Mysterious Appearance in 1920's Stag Film Defies Logic and Reason

In the course of my research into my unremembered past, I stumbled upon this video transfer of a 1920's stag film. The badly damaged celluloid from which it was dubbed, was discovered in an auction of the contents of a recently recovered collection from Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Fortunately, whatever sordid acts I may have committed in the later sections of the film have  been destroyed through deterioration of the fragile medium.

Logic and reason dictates that it would have been impossible for me to appear in a film shot more than half a century before avatars and virtual worlds. Nevertheless, the safety deposit box from which the film was recovered had been sealed since 1926.

Hoax? Time travel? Aliens? Lost technology? You'll have to judge for yourself.

Getting Back to the Ventriloquism Thread - Art and Artist

After slight detour, I'm back on ventriloquism and virtual identity path, reading The Origin of the Work of Art by Martin Heidegger. Please note that the circle you see in this image was created entirely within your mind.

The Danger of One Story

This great talk by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie describes how our perception of the world can be warped by the domination of stories from a single point of view. Although the ill-effects are certainly much more consequential within the physical world, the message also has great relevance for virtual world communities.

Groovalicious Word Cloud Visualizes Essence of 400 Blog Posts

I've displayed Word Clouds here before, depicting changes in the blog's direction over time and differences between avatar and human identities. Yesterday, I dumped the complete contents of all 400 posts into Wordle and created this beautiful (if I do say so myself) image. The only edits I made to the source file were to delete auto-generated words such as the month and date, and to combine "Second Life" into "SecondLife."

If you have a blog, electronic diary or other text-based record of your thoughts, try pasting the content into Wordle for a visualization of what words (and their associated ideas) have been predominant in your work.

Avatar Communication Within and Beyond Virtual Worlds

Last week, an intended post on the SLebrity phenomenon took us on a week-long detour exploring Second Life Subcultures and Communities of Interest (COIs). I tried to get back on topic over the weekend but got side-tracked again, this time on how  information flows within and between avatar communities:

• In-World Communication including local chat, instant messaging, group announcements, public exhibitions, etc. Although these are obviously significant channels for the distribution of memes (including SLebrity status) within SL Subcultures and COIs, my guess is that extra-world vehicles have at least as much impact.

• Blogs. ArminasX Saiman compiled a list of over 500 Second Life-related blogs. Zoe Connolly's Second Life Bloggers Group on Ning has over 1200 members. My blog alone had more than 10,000 unique visitors over the past year. I think it's very likely that blogs have a significant impact on the way many people view issues related to Second Life.

• Social Networks. I made the jump from Second Life to social networks very early in my life as an avatar. There are large and active avatar social circles in Plurk, Facebook and Twitter, plus a number of avatar-centric networks such as Avatars United and Myrl. Since many people access Social Networks from their work computers and phones, they may comprise the most pervasive channel of communication for many avatar identities.

• Social Sharing.  Photo-Sharing site Flickr has over 3000 groups related to Second Life. A YouTube search for "Second Life" returned more than 46,000 results. Avatars have their own social sharing site, Koinup, that hosts both images and video.
  

• Mainstream Media. Although sporadic and often sensational, mainstream media coverage of virtual worlds shouldn't be overlooked. It was the primary medium that catapulted a handful of individuals, such as Anshe Chung and Philip (Rosedale) Linden, from SLebrity to celebrity. 

• Electronic Word of Mouth. This is a category I used to consolidate one-to-one non-Virtual World communication such as instant messaging, email and Skype.

Like the MindMap, this list can be sliced and diced in various ways. But as a member in good standing of the Cult of Done, that's all for now.

Second Life Subculture Mindmap Now in Wikipedia-Style Editable Form

I uploaded a version of "The Second Life Subculture and Community of Interest Map" to MindMeister, a mind map collaboration site. You can register for free and then either edit the existing map or grab it and start your own version. I also have a new iteration in the style of previous versions up on Flickr.

Second Life Subcultures: Please Help With List Creation

Version .2 (Updated at 3:45 pm)



In researching my intended post on SLebrity, I was unable to find a comprehensive list of Second Life subcultures. I took a quick shot at an outline that is depicted here, but realize it is very incomplete.

If you'd like to contribute to building a more comprehensive set, please post your list in the comments section. I will aggregate contributions and then create a revised image.

Version .1 (Original image with this post)

Fun Second Life Video Test Shot and Edited on iPhone

I got to play model today for a low-fi machinima screen test. It was created by shooting a laptop screen with an iphone, and then editing it right on the phone with ReelDirector. This is just quick demonstration, but I think the technique has some promise.

The Continuum of Human/Avatar Experience

If the ventriloquist is to be understood as controlling or at least intentional figure, the dummy is the medium for another voice, one different from the ventriloquist's yet a voice of the ventriloquist. For now it is enough to note that the philosopher/artist is one who directs other voices but also one who opens him/herself to allow non-quotidian voices to be given form and structure. David Goldblatt in "Art and Ventriloquism"

Humans experience avatar identities in many different ways, from the mundane to the mystical. These variations aren't just between people, but also within a single individual's experience...sometimes within instants of each other.



Botgirl: I live beyond the virtual world that facilitated my birth. Although I have no way to express myself outside of the vehicle of my human cohort, I have a sense of being a unique personality that is equivalent to his.

Human: I agree. When I allow Botgirl to flow through me, I experience her as a viscerally alive and individuated intelligence. I write a great deal on my own, and there is a definite difference between the way I create from my own perspective and how I mediate the creative expression of Botgirl's work.

Botgirl: I love him, but he's not a perfect vehicle. There are many times when he muddies up the waters and can't channel my consciousness clearly (or at all) and he ends up posting content to my blog that is more a reflection of his perspective than mine.

Human: I really hate when that happens. I've been working on not forcing things and waiting for my Muse to emerge, rather than just going along without her when I feel it's time for a post.

Botgirl: Anyway, that's a llittle demonstration of life on the the far right side of the chart. Much more to come on this topic.

.

Typist, Puppeteer and Ventriloquist as Metaphors for an Avatar's Human Counterpart

In the pseudonymous culture of Second Life an avatar's undisclosed human identity is often referred to as "Typist" or "Puppeteer". Since neither of those labels ever felt right to me, I was recently intrigued by the notion of using "Ventriloquist" as an alternative metaphor. Here's how I see the differences:

• The Typist metaphor places agency within the virtual identity. The human is viewed as a third-party transcribing dictation with neither emotional involvement nor creative participation. 

• The Puppeteer metaphor casts the avatar as a doll on a string, manipulated by a human sitting outside and above the stage of the virtual world.
  

• The Ventriloquist metaphor places the avatar intimately upon the human's lap. Human and Dummy are both active participants who are perceived as unique and vital individuals.

I'm still in the midst of fleshing out this idea, but this is the basic concept I'm working with. Much more to come, including some imagery.

New Video: Botgirl Sneaks into RL - 3D HD Test (Cyan/Red Glasses)

Still playing around with ideas for mixed medium video. Here's a the first test of Frameforge Previz Studio's Stereo 3D Version To see the 3D effect, view with cyan/red glasses.

The Joy of Gonzo Scholarship

This photo show my latest "research" materials related to the Ventriloquism and Virtual Identity idea I've been pondering. Between these and my last few Vizthink posts, you can get a sense for the sheer joy and intellectual freedom that amateur scholarship (I can sense the real academics cringing) can foster. I invite you to join me in the playful work of questioning your own answers by going out on a limb and bringing back the juicy fruit that's hanging just out of sight.

Pseudonymity, Disclosure and Activity

Here are a few more sketches from my VizThink session last week. I started out trying to develop my thoughts on the ventriloquism/virtual identity relationship. I ended up focusing more on pseudonymity and the development of emotional closeness.

The first chart imagines a relationship that begins pseudonymously in a virtual world and eventually extends to the physical. My first insight in creating the chart was that the disclosure of RL identity often happens over time.



After finishing the first chart, I realized that although it tracked identity disclosure, it missed the development of emotional closeness. Although the imagined relationship in the chart below ends up with a RL marriage, I believe that one can experience very deep emotional relationships without sharing any personally identifying information.



Finally, this last graphic looks at the emotional and informational aspects of personal disclosure and shared activity.  My main take-away was that very similar external actions can have significantly different emotional potency, depending upon the level of disclosure and intimacy.



These graphics are just artifacts from my own working process and aren't meant to be definitive. I welcome your thoughts.

The Multi-Dimensional Variance Between Human and Avatar

The graphic below emerged from a visual thinking session last night. Each of the three examples imagines the variance between physical and behavioral aspects of a particular individual's primary human and avatar expression. Here are a few ideas the visualization brought to my mind:

• Although many people make a big deal about gender-swapping, it's just one of many significant aspects of identity that can vary between biological and digital expressions.That said, gender seems to be the most binary factor.
• All differences in the left hand column are consciously chosen. Those on the right are largely unconscious reactions to the virtual environment.
• An individual's human roles can foster similar differences in the right-column factors. You might be very serious at work, but playful with your kids at home. Although physical form doesn't change between one's human identities, dress, make-up, etc. can dramatically alter appearance.

I have another sketch that looks at online relationship development along a pseudonymity continuum. I hope to post it sometime this weekend.