I was meeting some educator friends in Second Life today when I looked across the virtual landscape and saw this nice view of my old lighthouse in the historic neighborhood of Nova Albion.
Amazing to think I’ve owned the parcel for over 10 years (since 2004). So much has changed in both my life and technology over that time, yet this specific virtual place remains constant and very special to me.
Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester
The OpenSimulator Community Conference (OSCC) is an annual conference that focuses on the developer and user community creating the OpenSimulator software. Organized as a joint production by AvaCon and the Overte Foundation, the virtual conference features two days of presentations, workshops, keynote sessions, and social events across diverse sectors of the OpenSimulator user base.
Last year’s conference was a fantastic experience, and I’m thrilled to be both attending and presenting again this year. All the inworld venue tickets are sold out, but if you can still register for a free streaming ticket and watch all the presentations live on Ustream.
Here’s what I’ll be presenting this year:
“You Only Own what you can Carry: How to backup and move your content between Second Life, Openim and Unity”
Saturday Nov 8 from 9:00am – 9:45am PST
In this hands-on workshop, I’ll be demonstrating exactly how to export your own user-created objects (both prim and mesh based) and move them between Second Life, Opensim and Unity. Attendees will watch my desktop via a live TeamViewer screenshare and follow along on their own using freely-available software.
Requirements: Inworld attendees should be using the OSCC recommended 32-bit Singularity viewer and have pre-installed both the free version of the Unity Editor and the free TeamViewer application. No previous technical expertise required, just a willingness to learn.
The crux of my workshop will be a live demonstration of me creating something in both Opensim and Second Life and then walking through exactly how to get it into a scene in Unity. I’ll also be demoing how to move content between Second Life and Opensim. If you’re worried all this might be overly complicated, I promise it will be a lot easier than you expect. Plus you’ll have the fun and “excitement” of watching me do all this live on my own desktop (what could possibly go wrong?). The key takeaway will be that the whole process is easy enough for anyone to learn how to do, regardless of your level of technical expertise.
If you can’t watch it live, no worries. My session will be recorded so you’ll be able to watch it later. I’ll update this blog post with a link to the recording once it’s online.
[UPDATE – Nov 9 2014 – Here’s the full video of my presentation]
I’ll also be a panelist later in the day on “The New Era of Content Protection in OpenSim” where I’ll be sharing my thoughts about DRM versus content licensing.
Hope to see you there!
Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester
The 1st International Conference on e-Learning, e-Education and Online Training is being held September 18-20 in Bethesda, Maryland. This conference will assess a wide range of progressive ideas for the future of e-Learning, focusing on the idea of technology as a means to education rather than an end in itself. The conference organizers have lined up a wonderful range of interdisciplinary speakers and are planning to attract a wide group of heterogeneous scholars and practitioners.
I’ll be attending the entire conference, and I’m honored to be giving the opening keynote presentation. Here’s what I’ll be talking about:
“Augmented Mind: The Evolution of Learning Tools
from Language to Immersive Reality”
Innovative educators are constantly facing the challenge of matching pedagogical goals with complementary technological tools. Unfortunately, given the wide range of technologies and devices that vie for consumer attention, the right choices are not always clear and are typically obscured by media hype. In this presentation, John Lester will describe how focusing on the way the human mind interacts with the world and other human beings can help identify the right tools for the right jobs. From a mind-augmentation perspective combining constructivist and behaviorist approaches, John will explore web based tools ideal for knowledge management, augmented reality based self-animated autonomous agents, and finally the unique (and sometimes over-hyped) affordances of perceptually immersive multiuser 3d virtual worlds for collaborative learning.
My goal will be to tell an interesting story with examples and demos of technologies that I think really leverage how our minds naturally embrace the world around us. One such technology that I’m currently exploring and that you’ve probably never heard of are Wiglets.
Visit Wiggle Planet to learn a lot more about Wiglets.
Wiglets are autonomous, evolving, self-animated and self-motivated agents that can exist in both completely virtual and augmented reality environments. They exist at a wildly creative intersection of artificial life, art and gaming. And perhaps best of all, you can interact with them directly through touch and gestures.
Another topic of discussion will be the affordances of multiuser 3d virtual worlds, especially how one can reduce the barrier to entry for people interested in leveraging them for educational purposes. ReactionGrid has recently developed some new tools that integrate with the Unity3d-based Jibe platform to provide on-the-fly content editing in a simple yet powerful way. I’ll be giving a sneak preview during my presentation.
Want to easily change this web-based 3d environment on the fly without having to muck around in Unity?
Now you can. I’ve got some new tricks with Jibe to show you.
I’ll also be discussing and giving examples of innovative uses of commonly used virtual world technologies such as Second Life, Opensimulator and the Oculus Rift. If you plan on attending and would like to connect with me at the conference, please drop me a line on Twitter or email. And if you’re looking to interact with the organizers and other attendees and speakers, be sure to check out the e-LEOT LinkedIn Conference Group.
After my keynote I’ll be updating this blog post to include my slides and links to any recordings.
UPDATE Sept 19, 2014
Here are my slides:
Take care,
-John “Pathfinder” Lester
Between 2010 and 2012 I had a lot of fun organizing and running the Hypergrid Adventurers Club (HGAC) meetings. Those were the very early days of Hypergrid connectivity in Opensim, and things often went awry during our explorations. We all helped each other out through crazy technical challenges and exciting adventures, but it was the community of wonderful people at these meetings that impressed and amazed me the most.
Time moved on and in 2012 I stopped organizing Hypergrid Adventurers Club meetings. Not because of any lack of interest in Opensim and the Hypergrid on my part, mind you. I’m still very excited about the future of Opensim and the Hypergrid, and I continue to explore and experiment a lot on my own. It was just that I felt the HGAC had run its course. Opensim was becoming much more stable and easier to use, hypergrid jumps were becoming very reliable, and directories of great places to explore were expanding (see Hyperica and OpenSim World). Also, attendance was gradually declining, and other aspects of my life were getting busier, so I figured it was time to wind things down.
But when one flower closes, a new one blooms. That’s the true beauty of online communities. Healthy ones change and grow.
The Hypergrid Safari is a new group that runs weekly tours across Opensim. In their own words:
“Want to discover open sim and learn to hypergrid? Join our friendly weekly trips to destinations all over the hyperverse, and get help with shopping for your avatar, free land opportunities, and sympathy when you run up against snags and bugs.”
I’ve been attending these trips and they’re fantastic. The organizers are Thirza Ember, Fuschia Nightfire, Wizard Gynoid and Wizardoz Chrome. I think all of them bring beautiful new perspectives to exploring the Hypergrid, in particular the perspectives of skilled content creators and innovative artists who have a long history of pioneering work in Second Life and other virtual worlds. And everyone attending brings their own thoughtfulness and great sense of humor to the group. Once again, it’s the community of people that impresses and amazes me the most.
Join one of the Hypergrid Safari tours happening every Wednesday at noon Pacific Time departing from the Hypergrid Safari HQ on OSGrid.
Here’s more info:
Outside the Hypergrid Safari HQ
Inside the Hypergrid Safari Clubhouse. I love the elephant trophy mounted on an old hypergate.
And here’s a great video by Nina Camplin of some recent tours.
Take care, and hope to see you inworld!
-John “Pathfinder” Lester
Be Cunning and Full of Tricks 