Really

I’m part of a group trying to organize a book fair in SL. The others include people like Selina Greene, Neo Rebus, and Jilly Kidd, who are real book people, publishers, authors, editors, and book sellers. I’m just helping out in any way I can, so I’m posting our CFP here. Time is running out, so send in your proposals now!

Second Life Book Fair
April 20-22, 2007

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The SL Book Fair brings together publishers, book sellers, authors, book developers, and readers to present and share their ideas around the use of books in Second Life. We are inviting members of the community to submit proposals for participation in the book fair in the following categories:

• Presentations. Share thoughts, new ideas, or experiences related to books in SL.
• Discussions. Lead a group or panel discussion exploring a particular issue such as copyright and DRM, usability, business models, or ways to translate books into virtual worlds.
• Exhibits. Showcase your latest books, book technology, or service.
• Events. Organize readings, parties, competitions, or other events to run concurrently with the book fair to promote your location or business.

Submissions should consists of 2 paragraphs including your name and affiliation, an abstract describing your proposed presentation, discussion, exhibit, or event, and any requirements or constraints (number of prims needed for display, audio streaming, or slide projectors, for example).

Please submit a notecard with your proposal to Poinky Malaprop, or at the submission box in the SL Book Fair office at the Vision Publishing Village (Wallaby 134, 96, 54).

Submissions must be received by March 30, 2007. Submitters will be notified of the status of their proposal by April 6, 2007.

For more information, join the SL Book Fair group, or contact Poinky Malaprop.

One of the projects I worked on earlier this year was creating a video, shot entirely in Second Life. The result was presented at an internal meeting, and showed Sophie Vandebroek talking about XIG strategy, and then giving a tour of Second Life.

We put up a short version of the video on Sophie’s section of the Xerox thoughtleadership web site: stop the flash animation (I mean, after you’ve watched it of course!), then go to “Learn more” and select “second life video”.

Tidbits from the DVD extras:

When I say I worked on the video, I mean that I watched while the professionals from Beta Technologies and Full House NY did all the work.

One regret I have is that the video did not show Sophie’s office in more detail. It looks just like the real thing:

My favorite piece is the the desk sculpture:

RL Thinker

SL Thinker (Goal was low prim-count, rather than an exact copy)

Xerox currently has made some small in-roads into Second Life. There is Xerox Innovation Island, a private space for Xerox Employees to use as a base for exploration and experimentation. We’re also playing with using the Xerox lastname, so you may see avatars with names like “JonasKarlsson Xerox” running around the grid (be nice to them!). The PlayOn group at PARC have of course been investigating the social dynamics of avatars for a while, but they don’t have an official presence in-world, as far as I know.

The first reference to Xerox I saw in Second Life was on the Text100 island, shortly after they launched.

There we were, showcased as one of their customers! That display seems to be gone now, and I have not seen any other Xerox related builds elsewhere.

Interestingly, there seems to be around 40 avatars with the Xerox first name. Employees, or just people who like the sound of the name? Maybe this is good news for the Xerox brand? How many avatars use our competitors’ names as their first name?

That is the current state, as far as I know. Let’s see how it changes in the next couple of months.