Hi! I’m Craig Novi – this blogger’s online avatar in Second Life. While I’m not used much, I still think I’m pretty cool.
Right… *ahem* let’s stop the role playing.
I’ve been playing Second Life on and off for a little while – but it’s never really held my interest since it’s been slow to load textures and has been adopted by a lot of people who feel they can share their ‘alternative interests’. Let’s just say it’s not the best place for kids.
One thing I was surprised about was when Aral Balkan, head of the <head> web conference, tweeted that he with the creative digital agency We are Here built the <head> island and was online last night touring the place. It wasn’t complete – but it looked awesome and will act as the ‘virtual hub’ for the online web conference happening from the 24th – 26th this month.
One thing that’s surprised me about Second Life is that there are two distinct things that happen there, and I have never seen them overlap. While there are a lot of people with their ‘alternative lifestyles’, it’s also used a lot by conferences and businesses as a promotional tool. I’ve been to music gigs, conferences, interviews and a few other things I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. To show how things can go – there’s even churches with an online congregation each and every Sunday! While I’ve not been here much, it looks like if given improvement in speed, it could very well become a great tool for everyone.
Right, enough babbling – let’s have a look at the <head> island.
Here’s us at the main entry area of the conference centre, testing Qik live with a whole load of people interested in the conference.
The Main Conference Area – with me at the podium! This isn’t directly available to access right now due to being incomplete but it looks to be an interesting place to watch parts of the conference.
I think when this place is finished it should be a great place for some of us to interact in a way much more like in a real conference than just watching a video stream. At least with this Second Life island we’ll have a method of communicating with our peers and really get the ball rolling!
Feel free to check out the <head> Second Life Hub, find out more about the <head> conference and visit my <head> profile!