[iDC] The SL Unleashing.

Sat Jan 9 14:59:04 UTC 2010

Ricardo, the people who are getting paid, even minimally, to do what they
love are not the people who can work critically on the situation; look at
college campus adjuncts.

It's great that you're working outside of the situation (I assume that
you're working?  You're citing some unsubstantiated claims below that I
assume that you've researched and have backing for?), but in order for there
to be a situation, people have to work inside of it too.

How is the work for Linden Labs any different from any other first job
students take?  If they don't research the outcomes of any given job, it's
just as likely to be a dead-end for them; at the same time, I've done shit
minimum-wage jobs long enough to know that I'd rather teach for $10 an hour
than clean bathtubs and toilets for $8 an hour.

I'm glad that you're working to expose the injustices of the world; I just
want you to add a little color to your black-and-white picture.

Deanya Lattimore, PhD candidate/adjunct IFL
Deanya Zenfold, newbie resident ISL

On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 10:20 PM, <ricardo at ambriente.com> wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> I'm not on Second Life although I'm one of those people who created an
> avatar long ago and didn't return to it.
>
> I'm writing now, because when I read about critical artists using SL, I'm
> dumbfounded by the lack of criticality toward Linden Lab, their treatment
> toward employees and that artists using SL are uncritically contributing
> to a commercial product with questionable ethics.
>
> I'm largely writing from the position of an educator who has seen
> talented, young students eagerly take jobs with Linden Lab only to be
> overworked and underpaid - taken advantage of for lack of professional
> experience.  Linden Lab has a history of hiring young talented college
> graduates, paying them a low salary and demanding well over 8 hours a day.
>  Kids stick with the job, because they think it will lead them somewhere.
> I find this treatment of young artists entirely unethical.  And it's
> disappointing to here of critically engaged artists using a corporate
> platform without a critical perspective toward the corporation that they
> are playing tribute to by contributing to its environment and popularity
> while it mistreats its employees.
>
> ricardo
>
> > Hello everyone.
> >
> > I've been reading in on this thread with great interest, and Stephanie
> was
> > saying back-channel, "When is Patrick going to say something?", because
> > she
> > knows I will.
> >
> >
> >
> > There is too much going on to write about - warning - lots of links.
> >
> >
> >
> > First of all, I'd like to say that although SL has been a primary medium
> > for
> > the past 3-4 years, I still love it as an artform and hold it deeply
> > circumspect.  There is wonderful energy out there, fantastic synergies,
> > abut
> > also egregious misunderstandings between previously unfamiliar
> > constituencies.  There are also groups, called "Immersives" by blogger
> > Bettina Tizzy that insist the primacy/importance of SL over the quotidian
> > world, and I have talked extensively with Cao Fei's creative team to
> > understand that most of the community in-world has no idea what a
> > Trienniale
> > is.
> >
> >
> >
> > But this is also puzzling, as there are immense numbers of people who are
> > trying to become famous there.  (That's why I have an avatar called "Andy
> > Rembrandt" that runs the Second Factory. More on that in a few months).
> >
> >
> >
> > I think that the article talking about the demise of SL is a product of
> > two
> > things: First, the failure of SL to take over the entire net (as it
> seemed
> > like Linden promised it would, which was impossible), and the disjuncture
> > of
> > social connections/communities.  Obviously, someone just coming in and
> > rooting around for a bit is not going to be swarmed by the  community and
> > swept off to all the digerati parties, and they don't happen 24/7.  You
> > have
> > to know who's throwing the party, and when to be there.  Therefore, I
> > think
> > that the writer just expects the parties to be endless, but I seem to be
> > taking an opposite polemic.
> >
> >
> >
> > What has been happening?  This could be a few pages in itself, really.
> >
> > A few notes, though.
> >
> > First for Lynn - Odyssey's administrator is burnt out and wants help or
> to
> > retire, and no one is willing to take it on.  It may fold if this is not
> > filled.
> >
> > Second - yes - Gazira.  She's been on extended vacation, as SL burns you
> > out, as time compresses in virtual worlds, due to the degree of
> > interaction
> > required to maintain mindshare, and the amount of involvement that
> occurs.
> >
> >
> >
> > This Fall, Gazira (and I) had a show in Ljubiana, Slovenia where she did
> > some great interventions where she asked people to converse with Gazira,
> > and
> > also showed a video frame version of our piece, 7UP.
> >
> > http://www.gazirababeli.com/actingasaliens.php
> >
> > http://www.gazirababeli.com/TEXTS.php?t=canweunderstandavatars
> >
> > http://www.gazirababeli.com/COLLABORATIONS.php
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > This Fall, Scott Kildall and I, Aland Sondheim and Foofwa L'immobilite,
> > and
> > Lily and Honglei did a wonderful mixed reality show at Eyebeam, where
> > Second
> > Front unlocked a crypt of Data Mummies, Alan and Foofwa did an amazing
> > dance
> > performance (and Sandy Baldwin as well, sorry), and Lily and Honglei took
> > people on a tour of their amazing Sunken City, a critique of the Three
> > Rivers Project in China.  Beautiful work.
> >
> >
> http://thesecondfront.blogspot.com/2009/10/second-front-release-avvie-road-d
> > vd-at.html
> >
> >
> >
> > For what I have been doing, I'd like to send you
> > http://patricklichty.wordpress.com/
> >
> > This includes a nod by Art21, my retrospective, and new texts in the
> > Performa 07 catalogue (I wrote the Second Front one anonymously), and the
> > new piece in Public Art Review.
> >
> >
> >
> > Stephanie and Jeff just had their virtual sweatshop at laboral, Lynn has
> > been ongoing, Cao Fei has been doing great things with RMB, which has its
> > first anniversary coming,
> >
> >
> >
> > This is just the tip of the iceberg - I'll talk more, but I'm going to go
> > play bingo with joncates at the  moment.
> >
> >
> >
> > What do these people want?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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-- 
Deanya Lattimore
704/466/3689 home
704/406/3209 office
ABD PhD. Syracuse University
Adjunct, Gardner-Webb University
http://www.deanya.com
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