[iDC] The SL Unleashing.

Mon Jan 11 17:53:32 UTC 2010

LL gives all academic and not-for-profits a 50% discount on land/ 
island purchases.
That is quite a discount. Most other cost (outside of advertizing)  
such as services, objects, scripts are sold by other SL members not  
by LL.
The pennies of upload costs for media do not deserve mention.

I believe LL should be a 'model citizen' and promote fair working  
conditions (I'm sure someone from LL is following this topic).
But (unless the transgressions are egregious) I do separate the  
company from the product they make.
While wondering myself if SL has stagnated in their development or  
made unwise turns in their management philosophy, I feel there is too  
much Linden-bashing in these posts.

So I feel compelled to come to the defense of SL:
To me SL is a wonderfully creative tool with a very low learning  
curve for basic tools.  I do not expect Maya functionality in a real- 
time app. The camaraderie was mentioned already. SL brings together  
like-minded people across cultures (though anglo-american dominated).  
It is far from perfect, but it has much potential if the development  
keeps up with other virtual or social media platforms.

I find it actually quite a compromise between commercialism and  
altruism. I do not know of another platform with that extent of  
functionality, popularity, accessibility etc that has the option to  
be free of charge at a low level. I know WOW has free servers - but  
you do not own the assets, a hugely important aspect to me.

Yes, I have a laundry list of complaints - but bottom line LL  
provides me with a very affordable, creative tool that they support  
and develop. Of course they have to have commercial clients. It would  
be naive to think they could exists from just the artistic and  
academic community alone, such as Allan's $14 or my own frugal ways.  
In fact we are piggy-backing on the financing of the likes of IBM.

So let's play nice and share some of our ideas and playbor.
(For the record - nobody pays me to write this)

Best,

Mechthild Schmidt

Mechthild Schmidt
Degree coordinator, Clinical Associate Professor
Digital Communications and Media
McGhee Division, New York University
726 Broadway, #669
New York, NY 10003
mschmidt at nyu.edu

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--------
on cost of climate bills:
“... take into account ... the cost of inaction, which is the  
extinction of the human race. Period.”
Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Bank Asset Management, who  
tracks climate policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/science/earth/09cost.html?th&emc=th
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--------

On Jan 10, 2010, at 11:33 AM, Lynn Hershman wrote:

> The original linden folks were committed to the arts and offered  
> student
> art competition with not only free land but $5000.00 prizes.  Also  
> helped
> in an installation at the Venice biennalle,
> San Jose tech museum and my installation at sf moma.
> I am not sure if this continued when the new administrators  came in.
> Simon Biggs wrote:
>> I am not aware of Linden sponsoring any academic institutions or  
>> research
>> projects. However, they do make free land available for one off
>> time-limited
>> educational activities. I considered that as a taster to attract  
>> deeper
>> (paying) involvement, but perhaps it is part of a larger marketing
>> strategy?
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>> Simon Biggs
>>
>> Research Professor
>> edinburgh college of art
>> s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
>> www.eca.ac.uk
>>
>> Creative Interdisciplinary Research into CoLlaborative Environments
>> CIRCLE research group
>> www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
>>
>> simon at littlepig.org.uk
>> www.littlepig.org.uk
>> AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>>
>>
>>
>> From: helen varley jamieson <helen at creative-catalyst.com>
>> Reply-To: <helen at creative-catalyst.com>
>> Date: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:22:04 +1300
>> To: 'idc' <idc at mailman.thing.net>
>> Subject: Re: [iDC] The SL Unleashing.
>>
>> linden must also benefit enormously from all the academic research
>> that's been done into/around SL; i wonder, does linden fund/sponsor
>> anything, or are the universities/researchers paying for their  
>> land etc
>> as well as donating the research?
>>
>> helen
>>
>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> ____________________________________________________________
>>
>> helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
>> helen at creative-catalyst.com
>> http://www.creative-catalyst.com
>> http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
>> http://www.upstage.org.nz
>> ____________________________________________________________
>>
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>> Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in  
>> Scotland, number
>> SC009201
>>
>>
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> iDC at mailman.thing.net
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