Tried the new talk browser on NMC last night – and it works 🙂 I had a conversation with Anya Ixchel.
First impressions – this is pushing the technology to its limits. The browser is quite unstable, causing me to crash a couple of times. The voice is clear, but then breaks up in segments with buffer over-runs as the processing power of the computer gets a bit overwhelmed.
I was able to play some fiddle into SL for the first time, using this medium which was great. But in the end Anya and I reverted to typing as the voice eventually became too broken up for clear communication.
It is certainly a good start, but I doubt if can be used if there are several people on the sim at any one time.
Separately, it was good to catch up with Radhika the other night – it’s amazing where former cyberminders are turning up 🙂 As she points out, it’s almost like the old MOO days.
As part of the AVAIR (Ars Virtua Artist in Residence) program, which provides sponsorship for new media artists in virtual 3D world SecondLife, this forum provided an opportunity fo rthe artist to share his experience working as an artist-in-residence. The forum was attended by 27 ‘avatars’ (virtual presences) – numbers deliberately limited to reduce lag and traffic pressure on the server providing the ‘space’, and was simaltaneously webcast to http://slcn.tv/ where I watched the presentation.
Kligerman has set out to use his architectural sensibility in building both a display space and a series of visual works. He has explored the play of light on virtual objects, and has built an installation called “Hyper-spaces”.
One of the more interesting questions from the floor concerned how he articulated the distinction between the ‘gaze’ of the viewer/avatar and the ‘gaze’ of the camera view – which can be quite separate from that of the avatar.
It’s amazing what can be done with a couple of macs and three years of extraordinary creative thinking! “We are the strange” is a new-media movie – part game scene part Donnie Darko and part AI – that draws on the mash-up/remix culture to produce a loud colourful and quite hypnotic piece. This is a movie by M-dot-Strange – and it has gained official selection for the Sundance Film Festival.
You can see a preview of it on YouTube – a very appropriate space for it
Google Apps has brought Office software (docs and spreadsheets) into Web 2.0 with its browser-based editing suites. And Picasa offers photo editing and sharing. SecondLife has 3D modelling tools. Even YouTube has online video editing software, but there is still a gap.
We seem to live in such a visual society that the audio side is deeply neglected – Where is the YouTube or Picasa for musicians or podcasters? Surely the soundtrack to our lives is just as important as the visual!
Sure there are free downloadable software (such as Audacity, MutliTrackStudio, Anvil Studio and GarageBand which comes with the new Macs) for specific platforms for sound editing, but the current crop is neither browser-based nor platform-indpendent.
As the 3D web takes off I can see increasing demand for people to be able to record music, and ambient soundscapes for SecondLife and to be able to stream those sounds straight into these virtual worlds.
So here is my challenge to Google – how about developing the browser-based GarageBand [tm] for the masses?
Posted by Jerry on June 21st, 2007 — Posted in Journal, New media
Moments of timeless pleasure. That’s the slogan on the treasure trove of Ghirardelli chocolate that leapt unannounced from an otherwise nondescript package that arrived today 🙂
You might recall that aaaages ago, new media researcher Angela Thomas ran a competition to work out her destination in June. The clues emerged day by day like breadcrumbs until with a bit of detective work I managed to solve the puzzle. And today came the prize – and what a prize! I was expecting perhaps a square or two, but Sharon squealed with delight as she saw what emerged from the package
This is my favourite – dark chocolate (think LOTS of antioxidants 😉 and the wonderful sample bag of the range of Ghirardelli chocolates – all the way from San Francisco.
Angela – this is wonderful – Thank you, and a big hug from us both 🙂
