So what are you reading? New York Times article: "End of the University as we know it"

Currently screen-reading this & installing software: New York Times' article: End of the University as we know it... need a coffee?

Pooky Amsterdam and her quick wit at Alliance Virtual Library Awards Event

Playlist of Golden Leaf Awards videos (6 videos available in SD or HD):
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A62EAF659A614A28
(Note: click on the HQ (high quality) or HD (high definition) button on the YouTube player to view better quality or larger videos (1280x720 = HD)
Part 1: Arriving at the Cinesphere: Pooky Amsterdam greeting attendees with the microphone and her quick wit... with everyone fighting lag as they make it along the red carpet to the wacky teleporter.
Attendees who were recorded include: Krull Aeon for design and creation of the Golden Leaf Award and the beautiful building where the awards were held (see the end of part 6 for great shots of the building and interior). DaisyBlue Hefferman for the interior decoration of the building. Daisyblue's voice instructions for using voice/microphones were super too!
Remember HQ.... really.... click on the teeny tiny HQ button at the lower right of the YouTube player, else you'll be thinking you need glasses or I'm a terrible machinimatographer. OH, remember there was mucho lag. .. your life depends on it. hahahahah says HVX Silverstar

Virtual World Conferences: VWLEM 2009 Conference Planning Meeting

VLEM 2009 Conference Meeting: March 2, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

The Virtual Worlds Libraries Education & Museums Conference will be held in the virtual world of Second Life and some of the presentations will also available on the web via Adobe Connect, April 24-25, 2009.
For further information on the keynote speakers and presentations: http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds
For the YouTube playlist of commercials created by Valibrarian, Pia Klaar and HVX Silverstar (me): http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B4809870F4C04968
The planning team is currently reading through presentation proposals on a variety of topics including:

-Virtual world events and exhibits as the drivers of attendance and engagement
-Immersive learning environments
-Reference service possibilities and practicalities in virtual worlds
-Corporate and special librarianship in virtual worlds
-Educational tools and resources
-Enterprise uses of virtual worlds
-Tours of LEM locations in Second Life
-Gaming and virtual worlds
-VW LEM opportunities for children, tweens, and teens
-Dreams and visions for LEM activities in virtual worlds
-Assessing LEM initiatives in virtual worlds
-Sustainability issues and opportunities for LEM activities in virtual worlds

Stay tuned for updates including registration times, price and orientation for speakers and attendees:

Conference Schedule (tentative):
Friday, April 24, 2009, from noon to 4:00 p.m. Second Life Time (U.S. Pacific Time):

noon to 12:45 p.m.: Keynote Panel (no conflict)
1:00 to 1:45 p.m.: First group of sessions
2:00 to 2:45 p.m.: Second group of sessions
3:00 to 3:45 p.m.: Third group of sessions
4:00 to 4:45 p.m.: Social event

Saturday, April 25, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to noon Second Life Time (U.S. Pacific Time):

8:00 to 8:45 a.m.: Keynote Panel (no conflict)
9:00 to 9:45 a.m.: First group of sessions
10:00 to 10:45 a.m.: Second group of sessions
11:00 to 11:45 a.m.: Third group of sessions

I am Library: an ode to self-discovery & collective creativity in Second Life® in HD 720p

I'm slowly uploading HD versions of videos/machinima about the Alliance Virtual Library to YouTube.  Be sure to click on the 'full screen' icon at bottom right of the youtube player (square icon).
Here is the one from October 2008: 

I am Library: an ode to self-discovery & collective creativity in Second Life®
To view in full screen, follow the link to YouTube and click on the square 'full screen' icon at lower right side of youtube window.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCoy6MABQM&fmt=22


******************************************************************************
The title proclamation needs a bit of explanation... some excerpts below
Second Life: The Journey toward Virtual World adoption
 .... In order to see the library community of Second Life in context, it is necessary to follow some of the recent Second Life milestones. The proclamation “I am Library” is an ode to self-discovery, in an individual sense; for the people who are the library communities of Second Life, it’s a journey of exploration filled with collective curiosity and creativity as the current presence of “Library” evolves within the context of the greater virtual landscape.....
I am both physical and virtual.
Imagination and creativity…
I am part of a simulated 3D environment created by its users.
Yet I am more. I am global.  I am local. 
I am Community.  I am social.
I am sharing, collaboration and learning. 
I am Library.
I am part of a trans-media journey where destination is experience.
I am the structures and open space, brought to life by the residents of the virtual world.
I am an extension of the physical world relying on broadband and accelerated graphics.
I am here.  I am real, part of the collective creativity…”

Embedding the Karuna Machinma in high quality by editing the YouTube embed code...

View on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRoyYJqc_0c&fmt=18



View on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJVF9gzqkE&fmt=18

Editing the default embed code to force the high quality version:
default URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nJVF9gzqkE
Note the URL in the embed code is different...
http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE&hl=en&fs=1
Now, remove the following code from the end of the video: &hl=en&fs=1
You will end up with this: http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE
so...

now add the following code to the URL:&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE&ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8nJVF9gzqkE&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

'Open Mind' Keynote Presentation at Open Holland by Claudia L'Amoreaux (Linden) this morning

http://www.vuvox.com/collage/detail/09f6e15d8

MacBook Air Baby!

I have heard it referred to as a "big ipod".... Anyway, I had been waiting for a demo of the new computer in my local campus
computer store, and yesterday they finally cracked open one of the boxes rather than just selling them as they came in.
So, would this tiny thing that can fit inside an envelope atually run SL?

The computer was logged onto the campus wireless network...
I pulled up secondlife.com and downloaded the latest version of SL (very quickly while everyone was busy)
and ran it from the desktop since I did not have admin permissions on it.

Up it came... logged in to my favourite haunt, Wastelands, went for a walk, flew across the bridge, teleported to Eduisland 3,
Machinima Institute & Cafe... hit the movie button to stream our small version of the Goldsphere machinima
from blip.tv (320x240, h.264 codec, fast start)... jumped up to the roof... well, that took a couple of seconds... as I had just hit the movie button to play media... so, a bit of a hiccup.

I didn't get a chance to change any of the preferences.. but I will. Anyway, it's a magnificent piece of work.
http://blip.tv/file/749580

Yea, I'm buying this baby!
Note: You may not want to use it as your main means of transport to SL.. .but it will get you there for a tour and maybe more. I'll load SnapzproX on it and try to capture it... So I have no plans for any heavy work, graphics, video or anything like that... but it's great for day-to-day upkeep and traveling... mostly because it's not 8 pound alien).

In this shot it's actually flying across my living room...

Goldsphere...

Virtual Worlds Conference: March 8, 2008 in SL

Register for the conference: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem/virtualworlds
The cost of the conference is $30US paid in Linden dollars in SL.
What's your guess on a Linden... paper or coin? I imagine it looks much like a Canadian Loonie, quite a weight to be carting around in SL.
View the bigger Blip.tv version of this video http://blip.tv/file/662679 or the embedded version below. I have also embedded in the "dodgy" YouTube version in the earlier post.

Click to play

Machinima was filmed in wireframe on location in TALIS and Eye4YouAlliance (Teen SL)