Thursday Meetings at Berkman Blog

This week blog group welcomes Shava and Fish, both longtime users of and experts in the virtual world Second Life. We’ve been looking for a good introduction to just what exactly is really out there and possible in SL, and this is it! Bring your questions, and if you have a laptop with Second Life installed, bring it to follow along in-world (we will of course also be projecting onscreen).

Some links to check out in advance:
http://indigenis.com
http://fishthemagish.net/press.html (look for the Tuna Oddfellow links)

As usual, the meeting will begin at 7pm at the Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, and last for 60 to 90 minutes. Then there are strong odds we will continue the discussion over dinner in the Harvard Square area.

Brett, Erica, and j are working on lining up some great speakers and topics in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned! As always, if you have suggestions or people you can arrange to bring in, please do!

Upcoming events of interest:

• David Weinberger leads a Web of Ideas discussion on “Is the Web Changing the Nature of Leadership” on Wednesday, December 5 at 6:30 pm. RSVP is required, as space is limited. To RSVP, please send an email to rsvp [at] cyber. law. harvard. edu.
• Pam Samuelson lectures on “Preliminary Thoughts on Copyright Reform” on Thursday, December 6 from 5-7 pm - right before our meeting! Come see Pam, then head right over to blog group.
• See the Berkman Calendar for upcoming Berkman stuff.
• Feel free to publicize related events here! Let Erica or j know, comment, or add them yourself if you have an editor account.

Various upcoming & potential stuff on our schedule:

• Erica is working on bringing in a group from Somerville wanting feedback in building a good online news forum & placeblog, possibly December 6.
• Streaming radio - how to make your own streaming radio station, the new rules around it - Sooz has volunteered.
• OpenID - Why you should use it, why you should develop with it (Erica is trying to schedule Rod Begbie)
• What’s the latest in the Free Culture movement? (and Miro player? and ROFLcon?)
• Skype: How does it work? Why use it? j can lead something
• Dan Bricklin, known for his work on VisiCalc and wikiCalc
• People to do sessions on maps & mapping: Ben Sheldon / Adam / Tracy Rolling of Platial
• Digital natives / what kids are doing online: Miriam Simun - ask in the Spring
• Video: Steve Garfield? / David Temez of Boston Media Makers?
• Principles of design/UI, how to learn as a beginner?
• Latest tools for blogging / Latest mashups and widgets / How have tools changed in the past year or so?
• you?
• If you want to help shepherd a potential future topic or if you have ideas of your own, please talk to Erica or j. We’d love - and could really use - your help!