BWI part3 C
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By Tom Munnecke (1533), Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:56:17 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) There is also some interesting research on the emotion of elevation vs. the emotion of disgust. (Jonathan Haidt).. Disgust is felt in the stomach/solar plexus area, Elevation is felt as a warm feeling in the chest. Elevation is frequently often triggered by witnessing or participating in acts of generosity - and can trigger increased heart-rate variability. So, when someone is thanking from the bottom of their heart, there is a physilogical connection to it. Ari Goldberger from Harvard Medical School has studied the notion that increased heart rate variability is a sign of health and vitality. A kid can run up stairs and his heart accellerates quickly with the stress. An old geezer goes up the stairs and his heart only gets started when he gest to the top, and then tries to catch up for some time later. Ari has an interesting CD out called heart rhythms, in which his son transposed the variability of the healthy heart signals into a musical composition. The resulting melody sounds like a vaguely familar, wandering melody without tension or release. relating this all to SL: the immersive experience does arouse emotional responses; lilone's tour of Live2Give island was quite emotional and touching, particularly meeting at the top of the mountain at sunset. And when Jamie was leading my granddaughters on a tour, whenever Jamie left the immediate screen, both kids screamed at me to get her back. The resulting frenzy of 6 hands on the keyboard was quite something. the point is, it is possible to arouse strong emotions and responses in immersive environments; let's figure out a way to do the positive ones.
By Tom Munnecke (1533), Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:59:06 PST
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and one more thing:
story-telling always seems to have some negative to overcome in a quest - a villian to be dispatched or whatever. This seems to be a fixed narrative approach going back to the Greeks.
songs, however, can be purely positive - starting with something uplifting and working it even higher.
I've never quite figured out why this is. relating to SL, can we build quests and activities that are uplifting without the shoot-the-villian narrative?
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (595), Wed, 23 Feb 2005 21:43:20 PST
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Beautiful posts all- on math and music and children and art oh my!(thanks for the sweet mention, Tom:). Drinking it all in with your last question here...an activity came to mind...
Perhaps you all know of the story of the 1,000 Cranes...the folding of which symbolizes such beautiful things... Here's a cut and paste from the 1000 Crane Club Site http://www.hiroshima-is.ac.jp/Hiroshima/crane.htm
"The Thousand Crane Club was organized by Dr. Walter Enloe (former HIS principal), and Steve Leaper (Co-director of Hiroshima Center for Global Education) on October 25th, 1985.
The idea of this club originated during an HIS summer school class. The children and teachers were talking about Hiroshima and were discussing their feelings about war and peace, friendship, and nuclear weapons. The summer school students had been sent cranes folded out of paper from children in America and Canada, hoping that the students at HIS would place them at The Children's Peace Monument which is located in Hiroshima Peace Park. The Canadian and American children, like the summer school students, had read and discussed the story of "Sadako" (a girl in Hiroshima who died of leukemia as a result of atomic radiation, to which The Children's Peace Monument is dedicated - (see next article). The summer school students decided to string together all the cranes they had received together with their own cranes. They then took the cranes to be placed at the Children's Peace Monument.
The summer school students talked about what they could do to build the same kind of friendships and understanding, that was evident at their school in Hiroshima, among children all over the world. Their idea was to begin a Thousand Crane Club so that students everywhere could work together on a common project which would help to promote peace and understanding around the world.
In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, the HIS Student Council decided to take over the running of the Thousand Crane Club. Since then the HIS High School students have taken on the task of running the club. Through the Thousand Crane Club they plan to encourage children the world over to fold 1000 paper cranes as a way of promoting peace and making friends. The Thousand Crane Club is the last of its kind in Hiroshima which makes it very important indeed!"
Just thinking of an example...perhaps we could devise a way to fold a virtual origami crane...create a small area dedicated to this on the Island where each person/visitor is invited to fold one (or more?)cranes and place them so they accumulate gradually. At the 1000th crane 'folded', they could be scripted to fly in unison. (you mentioned flock scripts, Tom?). Of course the site of this activity could have educational matter...the story of Sadako... and be a place of peaceful gathering.
Just a thought. But who knows, perhaps it even exists already? I've often been surprised by what already exists in SL, after all it changes daily!:)
By Tom Munnecke (1533), Wed, 23 Feb 2005 21:57:01 PST
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I just can't resist one more (off-topic) story here.
My wife and I love to travel, and one of our most memorable experiences was when we were visiting a Shinto Shrine in Japan. We were wandering around, not understanding anything when a Japanese man came over to help us. He was dressed in blue collar clothes, quite different than the Japanese businessmen I usually met. He didn't speak any English, so he mimed his way around the shrine, showing us all the various offerings, etc. We had a wonderful time. A passerby translated a litle and we communicated that we wanted to see a dragon dance downtown. He immediately hurried us to a street car, paid our fare, and took us to the event.
He bought me a big Mac at the local McDonald's which I shared with the crowd of onlookers wondering what this gaigin was up to. He replaced the diverted Big Mac with another one and an ice cream cone. The dragon dance came by, and it was quite a festive occasion.
This was one of the most spontaneous, positive experiences we had experienced in all of our travels.
What made this all the more interesting is that it was in Nagasaki, which the US had obliterated just 50 years earlier.
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Wed, 23 Feb 2005 23:12:47 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) OK: starting tomorrow, Thursday, I will have faster DSL and I will be able to move through SL as Panther Magpie to my heart's content. I can't wait.
By P (CCAL30) (1400), Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:32:31 PST
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Hurray!
By Tracy Spaight (84), Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:15:08 PST
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Hi all,
This might be a tad off topic, but since I know some of you are out in the bay area, I was wondering if anyone is planning to attend the Game Developer's Conference on March 7-11th in San Francisco? Would love to say hello to other O-net people if any of you are going to be there.
Cheers,
Tracy
By Tom Munnecke (1533), Fri, 25 Feb 2005 21:30:21 PST
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Tracy, could you give more info about it? I'm 50/50 about coming up for it.
By Tracy Spaight (84), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 06:40:49 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Tom Munnecke said: Tracy, could you give more info about it? I'm 50/50 about coming up for it. Sure thing Tom! Here's a link to the event: http://www.gdconf.com/ I've gone to GDC twice. While not as big as E3 in L.A. (in May), it's definitely the place to be to find out all the latest ideas swirling around in virtual world design. Visionary speakers, stimulating round-table discussions, and lots of fascinating people will be there. Let me know if you plan to go. Cheers, Tracy
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:10:32 PST
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Tom Munnecke said:
and one more thing:
story-telling always seems to have some negative to overcome in a quest - a villian to be dispatched or whatever. This seems to be a fixed narrative approach going back to the Greeks.
It is a (I THINK) universal law of narrative that there has to be conflict in a story but I do not think it is universal that the conflict has to be negative. If we think of conflict as dissonance, data in the atmosphere that needs our attention, stories can also uplift the way music does.
It might be that stories that only uplift do not engage readers. A song is a few minutes, even a short story requires a longer slice of our attention.
I wonder what is indicated about human beings that stories require dissonance?
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:13:56 PST
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I am having a real tough slog getting into SL. I go in there at weird times, I guess, because none of you folks are in there. I keep thinking I will find traces of you as I learn my way around but I don't find traces and I get snagged in trying to move to any direction.
When I am in there, sometimes other avatars talk to Panther (me) but I feel like a dope. By the time I respond, they have moved on.
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:17:49 PST
Edited: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:19:23 PST
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Whenever I start thinking about the seemingly deeper grasp of the cosmic clockwork that musicians have, I think of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings of music. Does anyone know them? She captures, for me, the inner experience of how music soars within my spirit when I listen.
I also think about something Rudolf Steiner wrote, that musicians usually have a greater grasp of how the universe works. (Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian scientist, philosopher and mystic who founded Anthroposophy, the wisdom of humankind, which is my primary spiritual focus).
And, Carla, I think I understand the distinctions you are drawing about the different ways a person is a musician but I think both general approaches are mathematical. Mathematics tends to be seen as linear but real mathematics is all the creative things you describe in 'real' musicians. Mathematics is very, very much like music.
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:21:53 PST
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Tom, I am not surprised you have never hired a programmer trained as a lawyer. People have lots of misunderstandings about the kind of intellectual training a legal education gives one, including most lawyers. A legal education sharpens the mind.
By c•a•r•l•a (white) (1330), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 12:16:30 PST
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Therese,
I wonder, as I am not really that "mathematical" by training, in fact as a child when i took music lessons, the "theory" part totally confused me after a certain point and "shut off" the creative juices.
i have some musical skill as far as reading music, etc. but most of my "skill" if you will is totally instinctual.
for example... sometimes right out of the sky (?) a melody will come into my head, i'll sit at the piano, arrange chords around it, sometimes, lyrics will come at the same time, and within minutes, a beautiful song will have appeared out of nowhere...
and i couldn't write the music down, (for someone else to play it) if my life depended on it... ok, maybe that's a stretch, but it would take me a VERY LONG TIME.... WEEKS!
so my musical leanings are way more on the instinctual level... and again, like i've said somewhere, i play enough of a few instruments to annoy "real" players!
- )
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:33:01 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) math. . . and I am not mathematical is, in a big picture way, instinctual, Carla. The math of numbers is the language but the complexity of math is quite beautiful. On the Second Life front, my faster DSL has transformed Panther Magpie. Yesterday, I crawled, today I soar. Live2give is wonderful. I came to a portal to office space and got the message to right click to be teleported. . . I have a mac and cannot right click. . . could not figure out how to get to office space. . . so of course, I really really want to go there now.
By Anne Marie Bellavance (CCAL30) (2223), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:34:25 PST
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Therese Fitzpatrick said:
I am having a real tough slog getting into SL. I go in there at weird times, I guess, because none of you folks are in there. I keep thinking I will find traces of you as I learn my way around but I don't find traces and I get snagged in trying to move to any direction.
When I am in there, sometimes other avatars talk to Panther (me) but I feel like a dope. By the time I respond, they have moved on.
I too am very awkward in SL - still flying, exploring and playing - not many deep conversations. Maybe we can set up a biweekly time for a Better World meetup in SL - or somehow let others know when we will be online? I am Sky Clymer and visit a few nights a week........but i am east coast so it may be difficult to get everyone here together. I would like to at least exchange calling cards with everyone so it is easier to tell when we are online.
By Brandon CS Sanders (400), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:36:05 PST
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T -- Hold down control when you click to right click.
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 26 Feb 2005 22:50:11 PST
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Thanks, Brandon.
Anne Marie, what times would work for you? I am going to ask june-marie when wilde is in there so I can go in and meet them.
One confusion for me: I cannot find Better World Group. I thought I read here that there is a Better World Group in SL. Is it private? Because it doesn't come up in the Find Group directory.
And I have to say, the faster DSL makes SL completely manageable. I had to give up television to get it but I don't really watch anymore anyway.
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Mon, 28 Feb 2005 12:11:21 PST
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Hey, Brandon, I have to hold down the command key to right clilck, not the control key. It turns out Live Help in Second Life works well.
Now that I can get around Second Life, I want something to happen in there but so far, nothing happening to Panther. I have never gamed before. I don't need to get addicted but I'd like to get a sense of the appeal of online gaming before I give up.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (595), Tue, 01 Mar 2005 18:42:36 PST
Edited: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 18:44:55 PST
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IMPORTANT:Take a good look at this!:
'InnerLife- A SecondLife Project' http://gaeacoop.org/cgi-bin/InnerLife/index.cgi
Great concept, nicely organized presentation site...I think it's wonderful and I hope we can achieve similar for Better World Island!
I think it will be important to focus and define just what we hope for in creating a Better World Island... Is it a virtual collaboration realm? A retreat for omidyar.net members? Is it about reinforcing the random visitor individual about their potential through visualizations and activities? Can it be a hub for encouraging micro-philanthropy....filled with information kiosks incorporating click 'actions' which trigger inpirational visualizations/animations? I can envision the virtual counterpart to the 'fridge magnet'idea... I hope that the tagging and 'croquet' ideas will be useable towards creating our shareable 'memory palaces' there...and editable workspaces in 3d...
I hope you're all as inspired as I am
By P (CCAL30) (1400), Wed, 02 Mar 2005 06:46:19 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Interesting. Have you "played" the Wild Divine biofeedback system? Are the same folks developing this concept?
By Robbie Cooper (11), Wed, 02 Mar 2005 07:51:27 PST Comment feedback score: 1 (*) +|- (net 0 from me) This looks really interesting. Aren't virtual worlds being used, experimentally, to work with people with aspergers? It makes sense- a safe environment where stimuli can be controlled. It would be amazing if the Innerlife project succeeds in making an environment that is therapeutic and accessible by anyone (with a broadband connection presumably). Its interesting how much of an impact a real environment can have on your sense of wellbeing. Some places lift you up, others can crush you. Some places seem to have been designed to crush you, or make you feel small (soviet architecture etc). I love the idea of a place you can go to chill out, from anywhere. At the same time its quite literal, if you close your eyes, can you achieve the same thing on your own?
By JS : ) >+=> (CCAL30) (783), Thu, 03 Mar 2005 17:07:17 PST
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[Deleted by author on 15 Nov 2005 08:22 PST: ~]
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Thu, 03 Mar 2005 23:46:55 PST
Edited: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 23:49:17 PST
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Pam, I've been wondering if you ever finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I read quite a bit and I took one look at that and thought, day or two tops, but it was a bit of a slog. There is so much to absorb as he creates an entire world. I want to get to the story but with his work the world he creates requires a complex integration.
It has me wondering. First, I still can't get any action/traction in SecondLife. When is someone from here in there? Right now, I'd settle for Hi Panther/Hi back at you/See you around. I have not managed this level of interaction with another avatar thus far. And I want to ride a seahorse.
Second, if Stephenson could spin the Metaverse that he created in Snow Crash, is it reasonable for me to assume many people were deeply into online gaming and 'vicariously' living in online environments for, what, twenty years. I feel like there is this huge, wonderful reality out there and I am hopelessly behind.
It has occured to me, once or twice, that maybe o.net should be folded into SecondLife. It might be easier to collaborate with the visual world it makes possible?!
By Robbie Cooper (11), Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:43:46 PST
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Therese
Visual online environments haven't been around for very long. Particularly 3D environments, these are very recent. Text based online environments have been around since about 1978. Neal Stephenson was writing sci fi. Before him there was William Gibson with Neuromancer, which was the first to imagine a world wide web, which he envisaged as a "consensual hallucination".
I read a piece in a science magazine the other day saying that scientists have managed to make a blind man see. They attached a camera to his mind via a port they built into his tongue. They literally made him see through his tongue. It may just be that one day Gibson's vision of the future web might be just as prescient as Stephenson's vision of virtual worlds.
Robbie
