SECOND LIFE AND THE TRANSGENDER EXPERIENCE
Using the virtual world of Second Life as a tool for ethnographic research both in-world and real-world, this presentation relays the stories of individuals immersed in transgendering experiences. Combining in-world and “real world” interviews, autoethnography, photography and machinima, it focuses on the transitions, identifications and community responses that make up transgendering’s phenomenology.
Second Life can enable nuanced understandings of the transgender desire. The virtual body (an avatar) offers the transgender person the freedom to attain an imagined and desired self through in-world “body-building,” circumventing the social, economic and psychological obstacles to real-world transitioning, identification and social recognition. The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate this and other liberties offered by Second Life and how they may facilitate the “concrete” realization of an imagined and desired self. Finally, attention will be paid to individual experiences of intolerance as seen through the rupture between avatar and body, imagined and actual, and in-world and real-world.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Somebody is watching you
It is perhaps the greatest fear, that someone might be watching us. But even worse, that they let you know you're being watched. Each action we take it's being recorded: the scans in the supermarket, the credit card swipes, the trips to the gym, who sends e-mail, web pages visited. What if suddenly, a list of those things were delivered at your doorstep. Even worse, what if something that you did in the past -way in the past -came to haunt you? What if you were a child and everything was a seemingly innocent prank, and it came back to you years later, like flood gates that open and deluge your entire life? That's what I get from Caché, but also (and this from Haneke’s interview) the guilt that permeates the film. A guilt that is not only personal –the boy who was sent away –but also the guilt of a whole class, social injustice committed years ago, a collective guilt of sorts, as Jason pointed out in his e-mail.
Cinematically, I like the repetition of red: in the drawing, in the boy bleeding in the dark, and the rooster being killed. Then, there is the crucial moment in the film, dramatically at least, the moment that makes the story possible: sending the boy to the orphanage. It is the most striking of Haneke's treatment. He positions the camera in a long shot. It is as if he is playing with the entire concept of peering inside, or looking in. He makes us want to see what's happening, in close-up, but he doesn't let us. Instead, we become participants of this desire to be there, close to the action, spying. We suddenly become what we have been reproaching all along. We didn't like the spying, but when it’s time to look inside others’ private life, we don’t mind to set aside our principles. We want to see it. We are as bad as the guy next door with the binoculars, or the one sending the tapes. We all want to be Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window.
Cinematically, I like the repetition of red: in the drawing, in the boy bleeding in the dark, and the rooster being killed. Then, there is the crucial moment in the film, dramatically at least, the moment that makes the story possible: sending the boy to the orphanage. It is the most striking of Haneke's treatment. He positions the camera in a long shot. It is as if he is playing with the entire concept of peering inside, or looking in. He makes us want to see what's happening, in close-up, but he doesn't let us. Instead, we become participants of this desire to be there, close to the action, spying. We suddenly become what we have been reproaching all along. We didn't like the spying, but when it’s time to look inside others’ private life, we don’t mind to set aside our principles. We want to see it. We are as bad as the guy next door with the binoculars, or the one sending the tapes. We all want to be Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Kathleen Stewart - Ordinary Things
In Ordinary Affects, Stewart, writes "The notion of a totalized, of which everything is always already somehow a part, is not helpful (to say the least) in the effort to approach a weighted and reeling present" (1). She continues by setting writing her goal at bringing these 'forces' into view, and defining 'the ordinary' which for her is "a shifting assemblage of practices and practical knowledges, a scene of both liveness and exhaustion, a dream of escape or of the simple life" (1). Stewart sets to write about this ordinary affects in the 'United States caught in a present that began some time ago' (1).
Building on the work of Raymond Williams, Deleuze, Guattari, Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Leslie Stern, Sedwick, Stewart writes about encounters and of "public feelings that begin and end in broad circulation" (2), and of affects that are a "kind of contact zone where the overdetermination of ciculations, events, conditions, technologies, and flows of power literally take place" (3). Her approach is one that points towards that which cannot be easily measured, that is vague, that can't be quantified. It is, instead "a problem or question." She writes: "Models of thinking that slide over the live surface of difference at work...mis how someone's ordinary can endure or can sag defeated; how it can shift in the face of events like a shift in the kid's school schedule or the police at the door" (4).
She got me right there. I understood what she was talking about. For I have had those changes in schedule, and a knock at the door –not of the police –but of adversity, tragedy, intolerance, suffering. Those things that can't be placed in a scale, but that make experience. Events that as she writes: "They can gather themselves into what we think as stories and selves. But they can also remain, or become again, dispersed, floating, recombining –regardless of what whole or what relay of rushing signs they might find themselves in for a while" (6).
We all have those knocks at the door, but what Stewart does with them is what matters. She presents them as to leave the reader with "an embodied sense of the world as a dense network of mostly unknown links" (6).
How wonderful!
It reminds me of what Juan Rulo, a Mexican writer wrote: "In order to see reality one needs a lot of imagination."
"Para ver la realidad se necesita mucha imaginacion."
For what I wrote about Cultural Poesis, another writing by Stwewart, see
Snapshot of US culture
Building on the work of Raymond Williams, Deleuze, Guattari, Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Leslie Stern, Sedwick, Stewart writes about encounters and of "public feelings that begin and end in broad circulation" (2), and of affects that are a "kind of contact zone where the overdetermination of ciculations, events, conditions, technologies, and flows of power literally take place" (3). Her approach is one that points towards that which cannot be easily measured, that is vague, that can't be quantified. It is, instead "a problem or question." She writes: "Models of thinking that slide over the live surface of difference at work...mis how someone's ordinary can endure or can sag defeated; how it can shift in the face of events like a shift in the kid's school schedule or the police at the door" (4).
She got me right there. I understood what she was talking about. For I have had those changes in schedule, and a knock at the door –not of the police –but of adversity, tragedy, intolerance, suffering. Those things that can't be placed in a scale, but that make experience. Events that as she writes: "They can gather themselves into what we think as stories and selves. But they can also remain, or become again, dispersed, floating, recombining –regardless of what whole or what relay of rushing signs they might find themselves in for a while" (6).
We all have those knocks at the door, but what Stewart does with them is what matters. She presents them as to leave the reader with "an embodied sense of the world as a dense network of mostly unknown links" (6).
How wonderful!
It reminds me of what Juan Rulo, a Mexican writer wrote: "In order to see reality one needs a lot of imagination."
"Para ver la realidad se necesita mucha imaginacion."
For what I wrote about Cultural Poesis, another writing by Stwewart, see
Snapshot of US culture
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Mediated Reality - Transformation
“From all the different instruments of human invention, the most amazing is, without a doubt, the book. The rest are extensions of the body. The microscope, the telescope are extensions of the sight; the telephone of voice; then we have the plow and the sword, which are extensions of the arm. But the book is another matter; the book is an extension of memory and of imagination” The Book 1978, Jorge Luis Borges, Editorial Losada 1985. My translation.
Borges’s fascination with the book is a known fact, and his comparison of the library with memory is perhaps his most known metaphor. But, what about the virtual world? How could we compare virtuality with our imagination and our memory? Can we compare the world we enter with an avatar as an extension of ourselves? What possibilities this mind-body extension presents?
When entering the online world with an avatar, a spatial and time detachment takes place. However, something else happens: a closeness to one’s self also occurs. Compared to the book, in works of fiction, when a reader enters the world a protagonist inhabits, the process takes place in the space between the mind and the written word. The process of roaming the virtual world with an avatar also allows this to happen, but unlike the written word, the identification with the avatar extends beyond memory and imagination. It is more tactile. It contains more tangible features: there’s movement, communication, proximity to space and others. Inhabiting the virtual world, the connection becomes a closer metaphor to the physical world of the here and now.
The question then arises, what insights into aspects of human behavior can we discover by creating a parallel between virtual bodies and the real world? How can we best approach this analysis? More specifically, what comparisons can be made between the mediated reality of Second Life and the transgender experience? How can Second Life provide tools to learn more about transgender identities? That is the focus of my investigation.
I had to build Shields
SHIELDS
I met Jackie in Chelsea, she had to go to the pharmacy to pickup some medicine. She went to the counter and gave her name. I tried to hear the name she gave. Was it Theo? It will be ready in five minutes the clerk said. We sat waiting. “Jackie!” the clerk calls after a few minutes, and she gets up to pick it up and pay for it. We walk out and go to a café across the street. I ordered a cappuccino for her. I want to treat her. I tell her there’s a project I am working on, and I was wondering if she would be willing to be involved in it. “Yes, but before we talk about that, let me tell you about my father,” she tells me.
“I always knew my father was not who they told me he was. I grew up with my grandmother, and grew up believing that my father was black, you know, black from the islands, Garifuna, but I used to meet people that would look at me and said to me, ‘Are you Arab?’ I would be really surprised and there were a lot of people who told me that. Then one day I discovered that my father was Lebanese. He had an affair with my mother, didn’t know me until now. Is there sugar already in the coffee?”
“Oh no,” I said. “Let me get you some.”
“Equals, get me some equal.”
I got up, get the equal and come back to sit down at the table.
I met Jackie at a reading I was doing as part of an art exhibit of a friend. She was the MC. She approached me, talked to me and we exchanged numbers. Weeks later, she invited me to go on a TV shoot with her and other people. We drove to Long Island. On the way there, she sat next to me and told me her story. She was a teacher at an elementary school in Honduras. Then, she came to the States –as a he –and started her transformation. She then became Jackie. “My name is now legally, Jackie,” she told me as she put the equals in her cappuccino. “Congratulations,” I said smiling.
“Well, tell me what’s your project,” she said.
“I am doing research about transgederism. The research takes place in the virtual world,” I said. “And I wanted to see if you could participate in it.”
“You know, I think that there’s a story to tell about me. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell it. I keep a journal you know. I’ve been writing a book for a long time.”
“I am interested in your story. I think it’s a heroic. The things that you’ve done.”
“Yes, because most of the time people are interested in telling the story of transformation, but the burlesque part, not the other part, the human part.”
I interrupt.
“It should be told with respect,” I said.
“Yes, because let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy. I was an elementary teacher, and the head of the school system at the national level, came to supervise me. Can you imagine? Not because I was doing a bad job but because of the rumors that were spreading about me.”
“When I was a little kid –I must tell you that being who I am was not my choice –it’s not that I wanted to be this way. I was born this way. I was born with breasts, since I was a little kid, and they use to tell me to squeeze them so they wouldn’t grow but I refused. It made who I was, and I wasn’t going to destroy who I was only because others didn’t like it.”
“I’ve always missed having a father. Having a father figure it’s so important. When I was growing up, if they hit me or teased me, I couldn’t say ‘I’m going to go and tell my father.’ The others, that’s all they had to say, and nobody would bother them. I couldn’t.”
“Look, I was always afraid of walking on the street because everybody would make fun of me. I had a tiny waist. I didn’t know what it was like to walk like a boy. I was nothing like they wanted me to be. I was made into something they wanted, not what I really was. My grandmother, she wanted me to be the man of the house, and I wasn’t. I never knew what it was like to walk like a man. I bought a bicycle. I had a build a shield, to hide. I rode the bicycle to the store in the corner. I didn’t want to be seen walking. I always wore my shirts untucked to hide my waist and my breasts.”
“People treated me badly. Then I left and started my transformation. I started to send pictures and videos back home. I didn’t want it to be a shock, a total surprise. I wanted them to be prepared for when I went back. When I did go back, it was great, no one bothered me. They received me with honors, even the people that had been bad to me. They came and greeted me with respect. My niece, she told my mom, that she admired me, because no one had done what I had been able to do. I am proud of that.”
“It is what I think,” I said. “That you are brave. Well. What do you say? We meet again?”
“Yes, of course, but let me tell you something. I hate riding the subway. Sometimes, I rather take the bus, even if it takes me longer, and whenever I can, I take cabs.”
“We’ll talk and see how you feel.”
We walk outside. I was tired. She had to take the subway on Eighth Avenue. I had to walk east, to Sixth Avenue. She asked me to come with her. She almost begged. I understood, and could see why she didn’t like to ride the subway. I was happy to be there with her, even for a short time. I gave her a kiss goodbye and got off at my station. Shields, I thought.
I met Jackie in Chelsea, she had to go to the pharmacy to pickup some medicine. She went to the counter and gave her name. I tried to hear the name she gave. Was it Theo? It will be ready in five minutes the clerk said. We sat waiting. “Jackie!” the clerk calls after a few minutes, and she gets up to pick it up and pay for it. We walk out and go to a café across the street. I ordered a cappuccino for her. I want to treat her. I tell her there’s a project I am working on, and I was wondering if she would be willing to be involved in it. “Yes, but before we talk about that, let me tell you about my father,” she tells me.
“I always knew my father was not who they told me he was. I grew up with my grandmother, and grew up believing that my father was black, you know, black from the islands, Garifuna, but I used to meet people that would look at me and said to me, ‘Are you Arab?’ I would be really surprised and there were a lot of people who told me that. Then one day I discovered that my father was Lebanese. He had an affair with my mother, didn’t know me until now. Is there sugar already in the coffee?”
“Oh no,” I said. “Let me get you some.”
“Equals, get me some equal.”
I got up, get the equal and come back to sit down at the table.
I met Jackie at a reading I was doing as part of an art exhibit of a friend. She was the MC. She approached me, talked to me and we exchanged numbers. Weeks later, she invited me to go on a TV shoot with her and other people. We drove to Long Island. On the way there, she sat next to me and told me her story. She was a teacher at an elementary school in Honduras. Then, she came to the States –as a he –and started her transformation. She then became Jackie. “My name is now legally, Jackie,” she told me as she put the equals in her cappuccino. “Congratulations,” I said smiling.
“Well, tell me what’s your project,” she said.
“I am doing research about transgederism. The research takes place in the virtual world,” I said. “And I wanted to see if you could participate in it.”
“You know, I think that there’s a story to tell about me. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell it. I keep a journal you know. I’ve been writing a book for a long time.”
“I am interested in your story. I think it’s a heroic. The things that you’ve done.”
“Yes, because most of the time people are interested in telling the story of transformation, but the burlesque part, not the other part, the human part.”
I interrupt.
“It should be told with respect,” I said.
“Yes, because let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy. I was an elementary teacher, and the head of the school system at the national level, came to supervise me. Can you imagine? Not because I was doing a bad job but because of the rumors that were spreading about me.”
“When I was a little kid –I must tell you that being who I am was not my choice –it’s not that I wanted to be this way. I was born this way. I was born with breasts, since I was a little kid, and they use to tell me to squeeze them so they wouldn’t grow but I refused. It made who I was, and I wasn’t going to destroy who I was only because others didn’t like it.”
“I’ve always missed having a father. Having a father figure it’s so important. When I was growing up, if they hit me or teased me, I couldn’t say ‘I’m going to go and tell my father.’ The others, that’s all they had to say, and nobody would bother them. I couldn’t.”
“Look, I was always afraid of walking on the street because everybody would make fun of me. I had a tiny waist. I didn’t know what it was like to walk like a boy. I was nothing like they wanted me to be. I was made into something they wanted, not what I really was. My grandmother, she wanted me to be the man of the house, and I wasn’t. I never knew what it was like to walk like a man. I bought a bicycle. I had a build a shield, to hide. I rode the bicycle to the store in the corner. I didn’t want to be seen walking. I always wore my shirts untucked to hide my waist and my breasts.”
“People treated me badly. Then I left and started my transformation. I started to send pictures and videos back home. I didn’t want it to be a shock, a total surprise. I wanted them to be prepared for when I went back. When I did go back, it was great, no one bothered me. They received me with honors, even the people that had been bad to me. They came and greeted me with respect. My niece, she told my mom, that she admired me, because no one had done what I had been able to do. I am proud of that.”
“It is what I think,” I said. “That you are brave. Well. What do you say? We meet again?”
“Yes, of course, but let me tell you something. I hate riding the subway. Sometimes, I rather take the bus, even if it takes me longer, and whenever I can, I take cabs.”
“We’ll talk and see how you feel.”
We walk outside. I was tired. She had to take the subway on Eighth Avenue. I had to walk east, to Sixth Avenue. She asked me to come with her. She almost begged. I understood, and could see why she didn’t like to ride the subway. I was happy to be there with her, even for a short time. I gave her a kiss goodbye and got off at my station. Shields, I thought.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
My Own Shields
I also had to build shields. Some are clear, some are not; in Second Life, I use different avatars to shield myself from unwanted propositions. If I look like I normally do, like a voluptuous woman, I usually get all kinds of propositions, even when I don’t want to engage romantically. I got myself an avatar that is less suggestive –a shield. It has worked so far. When I wear it, I’m not approached to go on dates. The last time I was a woman, I was asked for a walk in the forest and to spend time near a waterfall. Then I was asked to cuddle and kiss. I did. After some time, Curtis –I will call him Curtis – was interested in getting to know me, and I was open to share all I could. Then the conversation became very personal. I revealed myself, and since then, no more dates with Curtis for me. Here is how the exchange went:
me: so now, what other things about my RL do u want to know
me: dont u think there's so much to know about each other that we dont know
Curtis: loads!
Curtis: ask whatever u want
Curtis: ur a woman u must have hundreds of questions lol
Curtis: come on stop typing then deleting lol
me: i do...do all women ask lots of questions
Curtis: of course its in their nature lol
me: so, what is it that u like about women then? besides the obvious of course
Curtis: lol thats gotta be the hardest question ever!
Curtis: theres lots to like and lots not to like, but at the end of the day we all need companionship, wether ur straight or gay, in my case im straight so its a woman
me: do u know gay people?
Curtis: no gays in my circle of friends at the moment but have known plenty, huge gay community in london
me: of course, what a dumb question
me: i love this song..i think this is so romantic
Curtis: surprised u know it, didnt realise paul young made it in the us
me: of course...are we listening the same tune "every time u go away"
Curtis: yes, paul young
Curtis: he had green hair when he did this, no idea why i remember that lol
me: so, how would u feel about dating a transexual woman
Curtis: never really given it much thought, u r transexual?
me: not really
Curtis: not really? yes or no r the only possible answers lol
me: well, remember when we met, and I told u I was studying behaviors in SL
Curtis: yes
me: so, i am trying to see how people react to transexuals
Curtis: an old mate of mine lived with one for years, we wasnt supposed to know but did, so i dont find them shocking and want to run away lol
Curtis: on the other hand i wouldnt see any future with one personally so wouldnt get involved
me: because, you think that they are not really like a woman
me: whats different
Curtis: diff as in they have no womb and cant ovulate or have kids
me: so, whats more important for u is to have children
Curtis: not sure i do personally, but would like the option, im not getting any younger!
me: couldnt u adopt?
Curtis: true, but its still diff from a woman who was born a woman but cant have kids for medical reasons
me: yes, i guess u want to have ur own kids
me: i mean ur genes…
Curtis: i would prefer that, but would never rule out adoption if my future mrs couldnt have them, or if i cant, ive never tried!
me: so now, what other things about my RL do u want to know
me: dont u think there's so much to know about each other that we dont know
Curtis: loads!
Curtis: ask whatever u want
Curtis: ur a woman u must have hundreds of questions lol
Curtis: come on stop typing then deleting lol
me: i do...do all women ask lots of questions
Curtis: of course its in their nature lol
me: so, what is it that u like about women then? besides the obvious of course
Curtis: lol thats gotta be the hardest question ever!
Curtis: theres lots to like and lots not to like, but at the end of the day we all need companionship, wether ur straight or gay, in my case im straight so its a woman
me: do u know gay people?
Curtis: no gays in my circle of friends at the moment but have known plenty, huge gay community in london
me: of course, what a dumb question
me: i love this song..i think this is so romantic
Curtis: surprised u know it, didnt realise paul young made it in the us
me: of course...are we listening the same tune "every time u go away"
Curtis: yes, paul young
Curtis: he had green hair when he did this, no idea why i remember that lol
me: so, how would u feel about dating a transexual woman
Curtis: never really given it much thought, u r transexual?
me: not really
Curtis: not really? yes or no r the only possible answers lol
me: well, remember when we met, and I told u I was studying behaviors in SL
Curtis: yes
me: so, i am trying to see how people react to transexuals
Curtis: an old mate of mine lived with one for years, we wasnt supposed to know but did, so i dont find them shocking and want to run away lol
Curtis: on the other hand i wouldnt see any future with one personally so wouldnt get involved
me: because, you think that they are not really like a woman
me: whats different
Curtis: diff as in they have no womb and cant ovulate or have kids
me: so, whats more important for u is to have children
Curtis: not sure i do personally, but would like the option, im not getting any younger!
me: couldnt u adopt?
Curtis: true, but its still diff from a woman who was born a woman but cant have kids for medical reasons
me: yes, i guess u want to have ur own kids
me: i mean ur genes…
Curtis: i would prefer that, but would never rule out adoption if my future mrs couldnt have them, or if i cant, ive never tried!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Fragments - changing skins
Although I don’t agree with the drastic measures to punish those who infringe on intellectual property like the ones advocated by Jeter (and Shaviro to a certain degree), I found the discussion useful. As an artist, I want to share my work but I also don’t want my work to be stolen, or taken without my permission. Of course, I don’t want to go to the extremes of cruel punishment as those expressed by Jeter. But I’m in agreement that certain control over intellectual property should take place.
Shaviro also writes about poetry and compares a poet to a radio that receives messages (18) and writes that a “poet’s task is to channel otherness.”
Then quoting Ken MacLeod he writes that, “Every square yard was occupied by a stall or shop or kiosk, each of which had its own fluorescent rectangle above it advertising flights or drugs or socks or cosmetics or lingerie or insurance or back-ups or cabs or hotels” (22), which made me think of Second Life with all the building that takes place in there, and where even the emptiest of spaces is used to make a statement, advertise something, sell something. In the same vein in Transmetropolitan Warren Ellis writes about a world where people change their genetic makeup at the slightest whim, “get yourself some reptile skin for three weeks, spend a month in feathers” (22), which also reminded me of Second Life.
But the most salient thing about Shaviro’s writing is something that has already been pointed out in class, his way of writing in fragments, disjointed, discontinuous, etc…like life.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Global connections
When I was reading Friction, one of the questions that resonated with me was the one about global capitalism. Tsing asks, "Why is global capitalism so messy? Who speaks for nature? What kinds of social justice make sense in the twenty-first century?" Then I remember how during my trip to Honduras this past summer while driving to see the Mayan Ruins, I saw a billboard that caught my eye –especially because I had been looking at some of the work by Fatimah Tuggar, who was going to be a guest speaker in my class. Anyway, the billboard showed an indigenous woman with a cellphone, and I was sorry I did not take the picture because it showed some of the contradictions of globalization but also because it showed the inescapable incursion of technology in developing countries. It showed both the conversation Tuggar wants establish, and some of Tsing's concerns, the friction of things, travel, movement, translations. When I boarded the plane to return to the States, I browsed the in-flight magazine and there it was, the same add. I saved the page and now here it is. The caption reads:
"Panana, millenary and modern. Panama is a land of unexpected contrasts, with a disposition open towards trade. Businesses here are of the most highest and sophisticated level. But it is in the human relations where more vividly the intelligence, and the profound and sublime nature of the Panamanian is reflected."
"Panana, millenary and modern. Panama is a land of unexpected contrasts, with a disposition open towards trade. Businesses here are of the most highest and sophisticated level. But it is in the human relations where more vividly the intelligence, and the profound and sublime nature of the Panamanian is reflected."
Thursday, October 18, 2007
A Snapshot of US Culture
Cultural Poesis (Kathleen Turner) are vignettes on U.S. culture. The American dream dissected as people peer inside fancy houses, reaching for that something that it's not reachable anymore; playing driving or supermarket games to see who is going to turn where, or who is going to what register; homeless signs in your face; sitting at a biker's diner and listening to jokes about deer; the body culture seen through Body of Life; Laurie Anderson's songs. I finished reading it and thought I had been there: I look inside those fancy apartments, I make Myoplex shakes, and go to the gym in the hopes of reaching the Body of Life, and I feel that way when the homeless show their signs. Then I went back to the beginning and saw her explanations to write that way: "The subject I "am" in the stories I tell is a point of impact meandering through scenes in search of linkages, surges, and signs of intelligence. I suppose that the writing gropes toward embodied affective experience." The discussion we had in class about evoking experience became clearer to me. She writes that her piece "talks to the reader not as a trusted guide carefully lying the perfect links between theoretical categories and the real world but rather as a subject caught in the powerful tension between what can be known and told and what remains obscure or unspeakable but is nonetheless real." It is as if she went around with her camera clicking everywhere and capturing all these pieces of life. At the end I felt that she had capture something about the way one lives here and now.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Authenticity by getting closer to yourself and others
In Pedro Almodovar’s film All About My Mother, when Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes) cannot come to the performance of A Streetcar Named Desire because of the problems she is having with her lover, her assistant Agrado (Antonia San Juan) delivers the message (apology) to the audience in the theater and starts improvising a speech in which she describes her physical transformation. She starts:
“Besides being nice, I am very authentic. Look at my body. Everything made to measure…eyes, eight thousand. Nose, two hundred thousand…tits, two…because I am not a monster. Seventy thousand each…Silicon…lips, forehead, cheekbones, so you add because I lost track.”
She continues describing her laser, and concludes:
“It cost me a lot to be authentic. But we must not be cheap in regards to the way we look. Because a woman is more authentic the more she looks like what she has dreamed for herself."
Besides being a funny monologue, what really attracted me to the story, and why others have analyzed it, is the way Agrado deconstructs herself as some form of an ideal self. She has created an image of herself, something she wants to be, no matter what the cost. These physical changes made her more authentic and more real. I am referring to this because it is the way I started thinking about my Second Life avatar. I started to question the way that being a female in the virtual world made me feel.
I also thought about Lorca’s plays, and how the characters in his major plays are female. It has been said that Lorca creates a world that he wants to inhabit but that that he is incapable of doing since living as a homosexual man in Franco’s Spain was practically impossible. In fact –for Lorca –it was deadly. So in order to fulfill his desires, he creates his characters to question his sexuality and resolves it through his fictional imagination. He creates a world where a woman can’t have children (Yerma) or a woman that can’t live with the man she loves (The House of Bernarda Alba). I thought about this because the relationship with my avatar was one of creating a persona that I cannot have in the real world: someone who is feminine, who acts like a woman, and who is approached mostly by men (which has been the case so far).
One of the most interesting experiences in Second Life, apart from having this another gender persona, was the one that happened when I got close to someone, physically close. I went and got really close to an avatar, not emotionally, but rather close to the avatar itself. I must say that it was as if I was invading someone, and at the same time I felt almost as if I were getting physically close to someone in real life. It was as if I had suddenly “touched” someone. It was a feeling close to the one experienced in real life. It made me think about the extension of my physical real self. Now, after reading in Connected, how it is not necessary to have a face-to-face encounter to be geographically present, I understand it better. I felt it personally. As if an extension of myself was reaching into this virtual world, and I was having the same sensation proximity provided which until then I had only experienced in real life.
I am still exploring these sensations: extending myself, being someone that impersonates a different self, removed from the notion I have of myself, one that it is associated with a male. I am creating a self that it is interested in a different set to rules than the ones I am normally concerned with: looking like a female, with skirts, looking feminine, looking more like a woman and less like a man. It is the appeal of adapting a different self. It is the most intriguing and more telling of my experiences in Second Life, and also the most revealing about my psychological being.
I am then approaching that sentient world where my mind extends and experiences who I am in a more direct way. I am –like Agrado and like Lorca’s characters (or Lorca himself) –becoming something I want and something I closely identify with. It is surprising, and it is giving me grounds to explore parts of myself until now only suggested. This other being is perhaps what Agrado was saying when she talked about being more authentic the closer you were to your ideal –or idea –of yourself.
“Besides being nice, I am very authentic. Look at my body. Everything made to measure…eyes, eight thousand. Nose, two hundred thousand…tits, two…because I am not a monster. Seventy thousand each…Silicon…lips, forehead, cheekbones, so you add because I lost track.”
She continues describing her laser, and concludes:
“It cost me a lot to be authentic. But we must not be cheap in regards to the way we look. Because a woman is more authentic the more she looks like what she has dreamed for herself."
Besides being a funny monologue, what really attracted me to the story, and why others have analyzed it, is the way Agrado deconstructs herself as some form of an ideal self. She has created an image of herself, something she wants to be, no matter what the cost. These physical changes made her more authentic and more real. I am referring to this because it is the way I started thinking about my Second Life avatar. I started to question the way that being a female in the virtual world made me feel.
I also thought about Lorca’s plays, and how the characters in his major plays are female. It has been said that Lorca creates a world that he wants to inhabit but that that he is incapable of doing since living as a homosexual man in Franco’s Spain was practically impossible. In fact –for Lorca –it was deadly. So in order to fulfill his desires, he creates his characters to question his sexuality and resolves it through his fictional imagination. He creates a world where a woman can’t have children (Yerma) or a woman that can’t live with the man she loves (The House of Bernarda Alba). I thought about this because the relationship with my avatar was one of creating a persona that I cannot have in the real world: someone who is feminine, who acts like a woman, and who is approached mostly by men (which has been the case so far).
One of the most interesting experiences in Second Life, apart from having this another gender persona, was the one that happened when I got close to someone, physically close. I went and got really close to an avatar, not emotionally, but rather close to the avatar itself. I must say that it was as if I was invading someone, and at the same time I felt almost as if I were getting physically close to someone in real life. It was as if I had suddenly “touched” someone. It was a feeling close to the one experienced in real life. It made me think about the extension of my physical real self. Now, after reading in Connected, how it is not necessary to have a face-to-face encounter to be geographically present, I understand it better. I felt it personally. As if an extension of myself was reaching into this virtual world, and I was having the same sensation proximity provided which until then I had only experienced in real life.
I am still exploring these sensations: extending myself, being someone that impersonates a different self, removed from the notion I have of myself, one that it is associated with a male. I am creating a self that it is interested in a different set to rules than the ones I am normally concerned with: looking like a female, with skirts, looking feminine, looking more like a woman and less like a man. It is the appeal of adapting a different self. It is the most intriguing and more telling of my experiences in Second Life, and also the most revealing about my psychological being.
I am then approaching that sentient world where my mind extends and experiences who I am in a more direct way. I am –like Agrado and like Lorca’s characters (or Lorca himself) –becoming something I want and something I closely identify with. It is surprising, and it is giving me grounds to explore parts of myself until now only suggested. This other being is perhaps what Agrado was saying when she talked about being more authentic the closer you were to your ideal –or idea –of yourself.
Oh Mrs. Dashwood is that a bottle in your hand?
Jane Austen and Flaubert used it: free indirect discourse. As Hills writes, free indirect discourse is a "language that comes from the narrative but takes the attributes of the character described." In the case of Flaubert, Madame Bovary say things that are sort of in the middle. She says things without directly saying them, and they aren't things said by the narrator. "Was Flaubert identifying with Emma's fantasy or merely reporting it?" That comparison takes us, of course, to the affinity (identification? possession?) we have with our avatar. Think of the avatar as a form of "ready-made or customized form of representation" and it becomes our voice, our interpreter in the virtual world we inhabit. And when we log off, isn't it still an abstraction we created? Every choice we make is an "indirect representation of the self." I think that the mere choice of not choosing something is already a choice, a way of saying something. Leaving something out is the same as putting something in.
Hills continues: "An avatar, to the degree the author sitting in front of the screen relies on a one-to-one correspondence between him or herself and the online icon, is often an actor with a closer, more direct persona-like relationship to the author than the multiple characters populating most novels." Well, perhaps that's going a little too far. But, yes, I agree that it is a persona, a representation of the author, anyway we look at it. He explains the ability that the graphical chat interfaces allow their authors to create a "halo of meanings." The way I see it, the avatar is a symbol of oneself, it is a fictional extension of the self. Hills talks about this "second skin" and writes that the "avatar, like the masquerade, reveals as much about the individual 'behind' it as it conceals."
Hills continues: "An avatar, to the degree the author sitting in front of the screen relies on a one-to-one correspondence between him or herself and the online icon, is often an actor with a closer, more direct persona-like relationship to the author than the multiple characters populating most novels." Well, perhaps that's going a little too far. But, yes, I agree that it is a persona, a representation of the author, anyway we look at it. He explains the ability that the graphical chat interfaces allow their authors to create a "halo of meanings." The way I see it, the avatar is a symbol of oneself, it is a fictional extension of the self. Hills talks about this "second skin" and writes that the "avatar, like the masquerade, reveals as much about the individual 'behind' it as it conceals."
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Tension - Real and Second Life
Magic and Literal. I thought about something that had to do with my SL avatar and my the RL person. So I combined two different worlds in this small video. Despite the effort to create a world outside our real one in Second Life, there is no escape and the SIMS resemble and cannot be completely detached from our own reality.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Out of Paper - File copying failed
Further discussing interface design, Paul Dorish writes about a different kind of tension: "the traditional process-oriented" and the "emerging improvisation-oriented" interface. What he discusses is the redesign of computational systems that react to certain unpredictable system functions. Consider, he observes, the simple process of making paper copies. We've all experienced it: several pages of the document we want to copy are placed in the feeder tray, we ask for 3 collated copies and we press start. Then in the middle of it, the copier runs out of paper or there is a paper jam. It is then our task to see how far the job was completed. How many pages of the first copy, second, third, etc do we have? Depending on the machine or settings the process could be different and we could just have one complete copy and a third (or a quarter?) of the second copy. Dorish then discusses the design of systems that respond to these types of unpredictable outcomes. He articulates a new design based of the interaction between the components of the system, the system as a whole and the functionality of it. If each component were to be separated from the copier: the tray and the feeder for example. And such component was capable of providing feedback -separate from the whole system -then then interaction and responses to the user will reflect better the process completion. The interface will move from being concerned with the overall process towards the components that make up the function. He calls for rethinking this process through the use of "accounts." Separating the process or the components that account for the functioning of the system. These accounts will not only provide for the reporting of behavoir of the function but will also control it. He elaborates on this concept by using another real life example: we are copying a file from one disk drive to another one residing on the network. The percentage done indicator displays (PDI) as the file is being copied. It reaches 40% and then it fails. The interface returns the message "drive unavailable." Dorish asks then, where did it fail? What does the 40% mean? Couldn't we take that 40% and continue copying the file instead of starting all over again. With the use of accounts this could be accomplished, reporting on every stage of the process, reporting (accounting) for each step towards the completion of the function. He is concerned he says with the "problem of connection between system components." Wouldn't that be great? Designers - programmers - thinking in these terms and create products that are easier to understand failures. We wouldn't have to count pages or copy the file from the start.
A magical desktop
Using the physical metaphor of picking up objects and throwing them on a surface, the ARK (Alternate Reality Kit) allows users to work with an interactive simulation. The objects can also be manipulated to have different characteristics such as gravity and motion, and all the functions allowed by the Smalltalk-80 programming language with which the ARK was written. In his paper, "Experiences with ARK" Randall B. Smith overviews the interface as it relates to this metaphor but more importantly how it relates to the tension between what he calls the literal and magical features. He refers to literal functions as those that are "true to the interface metaphor." In this case, the fact that the user can pick up and throw an object. Smith then defines magical features as those that move away from the strict literal interpretation of the interface and provide a different kind of functionality, "those capabilities that deliberately violate the metaphor." These magical capabilities have more to do with the interaction of the user and the interface than with the actual obvious intention (literal) of the interface. After separating these two different features what interests Smith is what considerations must be taken when designing an interface. He compares the literal and magical functions to analyze the ease of functionality vs. the learnability of the interface. Observing users interact with the interface he concludes that the magical features of the interface are more helpful in regards to the functionality of the interface, whereas the literal features create more "impact on learning time." The question is, he concludes, "How does a designer decide when to implement a capability" that it's magic instead of literal. Think of the desktop on your computer and question how perhaps the metaphor of a desk and paper spread around can be improved to provide a more magical interface without sacrificing the functionality of it. What Smith proposes is a new approach to computer interface design that can lead to more friendly and intuitive systems. Systems that are easier to learn while functioning the same.
The following sites are similar to the ARK interface (especially the first one), and will allow you to see the magical and literal features that Smith discusses.
Soda Play
Yugo
Play Create
The following sites are similar to the ARK interface (especially the first one), and will allow you to see the magical and literal features that Smith discusses.
Soda Play
Yugo
Play Create
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The usual suspects
Moving through the usual suspects: Warhol and his fifteen minutes of fame remark, the Empire State film, Warhol watching Taxi, the woman: “this is Warhol voyeurism at its creepiest; Borges “The world, unfortunately, is real”; George Berkeley, a favorite of Borges; Phillip K. Dick novels; conceptual art installations such as Prosthetic and Dancing with the Virtual Dervish, Bjork, etc., Shaviro maps the postmodern and virtual world. He explains this world in relation to finances, global economy, money, memory, the mind, and the body. He does this by discussing philosophy, art, science, mathematics, and the working of the finance world. He is trying to connect every possible world in order to explain the posthuman and the world that according to singularity will one day take over the human race. He writes about how a corporation creates an elite, and how they maintain the employees under control by building dependency. He then moves to film noir (my favorite part) to explain how today’s reality is just an echo of fiction. “I am totally screwed, therefore I am.”
Then there’s the “proximity no longer determined by geographical location” which I immediately relate to my experience in SL.
Then there’s the “proximity no longer determined by geographical location” which I immediately relate to my experience in SL.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Can I be personal?
I am pleased to learn that a new approach to academic writing and research is being proposed, an approach that takes into account things that until now have been overlooked by scientists and researchers: emotion, participant experience, subjectivity. "I start with my personal life. I pay attention to my physical feelings, thoughts and emotions. I use what I call systemic psychological introspection and emotional recall to try to understand an experience I've lived through," Ellis and Bochner write. “In the writings of certain postmodernists and particularly within feminist and queer theory you see a renewed appreciation for emotion, intuition, personal experience, embodiment and spirituality,” they continue. Of course, it is not easy to be personal, and God forbid you should show your emotions. “[I]f you’re not willing to become a vulnerable observer, then you ought to reconsider doing autoethnography,” Ellis warns.
I like to write short stories, and can see the work facing an autoethnographer. It is not easy to be introspective, to be emotionally invested. It is draining to reveal your soul in writing. It is a very intimate experience that takes a lot of courage but also a lot of psychological work. Writing on this blog - for example - has not been easy for me. Sometimes I am revealing more about myself than I want to. That previous sentence - not to go far - was revealing and also hard to write, but also harder to make public, to share it with a group of people. I can then see how it is that Ellis compares autoethnography to therapy. “Of course, I agree that our stories should have therapeutic value,” Ellis tells.
This hard work, however, can lead to insightful analysis. It can perceive properties of the research until now ignored that can also give more understanding to why and how I (others) do things they way they do it. If in the process, I arrive at a conclusion that helps to better understand my world and then the world of others, then the method has been valuable and useful. There are of course considerations to keep the work “analytical” as pointed out in the article by Ellis and Bochner. It is the challenge: how to include subjective, emotional analysis while at the same time producing objective, unbiased, scientific results. “The article I wrote on stigma convinced me of the benefits of moving between narrative and categorical knowledge, though I don’t think that is necessary in every study,” Ellis tells her aspiring student.
I was watching a program about a book called The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, and the author talks about how art, literature, and poetry adds value to society. It might be hard to measure, he says, but they add to society. He ends his interview quoting a sign that was in Einstein’s office that read, "There are some things that count that can't be counted. And some things that can be counted that don't count." His interview resonated with me, and the quote from the Einstein’s sign made me think about the autoethnography article I had read and how it proposed a more intimate personal approach to research and writing. “[I]t will be difficult to wean scholars and the American public from a view that measuring and, comparison and outcomes are all that matters,” Ellis and Bochner conclude. Academics might start to write from the heart and open the “discussion of working the spaces between subjectivity and objectivity, passion and intellect, and autobiography and culture,” they continue. I hope the discussion continues and these new approaches are adapted. I also hope that in the process academic writing becomes less, well, dry.
I like to write short stories, and can see the work facing an autoethnographer. It is not easy to be introspective, to be emotionally invested. It is draining to reveal your soul in writing. It is a very intimate experience that takes a lot of courage but also a lot of psychological work. Writing on this blog - for example - has not been easy for me. Sometimes I am revealing more about myself than I want to. That previous sentence - not to go far - was revealing and also hard to write, but also harder to make public, to share it with a group of people. I can then see how it is that Ellis compares autoethnography to therapy. “Of course, I agree that our stories should have therapeutic value,” Ellis tells.
This hard work, however, can lead to insightful analysis. It can perceive properties of the research until now ignored that can also give more understanding to why and how I (others) do things they way they do it. If in the process, I arrive at a conclusion that helps to better understand my world and then the world of others, then the method has been valuable and useful. There are of course considerations to keep the work “analytical” as pointed out in the article by Ellis and Bochner. It is the challenge: how to include subjective, emotional analysis while at the same time producing objective, unbiased, scientific results. “The article I wrote on stigma convinced me of the benefits of moving between narrative and categorical knowledge, though I don’t think that is necessary in every study,” Ellis tells her aspiring student.
I was watching a program about a book called The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, and the author talks about how art, literature, and poetry adds value to society. It might be hard to measure, he says, but they add to society. He ends his interview quoting a sign that was in Einstein’s office that read, "There are some things that count that can't be counted. And some things that can be counted that don't count." His interview resonated with me, and the quote from the Einstein’s sign made me think about the autoethnography article I had read and how it proposed a more intimate personal approach to research and writing. “[I]t will be difficult to wean scholars and the American public from a view that measuring and, comparison and outcomes are all that matters,” Ellis and Bochner conclude. Academics might start to write from the heart and open the “discussion of working the spaces between subjectivity and objectivity, passion and intellect, and autobiography and culture,” they continue. I hope the discussion continues and these new approaches are adapted. I also hope that in the process academic writing becomes less, well, dry.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Posthuman: terror, pleasure & hope
It is easy to understand the terror of proposing a posthuman life, Hayles affirms. Post, with the connotation of both superseding and coming after the human condition, she continues, easily creates doubts about the future of humans as we know them. "Humans can either go gently into that good night, joining the dinosaurs as a species that once ruled the earth but it is now obsolete, or hang on for a while longer by becoming machines themselves." But not only the thought of humans becoming a different species is terrifying, it's also frightening to think about living in an environment where everything as we know it will be different. Although some propositions seem to benefit how we interact with the world -I am thinking about uses of technology for useful purposes such as the red carpet at the airport that will guide you to your gate - others seem to destroy, or rather deconstruct the basic idea of our interaction with our current physical reality. Do we need to walk around sentient objects surrounding us? Do I need to be beamed with more information as I walk down the street to get a cup of coffee? Do I need my trees to talk back to me? Proposals for the uses of a world controlled by technology are vast. In architecture, for example, the reconfigurable house , proposes a house made of low tech electronic devises that can be configured according and for the owner's needs.
My immediate reaction to these new propositions was indeed one of terror, of seeing the world dissapearing as it is replaced by technology. It is then of relevance that Hayles focus her conclusion on What Does it Mean to be Posthuman in the other aspect of this posthuman future: the pleasure that can come with it. This pleasure can be attained by not the replacement of the humane factor but rather by a re-definition of it. In this scenario, the humans will not be destroyed, but rather will evolve. In this way of thinking of the posthuman, the terror is replaced by the certainty that humans will be using a different platform to inhabit the world. Perhaps the best way to think about it is with the framework of McLuhan’s when he proposed that media was an extension of the senses. Film was in that case extension of the eyes, as radio of hearing, etc. In this sense, the posthuman will be not a destruction of the human, but an extension of it, or a redefining of the human condition as we know it.
Considering Moravec statement that “…computers will eventually be capable of the same kind of perception, cognition and thought as humans” we can probably understand the terror provoked by this. We –the intelligent beings in this planet –being replaced by machines that we ourselves invented, presents a bleak future for our race. But perhaps that's not a bad idea after all. When I see how people treat each other -interpersonally, not to mention at a great scale, among nations - this experiment of the human race as is just went wrong and it needs to be reconfigured.
My immediate reaction to these new propositions was indeed one of terror, of seeing the world dissapearing as it is replaced by technology. It is then of relevance that Hayles focus her conclusion on What Does it Mean to be Posthuman in the other aspect of this posthuman future: the pleasure that can come with it. This pleasure can be attained by not the replacement of the humane factor but rather by a re-definition of it. In this scenario, the humans will not be destroyed, but rather will evolve. In this way of thinking of the posthuman, the terror is replaced by the certainty that humans will be using a different platform to inhabit the world. Perhaps the best way to think about it is with the framework of McLuhan’s when he proposed that media was an extension of the senses. Film was in that case extension of the eyes, as radio of hearing, etc. In this sense, the posthuman will be not a destruction of the human, but an extension of it, or a redefining of the human condition as we know it.
Considering Moravec statement that “…computers will eventually be capable of the same kind of perception, cognition and thought as humans” we can probably understand the terror provoked by this. We –the intelligent beings in this planet –being replaced by machines that we ourselves invented, presents a bleak future for our race. But perhaps that's not a bad idea after all. When I see how people treat each other -interpersonally, not to mention at a great scale, among nations - this experiment of the human race as is just went wrong and it needs to be reconfigured.
Group trip in SL
I really enjoyed the group meeting in SL. Yes, there was some waiting, and sometimes, when we were using the mics, the feedback was bad, and very loud at times. Then we had to wait for people to get there. But once we were all there, it was lots of fun. I liked the fact that there were places to visit, people to know. It felt good to be there not trying to meet people or find my way around but rather being there as part of a group. I even had someone showing me around, taking me to places, introducing me to people. It is like when you go to say Barcelona as a tourist, and when you go to visit people that live there. I say Barcelona because it is the city I've experienced in those two different ways. As a tourist, you are on your own, you make your own itinerary, you walk, you happen upon things. If you are with someone who lives there, the experience is different. You go to places you wouldn't go otherwise. The neighborhood hang out. You are more of an insider.
This has already been discussed by Kozinets as categorizations of posters of information. He classify them in
tourists, minglers, devotees and insiders. Describing insiders as those with strong social ties to the online group and the consumption activity.
Does this mean that I am creating stronger social ties in SL? Perhaps. I know that I am more dedicated and more interested in being part of the SL community than I was before.
Back to my first group meeting. The fact that we were communicating by voice also made a difference. I lost my anonimity, people could recognize me. They could connect my wings - more about my wings later -to myself, and I am not sure if I liked that. There was some aspect of what made it exciting that was lost, or made it a very different experience. Others didn't have the mics, so I didn't know their RL identities. But it didn't matter that much. I really liked going to the beach, the sexy dancer that approached our group, the gallery owner, the gallery. I even got present, a necklace and panties that I am wearing now. They make me look different. I didn't care about my appearance before but after getting those presents, I changed my look.
The highlight was going to the gallery and meeting the owner, having a tour, hearing about his group, getting connected to his sim. Here is picture of us at the gallery:
And of course, there was the tatoo ceremony:
And here is the conversation that took place:
Initial Greeting
[10:15] Kamran Talaj is Online
[10:15] Gesture is missing from database.
[10:15] Gesture is missing from database.
[10:15] Kamran Talaj is Online
[10:17] Kamran Talaj: hey waxakla, welcome
[10:17] You: thanks...it's just the 2 of us
[10:17] Kamran Talaj: turn around and meet the others
[10:17] You: oh hi everyone
[10:17] Kamran Talaj: we're still gathering
Getting the Audio to Work
[10:18] geisha Mayako is Online
[10:18] geisha Mayako: kamran
[10:18] geisha Mayako: should i log off and come back in order to do the audio
[10:18] geisha Mayako: or will typing b ok
[10:19] Kamran Talaj: i ws reuired to update the software, which took time -- may be delaying others too
[10:19] Kamran Talaj: yes
[10:19] geisha Mayako: ok sou said i log off and come back on i should have the abilty to tlak
[10:19] You: i'll b 2 b
[10:20] Kamran Talaj is Offline
[10:20] Ignatius Baroque: uh oh
[10:21] Kamran Talaj is Online
[10:21] geisha Mayako: ok i didn't have to leave to get the voice to work
[10:21] geisha Mayako: its in the preferences
[10:21] Kamran Talaj: sorry - had an odd jam
[10:22] Kamran Talaj: yes -- i have excercises in mind that invoive voice -- so please try logging back in and activating it
[10:22] Ignatius Baroque: I don't have a microphone
[10:23] Ignatius Baroque is Online
[10:23] You: i am back
[10:23] geisha Mayako: ignatius if u go to the preferences menu
[10:23] geisha Mayako: and choose voice chat
[10:23] geisha Mayako: u can activate it from there
[10:24] Ignatius Baroque: even without a microphone attached to my computer?
[10:24] geisha Mayako: oh u don't have a mic attached
[10:24] Ignatius Baroque: no
[10:24] geisha Mayako: kamran said u can still listen
[10:24] Ignatius Baroque: yeah ok
[10:25] Kamran Talaj: let us know, ignatius and waxakla, when you can hear us speak
[10:26] Connecting to in-world Voice Chat...
[10:26] Connected
[10:26] You: ok i activated voice chat
[10:26] Kamran Talaj: can you hear us? new people?
[10:26] You: yes
One, Two, Three...Testing
[10:26] Ignatius Baroque: yeah just got that one
[10:27] Ignatius Baroque: It must be someone else
[10:27] Ignatius Baroque: no, only this one
[10:29] Ignatius Baroque: I think I have everybody here
[10:29] You: i thinkj we did that already
[10:30] You: i lost u there
[10:30] You: didnt hear clearly
[10:31] geisha Mayako: waxakla the audio is breaking up for u 2?
[10:31] You: yes
[10:31] Ignatius Baroque: me too
[10:31] Kamran Talaj: wondering if others in class are late bec ause are signing up for SL for first time
[10:31] Ignatius Baroque: yeah, and the updates add a bit of extra time
[10:32] You: yes
[10:32] Ignatius Baroque: I heard there were money trees somewhere
[10:32] Ignatius Baroque: no
[10:33] Ignatius Baroque: someone told me that they existed, maybe they were being ironic. Also you can get a job
[10:33] Ignatius Baroque: I saw some avatars sweeping the floor of a restaurant
[10:33] geisha Mayako: i saw mines at a clothing store
[10:33] geisha Mayako: irony was an outfit was like L$1,200
[10:33] You: i want to record video
[10:34] geisha Mayako: and some had only earned like L$10
[10:34] Ignatius Baroque: yeah i still haven't explored "machina"
[10:34] You: but my cmahine crashes....i dont have the power
[10:34] geisha Mayako: i took pictures earlier
[10:34] geisha Mayako: there was some sort of attack this morning
[10:34] geisha Mayako: where a dude
[10:34] geisha Mayako: kept spaming the place with pictures of a guy bent over and his anus wide open
[10:35] geisha Mayako: i'm gonna post on my blog
Sexy Dancer comes in
[10:35] Julie Nikolaidis: hi
[10:35] Kamran Talaj: hi julie
[10:35] geisha Mayako: hi julie
[10:35] You: hello julie
[10:35] Ignatius Baroque: I wonder if its that same picture of the guy that's been circulating on the internet for like a decade
[10:35] geisha Mayako: kamran u know u r not on voice anymore right?
[10:35] You have offered friendship to Julie Nikolaidis
[10:35] Ignatius Baroque: hey jlia
[10:35] Kamran Talaj: it just quit on me
[10:35] Ignatius Baroque: *julie
[10:35] Kamran Talaj: gotta figure that out
[10:36] Kamran Talaj: Julie, are you in the Ethnog and New Media class?
[10:36] geisha Mayako: LOL ignatius i'm not sure how one would tell. . .it was kinda gross
[10:36] Julie Nikolaidis: no i don t
[10:36] Kamran Talaj: well, welcome anyway -- we are part of a study
[10:37] Kamran Talaj: waiting for the rest of people
[10:37] Julie Nikolaidis: ah ok
[10:37] Ignatius Baroque: Why is my head all red?
[10:37] Kamran Talaj: i scared her off
[10:38] Kamran Talaj: some more students are arriving...
[10:38] Ignatius Baroque: well she wasn't really dancing
[10:38] geisha Mayako: ROFLOL
[10:38] geisha Mayako: (roll on floor laugh out loud)
[10:40] Kamran Talaj: ok -- more coming
[10:41] Kamran Talaj: trying to get my voice back
The plan: shopping, QA, travel
[10:42] Kamran Talaj: hey centurion
[10:42] Kamran Talaj: meet the others
[10:42] Centurion Bikcin: hi
[10:42] You: hello
[10:42] geisha Mayako: hi centurion
[10:42] Centurion Bikcin: Hello
[10:42] Centurion Bikcin: Sorry I'm late
[10:42] You have offered friendship to Centurion Bikcin
[10:43] Kamran Talaj: welcome loran -- meet the others
[10:43] geisha Mayako: oi!
[10:43] You: hello loran
[10:43] Centurion Bikcin: Hi Loran!
[10:44] Kamran Talaj: we'll arriving at different times because of new updates to software, others who are too new to SL, etc
[10:44] Kamran Talaj: we'll loiter here a little while longer
[10:44] Kamran Talaj: then i have some excersizes
[10:44] You: ok. b r b then
[10:45] Kamran Talaj: well - we can still have our tech discussion in the meantime
[10:45] Kamran Talaj: we were talking about money
[10:45] Kamran Talaj: anyone know how to get money?
[10:45] Kamran Talaj: -- I'm loaded by the way
[10:45] Centurion Bikcin: lol
[10:46] geisha Mayako: share the wealth?
[10:46] Ignatius Baroque: you're an "owner"
[10:46] Loran Sirbu: hi
[10:46] Kamran Talaj: i intend to take each of you shopping today, like daddy
[10:46] Ignatius Baroque: ha
[10:46] Loran Sirbu: second life just crashed but i am back in business
[10:47] Kamran Talaj: i intend to take everyone shopping today
[10:47] Kamran Talaj is Offline
[10:47] Kamran Talaj is Online
[10:48] Kamran Talaj: wow -- lost a lot of peop.e
[10:48] Loran Sirbu: kamran0 is this your property?
[10:48] Kamran Talaj: no -- just like it
[10:48] Kamran Talaj: ok -- everyone
[10:48] Kamran Talaj: two or three things we'll do today
[10:49] Kamran Talaj: 1. exchange tech knowledge -- Q and A
[10:49] Kamran Talaj: 2. We will travel to 3 places (at least)
[10:49] Kamran Talaj: 3. i will take each of you shopping
[10:49] Kamran Talaj: like daddy
[10:49] Ignatius Baroque: i want a pony
[10:50] geisha Mayako: r we gonna do the voice chat again?
[10:50] Loran Sirbu: haha
[10:50] Kamran Talaj: yes -- that will be part of number 1
[10:50] geisha Mayako: my lil pony
[10:50] geisha Mayako: cute
[10:50] Kamran Talaj: who does not have a mic?
[10:50] Kamran Talaj: on their computer?
[10:50] Ignatius Baroque: me
[10:50] Kamran Talaj: k
[10:51] Kamran Talaj: loran?
[10:51] Centurion Bikcin: I went to the apple store but they didn't have a big selection. I'm getting one online this weekkend
[10:51] Loran Sirbu: yeah i have one on my computer
[10:51] Kamran Talaj: k
[10:51] geisha Mayako: love the apple store
[10:51] Kamran Talaj: ok -- well everyone first turn up your volume
[10:51] You: i am back
[10:51] Kamran Talaj: k
[10:51] Loran Sirbu: if you have a mac laptop, there is a mic built into the computers...at least the newer ones
[10:52] Kamran Talaj: htat's right
[10:52] Centurion Bikcin: I'm on a power mac
[10:52] Kamran Talaj: waxakla: read the chat history to catch up with us, k?
[10:52] Loran Sirbu: oh
[10:52] geisha Mayako: yeah for years. . .but u may want to use a pair of headphoens
[10:52] Centurion Bikcin: ok
[10:52] geisha Mayako: to save urself from the echo
[10:52] You: i see. shopping, qa, travel
[10:52] Kamran Talaj: good
[10:52] Loran Sirbu: is it safe to assume that internet connection speed affects the way SL operates
[10:52] Kamran Talaj: everyone at least have their voume turned up?
[10:53] Loran Sirbu: yup
[10:53] Ignatius Baroque: yeah
[10:53] You: i hear water
[10:53] Kamran Talaj: good
[10:53] Centurion Bikcin: yes
[10:53] geisha Mayako: i'm drowing the water sound out with cinematic orchestra
[10:53] Kamran Talaj: now, bottom right of screen has "talk" button
[10:53] Kamran Talaj: click it
[10:53] Loran Sirbu: i dont see it
[10:54] Kamran Talaj: you should see audio waves above your head
[10:54] geisha Mayako: hey loran
[10:54] Loran Sirbu: where is the talk button exactly
[10:54] Ignatius Baroque is Offline
[10:54] geisha Mayako: go to the preferences in the file menu
[10:54] Loran Sirbu: hey geisha
[10:54] You: i can hear u
[10:54] geisha Mayako: and then choose the talk tab
[10:54] geisha Mayako: in there it will tell u to activate the talk function
[10:54] Ignatius Baroque is Online
[10:54] geisha Mayako: once u save that
[10:54] geisha Mayako: u will be good to go
[10:55] Centurion Bikcin: yes
[10:55] You: no, i am at the lab at school
[10:55] Ignatius Baroque: yeah
[10:55] Loran Sirbu: ok trying that now
[10:55] Loran Sirbu: one sec
[10:55] Loran Sirbu: thanks
[10:55] You: should i try to get a mic
[10:56] Loran Sirbu: something weird is happening
[10:56] You: k hold on
[10:56] Loran Sirbu: when i go to the file menu nothing comes down
[10:56] Ignatius Baroque: how does it run on the lab at school?
[10:56] Loran Sirbu: ???
[10:56] Ignatius Baroque: i might do that instead next time
[10:56] Kamran Talaj: explain more, loran
[10:56] Ignatius Baroque: i see
[10:57] Loran Sirbu: well, when i move my mouse over EDIT and WINDOW, everthing works normally
[10:57] Loran Sirbu: but when i move the mouse over FILE no menu is shown
[10:57] Kamran Talaj: geisha is helping you, loran
[10:57] Loran Sirbu: hi
[10:58] geisha Mayako: loran choose the file option that is in the window with edit, view, world, tools, help
[10:58] Loran Sirbu: ok thanks
[10:58] Loran Sirbu: ok, so the file menu that is actually in the program....
[10:59] Ignatius Baroque: I don't know
[10:59] Ignatius Baroque: I don't know how to get rid of it or what it means
[10:59] Ignatius Baroque: it's from the last place I was
[10:59] Loran Sirbu: ok well i found preferences under the edit menu
[10:59] Ignatius Baroque: yes
[10:59] Loran Sirbu: and enabled voice chat
[11:00] Centurion Bikcin: are you smelling me?
[11:00] Loran Sirbu: ok i am clicking on talk but no audio waves popping up
[11:01] Loran Sirbu: yup
[11:01] Loran Sirbu: i can't///
[11:01] Loran Sirbu: lol
[11:01] Loran Sirbu: yup
[11:01] geisha Mayako: /wave
[11:02] Loran Sirbu: ahhh
[11:02] Loran Sirbu: i know who geisha is now
[11:02] Loran Sirbu: hahaa
[11:02] Loran Sirbu: you are echoing
[11:02] Ignatius Baroque: /wave
[11:02] Kamran Talaj: waxakla -- you hear me?
[11:02] Loran Sirbu: i am going to my system preferences
[11:03] Loran Sirbu: might be a mac problem
[11:03] Sodovan Torok is Online
[11:03] Loran Sirbu: i have the one on my macbook
[11:03] Loran Sirbu: can you hear me?
[11:04] Loran Sirbu: i can hear you...
[11:04] Loran Sirbu: ok
[11:04] Loran Sirbu: i enabled the talk mode
[11:04] Loran Sirbu: awesome
[11:04] Loran Sirbu: okkkk
[11:05] Loran Sirbu: yay
[11:05] Ignatius Baroque: whoa
[11:05] Kamran Talaj: turn your speakers off
[11:05] Kamran Talaj: loran
[11:05] Kamran Talaj: turn speakers off
[11:05] Kamran Talaj: feedback for us
[11:05] Ignatius Baroque: whew
[11:05] Loran Sirbu: is that better
[11:06] Loran Sirbu: sorry about this
[11:06] Kamran Talaj: use headphones, loran
[11:06] Ignatius Baroque: much better
[11:06] Ignatius Baroque: good
[11:06] Ignatius Baroque: I kinda like it
[11:07] Centurion Bikcin: I don't have a mic
[11:08] Ignatius Baroque: I think I've got everybody
[11:08] Centurion Bikcin: what is this place?
[11:09] Ignatius Baroque: Pamela Oh's Club
[11:09] Loran Sirbu is Online
[11:10] Ignatius Baroque: ha
[11:13] Kamran Talaj is Offline
[11:13] Ignatius Baroque: are there offices in SL?
[11:13] Kamran Talaj is Online
[11:13] Ignatius Baroque: county commissioner?
[11:14] Kamran Talaj: sorry bout that
[11:15] Ignatius Baroque: yeah!
[11:16] Centurion Bikcin: I think im only hearing part of the conversation. It's mostly silence and once in a while I hear Loran say something
[11:17] Kamran Talaj: centurion
[11:17] Kamran Talaj: hold a sec
[11:18] geisha Mayako: centurion who can u hear
[11:18] Kamran Talaj: centurion --- have you got good quality mic and speakers?
[11:18] Loran Sirbu is Offline
[11:18] Ignatius Baroque: and mine
[11:18] Centurion Bikcin: I have quality speakers but no mic
[11:18] Ignatius Baroque: but I can still hear you
[11:18] Ignatius Baroque: erie
[11:20] Centurion Bikcin: I can only hear geisha and loran
[11:20] Kamran Talaj: welcome mirra
[11:20] geisha Mayako: welcome mirra
[11:21] Mirra Fredriksson: so whats going on?
[11:21] Kamran Talaj: mirra
[11:21] Mirra Fredriksson: what is this place?
[11:21] Kamran Talaj: don't know yet...
[11:22] Kamran Talaj: mirra -- do you have a mic and speakers on your computer?
[11:22] Kamran Talaj: turn your computer volume up -- but use headphone
[11:22] Mirra Fredriksson: are you using voice?
[11:22] Kamran Talaj: yes
[11:22] Mirra Fredriksson: ok
[11:23] Kamran Talaj: mirra, do you see a voice command at the bottom right?
[11:23] Ignatius Baroque: Yeah I noticed that too
[11:23] Loran Sirbu is Online
[11:23] geisha Mayako: so centurion u still can't hear anything from anyone?
[11:23] Kamran Talaj: mirra -- you see it?
[11:23] Mirra Fredriksson: no
[11:23] Kamran Talaj: ok, go to Edit, up above
[11:23] Kamran Talaj: and then to Preferences
[11:23] geisha Mayako: ctrl+p or in the edit mentu
[11:23] Kamran Talaj: and select Audio tab
[11:24] Mirra Fredriksson: ok
[11:24] Centurion Bikcin: I hear you and loran
[11:24] You have offered friendship to Mirra Fredriksson
[11:24] Centurion Bikcin: no
[11:25] Mirra Fredriksson: what do i select in the audio tab?
[11:25] Centurion Bikcin: I see the rays emanating from all of you but I dont hear the voices
[11:26] Kamran Talaj: mirra - are you still in audio tab?
[11:26] Kamran Talaj: make sure mute button is deselected
[11:26] Kamran Talaj: mirra -- not the audio and video tab
[11:26] Kamran Talaj: sorry
[11:27] Kamran Talaj: go to the voice chat tab
[11:27] Mirra Fredriksson: im in
[11:27] Mirra Fredriksson: thanks
[11:27] Kamran Talaj: and click first check box -- enable voice chat
[11:28] Centurion Bikcin: yes
[11:28] Kamran Talaj: mirra -- did it work?
[11:28] Loran Sirbu: hi mirra
[11:28] Loran Sirbu: !
[11:28] Kamran Talaj: no -- can't hear you
[11:28] Centurion Bikcin: yes
[11:28] Loran Sirbu: Looking good!
[11:28] Loran Sirbu: oops
[11:29] Loran Sirbu: can you hear us mira?
[11:29] Centurion Bikcin: i still can't hear anyone except geisha and loran sometimes
[11:30] geisha Mayako: well no one else is really speaking besides us and kamran
[11:30] Ignatius Baroque: /bored
[11:30] You: not me
[11:30] Centurion Bikcin: i hear waxakla
[11:31] Kamran Talaj: we should all type now -- because we don't all hear
[11:31] Kamran Talaj: we have an egalitarian society here -- first rule
[11:31] Loran Sirbu: great
[11:31] Loran Sirbu: nice dress mira
[11:31] Kamran Talaj: ok
[11:31] Loran Sirbu: do you like my haircut?
[11:31] Mirra Fredriksson: thanks
[11:31] Mirra Fredriksson: yea its weird
[11:31] Mirra Fredriksson: haha
[11:31] Kamran Talaj: so first -- make sure you are a friend of mirra and mirra vice versa with everyone
[11:31] Loran Sirbu: it's very mullet-y
[11:32] You: mirra has to accept my invite
[11:32] Mirra Fredriksson: i did
[11:32] You: so it's just waiting
[11:33] Kamran Talaj: mirra -- are you paying attention to the little pop-ups on your screen
[11:33] Kamran Talaj: ok
[11:33] Mirra Fredriksson: haha yes
[11:33] Mirra Fredriksson: i have all of you
[11:33] geisha Mayako: where r we exactly
[11:33] Loran Sirbu: technical question:
[11:33] Kamran Talaj: new person coming, i think...
[11:33] Kamran Talaj: yes, loran?
[11:34] Loran Sirbu: does internet connection speed have a big impact on the way SL operates?
[11:34] Kamran Talaj: yes, pretty sure it does
[11:34] Loran Sirbu: because i feel like mine lags quite a bit and i'm wondering if that it because my connection isnt great right now
[11:34] Loran Sirbu: ok- i'll have to deal with that
[11:34] Loran Sirbu: thanks
[11:35] geisha Mayako: argh i entered some new way of viewing by accidnet
[11:35] geisha Mayako: make it stop
[11:35] Loran Sirbu: press ESC
[11:35] Ignatius Baroque: I'm on stolen wireless, but I'm doing OK, so my guess wold be that it's more about your processor speed
[11:35] Loran Sirbu: geisha.
[11:35] Loran Sirbu: hmm
[11:35] geisha Mayako: ok i thinkt hat did it
[11:35] Loran Sirbu: thats weird because i have a macbook pro
[11:35] Kamran Talaj: ok -- thario -- meet the rest -- and everyone please exchange friendship cards with him/her
[11:35] Loran Sirbu: hi tharip!
[11:35] Ignatius Baroque: oh well then I'm stumped
[11:36] Loran Sirbu: i mean thario, sorry
[11:36] Loran Sirbu: thanks ignatius
[11:36] You: thario can u step out so we can see u
[11:36] geisha Mayako: loran i think the program is quirky
[11:36] geisha Mayako: i have problems ta times too
[11:36] geisha Mayako: it froze a lot this morning
[11:36] You have offered friendship to Thario Botha
[11:36] geisha Mayako: i was well wnnoyede
[11:36] geisha Mayako: annoyed even
[11:36] Kamran Talaj: thario -- you feeling acclamated?
[11:36] Ignatius Baroque: ha
[11:37] Loran Sirbu: it annoys me greatly
[11:37] Kamran Talaj: loran -- try logging off and on again
[11:37] Loran Sirbu: its ok for now...
[11:38] Thario Botha: ok
[11:38] Thario Botha: so, what is going on?
[11:38] Mirra Fredriksson: did you take a pic?
[11:38] You: someone is taking pics
[11:38] Kamran Talaj: yes
[11:38] Mirra Fredriksson: ok
[11:38] Mirra Fredriksson: i heard it...
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: i guess its nightime on SL now
[11:39] Mirra Fredriksson: its morning
[11:39] Kamran Talaj: documenting
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: ignatius- you changed
[11:39] Kamran Talaj: OK -- CAN WE GET ORGANIZED NOW?
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: yup
[11:39] Mirra Fredriksson: yes
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: morning eh?
[11:39] Ignatius Baroque: yeah i was trying to get rid of that floating text
[11:39] geisha Mayako: yes please
[11:39] Kamran Talaj is Offline
[11:39] Mirra Fredriksson: oh he left
[11:39] geisha Mayako: lol there he go
[11:39] Ignatius Baroque: and the jedi outfit
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: yes lets organize
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: he
[11:39] Ignatius Baroque: He'll be back
[11:39] Loran Sirbu: he'll be back
[11:39] geisha Mayako: i know i know
[11:40] Mirra Fredriksson: who is ignatius?
[11:40] geisha Mayako: LOL
[11:40] Ignatius Baroque: I thought we weren't supposed to reveal our identities
[11:40] Mirra Fredriksson: i like his outfit
[11:40] Mirra Fredriksson: lol
[11:40] Ignatius Baroque: aw thanks
[11:40] geisha Mayako: yeah i do too
[11:40] Kamran Talaj is Online
[11:40] Loran Sirbu: well i already now a bunch of people
[11:40] geisha Mayako: i choose that as my frist avatar
[11:40] Mirra Fredriksson: are you not wearing a shirt?
[11:40] Loran Sirbu: because of the whole voice chat thing
[11:40] geisha Mayako: but then i jacked up his hair
[11:40] geisha Mayako: and was over it
[11:40] Loran Sirbu: kamran is back!
[11:40] Ignatius Baroque: it's just what came
[11:41] Ignatius Baroque: Kamran?
[11:41] You: /bored
[11:41] Thario Botha: are those your pubs?
[11:41] geisha Mayako: ROFLOL
[11:41] Kamran Talaj: CANNOT TALK
[11:41] Kamran Talaj: YES, BUT MALFUNCTIONING
[11:41] Kamran Talaj: OK WORKS
[11:41] geisha Mayako: i'm not sure i can't see down ther e
[11:41] geisha Mayako: what u think thario?
[11:42] Thario Botha: lol
[11:42] Thario Botha: i think they are
[11:42] Thario Botha: nice
[11:42] Kamran Talaj: OK -- EVERYONE -- CAN WE START NOW??
[11:42] Ignatius Baroque: sorry
[11:42] geisha Mayako: no prob
[11:42] Centurion Bikcin: ready
[11:42] geisha Mayako: ready 2
[11:42] Loran Sirbu is Offline
[11:42] Ignatius Baroque: 2
[11:42] Kamran Talaj: EVERYONE SITUATED
[11:42] Kamran Talaj: ?
[11:42] You: yes
[11:42] Thario Botha: yup
[11:42] Ignatius Baroque: ya
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: WE LOST LORAN
[11:43] Mirra Fredriksson: she will come back
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: BUT IN THE MEANTIME
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: RECAP
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: WE'RE GOING TO ANSWER ONE TECH QUESTION ABOUT VIDEO
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: THEN TRAVEL TOGETHER
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: THEN GO SHOPPING
[11:43] Kamran Talaj: SO VIDEO -- WHAT WAS YOUR QUESTION, WAXAKLA?
[11:44] You: i want to see if we can record our shopping trip
[11:44] You: onto video
[11:44] Ignatius Baroque: good call
[11:44] Kamran Talaj: OK -- TO DO THAT
[11:45] Loran Sirbu is Online
[11:45] Kamran Talaj: GO TO FILE -- THEN START/STOP VIDEO
[11:45] Kamran Talaj: START WHEN YOU WANT TO START RECORDING
[11:45] Kamran Talaj: BEWARE: IT USES LOTS OF MEMORY AND CONSUMES LOTS OF HARD DRIVE SPACE, SO
[11:45] You: ok...the thing is I cant do it. b/c my processor is not able
[11:45] Loran Sirbu: THAT WAS SOOO ANNOYING
[11:46] Kamran Talaj: YOU MAY NEED TO CHANGE VIDEO (MACHINIMA) PREFERENCES
[11:46] Loran Sirbu: SL just crashed...again
[11:46] Kamran Talaj: SO THAT IT RECORDS LOW QUALITY VID
[11:46] Kamran Talaj: I HAVE BEEN HAVING LOTS OF VID CRAHES TOO
[11:46] Kamran Talaj: COULD BE A BUG
[11:46] Loran Sirbu: what are we doing now?
[11:46] You: ok...well i'll keep playing with it...i tired that already
[11:46] You: tried
[11:46] Kamran Talaj: CAN CHECK THAT LATER IN THE BLOG/UPDATES PAGES ETC
[11:46] You: ok
[11:47] Mirra Fredriksson is Offline
[11:47] Kamran Talaj: WE CAN TAKE PHOTOS FOR NOW
[11:47] Mirra Fredriksson is Online
[11:47] You: how do u do that
[11:47] Kamran Talaj: EVERYONE NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THAT
[11:47] Kamran Talaj: OK
[11:47] Loran Sirbu: snapshot?
[11:47] Kamran Talaj: PLEASE, SOMEONE ELSE EXPLAIN
[11:47] Loran Sirbu: is that what you are referring to?
[11:48] Kamran Talaj: YES, LORAN
[11:48] Kamran Talaj: OPTION IS CALLED TAKE A SNAPSHOT
[11:48] Loran Sirbu: ok- to take a picture you just click on snapshot at the bottom of the screen (beside search)
[11:48] Loran Sirbu: and then you choose where you want to save it to
[11:48] Kamran Talaj: YOU CAN SLECT OPTION TO NOT INCUDE INTERFACE IN THE PHOTO
[11:48] Kamran Talaj: SO THAT IT DEVELOPS CLEAN
[11:48] Loran Sirbu: ohh
[11:49] Loran Sirbu: i didnt know that
[11:49] geisha Mayako: how do u position the camera
[11:49] Kamran Talaj: OK -- NOW EVERYONE KNOWS THAT YOU NEED TO SAVE THESE CHATS BEFORE SHUTTING DOWN
[11:49] Kamran Talaj: CAMERA IS YOUR EYE
[11:49] Kamran Talaj: SO WHAT YOU LOOK AT IS WHAT YOU SHOOT
[11:50] Kamran Talaj: YOU FIRST POSITION, THEN YOU SELECT TAKE A SNAPSHOPT OPTION
[11:50] Kamran Talaj: EVERYONE GOT THAT?
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Video Vision Conference - Ethical Considerations
I want to share the notes on ethical learning from CUNY Video Vision conference. Although these principles were presented as they relate to videotaping subjects for reasearch, they can be applied to net research as well.
I want to video tape some of my research subjects:
Is this a concern?
I am not going to hurt anyone.
Research Ethics: a qucik history.
Nurember Code, 1947
"The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential"
Declaration of Helsinki, 1964
"Each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, anticipated benefits and the potential hazards and the discomfort it may entail. He must be informed that he is at liberty to abstain from participation in the study and that he is free to withdraw his consent to participation at any time.
The Belmont Report, 1979
National commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
The Belmont principles:
I want to video tape some of my research subjects:
Is this a concern?
I am not going to hurt anyone.
Research Ethics: a qucik history.
Nurember Code, 1947
"The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential"
Declaration of Helsinki, 1964
"Each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, anticipated benefits and the potential hazards and the discomfort it may entail. He must be informed that he is at liberty to abstain from participation in the study and that he is free to withdraw his consent to participation at any time.
The Belmont Report, 1979
National commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
The Belmont principles:
- Respect for persons:
Informed consent
Vulnerable populations with diminished authority: - not recruting subjects when consent is impossible i.e. child overrules parent (subject consent is what matters)
Privacy - having control over the extent, timing, and circumstances of sharing oneself (physically, behaviorally or intellectually). Privacy relates directly to the person.
Private information: information which has been provided for specific purposes by an individual and will not be made public (for example, a medical record).
Confidentiality: methods used to ensure that information obtained by researchers about their subjects is not improperly divulged. Confidentiality relates directly to data
Beneficence: to do good, and to avoid harm
Risk/Benefit analysis
Data Safety
Experimental design
Justice: for distribution of benefits and burdens from research
Not just study the population but give benefits back
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
machinima crash
I've been trying to record myself as I move around SL, but my SL crashes every time I try. So I moved and started talking to more people. It is strange. When I didn't have anyone to talk with, I wanted to. Now that I have more friends sometimes I just want to sit down and not talk. I started talking to someone and he told me about INKsters, the writing group that puts literary competitions every week. He gave a few landmarks and I went to check it out. The place was nice, with plush couches, and a Shakespeare poster. It looked like an old club, like the room of Yale Club or something like that. I didn't want to participate in the competition. I liked the fact that there are so many things to do in SL. I equate it to NY, where you can do whatever you want. I was talking to someone and he told me that SL is equivalent to the size of continental US, and that sometimes there are only 20 to 40 people online. That's a lot of land per capita. I wish I could use it for storage. Well, I have to give up on machinima for now, and move on to explore more. I learned how to create gesture (easy), and how to go to landmarks. Someone told me that IBM, MIT and Princeton had sims in SL. I should check that out too. I also went to a party the other day but felt weird because I did not know how to dance and everybody else was showing their best moves. There is a lot of showing off in SL. I also think that most of the time, users have something to sell you, or they want you to try this or that. I am a little skeptical of any friendship.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
this thing called reality
Lately, I have been having a very strange feeling: I want to rewind things just as I rewind them every time I want with my DVR. I was a the theater the other night, and I was really concentrating and paying attention to everything that was going on, but suddenly I tuned out and went somewhere else. I don't know. It is good, that's what art is supposed to do, take you places, unexpected places, but then I had this impulse to want to rewind. It was weird, and because it was a live performance I couldn't do it. I am conditioned to do that. Then I was in SL, and I missed something, and again I wanted to recreate the moment, the feeling, but I couldn't. I guess in that sense SL resembles RL more than I thought. Yes, I could click on the history button and see the chat, but not go back, trace my steps, unless I was recording, but I wasn't, so there...
and back...
I am learniing more and more about how to move, what the map means. I see that the little dots on the map mean other avatars and look for locations where there are a lot of people, that's how I arrive at this spot where I get to talk for the first time to a really friendly person. Locke. She tells (I think is a she) me how to set my home there. How to display property lines and how to become member of a group. We talk for a long time. I tell her that I didn't have much success with talking to people before and she tells "you get the bad with the good." We keep talking. I ask her what she does, and she tells me that it is a unsopken rule in SL not to ask questions about RL. I tell her I wasn't asking about RL. She tells me she wants to be sure and then tells me that she is a builder. I tell her about the research I want to do, and she becomes interested and doesn't mind at all. She adds me as her friend. I really like Locke. She takes me to a wall where there's a lot of free stuff. I try to put it on, but it looks really weird so I take it off. It is time to get on with my RL. This was a much better experience in SL than the previous ones.
I go back
After my first experience, I go back and decide to have a different approach. I'm just going to stand and listen to people talk. Someone approaches me and tries to sell me something. I said I don't have any money. I start thinking that most people here are trying to get something out of this, but of course, meeting some needs, feel good, make friends, make money, whatever it is? What am I trying to get out of it? I don't think I know yet. With that in mind, I keep walking around. I like the sounds I hear and some of the trees, and streams are really cool. I kept walking, teleporting to different locations until I land on a dance bar. It looks like fun but people are wearing really funky outfits. I am listening to the music and feeling good when someone shows up with a big gun. I get scared. I type: "I don't want to die." and teleport back home but home was right there or didn't work. I just stayed there and started hearing gunshots. I immediately log out. I really don't want to get killed.
First time in Second Life
The first time I was in SL, I felt a little disoriented and lost. I could not move well. I felt like a klutz, socially inadequate. It was a feeling I hadn't had in quite some time, and I wasn't aware of it unitl I remembered that I had to write down my first impresions about SL for the ethnography class. Then I started to chat with somebody. I typed "hello Lindi" and I didn't get an answer. It was also akward, like approaching a stranger at a bar who turns away from you and doesn't want to talk.
I then began exploring a little more. I started to move with more ease. I went to the men's clothing store in Mahulu, just to check things out. I tried to approach someone again (without talking) but she ran away. What's wrong with me? I feel really weird. Maybe I should just walk around but I don't want to give up and try to talk to someone else but he also runs away. There's definetely something wrong with me. Maybe it's my look. Is there an etiquette I'm not aware of? Am I breaking some unspoken rule?
I go to another location (teleport I learn easily) looking for more people but I have no luck. I feel frustrated. My computer crashes and I get disconnected. I don't file a report. Who cares? I feel guilty about the crash, as I was trying to enter a restricted area and I was punished. I think I might have. Still, I fell so weird.
I then began exploring a little more. I started to move with more ease. I went to the men's clothing store in Mahulu, just to check things out. I tried to approach someone again (without talking) but she ran away. What's wrong with me? I feel really weird. Maybe I should just walk around but I don't want to give up and try to talk to someone else but he also runs away. There's definetely something wrong with me. Maybe it's my look. Is there an etiquette I'm not aware of? Am I breaking some unspoken rule?
I go to another location (teleport I learn easily) looking for more people but I have no luck. I feel frustrated. My computer crashes and I get disconnected. I don't file a report. Who cares? I feel guilty about the crash, as I was trying to enter a restricted area and I was punished. I think I might have. Still, I fell so weird.
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