Yvette Wohn

Charlie Nesson spoke to the alumni association today about Second Life and some of the problems we must address if we are to use it as an educational platform.
He said that in the case of Second Life, he was concerned that in the course of developing educational strategies– which could scale to the breadth of the Internet– we have to develop within the framework of a corporation, Linden Labs.

One of the questions is whether the next generation of immersive 3-D environments can be seen as an open educational environment. Open in the sense of its fundamental organization as part of the university world. That is a challenge for those who are in the educational business.

He pointed out that the possibility of the Internet acting as “mode of communications that could aggregate willing energies of institutions towards a common goal of creating open education” has been in the background but now is coming towards the fore.

We have a growing realization that the Internet is our library of the future. Where we do our research. That open environment is one that suggests utility of all sorts, of which Second Life is interesting, but very much only one.

More photos from the event.

It’s no surprise that the cable industry is growing despite the availability of allegedly “free” content available on the Web. People want content, but they are also lazy, and sometimes enjoy the being submissive to programming. (Why are we trying to get people to make difficult decisions and choices, when all they want to do is shut their mind and NOT think?) It’s wonderful and scary that my tastes can be categorized so that on channels like Pandora.com I can listen to the type of music I want with only a few “bad apples.”

That’s why I don’t understand why people are so opposed to DRM. I’m not saying that every product should be protected, but why isn’t it fair that people who develop advanced technology be asking a few bucks for the services that they offer? Obviously, from the number of people using TIVOs and iPods, people are willing to pay. It’s not a matter of whether people can use open technology, but a question of whether they have to. I can grow organic vegetables in my backyard, but I’d rather go to Whole Foods and buy something. It is being lazy and productive at the same time. Not everyone appreciates DIY.

It’s interesting that people talk a lot about DRM regarding music or videos, but not about photography. Though somewhat on a different level, how difficult is Sony, Nikon, and Canon making it for camera uses because their lens are not compatible? However, camera users (or at least those who use DSLRs) complain less about that compatibility because they are willing to accept the different quality and characteristics of the different products. The same goes with PS3 and Xbox360 players. They take a certain pride in knowing that their community is somewhat exclusive, compared to those people who can play free online games through the Internet.

In my ideal world, products would be like what they are in Second Life: the original maker of the product is “watermarked” regardless of the owner and people can choose how they products are distributed. Although some of the high-quality products and programs require money, there is an abundance of freebies and the quality of freebies keeps getting higher and higher. This stimulates the people (who charge for their products) to make even better products for those who are willing to pay. There are always people willing to pay.

Is that unfair? Because some people have money and some people don’t? Do people want a socialist society? In a completely ideal world, no one would have to develop anything and things would just grow on trees to pluck for free- where everyone is equal and has equal access to the same technology. Unfortunately, the Garden of Eden does not work in this society, and free riders can only get a free ride when there are alternatives of people who are paying for development and usage of the technology.

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I went into Second Life to find the killer from the Oct. 24 episode of CSI:NY. The episode was quite interesting, although it made Second Life seemed way cooler than it really was. (They also used some fancy equipment to maneuver within SL instead of a keyboard and mouse, so that it looked like the experience was far more immersive.)

In the episode, the killer uses the avatar of a woman (who is some kind of cyber star in SL) to find people he/she wants to kill. The investigators have no idea what the killer looks like, but know that he/she is dressing up like the avatar.

The CSI site in Second Life isn’t really about the episode, but lets people who are interested in solving murder mysteries go into Second Life and take a look at some mock murder scenes and poke around for clues. It’s sort of like playing the computer game CSI but in a MMO environment. (Of course, the graphics or game elements in SL CSI are nowhere close to the computer game version)

The “cases” in the CSI SL site change once a month, and I was able to take a look at a murder that happened in a butcher’s shop (dressed up in a slutty police outfit). Even though the graphics were not particularly great, it was still really gross: the victim was lying in a bloody pool, blood was spattered on the wall and surrounding him were footprints, a small scrap of paper, etc.

I met a guy who also happened to be on scene and we examined the scene together, trying to deduce what had happened. “The left footprint is slightly wider than the right. Maybe the killer has a limp,” he said.

-Hey….where are you…home?
-No, I’m at the studio…
-At this hour? Come on! Do you want to go dancing? There’s a new jazz club at *** and the music is really fine..
T always wants to go dancing. Sometimes I feel bad when I turn him down, not because I am afraid he will be offended, but because I wonder why I would rather be cooped up in my studio rather than enjoying nightlife at a club. It makes me feel like an antisocial person, which I am not. I am- let’s put it this way- selective.

-I don’t know…
-I’d really like you to see this place. And you should meet the owner. She wants to buy some dresses.
-What kind of dresses?
-Formal ones, for the jazz club.
-How formal is a jazz club?
-Very. All the men wear tuxedos.
-Oh.
-Why don’t you wear one of yours so she can see?
-Uhh…ohhh….alright..
-Great. Should I wear black or white?
-Black, I guess?

The way T talks, or the way he pays attention to detail, you immediately suspect that he’s gay, but surprisingly, the story doesn’t quite go that way. He used to be a tall, heavily-built woman with a great sense of fashion. After undergoing a sex change, he is still tall, but now hunky and muscled like the guys that you see on men’s health magazines. Women fall all over him because he has the best manners (probably because he knows best what a woman really wants) but for me, it is strange, because I see a tremendously good-looking guy but my brain still does not recognize him as being male. I am probably the few, if not only people who knew T as a woman.

Following the directions T has given me, I arrive at the club wearing a long dark peacock green halter neck dress with black and gold print. It does not have lavish decor like I thought it would, rather large black and white photographs on the painted walls, a minimal polished floors, and a high ceiling. It looks more like a hall for ballroom dancing than a jazz club, although the band is playing a big brass number.

There aren’t many people and I easily spot T, a head taller than anyone else, dancing with a red-headed young woman. He spots me and comes over.
-Hey.
-Hey. You shouldn’t have ended the dance.
-Nah. She’s a regular. Wow, you look great! How about a slow tango?

It’s the second time dancing with T since he’s become a man and I still find it disturbing, especially when our bodies are close, but being the stupid person I am, I can’t say “no” and so we start to tango. Of course, trying to avoid rubbing my torso into his, the dance isn’t entirely smooth.
-I’m stepping all over your feet.
-It’s okay. Let’s take it from the beginning again.
T is extremely patient. We start again from the beginning.
-I really love this dress. It shows off all the right curves.
-Uhh…yeah. Thanks. But I’m too short to tango with you, your face is too far up.
-You should have worn heels.
-I did.
-Oh….Oh well…so how do you think I look?
-You look great. Like a Chippendale.
T beams.
-That’s the look I’m going for. It’s much better than before, isn’t it?

I couldn’t answer for some time because I couldn’t figure out whether “before” meant “before” as in when I saw him earlier, or “before” as in when he was woman. He must have sensed my confusion because he said,
-Okay, you don’t have to say.
-Well, what can say…you’re tall and attractive. You know I like my men tall…but…
-But?
-Well…I don’t know where I should be making the comparison to…
-Okay okay. Waltz?

Waltzing was much better. It was more fun, twirling around the room, with air rushing between our bodies, and women sitting at tables admiring us- or rather, admiring my partner and envying me. Twirling around and swishing my silk skirts put me in a happy, giddy, gloating mode.

Later, when we were slow dancing, I finally found the courage to ask T the question that had been on the tip of my tongue for the entire night.
-So. When are you getting married?
-I don’t know. We only exchanged loyalty rings. She’s the love of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been so much in love.
-That’s great.
-Thank you.
-What about you? Still the independent woman?
-The contrary. I’m hopelessly dependent, only I haven’t found anyone.
-I’m sorry for that.
-It’s okay.
-We don’t meet often, but I’m glad we kept in touch.
-Me too.

I had a ton of questions: did his lover know that he was previously a woman? Did they have sex? Did his lover know that he was a woman, would he have to hide that forever? What would happen if he one day told her? Would things still be the same?
Unfortunately, these questions had to be left unanswered.