Death on the Net: Part One

In recent months I have been advised of the deaths of three online friends. The loss felt is as significant as with any other friend with whom conversations and activities have been shared. For many, these online friendships may have been developed over many years.

In some cases there may be more interaction with some online friends than with those living nearby. This is not unusual considering the emotional connection maintained between intimate partners where one works overseas or on a mine site or oil rig for weeks at a time, or a work colleague with whom one works largely through telephone/email, or the the family member living overseas where the main form of contact is telephone or email. Human connection and emotion do not stop at a geographic boundary.

In the 'old days' it was not unusual to form strong relationships with 'Pen Pals' - in fact, such relationships were fostered by 'pen pal' pages in newspapers and magazines. For immigrant families this was an acceptable way of encouraging romantic relationships between immigrants and someone from the 'Old Country'. It seems humans have long recognised that relationships can be developed and maintained without a face to face contact.

As the ability to share and exchange information is no longer reliant on 'snail mail' or costly overseas telephone calls. Our interactions are now more immediate and can become quite intensly rewarding. The introduction of computer cams and voice ability allows expressive contact through two major senses simultaneously, sight AND sound.

As we accommodate to this new paradigm of interaction we acknowledge that anything that allows people to connect needs to also incorporate ways of dealing with loss.

The loss of someone geographically remote from us and to whom we feel connected is made more difficult by the lack of formal rite to mark their passing and to express grief or sadness. Rites or ceremonies to mark a death are important to human beings across every culture.

The online community, particularly those in the social/educationally based 'virtual worlds' such as Second Life have adapted to the human need to pay respects to the deceased and to express grief by holding memorial services in these virtual worlds, in the same way one would do in the 'real' world. These memorial services often cross over into both worlds.

Recently my friend Kat Klata passed on. It was not unexpected. Kat had been seriously ill for some time but this seemed to motivate her to continue her work with the Multiple Sclerosis group in SL and also with her local Chapter close to her home. When Kat was admitted to the Hospice she received telephone calls and visits from people she had met online.

Kat did not exaggerate her illness, on the contrary, she downplayed it but her work in Second Life gained national recognition in the USA:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/online-community/personal-stories/kathie-olsonkat-klata/index.aspx

The memorial for Kat in SL took place after her funeral. The SL memorial was filmed and posted online to share this aspect of Kat's life with her friends, family and colleagues. In this way she was remembered among both groups of friends: http://vimeo.com/19087135



The significance of loss has been recognised in SL by the establishment of a Memorial Park. A place to plant a flower, light a candle and remember those who have died in 'real' life.

http://secondlife.com/destination/linden-memorial-park









Death
Definition
Death is defined as the cessation of all vital functions of the body including the heartbeat, brain activity (including the brain stem), and breathing.

The Emperor Is In Fact, Naked

Art covers a wide range of expression. Some may regard artistic expression as the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When I paint or dance I cannot escape that I enjoy expressing myself in these ways. However, I don't impose my expression on others. I don't shove my paintings on the wall of another artist's exhibition. I do not get up and perform my dance on someone else's stage. I do not go to an exhibition and make a point of denigrating the artist. I look, I absorb. I consider. It either appeals to me subjectively, or it does not. It may appeal to me as an investment or I may acknowledge the artistic expression offered as something that although not appealing to me, may appeal to others. Either way, the artist is treated with respect.

Recently I have been to some events organised to recognise different artists. One was the MachinimUWA awards. The entries were excellent, each different in their own way. The sheer work in developing a machinima has to be recognised.. from original storyboard, to sourcing visuals, filming, editing and music score.

Another event was the M Linden art exhibition. Here the artist's work was shipped for exhibit at the UWA real life University Campus, as well as shown in SL in the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery on the UWA SL Campus. At the RL event, the works were considered by a broad range of people, from artists, to curators and art critics. In Sl they were offered to a broader range of people.

At both events in SL a self-proclaimed 'performance artist' placed his/her 'art' over the art being exhibited, imposing a totally self-indulgent need for attention and 'look at ME' on the clearly disinterested. It is my belief that the self-proclaimed 'performance artist' would be better employed staging their own exhibition which will then either stand or fall on its merits. Given the yawn-worthy nature of what has been seen so far, I predict an ass bruising fall.

Having witnessed first hand some of the 'Marsha Marsha Marsha' bleatings of this particular attention-seeker at events honoring artists I conclude that labelling 'middle child syndrome as 'performance art' is not fooling anyone other than the self-proclaimed 'performance artist'. In short dear, the emperor/ess is naked and showing cellulite.

Famous, Rich & Homeless for 10 days

Truly *holds hand to heart* I swear I am sooo NOT a fan of reality TV shows. I mean, if I want reality I can turn of my TV and 'puter and wade through the pile of sheer crap interspersed with bills that masquerade as mail so conscientiously deposited in my mailbox daily. Having said that I now add a qualifier. When I saw the shorts for 'Famous, Rich and Homeless' in which five celebrities are made to live the life of the homeless for 10 days and 10 nights on the streets of London, well, I couldn't resist. I settled onto my comfy couch with a cuppa and prepared to be, if not educated, at the very least entertained. The show did not disappoint.

There were a few notable and even comedic moments. The so-called marquis of blandford or was that the marquis of bland? (read chinless wonder) whined and whinged like a developmentally challenged tot, regularly turned an unbecoming shade of 'terrible two's tantrum red' and phoned his poor wife to wail- 'it's not FUN'. Not much decent breeding in THAT camp. If he wasn't hiding behind the title and with his junkie past behind him he'd be a cert to be a welfare case. The funniest thing.. he spent the first night in a five star hotel, tucked into hot meals, did the next night in an hotel and then after yet another dummy spit shambled off home dragging his full nappy and leaving the smell of babypoo in his wake.

This guy claims to be a descendant of Winston Churchill... *considers this* ... well, yeeeees, he does have the bluster and the portly look but is bereft of the wit, manners, intelligence and courage. Genetics are a curious science to be sure. Saddest thing is apparently this guy has actually managed to persuade someone to breed his offspring. The House of Lords is NOT in good hands. I think he needs to be popped into the House of Tiny Tearaways to be 'growded' up a bit more.

The next 'class act' was some dude who apparently acted in an English show called Coronation Street which I gather is a soapie. It seems this guy has been on it long enough to qualify for some kind of public service superannuation (bet he's got a bunch of brown suits and anoraks in his wardrobe). 'mr soapie star from Cheshire', bleated and whined almost as much as the other chinless wonder. He showed a sliver of promise when rather than hitting the credit card or 'tab' to tuck into a hot meal in a cafe, he earned a few pounds offering to take tourist photos (it was I think the first day and he was still clean). So far so good, but THEN he rewarded himself by blowing it on booze down the pub. His rationale?- he didn't eat much anyway. Dare I say, this indicates the survival nous of a carrot. Honestly, after this his sheer presence must be lowering the property values in Cheshire. Perhaps for the benefit of regional real estate values he should be 'encouraged' to move. In the meantime, after this effort maybe mr soapie star is due for a well-overdue 'kill him off script' (*makes note to email this suggestion to the soapie writers*). Personally I would be surprised if he was actually a 'native' of Cheshire.

The comedian, disc jockey or whatever the other dude was was really neither here nor there although there did seem to be a sense of 'recognise me please' about his demeanour.

Now to the women. They seemed more resilient and dare I say, ethical. Apart from one lobbing up to Dolce and Gabbana to doss down in that designer's doorway, what wast notable was the way they actively sought to connect with people and try to find out what resources were available.

Overall, after day one if I was stuck in a difficult situation and I had a choice, I'd rather be on the girl team - no whining, no getting pissed and they found food and community and a designer deep doorway which gave the duel benefits of window shopping and a decent postcode. An excellent example of multi-tasking.

Hunter, Traffic and Myths

I confess, I am not a huge 'hunt' participant. However, I do recognise the appeal and the fun of the 'hunt' and I hold a view that when there is fun involved in something, and gifts made with care that it all helps create good feelings that get carried along to the next person one encounters. To me this makes sense, so it was not a difficult decision to share some of my textures in the Building Blocks Hunt, and an outfit for the Ostara Hunt. I also expect that there will be a degree of mutuality in terms of good will and pleasantness. What was unexpected was the sheer, unadulterated rudeness of many of the hunters to the vendors participating.

The Building Block hunters in particular contained a particularly ill-mannered group who seemed to feel that whining, whinging, bitching, complaining and generally dribbling was their right in exchange for the 'traffic' they brought. To me, anyone behaving in this way should either not go in a hunt or simply be given a chock for their trailer wheels. ... I need to be clear here, I only encountered one rude person and that was nothing the eject button couldn't solve swiftly. However, some vendors giving freely to the hunt were harassed and abused to the extent that the hunter group was disbanded and some vendors removed themselves and their gifts from the hunt.

Now I have heard this word 'traffic' used like some form of gold nugget that people hold up to sim owners but I never understood what they meant. Here's a tip ... 'traffic' is neither here nor there for many of us. I do fine out of my little 'artistic' ventures, I don't use 'bots' (whatever THEY are *makes note to look that up*) and there are many ways to feature in the 'search' menu without having people tp-ing in clicking and tp-ing out. I never really understood the 'traffic' thing but listening to other vendors, this seemed to be a constant justification for ill-manners and general naff-ness. I decided to find out more about it

It seems that at one time, traffic on a sim had two benefits:

1) Ranking in Search results (under popular places). .... In 2010 the 'traffic' influence on this is less clear. It seems that satisfied customers having a place in their picks, or paying for a classified seems more helpful; and
2) L$ payments based on the number of avatars on a sim and some form of additional L$ bonus for the highest ranking sites..... However, this practice ceased in mid 2006 - almost four years ago! The following statement from LL clarifies the situation to date:

"There are currently no official Traffic incentive programs in place; owners of popular parcels do not receive any Linden dollar bonuses based on their Traffic scores."

It seems clear that sim/business owners do not get some kind of financial recompense for traffic. OK - that's THAT myth knocked on the head. So now we know those that hold the 'traffic gold nugget' up as some form of 'I'm entitled to be rude and naff' talisman - are also hopelessly out of date.

So then I decided to see how, IF traffic WAS important, how it was in fact, calculated. It appears from LL that traffic is one point per avatar per minute but only for avatars that do not move to another parcel for at least five minutes:

"In 2006 traffic was changed to be a minute an avatar spends in a parcel but only for avatars that do not move to another parcel for at least five minutes"

Now looking at the average hunter, the use of 'wireframe' to search, the presence of 'cheat sheets', 'official' hints and people tp-ing their friends in and pointing to the item and then tp-ing out again, the chances of anyone apart from the noob remaining long enough to register as 'traffic' seems to me in the words of the Great John Cleese.. 'to be an act of the purest optimism' - if indeed traffic IS meaningful at all to anyone other than the LL statisticians.

In reality, people either like your creations or they don't. They either buy things, or they don't.

So as a content creator that owns a class five sim at almost $400USD/month, enjoys pottering about making stuff and sharing it, and one who has the ability to pay for a classified ad.. I remain bewildered at why 'traffic' for the sake of 'traffic' is supposed to be a Good Thing. I'm even more bewildered as to why anyone would think 'traffic' is the magic word to somehow 'justify' poor behaviour.

What I DO know is this, people who feel they are entitled to whinge and whine can get out of my 'garden' - the virtual roses don't need the horsesh**t.

Content Creators in SL Commence Action Against Content Theft

Just about every content creator in Second Life is concerned about the epidemic level of copying and straight out rip off of their designs and goods in Second Life. Short of being under a virtual rock it would be impossible not to be aware.

It's not clear whether it's the introduction of the copybot program or the increased use of third party viewers with their additional 'features' that has enabled such widespread theft, but one thing IS for sure, when Linden Labs uses as one of their main 'selling' points to prospective residents the ability to create content in SL (on the Linden Labs servers) they neglected to add the little 'detail' that once created and 'planted' in the SL 'fields', the creation will quite probably be harvested and resold in SL and other grid and Internet based markets by opportunistic thieves. Linden Labs also don't say that in fact their response to content theft is inadequate and slow to the point of enabling the content thieves. Yet it is all occurring on LL servers on a grid administered by LL salaried professional staff.

I have heard many (probably kids and those with the IQ of a carrot) that SL is a 'game', that it isn't 'real' money, that this doesn't matter, that it's not 'real' theft, that the content creators are 'only in it for the money' and somehow 'deserve' to be ripped off; that it's no big deal. Let's dig a hole, scrape the abovementioned idiot group into it and look at this issue logically....

Second Life is enhanced by the content created by residents. Without it there are no shopping, clubs, builds, great sims and environments to explore and enjoy, no virtual weapons, spaceships, vehicles etc. There are no schools, universities, community discussion and self help groups. In short.. what would it look like without content creators' creations? Cos funnily enough, it isn't Linden Lab providing all that you enjoy and that enhances your SL experience.

Without content creators you may as well be on email. Oh wait.. someone created email too..

Now here is the odd thing.. you may need to really engage brains and think about this.... ready.... this is a biggie....sitting comfortably for this Big Revealing Fact?

Content creation takes time.

'OMG!' I hear you say!....'It does?'

See, content does not create itself. (Told you this was a Big Fact..)

Content creation time at the hourly rate of say a web page developer = $
NOT lindens which can be converted to USD, but real money in real time. See here's the odd thing.. braced for another Big Fact?...

People.. real people.. with real computers, and real flesh and blood bodies at real keyboards with real (expensive) 3D and graphics programs... use their tools and skills to CREATE something that others can use. Yet for some reason, when it comes to bringing their creations into SL and even charging for it, they make themselves the target of those who feel they are entitled to a freebie life (the Gimmee-gimmee toddler mentality) or those who want to make a quick buck by stealing and reselling ( the 'psst wanna buy a watch...it fell off the back of a truck' brigade).

So what are content creators doing about this situation?

Well one group has lodged a submission for Class action against Linden Labs in the NY Supreme Court. For those unaware, a class action is a group of content creators in this instance - not just one content creator.

The 'Step Up' Campaign has been established and the number of content creators joining this campaign and taking strategic action is growing daily. Among these actions are 'designated no upload days'. As Linden Labs charges 10L for every texture and file upload this may help demonstrate a level of economic impact - of course the problem with this is that there will probably be double uploads the following day, but at least LL may be able to have a measure of the level of dissatisfaction and concern. The first designated 'no upload day' is November 5th slt. (see: http://stepupsl.wordpress.com/)

One would think that LL would already be able to identify these figures given they form a large part of the ongoing LL income.. but it seems either they 1) have not the technology to count these uploads and report on them in their monthly financial reports or 2) they don't think them significant enough to be concerned about. I doubt the former and feel the latter would be foolish and short-sighted.

Another form of action is now increasing. Many content creators are now selling their creations on the web and delivering in virtual worlds directly. They are charging $USD via for example, paypal or credit card at a price they feel makes creation and selling creations worth their while. This of course seems sensible, particularly given most harvesting the lush fields of LL are selling the stolen goods to other grids - the Open Sim users being the largest market of opportunity.

So what does this mean for LL and content creator residents? Watch this space.

In the meantime, previous court actions taken against LL have offered obiter dictum that has been followed. That the SL economy is 'real' that it translates to $USD through legitimate conversion and exchange. That SL is NOT a game, it carries none of the pre-requisites of a 'game'. That SL is a social networking and economic/commercial/business venture. That the LL Terms of Service does not override contract and criminal law either domestic or international. I predict another out of court settlement to avoid hard precedent being set.

If this proposed class action succeeds, and there is no reason to believe it won't, this will herald in a new era for LL and content creators on the LL/SL grid.

And remember, every time someone rips off someones work, every time someone accepts the stolen goods either on SL or other grids, the eventual cost increases to all but the thief. Make no mistake, this is theft.

SLAM Magazine

I love satire and I adore irony so when I stumbled across the SLAM Magazine site recently I was interested. It seems it is a 'hoist by their own petard' site and that appeals to me in a curious way.*

One of the first articles that struck me was one where the subject of the article, glitterati poses, and it's posemaker, the avatar Katey Coppola had been involved in publicly defacing a competitor's entry in a photo competition. Glitterati and Coppola are an avatar representation of a natural person and his/her business based in a social networking site, Second Life.

The appeal of this article was that the admissions and the pictures of the defacement were in the offenders own words and pictures as posted publicly on the Internet by the offender herself.

The really intriguing aspect though, was reading the comments, I suspect from the offender or cohorts under a 'nom de plume stating, offender's 'side' was not represented - yet the total article was the offender and cohorts own words!

The irony of this did not escape me.

* http://slammagazine1.blogspot.com/

Photolife and Challenge to SL Herald: Inaccurate Reporting

On Copyright: Intent or Mistake?

After having read some of the blogs on this issue, I have chosen to reprint this response from photoLife. I note that photolife has offered information on the events, photographic illustrations and has removed any barriers to the 5 minute reviewer, or indeed any preferably unbiased and professional reviewer being unable to' afford the time taken' to undertake a more thorough review. Such a review of course may merely provide more criticism toward photoLife, but that is a chance photoLife management has chosen to take.

The contentious issues are addressed in this post from photoLife. Within this post there are plenty of 'pointers' to the more salacious blogs on the matter for those interested in 'anonymous' comments and general gasoline throwers (my feelings on 'anonymous comments are that they should not receive print space - either have the courage to stand identified with your statements or be quiet.). Of course there are many who simply adore salacious comments, anonymous posts and buy gossip rags at the supermarket. Bless their lil' hearts.

.....................

If These Walls Could Talk - A Challenge to Tenshi Vielle

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is OomPoppaMowMow Snookums, the creator and owner of the photoLIFE Photography System. If you’ve ever heard the song “Elvira” by the Oakridge Boys then you probably recognize the name. Yeah… you're welcome. I know you’re trying to get that song out of your head now. I suggest the Gilligan's Island theme for that. Anyway, recently an article was published in the Herald targeting photoLIFE as a company that casually disregarded someone’s artistic rights and seemed to feel good about doing it, while just a few articles below, the editor of the Herald states in an article of her own that “The Herald adheres to the highest standards of journalistic integrity”. While I can say I feel very confident this editor purposes to uphold these standards, I’d like to address the standards held in the article about photoLIFE written by Tenshi Vielle.

Obviously me being personally involved I'm here to give a different side of the story. I commend the great editor for allowing it and offer a sound ear for any reasonable feedback. Rather than spend a large amount of time trying to convince you what we "really meant" by uploading someone's photos without permissions, or why it wasn't "really that bad", I'd rather take you on a different journey. One that isn't based on what my view is, but one that has been agreed to by all parties involved.

Yes, that’s right. The photographer whose work was mishandled has agreed to all of the following points.

1. The photo that was allegedly being sold was actually a 20 meter long wall that contained a total of 19 other photographs from several other photographers all linked together, many of which contained the name of the photography studio right on the photo itself. The wall also had the name of the photoLIFE Flickr site written on it showing where these photos were located. Can anyone imagine who would want to purchase a 20 meter long wall of photos from photography studios around the grid? Common sense says nobody except maybe the owner of the photography studio used to make the photos would have a need for an item like that.

Would You Buy This Wall?
The photos appearing on this wall are all replacements by Team photoLIFE members so that the exhibit could continue in the SLBD event. We received 20 high quality full perm photos to use on the wall within 5 minutes of the request. Thank you Team photoLIFE.

2. The SLBD event does not allow any items up for sale. That fact alone should help suggest that this was a mistake. The builder of the wall exhibit used a prim from his inventory that had once been used to sell something. He was in a very big hurry to finish the build for me and had not stopped to check permissions on his wall.

3. LL has reviewed the incident and the exhibit was corrected to comply with TOS. Intent has a lot to do with how something is handled. Doing photography in SL for almost 2 years and running a group of over 500 photographers we have never had a case where one photographer was stealing another’s work to profit, but imagine a 20 foot wall of photographs with the logo of the studio and photographers name on the front of most.

4. The individual whose work was taken without permission states that she never felt like the intention to take her material was malicious, but that if the other individual involved would have been more apologetic than this story would have never been told. Everyone involved agreed that this was not handled correctly and again new policies are in place to prevent this from happening again, but would the story have been as interesting to have heard the individual never felt it was intentionally malicious.

5. As soon as I became aware of this incident I contacted the individual involved to personally apologize. This was never written or followed up about but photoLIFE was portrayed to be as thoughtless and heartless as possible.

6. The writer of the article and the photographer involved are personal friends. Probably a good reason not to mention this one. Not giving full disclosure of these facts prevents the reader from being able to judge clearly how unsensational this story really is. Makes it harder to get those hits on the blogs, yanno.

7. The photographer had an already well known dislike for the photoLIFE staff. They've stated that this whole problem would have just gone away if the builder of the wall would have been more kind. While I do agree with that statement, I do believe the level of hostility was far worse due to the already strained relationship between the two.

Hardly the same story huh? You know these kinds of facts are hard to miss.

For me, I can understand why this photographer became angry. They had a right to be. I can accept the fact that a mistake was made and some public trust was lost. I will work hard to restore trust in the company I have worked so hard to create. Thankfully, all parties involved including the photographer have agreed that this issue has been settled.

• I have implemented 10 new policies that are designed to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.
• I have discussed this issue with the photographer on numerous occasions emphatically apologizing for all that was done wrong, and
• recently published a public apology, not for public opinion, but based on a conversation I had with this photographer. We have a relationship that is important to me. Yes, even after all of this.

What I don't accept
is the writer not making every effort to get all sides
of the story. Even if she were extremely partial,
the most biased journalist think it's important to contact all
parties for every view on the subject.

After a conversation with Pixeleen Mistral about a one sided article written in her publication, she assured me that she wanted to have more than one side of this story.
By her request I wrote this article and forwarded it to her.
She did not respond to any of my messages.
I take this action to mean the SL Herald has no interest in seeing any other side of this story.

photoLIFE will soon begin the task of getting a professional review from a journalist who takes pride and honor in their work ... that work will be published as soon as its' available. Our product, the photoLIFE 3.0 is held in high regard by hundreds of users. I believe a full and fair review will indicate this as well.

While portraying our company in the worst possible light wasn’t good enough for the writer, her partner decided to join the fun and write a review of our flagship product on their blog. Can you guess where this is going? It's not really hard is it?

This 'review' was said to be a 5 minute “look” at our system.
A system that’s estimated to have a 2 week learning curve got a 5 minute "look" without any demonstration from any photoLIFE rep involved.
Nice review huh. I can see the creators around SL lining up for these 5 minute reviews now.

It’s no surprise it was less than stellar. The truth is the photoLIFE system is one of the most comprehensive available and 5 minutes can not begin to give a clear picture of what it is capable of. For any review ever done on the system, we offer a demonstration by someone who is familiar with it. We've had many reviews done and this is the first that wasn't absolutely 100 percent positive. I constantly get individuals contacting me saying how much they love their studio long after they’ve purchased it.

Anyone that knows me or has ever met me in photoLIFE will tell you that I don’t push my products. I often suggest that others go around SL and see what’s available, to take their time, and that photoLIFE isn't for everyone. Also, our customer service program has been said by many to be the best in SL and I'll proudly stand by that statement.

-------The Challenge To Tenshi Vielle--------------

A challenge for a full and fair review on the photoLIFE 3.0 studio.

The Rules

1. A demonstration given by myself at my home in SL lasting 1-2 hours.
2. The Editor of the Herald will be invited to attend.
3. Your review must be based on a fair perspective on what the studio actually does.
4. You can't use excessive profanity or strange versions of the words douche.
5. You can't be personally insulting.
6. No promotional statements of other products offered by other companies. Comparisons are fine as long as it’s not an obvious promotion.
7. The review must be written in a fair and professional manner not discussing outside issues other than the performance of the studio itself.

If you decide to accept the challenge you will be compensated for your time to stand for the review and the article you write. 3000L appears to be a fair price for these two things. You will also be given a gift certificate of the photoLIFE 3.0 studio to use yourself or give to a photographer friend for references during the writing of the review.

During the demonstration you will be able to bring one photographer friend along with you. This photographer must have been in the photography business in SL with a commercial studio in business for at least 90 days. We are flexible on this requirement but you can see it would make sense for a fair review of a photography studio.

If you decide to accept this challenge, know that I do have knowledge of you as a very talented and capable writer. I'd just like you to do it with full knowledge of the product.

Once your review is written, and it meets the criteria stated above, I will publish it in the Opium Sim blog and send it to the Team photoLIFE group. That's me being fair.

If the product sucks horribly you should be very excited about another opportunity to tear it apart publicly.

It's my hopes that you'll see what over 1000 other users have seen. A studio built with the development and feedback of hundreds of photographers doing business in SL.

I look forward to your response.

LIFE is GOOD
OomPoppaMowMow Snookums