about the needs of tinies at events such as special seating. Trying to make my venues more friendly for diverse avatars.

My latest line of tshirts is The Seven Deadly Sins. Next up: The Seven Virtues.

Soph & Grace speaking at an Extropia event.

Grace McDunnough plays at Extropia. First time I saw her play. Gorgeous singing voice! She is awesome!!

Me drinking a lot of wine at the Roligt! store opening. Well attended by fashionistas and fashion fans alike. Rolig Loon, proprietor, is in yellow and green.

Me the morning after the Roligt! party, still with a wine glass in my hand.

The beautiful Chel Pixie.

A power meeting with powerwomen Tynan Clary, Reese Lewellyn and Chel Pixie. Contemplating world domination!

Ziggy Figaro of Information Week speaking at my Writers Wednesday group.

Writers Wednesday with Ziggy Figaro, guest speaker.

Space Junkeys (sp?) concert.

Me just standing around listening to the music at the Space Junkeys concert.

Drummer of the Space Junkeys.

Another Orange event. Can't remember the topic, but I do like going to them.

My book agent Jacky Sachs from Bookends LLC guest speaking at my final Writers Wednesday group meeting.

The last Writers Wednesday meeting. I've since moved on to a new group: Second Life Writers Club.

Cybergrrl Oh looking feminine in a lovely Last Call ensemble.

Attended the Joysco Winter Fashion Show. Still looking for professional business suits. This one certainly does not fit the bill but it is a cute babydoll dress.

Athena Isle Calendar of Events - Jan & Feb 2008!

2007-12-19T13:19:00.000-09:00

I can't contain my excitement about next month's scheduled guests for the new groups we've formed. Most events will take place on the top floor of my 3-tiered meeting space but if we get bigger turnouts, we'll move to my little outdoor venue and stage.

So without further ado, here is what you can expect in January on Athena Isle!

01/04/08 COMMUNITY BUILDERS - guest Sophrosyne Stenvaag, co-creator of Extropia

01/08/08 ENTREPRENEUR CLUB - Alan Behr, partner Alston & Bird LLP – Electronic Entertainment Group, "Protecting Your Intellectual Property in Second Life"

01/09/08 WRITERS CLUB - Lexa Dryke, publisher, The Looking Glass

01/18/08 COMMUNITY BUILDERS - Thinkerer Melville, Arts Patron & Owner of Cookie Island

01/22/08 ENTREPRENEUR CLUB - Elzbiet Meili, SL content creator; “Building Basics for SL Entrepreneurs”

01/23/08 WRITERS CLUB - Janet Rosen – book agent, women's market, "Writing for the Women's Market"

01/29/08 WOMEN'S CLUB - Susan Shapiro Barash, author, "Tripping the Prom Queen: The Truth about Women and Rivalry"

01/30/08 WRITERS CLUB - Penny Sansevieri – "Marketing for Authors"

And in February on Athena Isle!

02/01/08 COMMUNITY BUILDERS - Selina Greene, co-creator of Book and Publishing Islands

02/05/08 ENTREPRENEUR CLUB - Richard Laermer, Punk Marketing

02/19/08 ENTREPRENEUR CLUB - Rachel Allstart, author and marketer, "Evolving Your Brand in 3D Worlds & Social Networks"

Second Life Harassment - Caged!

2007-12-17T07:40:00.001-09:00

I was minding my own business, perusing a great SL newsstand on Paradise Island when suddenly, a guy came up and demanded Linden from me. He claimed I needed to pay him to be on the island. (Transcript at bottom of post).

At first, I pretended not to understand and spoke to him in Spanish.

Then suddenly, he rezzed a cage around me!

Now, if I were a newbie, I'd be pretty distressed, but I figured I could TP out of it to anywhere else. I was about to do just that when he caged another female avatar, this one quite new to SL. She was pissed but didn't know what to do.

I gave her instructions, filed a harassment report, and told both of them what I was doing. I then TP'd out of the cage. Cage Boy began back peddling and accusing me of harassing him. Rich. I wonder if Arthur Sklar, maker of the cage, knows what this guy is doing with the cages.

After that exchange, I TP'd away. I wonder how many people actually payed the jerk.

16:45] Doctorboom Fall: u need yto pay to be here
[16:46] You: sorry
[16:46] Doctorboom Fall: pay or die
[16:47] Doctorboom Fall: pay me
[16:47] You: Que dices?
[16:47] Doctorboom Fall: 20L$
[16:47] You: Porque?
[16:47] You: Para que?
[16:48] Doctorboom Fall: its my land thats y
[16:48] Doctorboom Fall: pay me
[16:49] You: que rico
[16:49] Can't reposition -- permission denied
[16:49] ASUSA Breck: u want ue ass kicked
[16:49] Doctorboom Fall: lets make a sexyntime
[16:53] You: Don't worry, I reported the abuse and am putting an article about him online.
[16:53] You: just teleport out to another location
[16:53] Doctorboom Fall: u guys are mean
[16:54] You: jerk
[16:54] You: hey, just teleport out anywhere
[16:54] You: it doesn't really trap you
[16:54] Doctorboom Fall: sry gosh i was just joking and you guys just cant take a joke
[16:54] You: this guy is a newbie
[16:54] You: or at least a new account
[16:55] Doctorboom Fall: what ever i may be but you know wat the proper term in noob
[16:55] Doctorboom Fall: that makes u a noob
[16:55] You: yeah, keep talking.
[16:55] You: I'm taking notes for my report
[16:55] You: You can't even spell
[16:56] Doctorboom Fall: wht ever you guys r abusing me you r harassing me and its not fair

Who Owns What You Create in Second Life?

2007-12-14T05:41:00.001-09:00

I've been struggling lately to understand how to properly protect the intellectual property I create within Second Life. Here are some of my thoughts and questions. I would love to hear about your experiences and opinions.

1. If someone owns a sim and you rent from them, who owns what you create?

I think this is a no-brainer. As a renter in SL like in the real world, everything you bring to the land is yours. Everything that was there when you got there belongs to the owner of the sim - unless there is a contract you have signed that states otherwise.

Technically, can a landowner take possession of, move or destroy the belongings you place on their land? I'm not totally sure but I believe the only things they can do is return all items to your inventory. Is this correct?

2. If someone manages a sim for a larger entity, who owns what you create on the sim as a renter?

Again, I think this is also a no-brainer. The parent company only has ownership over their land and assets and as a renter, you retain ownership of yours assets - unless there is a contract in place that you've both signed that states otherwise.

3. If you work part-time in SL for the manager or owner of a sim, who owns what you create?

Now this sounds like a tricky one, but it should be straightforward. Without an actual contract designating what work is considered "work-for-hire," the assumption would be that what you create as a direct part of your job responsibilities is property of the employer.

What you create separately (for another job or business) is not the property of that employer. Perhaps if you create it while on the employer's land and during the time you are supposed to be working for them, then it could be perceived that what you create is theirs.

But if you create something not connected to the sim or during your part time hours and then bring it to the sim, it should be your asset. But how do you protect your asset? What if your employer claims it is their's by default?

4. How do you protect intellectual capital and intellectual properties versus SL objects that you bring to someone else's land?

Now this is a doozy. In intellectual property law, it is clear that you cannot protect "an idea." But when does an idea move from the ethereal and unprotected to the concrete and protected?

a. If you come up with a trade name that can be trademarked (but no formal efforts have been made to trademark it) and used in business, is that name protected so that you can retain possession if you were to move on to a new job or business? Who owns that name and who has the right to use it?

b. If you design or pay for the design of a logo and bring it to a sim owned by someone else for use on the island, who owns that design and who has the right to use it?

c. If you conceptualize, organize and market an event and bring it to a sim owned by someone else to act as the host venue, who owns that event and the assets and intellectual property that goes with it?

Without a written contract to the contrary, I think the owner remains the creator of the intellectual property unless money was clearly exchanged for the ownership or rights to the intellectual properties. But if you do not own the sim, how do you get your intellectual property back, especially if the land owner will not return it?

I think the overall answer to all of my questions is: Whatever you do in Second Life, put it into writing and have it signed by the people behind the avatars who are doing business. That includes an employment contract, a rental agreement, a business partnership - anything where money might exchange hands and assets - including objects and intellectual property - are part of the relationship.

I'm not even going to delve into whether or not Linden Lab can lay claim to what we create. I just want to explore the microcosm of the land owner/manager and the resident employee or renter.

NOTE: I'm starting a series of events for entrepreneurs after the holidays and am hoping to bring Alan Behr of Alston & Bird LLP who heads up the firm's Electronic Entertainment Group to discuss intellectual property in Second Life. Join the SL group Second Life Entrepreneurs Club or IM Cybergrrl Oh if you'd like to be notified of the event.

Upcoming in Second Life!

2007-12-02T07:09:00.000-09:00

I'm always chided that I'm not putting out a calendar of events so I'm working on it since I am getting more and more involved with event coordination in Second Life. Until I get the official calendar going, here are some things coming up this week!
3 Dec Monday - Sa Roligt! Store Opening, Elysian Isle - 6pm SLT

Stop by to meet designer Rolig Loon and see her lovely original flexi fashions.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elysian%20Isle/145/76/33

Rolig in front of her shop

5 Dec Wednesday - Jacky Sach, book agent with Bookends LLC, Elysian Isle - 12pm SLT

Meet my book agent! She is JackySach Schmooz inworld and will be at Writers Wednesday to talk about book publishing and the role of the book agent.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elysian%20Isle/230/135/25

My book agent Jacky

6 Dec Thursday - Community Building in Second Life, Athena Isle, 11am SLT

Join me for a roundtable discussion about what it takes to build community in Second Life. This will be the first official event held at The Clubhouse on my new land, Athena Isle. Hope you can make it!

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Shores/54/49/23

Me standing in the outdoor theatre I'm setting up with the Clubhouse behind me.

Cybergrrl goes places & sees things in Second Life - Nov 1-15

2007-11-22T13:35:00.000-09:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Here are some things I've been up to and people I've seen in just the first two weeks of November 2007...

Working at the Cafe des Amis on Elysian Isle. I've been doing this every Tuesday at 1pm SLT and have held impromptu chats, show and tell days, and more recently live voice readings of our writing. This was on a bad SL day where log ins were tough and getting Ruthed was common.

The Elysian Isle Book Group promotes Random House authors. This was the discussion for the book Night Watch. They are usually held in the Rose Garden but this is a much better location - right next to the book shop!

I made a promo t-shirt for the book and reading group. I'll be putting up vendors for all the promo tshirts I've made for the Book Group for book fans - but only for a limited time. Will probably be in or near the book shop on Elysian Isle. They'll be free of charge. Think of them as collectors items!

Just a shot of me and my sock monkey on Elysian Isle.

Starting to set up a gallery of Alaskan artists for a foundation to promote Alaska and Alaskan art. It will reside on Elysian Isle. More details to follow soon.

Rolig Loon is a new designer in-world, and I convinced her to open up a shop on Elysian Isle so go buy a beautiful outfit from her! I'd call her style very classic with a touch of the late 1950s.

I bought this outfit from Rolig and added my own Cybergrrl touch - the combat boots!

Some giraffes in Virtual Africa.

Meeting with the women from Uthango regarding volunteering to do PR for them.

Had a lot of fun taking snapshots of Alanaugh Recreant and Enakai Ultsch, the women of Uthango and Virtual Africa, for a CNN iReport news clip.

One of the outtakes from the photo session with Alanagh and Enakai.

Alanagh as a cute, cuddly warthog.

This is one of the African bikes being sold inworld to raise funds for an employment center in South Africa. IM Alanagh Recreant for more information.

I attended the Virtual Thirst competition unveiling. This is a shot of some of the gang from Crayon, Coke and my friend Emerie May, the winner.

Emerie and one of her winning Coke dispenser designs at the unveiling. MY ARTICLE: The Coca Cola bottle experience dispenser is here

Hanging with Soph at her place while trying on the t-shirt I made for her inworld project, Extropia.

Attended the Orange avie events and covered them for SLNN.com. Here are some of the avies attending the avie competition. Part of the Orange Identity Summit. MY ARTICLE: Orange Wants to Get to Know You Better

An avie showing off her accessories on Orange Island.

Trying on a new set of eyes.

Prepping for Music on the Isle, a live music event I started but am no longer running. Long, painful story. Hard lessons learned. (Note to self: Put everything in writing BEFORE taking a great idea to others.) I'm proud of what I created but saddened that it is now out of my hands.

Hanging with my new friends Kit and Charlanna at Music on the Isle where I passed out Music on the Isle t-shirts that I created. My sexy jeans are from my friend Chel Pixie who felt I needed to amp up my looks. She also took me shopping for makeup (before and after pics will be posted sometime). Partly to cheer me up over the Music on the Isle debacle and partly to improve my look. She thought I still looked way too noobish.

Covering Metanomics and Metaversed events now for SLNN.com. Watched the one with Ginsu Linden from a partner location via videocast. MY ARTICLE: Linden Lab is not the government or the god of Second Life

57 Miles of Metaversed.com doing last minute preps at a Metanomics panel. Behind-the-scenes shot!

Onder Skall of Metaversed.com stretching before a panel begins. Wrote about this panel for SLNN.com. MY ARTICLE: Thieves, Scammers and Fools in the Second Life Economy

My book agent, Jacky Sach of Bookends, LLC, was supposed to be a special guest for the Writers Wednesday group that I formed on Elysian Isle. Unfortunately, SL was unkind that day. But here is a shot of the avie I created for her on her first day inworld. She told me that she thought it really did look like her. I used a photo of her from her company site and gave her avie some of my clothes that I thought looked appropriate for her to wear. She'll be back on Wed Dec 5 on Elysian Isle at 12pm SLT. IM Cybergrrl Oh for info or join the Writers Wednesday group.

This is a sky view of the new CNN inworld hub - shaped like a letter "i" - where residents can get free CNN equipment and instructions for posting iReports, their inworld version of their citizen journalism project. MY ARTICLE: CNN Takes in Second Life

My favorite android - a helper on the CNN iReport project.

Me showing a friend how I can't get sit poses right for my floor cushions at the Second Life Women's Club clubhouse.

Taking a moment to relax at the Second Life Women's Clubhouse with two of my three hummingbirds. Tshirt (Must be the Lag) is one of my designs. Birds from Animania.

Me and the sock monkey again, hanging at the clubhouse wearing my Moms in Second Life tshirt. If you are a mom and in Second Life, please join our group!

Some of my other SLNN.com articles from November...

Thinkerer Challenge awardee builds outpost for English as a second language education
Paul Preibisch (Fire Centaur in Second Life) and the English Village project won The Thinkerer Challenge, receiving linden currency and land to build an outpost on Cookie Island.

Second Life musician set to release his first single
Jeff Krantz (Hep Shepherd in Second Life) quit his job, logged into Second Life, and before he knew it, started an in-world music career that has launched a real world one.

Flaws in security leave Second Life banks wide open to hacking this week
A hacker stole L$3.2 million from L&L Bank and Trust and several smaller banks earlier this week, all exploiting security weaknesses.

My Second Life Avatar and Branding

2007-11-19T07:08:00.000-09:00

I've been thinking a lot of about my avatar as a brand. The fact that she has the name "Cybergrrl" is no coincidence. That is the name I made up in late 1994 when I published my first web site - "The Web According to Cybergrrl." Back then, I was wary of putting my own photograph on the Internet so I drew a cartoon character of myself, added a hot pink cape and bold yellow letters on her chest - CG - and Cybergrrl was born.

The origin of the name was a combination of "cyberspace" coined by William Gibson in Neuromancer and "grrl" which to me meant "girl with attitude" along with a nod to the Riotgrrrls (I had been in the music business for years so was familiar with this underground community of female rockers). Within the first year of calling my business Cybergrrl, Inc. and launching a more official Cybergrrl site, I became synonymous with my online alter ego. I was Cybergrrl. In fact, people stopped calling me by my real name and only referred to me as Cybergrrl.

As far as brands were concerned, Cybergrrl seemed ideal. This was at a time when the only major "brand" was Pathfinder but that wasn't yet catching on. Yahoo was just a fun - and useful - project launched by some kids in college. The Cybergrrl site quickly gained popularity and hundreds, then thousands, of visitors a day.

The downside of a brand like Cybergrrl was the spelling. People thought I was saying "Cybergirl" and would inevitably visit the porn site that had set up shop at the alternate - albeit correct - spelling of the name. No amount of legal action could get the porn site to relinquish the name, despite the fact that my company eventually owned the registered trademark to the name. The name was especially problematic when I'd be interviewed on radio or television. On radio, people would hear and write down "cybergirl," and on TV, producers inevitably "corrected" the spelling of Cybergrrl to Cybergirl before airing the segment.

Five years later, I left my company, and all of its assets went to my former business partner. I was allowed to refer to myself as "The Original Cybergrrl," but in essence, I lost more than my brand identity - I lost my identity.

So now I'm on Second Life, and I'm reviving Cybergrrl. When I first downloaded the software and registered, I couldn't think of a more perfect name for my 3-d avatar roaming through the 3-d space. Of course, once I began meeting others in SL, I realized that my name was a bit - dated, antiquated. And hard to spell. But by then, my avatar was already getting "known." People were saying "yeah, I heard about you" or "I read your article on SLNN.com" or "So and so told me to get in touch with you." Cybergrrl was alive again.

Most people inworld call me Cyber and that's fine with me. I'm not so touchy about the Cybergrrl name right now, but maybe that's because I'm still the only Cybergrrl in SL. And Cybergrrl is an inworld brand. She represents my work in Second Life. She even has her own umbrella company - Cybergrrl Productions - to encompass all her activities from inworld consulting, community building, marketing, branding, event planning and organizing.

Cybergrrl Oh is me. She is an extension of what I'm doing on the real world platform. In the same way I continue to build my own personal brand, I'm building Cybergrrl's personal brand. Because when it comes down to it, we are our own most powerful brand. As far as marketing is concerned, if we can leverage ourselves, we're golden.

Upcoming Artists - Music on the Isle in Second Life

2007-11-15T11:54:00.001-09:00

Music on the Isle is a 1/2 hour live, all-original acoustic set under the stars!

Every Thursdays at 6pm SLT - Elysian Isle Rose Garden

(produced by Metaverse Horizons, taped by SLCN.tv)

*15 Nov - Capos Calderwood aka Alex Whitmore
http://alexwhitmore.com

"Home cooked Texas style with humor for dessert."

*22 Nov - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY - see you the following week!

*29 Nov - Cylindrian Rutabaga aka Grace Buford
http://cylindrian.wordpress.com/
http://www.myspace.com/gracefolk

"The virtual representation of Atlanta Singer/Songwriter, Grace Buford, who has been writing songs and performing in Second Life and the regional Southeastern United States for almost 2 years."

*6 Dec - Dann Numbers- Dec 6th confirmed
http://www.dannrusso.com/home.html
http://www.myspace.com/dannrusso

"Dann Russo aka Dann Numbers pours rock, blues, country, gospel and every other type of real down-home music into his performances."

For more information about Music on the Isle, join the Music on the Isle Group!

Second Life Inspires New Tshirts by Cybergrrl

2007-11-12T07:15:00.000-09:00

Last Saturday, I was the "guest speaker" at Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon. It was a 2 1/2 hour discussion that ran the gamut of our life and work in Second Life and building online communities. I was even inspired to create a tshirt on the spot that says "We Are the Internet."

The Second Life Women's Club clubhouse was griefed by floating Marios. And of course, it inspired yet another tshirt...

The "I Survived a Griefer" tshirt will be available at my new tshirt shop that I'm opening in partnership with The Traveling Avatar. The shop is called Snark Attack. Details and opening party soon!

Another new tshirt - "Music on the Isle" - and this is a freebie to promote the new Music on the Isle show with SLCN.tv on Elysian Isle that takes place every Thursday evening at 6pm SLT in the Rose Garden.

Our first musical guest for Music on the Isle was Hep Shepherd aka Jeff Krantz. What a pro! And great musician, too.

Hep Shepherd performing in the Rose Garden on Elysian Isle for Music on the Isle.

My new hairstyle. I love the bangs and beautiful curls! And my sweet little sock monkey. Maybe I'll make a tshirt that says "I Love My Sock Monkey!"

Cybergrrl at Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon!

2007-11-02T08:36:00.001-08:00

Link: Finding Sophrosyne - Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon: Cybergrrlz!.

Join us Saturday, November 3 from 1 to 3:30 PM SLT at the Diversionarium for a very special Saturday Salon! Our Spotlight guest Cybergrrl Oh (Aliza Sherman) has been helping empower moms, daughters and women entrepreneurs since the dawn of the Web.

I love Soph's description of my work. It makes me sounds so...goddess-like! For all you SLers, stop on by for a dynamic discussion about...well, everything that comes to our minds.

SLURL: The Diversionarium in Pandoria

Fashion & Fantasy Ball and Costume Contest to Draw Fashionistas and Residents to Sim

2007-10-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

Elysian Isle is hosting a Fashion & Fantasy Ball on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 5pm SLT for Halloween and the event will include a Fashion & Fantasy Costume contest with celebrity judges. The event includes dancing, refreshments and Second Life celebrities and will take place on Elysian Isle in the Rose Garden.

The Costume Contest runs for 24 hours on Oct.31. To enter, residents must take a snapshot of themselves in their costumes anywhere on Elysian Isle. They can submit snapshots anytime on Oct.31 either by dropping them to Cybergrrl Oh with their avatar's name on it or emailing it to cybergrrloh AT gmail.com including their avatar name in the email.

Snapshots will then be uploaded to the Elysian Isle blog (elysianisleonsecondlife.blogspot.com) and the Celebrity Judges will post comments and cast votes from Nov 1-4. Three winners will be announced Monday Nov 5 at the Get Rich Business Mondays meeting in the Rose Garden on Elysian Isle.

Grand Prize - L$6000 gift card to Vindi Vindiloo's clothing shops on Elysian Isle
Runner Up - L$3000 gift card
Honorary Mention - L$1000 gift card

Celebrity Judges for the Costume Contest are:

*Celebrity Trollop - Second Style Fashionista bloger -

*TheDiva Rochttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifkin - Second Life Fashion Police blogger - http://slfashionpolice.wordpress.com/

*Daphne Abernathy & Tamara Kirshner - Going Broke with Daphne & Tamara podcasters - http://daphneandtamara.libsyn.com

For more information, IM Cybergrrl Oh or email cybergrrloh AT gmail.com. SLURL for the Rose Garden - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elysian%20Isle/86/200/26

Can you hear me now? Text & Telephony in Second Life

2007-10-26T11:36:00.001-08:00

Tried out the new Vodafone product for an article on SLNN.com.

It took me 3 tries to activate my phone before I realized that I had to scroll down on the text message to get my special key. Doh!

Then trying to get someone else on the line was next to impossible. Nobody I know has the Vodafone. Finally convinced my friend Goldie to pop over to the Vodafone sim and give it a try. It worked for her on the first attempt. Smart chicky.

Basically, the Vodafone inworld connects both our mobile phones in the real world - so we get charged based on our calling plans. Kind of silly having our avatars standing next to one another and being on the phone together but even sillier using an inworld HUD to make it happen.

I'm on the fence about this utility personally. But I do like carrying my little Vodafone around inworld although people think it is an iPod!

Three Winners Announced - Elysian Isle

2007-09-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

Announcing: Winners of the first round of the business idea's competition

From left to right: Bianca Zanetti (1st prize), Lillith Anatine (2nd prize, Angel Slocombe (3rd prize), & Elysian Isle Manager Nick Gloucester

A presentation was made to the winners of the first round of the Felix Dennis ‘How to Get Rich’ Second Life business ideas competition in the Elysian Isle Town Square Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12pm SLT.

Each of the winners will be given two months to make a profit from their business idea. The individual who can show the biggest profit at the end of that period will be deemed the winner of the grand prize of an additional L$50,000 on top of their first round winnings

Read more...

Cybergrrl Oh Goes Western

2007-09-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

OK, I get time zones wrong all the time. And I tend to joke that I'm calendrically challenged (unable to read a calendar properly). So it isn't any wonder that I missed the monthly theme party on Second Life this month. And the theme was Western which would have been so much fun.

I showed up all dressed up (wearing a free cowboy outfit I got at Tombstone - luckily, I remembered to remove the male shape before trying it on). Nobody was there. And there was an incredibly detailed Western town. The host appeared and told me I had missed the party the night before but gave me permission to take photos. So here they are!

Three winners of the Felix Dennis 'How to get rich' business ideas competition revealed

2007-09-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Three winners of the Felix Dennis 'How to get rich' business ideas competition revealed

September 14, 2007 (ELYSIAN ISLE) - Ebury Publishing announced today the winners of the first round of the Felix Dennis ‘How to Get Rich’ Second Life business ideas competition. The competition is part of the promotion for Felix Dennis’ book ‘How to Get Rich’ and is being held on Ebury’s Second Life sim Elysian Isle.

A presentation to the winners will be made in the Elysian Isle Town Square Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12pm SLT. (Winners listed below).

The judges selected three winners from a wide range of entries submitted over the last month. Each winner will receive a cash prize and go forward to Round Two where they will have to set their businesses up on the Isle and make money.

"We had lots of good entries and the overall standard was very high," said Elysian Isle Manager Nick Gloucester. "Selecting the three winners was quite a challenge.”

Each of the winners will be given two months to make a profit from their business idea. The individual who can show the biggest profit at the end of that period will be deemed the winner of the grand prize of an additional L$50,000 on top of their first round winnings

The winners of Round One are...TO BE ANNOUNCED SATURDAY!

Each of the winners will also receive free business premises on Elysian Isle for three months.

The progress of our three contestants can be followed through the Elysian Isle blog -
http://elysianisleonsecondlife.blogspot.com/ and members of the general public are invited to visit the three businesses at their Elysian Isle locations.

My Gothic Castle

2007-09-14T01:50:00.001-08:00

This is the castle I won created by Qabalah Quintus. I won it at a gothic party on Book Island.

I'd like to place it on Elysian Isle. I think we are going to put it on a platform in the sky above the isle. I can't wait to give tours of it! And how will I furnish it?

TRANSFORMERS - The Second Life Contest

2007-09-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

The Judges: Sachi Vixen, Me, Dannyboy Lightfoot, CC Chapman, and Liam Kanno

Helios, second from the left (tall, gray) was the winner - a female programmer, too. Runner up was Boximus Prim, the boxy looking dude.

TRANSFORMERS competition in Second Life

2007-09-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

I'll be one of the judges for the TRANSFORMERS competition inworld later this morning. Here are the 5 finalists:

OSCAR
By Sarria Yaffle

HELIOS
By Jennyfer Ultsch

BOXIMUS PRIM
By Serp Dharma

MIRAGE
By Tiarnalalon Sismondi

TINYBOT
By Nobunaga Ogee

Scenes Around Second Life

2007-09-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

I attended the Book Island Gothic lit bash that included a costume contest, dancing and fireworks. Here are some scenes from the event.

dana Vanmoer - extraordinary dress designer.

That's me in the red & black with wings.

This was an outfit I put together my first month in SL & have never had the occasion to wear it until now.

This mystery man is my husband's avatar.

Me after winning the costume contest! I won a gothic castle!!

Cybergrrl Teez - tshirts by Cybergrrl Oh

2007-09-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

The sayings and art are mine (tshirt is a template). I'm a bit artistically challenged but think I did pretty well for my first time designing tshirts in Second Life.

All shirts are available through me - Cybergrrl Oh. IM me or email me at cybergrrhoh AT gmail DOT com if you'd like one. I'll soon be opening shop on Elysian Isle - a little tshirt stand on the boardwalk - so get them while they're still FREE!

Cybergrrl Oh Fashion Attempts

2007-08-29T08:24:00.001-08:00

I love shopping in SL, but I can't vouch for my sense of style other than to say if I had the money in RL - and wanted to spend it on clothing and had places to go - I'd probably wear what my avatar wears. Just a sampling...

The top and pants (suede) are freebies. Hair by Gurl6 and shoes from Shiny Things.

Top from Mischief. I think pants were freebies. Hair was probably 10 Linden at a Goth store and a little too big for my head. Shoes from Shiny Things.

My fave hair from Gurl6. Top was freebie - possibly from Freebie Jeebies along with the capris. Boots from Shiny Things.

Shirt and pants from Mischief. Shoes from Shiny Things. Hair from Gurl6. I love this outfit because other than the belly showing, it looks exactly like something I'd wear in RL.

Can't say I'd wear this in RL anytime soon - no place to wear it, and I'm not much into heels. This whole outfit was freebie - Freebie Jeebies, I think. Hair is Gurl6.

My thoughts on the WSJ.com article: Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?

2007-08-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

Not to be lazy, but here is another cross post from another of my blogs.

Link: Is This Man Cheating on His Wife? - WSJ.com.

I had to comment on this article. My husband left it out for me to read - his not-so-hidden code for "See, this is why I'm worried about you spending time on Second Life."

Without a lot of time to gather my thoughts, I reassured him by explaining the following to him:

1. Reporters looking for someone "addicted to the Internet" or "cheating on their wife virtually" will always find someone who fits the bill. That doesn't mean it is the norm or prevalent. It just means that the reporter had a story and found her sources.

2. People with a propensity toward addiction can become addicted to the Internet. This Internet addiction was written about in the 1990s - scary, hyped-up stories looking at the worst of the worst situations. Now it is Virtual World addiction but it is all the same thing - addiction.

3. Looking at the real life of the guy featured in the article, he seems a bit of a...loser. His real life has been mostly drifting from job to job, no real direction. Someone like this - who may be dissatisfied with their real life - may find a virtual world attractive because you can be whatever you want to be in it. In Second Life, he is a successful entrepreneur.

4. My husband pointed out the quote from Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, who says "Our brains are not specialized for 21st-century media. There's no switch that says, 'Process this differently because it's on a screen.' " My first response to this was that, again, reporters looking for people who will say what they want to hear for the stories they are writing will find the perfect person to quote.

That said, it is also possible that the reporter found out about this article from a press release from Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab talking about their 5 year research and thought "Wow, this would make a good article."

There are also several recent related news stories in other publications like Stanford lab makes it reality and Stanford Lab Explores Hman Effects of Virtual Reality Technology. These could have caught the reporter's eye and then she looked for a "fresh" angle.

I know there are people who are in Second Life having virtual affairs, going on virtual dates with other avatars even if they are married, flirting with others virtually. I'm not naive.

But I reassured my husband that while I enjoy my time in Second Life, it is not because I am having an affair or want to have an affair. I'm not looking to engage in a relationship with someone else in a virtual world. My relationship is with him, and even though he will probably never set foot in Second Life, that doesn't mean I'll go looking for a virtual husband.

I'm in Second Life for several reasons:

1. It is helpful to my work as an Internet consultant to know what virtual worlds are all about.

2. As a serial entrepreneur, marketer and veteran online community builder, I immediately saw the potential for doing business and building community in Second Life and think that marketing can be done in virtual worlds if strategic and long-term.

3. It definitely appeals to the side of me that used to make paper dolls as a little girl. I love shopping virtually and putting together ensembles. I can't say I'm the most fashionable avatar around, but my avatar wears the things that I would wear if I spent money on clothing and had places to go to wear those things.

4. I have always been fascinated with science fiction, futuristic things and after reading Neuromancer in the early 90s, with virtual worlds. Being in Second Life isn't fake to me. So maybe I'm proving Jeremy Bailenson right in that I don't really say "This is fake in Second Life - this is not my real life." I look at my time in SL as an extension of the work I do in my real life with a little extra shopping thrown in.

I made a vow to myself that I would stop playing Second Life after my initial $50 investment in a PayPal account ran out and if I hadn't yet figured out how to make Linden. I still have $30 in that account and enough Linden to keep my avatar in cute outfits for a long time.

Bottom line: We're all in Second Life for different reasons. Reporters can find exactly who they are looking for to tell the story they want to tell. Today, the media is hyping virtual world addiction and virtual world cheating. Look back 10 years and you'll see the same thing about Internet addiction and virtual cheating in Internet chat rooms. This isn't new. And this isn't news.

In response to: Chip Griffin: Pardon the Disruption: Throwing in the Towel on Second Life

2007-08-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

This was originally posted on another of my blogs...

Chip Griffin (Chip Graysmark in Second Life) is giving up on Second Life after only 6 months. He thinks that SL has disappointing numbers and states that no company has reaped major rewards from being there.

How long is long enough when it comes to giving Second Life a try? I'm over 4 months into my Second Life "experiment" and have come away with an entirely different perception than Griffin.

Socializing

Griffin says he spent most of his time on Crayonville Island and attending the coffee with crayon weekly events.

"While I enjoyed the weekly "Coffee with Crayon" event for the chance to chat with fellow communicators, it felt a bit too much like web chats circa 1997," says Griffin.

I have to admit that there is something a bit '97 Web Chat-esque about text chat in SL - but for me, having avatars to look at and having my own avatar to move around and gesture as I chat adds an entirely new - and enjoyable - dimension to the text chatting. And now with voice, it will undoubtedly add a whole new aspect to communication and community in SL.

Unlike Griffin, I haven't stayed in one place. I've sought out events - most often by asking my "friends" who are online at the same time I am. "What are you doing?" If they are at a club, concert or party, I'll ask if it is open to the public and request a TP if it is.

I've been discovering new musical artists who are talented and whose music I genuinely like. I am considering checking out iTunes or their Web sites to see if they have music for sale. Ka-Ching!! Could be money in the bank for these real world performers who market themselves through their musician avatars on SL.

I also read SLNN.com (disclosure: I'm a business reporter for them as well) to learn about events and interesting places inworld. In fact, when I first was on SL with nowhere to go and while I was still unclear how to get anywhere, I read an article on SLNN.com about Elysian Isle - Random House UK's new island - and took a SLURL straight to it. Not only did I discover one of the most charming locations inworld - wooden boardwalks, quaint shops, beautiful forests, a rose garden, theater, music hall and so much more - I immediately contacted the land owner & proposed that I work for him.

Now I meet people and have a purpose - inviting them to join the Elysian Isle group and to visit the isle when I work at the Cafe des Amis on Tuesdays 1-3pm SLT. I'm like the Isle's hostess and it adds a purpose to many of the interactions I have on SL.

I've also been to numerous dances and private parties - much preferable to night clubs - and really love watching my avatar dance. Picking out the right outfit for the parties is also fun for me - very reminiscent of playing paper dolls as a girl but much more creative now (and costly!).

Making Money

Griffin says no company is reaping any big rewards from participating on SL. This is the same thing people were saying in 1995 about the Internet. Big companies were spending big bucks because they felt they had to be there first but had zero plan on what to do there or how anything would work (Pathfinder.com anyone?). Their money and experimentation did pave the way for the rest of us even though so many of them went bust.

My advice to companies trying out a new platform or medium is: Do it in phases. Some early experimentation will be a loss leader, but there is value to gain from a presence on Second Life. Where there are people, there are potential customers.

But can a big company reap big rewards right now? Of course not! And those who say they can are foolish. This is a long term investment - a step by step proposition. It combines grassroots marketing, brand building, establishing customer relationships and then converting it all eventually into hard sales. Of course, if you have something to sell that SL residents want, you will make money. How much money is relative.

Will a presence in SL translate into real world sales of real world products and services? That probably will take some time and it has to be done the right way by the right companies. American Apparel recently closed down their hybrid inworld/offline shopping experience because it wasn't translating into real world sales on their Web site.

Well, I have a very good reason why that failed despite them having a classy store and clever integration of clothing for avatars with a link to the same item for people. The kind of person who really gets into Second Life most likely is NOT the type to buy American Apparel's preppy/sporty clothing.

Personally, I was tempted to buy something because it was executed so well, but it just wasn't my style although I did buy a track jacket for my avatar. I do believe, however, the right clothing brands could do well inworld and on the Web.

Shopping

I know some people are making money off me right now because I love to shop inworld. In fact, I work my two jobs - business reporter for SLNN.com and writer-in-residence on Elysian Isle - to support my SL shopping habit. I'm guessing I've spent over $150US so far - $50 of which was my initial dollar investment into my SL experiment and the rest money I've earned inworld. (I made a promise to myself I would quit SL if I couldn't make enough money to shop - and so far, I'm doing quite well).

My favorite places to shop are Shiny Things for shoes and Mischief for outfits although I have items from over a dozen other stores in my Inventory. When I have a themed party to attend, I search high and low for the right outfit. I've purchased a 50s sock hop ensemble including saddle shoes, a 1920s flapper dress, a tie-dyed shirt for the Summer of Love concert, and now I'm on the hunt for a futuristic outfit ala the Jetsons.

I also recently furnished my apartment on Elysian Isle with low prim furniture. I found a fantastic shop with an entire Asian-inspired living room set including a Japanese wall print and bonsai plant. Lacking any interior decorating skills myself, I just bought up almost the entire set and over an hour trying to figure out how to arrange everything in my living room.

Then I shopped around until I found the perfect low prim bed that fit the decor. I messaged the designer of the bed to see if I could purchase a different color than what was on display. AnneMarie McCellan responded immediately and not only changed the color of the bed to match perfectly with the carpet I had already purchased, but also custom designed some Japanese screens to separate my bedroom from my living area. She also sold me the perfect Asian print for my bedroom wall then helped me rearrange the furniture and taught me how to do it myself. It was all well worth every Linden spent.

Living a Second Life

As I write this blog post, I realize how I'm speaking about my activities in Second Life as if they were actually happening in real life. Well, the more I think about it, the more I realize that they are. Sure it is my avatar doing these things - shopping, going to parties, meeting people, dancing, working in a cafe, furnishing an apartment - but it is me doing these things as well - just in a different space.

Says Griffin,
"I always try to avoid living within the tech bubble and put myself in the shoes of 'average' users. That doesn't mean I won't live out on the cutting edge or even the bleeding edge, but it is important that we all never lose sight of the fact that we are an abnormal minority and not necessarily the harbinger of trends to come."

I agree somewhat but mostly, I disagree with Griffin's premise. Yes, we are early adopters and yes, just because we like it doesn't mean everyone will like it...now. I loved going onto BBSs in 1987, but they didn't really go mainstream until AOL, Prodigy and CompuServe improved their systems. I loved the Web in 1994, but it didn't really go mainstream until 1998 or later. I've blogged since the late 90s in various forms, but even those didn't take off until 2000.

I remember when I showed my Dad email and America Online back in 1992. "I can't see any use for it. I can't see any value in it," he told me. Today, he emails me many times a week and is thrilled to receive photos and videos of his granddaughter. And he teaches Algebra online for the University of Phoenix. He is not a computer geek, techy or industry insider, but the Internet plays an important role in his life today.

love Second Life. I don't expect it to go mainstream yet, but in some form - most likely a much improved form - it will hit the mainstream in ways we aren't even expecting. Right now, we might be experimenting, but other people are living their Second Lives as adjuncts to their first lives. And sure, some are even living their Second Lives at the expense of their first lives - but there will always be addicts and abusers of anything you put out there so media hype aside, Second Life isn't ruining hundred or thousands of lives - addiction is.

My husband doesn't know what to think of my use of Second Life. I am careful not to use it when he's home or if I'd like to, I make sure he is busy doing something else and doesn't mind. I mostly log in during the day as part of my work. Not just the work where I get paid in Linden, but my work as an Internet strategist who consults with companies and nonprofit organizations about the best ways to extend their brands and messages online. My exploration of Second Life helps me advise my clients.

Connection and Community

But let's be honest, I'm not enjoying Second Life because it is making me a better Internet consultant. I'm enjoying it because I'm making contacts and connections online in a way that I haven't been able to do offline where I live.

I moved to Alaska in 2005 - newly married, in my 40s, working from home - and employed every trick in the book to network and meet people. I thought that once I had a baby, I'd find the whole community of mommies welcoming me with open arms. But people here in Alaska seem to come to Alaska either for the outdoors or to get away from other people. After 2 years, I only have one girlfriend and most of the time, she's busy with her own life.

So I truly appreciate the contacts I've made within Second Life - many of whom are contacts I've made on Twitter. The crossover makes sense. We're all comfortable communicating online, with chat, with blogging - of course we'd feel comfortable in a virtual world that we could actually see and move within. Clumsily at first, mind you, but once you learn to move around - and get places - it just feels right.

Yes, I'm making friends in Second Life. Does it replace real life? No way, no how. But as an adjunct to my first life, I have to say that I welcome it. Not only am I less lonely, I've got great hair, and I am much better dressed!

Do Avatars Dream of Digital Sheep?

2007-08-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

I was up part of the night thinking of this blog post title. Not really, but I have been curious about the fact that I find myself dreaming about Second Life a lot lately.

Mind you, I'm not dreaming "IN" Second Life, meaning in my dreams I am not my avatar Cybergrrl Oh and the environment around me isn't SL. I'm just dreaming about all the things I want to do in Second Life and all the things I'm doing.

I was worrying about what to wear to my housewarming party which may not even happen now because of the Grid outage. I was picturing the outfits I have in my inventory and the new one I purchased hastily the other day from Blaze with another rushed purchase of matching shoes at Shiny Things. Would I wear that, I wondered?

And who would show up at my party? Would anyone show up? After yesterday's well attended gathering at the Cafe des Amis where I played hostess, I hoped it was a sign that the party would be even more successful.

(a few guests and friends at the Cafe des Amis yesterday)

I also thought about other events I could hold on Elysian Isle and how to get the word out. And I dreamt about ways to build community in SL and the conversations I've had with others recently in SL. I've been taking my role as writer-in-residence very seriously and have even become somewhat of a grassroots marketer for the Isle.

If I had imagined the Grid would be down during my party, I don't think I would have slept at all. As you can see, This Is Not A Game. I don't dream about games.

Pity Party

2007-08-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

I had planned a housewarming party for my new apartment on Elysian Isle but the Grid is down.

I can't think of what this would be comparable to in "real life." The power is out? That wouldn't be the same because you could still have a party without electricity - you just need people and a little imagination.

But when the Grid is down, you don't have people...errr...avatars. You cannot access, you cannot connect.

And I'm just whining because I want to have a party! Invitations have gone out, I think I have the right outfit picked out, TheDiva is ready to get the place rocking, and we're all stuck with literally no place to go.

I guess in SL, this qualifies as a natural disaster beyond our control. What a terrible feeling.

Party Gal

2007-08-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

Went to TheDiva Rockin's Rez Day. Theme was: Prom. Here is what I wore:

And here's TheDiva!

BlogHer07 in Second Life

2007-08-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

Really enjoyed participating on the panel on media coverage in SL for BlogHer 07 in Second Life covered by SLCN.TV with 57 Miles (Nick Wilson) and Starr Sonic (SLCN.tv). And yes, I did talk about my breasts at the end.

Watch the panel!

Here are a few snaps I took at BlogHer 07 inworld.

Attending a panel as an audience member.

View from the stage.

Our panel on media coverage in SL moderated by Khadijah Burali.

After the panel - hanging out...

The day after the conference ended...

Cybergrrl Oh: SLNN.com Reporter

2007-08-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some links to recent articles I've written for Second Life News Network (SLNN.com):

Feeling groovy in Second Life

Racing event involves Tour de France bikers

Audio shaky for recent panel on voice

Author William Gibson to make appearance in Second Life to promote 'Spook County'

Manpower hosts panel on virtual work

Careerbuilding.com to offer paying in-world jobs

SLCC 2007 almost sold out

'Forest of Dennis' Brings Second Life's First "Reality Show" to Elysian Isle

2007-08-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

I'd be remiss if I didn't publish this news release since I am the writer-in-residence & all-around marketing gal at Elysian Isle.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

'FOREST OF DENNIS' BRINGS SECOND LIFE’S FIRST "REALITY SHOW" TO ELYSIAN ISLE

'Absorbing, provocative and huge fun' - The Times

'Complusive and hugely entertaining' - The Observer

Ebury Publishing are building a virtual 'Forest of Dennis' in Second Life to promote the paperback publication of "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis, (2nd August 07) .

Within the Forest, there will be an extract from the book and a video playing on a loop of Felix Dennis reciting one of his poems about how to get rich. Posters with quotes from the book and review quotes will be placed on trees in the forest.

Visitors to the 'Forest of Dennis' can take part in a competition to submit their best ideas of how to make money in Second Life. Three winners will receive a signed copy of "How to Get Rich." In addition, the third prize winner will receive 10,000 Linden, the second prize is 15,000 Linden and first prize is 25,000 Linden.

The first Second Life "Reality Show" takes place when each of the winners are given a plot on the Random House island to develop their business idea including a cost-free two-month lease. Ebury Publishing will post regular updates on the contestants' progress on the mini site on Random House UK's Web site. The ultimate winner - the resident who makes the most money during the "show" - will then get an additional 50,000 Linden.

All visitors to the forest will receive a free pair of Felix-style glasses and a free “Ask me how to get rich” t-shirt.

For interviews, IM Nick Gloucester

How Real is Virtual?

2007-07-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

Last night, I was compelled to put PJs on my avatar and to try out my new bed. In real life, I was getting ready for bed. In SL, I was also in bed. I even found a camisole and a pair of Rolling Stones boxer shorts in my inventory - something I might wear in real life if I owned them.

For some reason, this was comforting to me, like the right thing to do.

I recently had someone ask me if, when they log out of SL, their avatar just hangs immobile somewhere on an island, taking up space. I have to admit, I wondered about that myself when I first logged in. I would sometimes see avatars with (Away) by their names, and this, I thought, was proof that when we log out, we are still there.

Eventually, I figured out that (Away) meant that the person was away or inactive but still logged in. Now I'm fairly comfortable believing that my avatar just goes "poof" when I log out. But last night, I just thought my avatar was going to be lying in bed throughout the night.

This morning, when I logged in, she was still in PJs, standing up next to the bed. That seemed so...normal.

Identity

Today I met a nice "woman." I say woman because of the avatar - blonde, buxom, wearing an electric blue dress with a plunging neckline and lots of bling sparkling. Her name was decidedly female as well - Esmarelda. As we chatted, I asked where she was from. Korea, was the response. I suddenly thought how odd/interesting it was that an Asian woman (or man) would select a lithe stacked blonde to represent her/himself.

It also made me wonder about diversity in Second Life.

Then I had an impromptu meeting with the moderator of a panel I'm speaking on at BlogHer 07 in SL. Her name was East Indian, and when she appeared from a teleport I sent, her avatar's skin was dark. Which got me thinking more about identity and race in virtual worlds. She is one of the few dark-skinned people I've seen inworld so far.

The only other I know is one of my girlfriend's in real life who is a blonde and married to a black guy. Her avatar is very blonde and very dark-skinned, nothing at all like her real world self.

When I first set up my avatar, I created a computerized version of me - average to slender build, average height, long dark hair, brown eyes, pretty but not stunningly beautiful, casually dressed in a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans. Over time, I've morphed my look into what I'd like to wear if I had a lot of money with the kind of hair I'd have if I could. I change my outfits and hair color at will. Different clothes, different hair, but I still think it is me no matter how I look.

Is it me? I mean, is it my avatar... don't I?

Inworld Today

2007-07-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

Today I did a number of things inworld. Let's see...

I wrote two articles for SLNN.com - one about Cofidis bicycile races in Second Life and the other about the MIPCOM Mobile & Internet TV Awards. Tried out the free bike racing gear and attempted to race a bike on Cofidis Island. That was a trip!

Had a nice conversation with another reporter from SLNN.com who is based in Norway. We hung out at various locales around Elysian Isle including the cafe and the beach. That was very enjoyable.

Bought more shoes at Shiny Things. I'm convinced that you cannot have enough shoes in both RL and SL. Can't wait to pair them up with some new outfits.

Yesterday was a great day, too. Bought a beautiful bed in a custom color and two gorgeous Japanese screens from a designer - AnneMarie McCellan - who helped me fix up my apartment above the dress shop on Elysian Isle. More about her soon.

Now I'm planning a housewarming party for my new apartment. Update on the party soon.

Tomorrow, I'll be on Elysian Isle at the Cafe from 1pm - 3pm SLT (PST). I'll post a SLURL later.

Second Life Update

2007-07-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

So I've decided to use this blog to document my Second Life experiences as well as linking to news and information I find online about Second Life.

I started out in my first weeks on SL thinking that I would become a tour guide for newbies interested in finding fun places and especially interested in buying things. Always looking for an entrepreneurial angle to everything I do.

The reality was, however, that newbies didn't have money to pay me for the tours. So I've resorted to gifting newbies with enough Lindens to buy their first clothes or hair and leading them to my favorite shopping spots. I guess this is a Pay It Forward kind of thing that is fun for me to do.

When I first arrived on SL and wanted to take a snapshot of my avatar, I asked for some technical assistance from Annabelle, a savvy resident.

"You don't want to take a photo right now," she exclaimed.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because you don't look very good," she told me. "No offense, but you look like a newbie." Then she offered to take me shopping and gave me enough money to buy a great outfit and told me how to get new hair as well.

I still remember the exchange fondly and hope to give others that same warm welcome and guidance in SL. Not that I'm an incredible pro at this yet, however, I've already mastered the art of creating fashionable ensembles out of a mix of freebies and purchased items and grouping them in folders in my inventory so all I have to is drop a folder on my avatar for an instant head-to-toe style change.

Author-in-Residence, Elysian Isle

2007-06-04T16:52:00.001-08:00

Join Cybergrrl Oh, the new author-in-residence on Elysian Isle for writing workshops. Become a member of the Elysian Isle group. IM Cybergrrl Oh for details.

Cybergrrl Oh relaxing on the beach at Elysian Isle.

Recent Scenes from SL

2007-06-03T21:29:00.002-08:00

Bantam Dell Cafe

Coca Cola Virtual Thirst Dance Party

We are the Fury - Live concert in RL & SL - viewing the video of the RL appearance

We are the Fury - Dancing to the music

Recent Intel press conference

Welcome to the SL Touring Company Blog

2007-05-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

We offer guided tours of SL for anyone new to Second Life. We specialize in Shopping Tours.

Looking to buy something in particular? Or are you so new to the area that you'd like to create an entirely new look for your avatar? We'll find the perfect shopping spots where you can purchase from reputable designers and sellers.

We can also offer Special Events Tours - Depending on what's happening in-world, we'll take you to a special event so you can get a feel for events and gatherings. This might be a dance, a reading, a concert, even a town hall gathering.

To get a tour: If you are in SL, just IM our agent - Cybergrrl Oh - for more information about the tours. We offer a short 1-location demo to give you an idea of how a tour works.

For more information: Email us at sltouring at gmail.com.