voyeurism

veritasraymaker.sl

this blog can now be accessed through the URL veritasraymaker.sl

:-)

Technorati Tags: Second Life

for the record - my name at Google's Lively

just posting this for the record - so no one gets confused down the road :-)

my name over at Google's Lively is veritas.raymaker

introducing the Six Learnings

the one-hundred-and-fifty-fourth episode of ventriloquy introduces the Six Learnings.

the Six Learnings refer to the framework which i have conceptualised in order to make sense of the educational affordances of virtual worlds in general, and (so far) of Second Life in particular.

the Six Learnings are:
- learning by being;
- learning by exploring;
- learning by collaborating;
- learning by building;
- learning by championing; and
- learning by expressing.

the Six Learnings are not arranged hierarchically, nor are they mutually exclusive. in this 3.9 MB download, i briefly introduce each to you.

Show notes:
- Bay City in Second Life
- Celestial Requiem NYC
- Jaws
- Amity Island in Second Life
- Topher Zwiers's 4 July 2008 entry (Business Class vs. Content Class Virtual Worlds) MUVE Forward

Introducing the Starling Project

the one-hundred-and-forty-sixth episode of ventriloquy introduces the Starling Project.

The Starling Project refers to my proposed research into an education initiative in Second Life and other virtual worlds, that will keep me busy till 2011.

i am applying for funding for the Starling Project, under the third round of Singapore's National Research Foundation's Research & Development Programme on Interactive and Digital Media in Education.

please do join me in this 3.3 MB download, as i share how i came to decide on the name for the project.

Additional reading:
- Carl Zimmer's 2 May 2006 article (Starlings' listening skills may shed light on language evolution) The New York Times

Other projects named Starling:
- The Starling Project Foundation, Inc. (classical music education)
- Teach the starlings (biogeography education)
- Project Starling (social science research)
- The Starling database program

air to the throne

MacBook Air, and its solid-state predecessor from eleven years ago :-)

Raymaker Land Management

Welcome to Raymaker Land Management!

We offer a select number of choice rentals in Second Life.

All our land and water parcels are operated against a carbon-offset scheme. We are one of the first land operators in Second Life to do so.

Raymaker Land Management has a small gallery at Livigno, from where you can learn more about the rental opportunities we offer.

There is also a vendor at the gallery, which enables you to teleport to any rental plot, or just pay the vendor directly to initiate your rental.

Presently, we have parcels on the Linden mainland, some of which are flat and ready for you to build your dream home, while others already have enchanting builds there for that quick weekend getaway.

We also have a number of water parcels for your boating and aquatic-lifestyle needs.

For those who prefer high-rise living with great ocean views, we have partnered with ukryan Bloch at Unzen, where we offer a few apartments for rent at reasonable rates.

Finally, coming online later in 2008 are choice residential and light commercial rentals at the new Temasek sim. Temasek is planned to be a showcase of all that is best about the culture and ecology of Singapore. Temasek is owned by Veritas Raymaker, and its Chief Architect is Limkopi Davis.

Raymaker Land Management is run by Veritas Raymaker. Please feel free to send an IM in-world with your land queries and needs. Even if i am unable to fulfil them personally, i will try my best to help match you with someone who can.

Additional reading:
- Livigno

[update: as of 18 February, the premises of Raymaker Land Management has shifted to a larger plot at Durango.

Additional reading:
- Durango, Colorado]

... and so it begins ... #2

the original post which bore this title, was my very first post commemorating my first day in Second Life.

eight months later, i think it's worth documenting another milestone, just as significant.

we've only just begun...

:-)

the Raymaker Marine Environments Centre at Hatteras Island

the one-hundred-and-twentieth episode of ventriloquy introduces my main contribution to reef education in Second Life, to date.

the Raymaker Marine Environments Centre at Hatteras Island features informational exhibits, a simple model depicting how reef-health is affected by climate change, and a reef gallery.

i could not have embarked upon such a project by myself, and would like to take this opportunity to thank Meroth Junge, Nick Swamphen and Apolon Obscure in particular. Meroth built and scripted the reef-health model, Nick was responsible for the design and construction of the reef gallery, and Apolon designed, built and scripted the vessel which shuttles visitors between the two main parts of the Centre (regular visitors to this blog will, of course, know that my collaborations with Nick go back a long way).

i elaborate more on my thoughts and feelings on such collaborations in this 1.7 MB download.

when you do visit the Marine Environments Centre, you'll find that it's adjacent to St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum. even if you've already paid a visit to the latter, it might be worth having another look, as Apolon has just completed a hot-air balloon ride (which i've used to replace one of the teleports).

life is not so much in the destination, but in the journey :-)

[update 1: i have renamed the Centre as the Raymaker Field Studies Centre at Hatteras Island

update 2: as of 29 April 2008, the Raymaker Field Studies Centre at Hatteras Island is listed at b.places :-)

update 3: the Centre is closed with effect from 13 August 2008]

l'arc en ciel - the Matthew Shepard memorial

the one hundred and eighteenth episode of ventriloquy is probably the most personal that i have produced.

nine years' ago, i was taking a Masters course in Boston. in October 1998, i learned of the shocking circumstances surrounding the death of Matthew Wayne Shepard. the incident, and Matthew's life, left an indelible impression on me, even though i never had the privilege of knowing him.

today, i am finally able to honour his life and memory, in the best way that i know how. i have built a simple memorial in Provincetown North, less than a minute's walk away from the GLBT Holocaust memorial in Provincetown, and also within walking distance of the Provincetown Welcome Center, the Olde Church, and the Provincetown Memorial Park.

the Provincetown sims initially grew from an idea by Dillon Speculaas (RL: Dillon Jonas), and were primarily built by Kamael Xevious. nowadays, they are part of Anshe Chung's Dreamland 2007 Pride series.

l'arc en ciel - the Matthew Shepard memorial sits on a plot of land just over 3000 square metres in size. like la plage aux folles in the Whitsundays sim and St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum in the Jockeys Ridge sim, it represents my tribute to the lives of some of my heroes, and also to Real Life places which i've visited.

i've only been to Provincetown once, one cold winter morning in 1999. i went there in an empty greyhound coach from Boston, spent the afternoon there, and took the same empty greyhound coach back. i could have been a world away, even though i never left Massachusetts. Provincetown in winter is obviously off-season. most of the shops were closed, and i think i only talked to one person that day. it wasn't really anticlimactic, because i had not known what to expect. i spent most of the afternoon sitting on the pier, waiting for the bus to depart.

i don't want those memories to ever fade. they are a part of who i am.

l'arc en ciel - the Matthew Shepard memorial, is my way of keeping this critical part of my identity alive.

on the surface, Matthew and i shared little in common. He was a white farmboy from rural America, i'm born and raised in bustling urban Singapore. but dig a little deeper and Matthew and i were much more alike - not least in our love of God, and the knowledge that, come what may, our souls have been ransomed by the blood of the risen Lamb, for eternity.

nothing will ever change that.

please join me in this 2.6 MB download.

[update 1: Blue Cinder has shared some history behind the Provincetown sims in her comment to this post :-) thank you, Blue Cinder! ]

[update 2: 15 October 2007. there is now an open-subscription no-joining-fee group in-world, known as the Matthew Shepard Foundation in SL, founded by Connor Whitman. i would also like to thank Zazen Pixel for the very generous donation to the upkeep of the memorial. i greatly appreciate it, Zazen :-) ]

[update 3: 30 August 2008. the memorial is closed. thank you to all of you who have visited.]

Show notes:
- Matthew Shepard (wikipedia entry)
- the Matthew Shepard Foundation
- a QuickTime VR panorama i took in Provincetown back in 1999
- Sherpa Voyager's 6 March blog entry (GLBT Holocaust Memorial) Second Seeker - Unofficial Second Life Reviews

St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum

the one-hundred-and-seventeenth episode of ventriloquy introduces my most ambitious project in Second Life to date.

St Michel - the Jules Verne Museum is likely the first facility of its size in Second Life to honour the life and creative works of Jules Gabriel Verne.

please do join me in this 1.9 MB download, in which i share with you a little of how i came to conceptualise the Museum, and some of the design considerations that i attempted to bear in mind while building it.

it's been extremely challenging constructing something of this scale, so far outside my zone of comfort and domain expertise. yet at the same time, for these very reasons, the learning journey that this endeavour represents has been equally rewarding, and arguably more so than usual.

whether you're a Verne aficionado, or a Verne newbie, whether you're approaching the Museum as a casual visitor, or as a curriculum designer, it is my hope that there's a lesson somewhere for each of us to ponder :-)

Show notes:
- A View to a Kill (wikipedia entry)

[update 1: as of 25 August 2008, the Museum is closed. i would like to thank all of you who took the time to visit :-)

update 2: as of 1 January 2009, please visit the Museum at its new location at Lily]