Cisco TechChats and other Second Life based meetings and info sessions are held in a 3D virtual environment to enable us to engage in real time with peers and others who share our interests.
And best of all - Second Life events are free of charge. Though admittedly I advise putting twenty bucks into the kitty going in so you can get with the program and get a feel for what this technology can do, plus boost the Second Life economy of small business people who create snapppy clothes for your business and social needs, not to mention hair and the aways talked about “prim shoes.”
But in the end all that’s really needed is a minimal investment of time and Second Life software and setup is required in order to participate and reap the benefits.
If you are not already a Second Life participant, use the Cisco provided links (below) for technical requirements and setup instructions. They do a much better job than I could. When we talk about names, hair, the apartment you’ll eventaully want to have so you can adjust your virtual underwear in private, and where to go to see and be seen, I’m your resource; but Cisco gets my vote on the tech side.
My personal hint - do all this signing up and signing on stuff a week before you want to attend an event. Trust me.
You’ll be asked to pick a name when using Second Life. Using your own first name or a shortened variation without numbers or odd suffixes etc so people can say “Hi Jons” instead of Hi Johannesthegr8”.
That alone would be a big help to encouraging those you want to interact with to actuallly talk with you.
My smart friend Connie Reece wisely started a new account after a rather whimsical start in SL with a more creative name that involved a heavenly body used Reece as her first name the second time around.
Since we are not able to pick our own last name usually - Linden labs gives you a choice of continuing array of last names - she is Reece Llewellyn which always screws me up when I type it and skip an L and then the message does not go through to her.
So simple is best - and the closer to your name or company or an interest you have the better.
So, you ask why I’m Tynan Clary?
That’s simple too. I first got involved in Second Life because of Coke’s virtual thirst campaign and my friends at Crayon, and there was no need to indicate my identity. Then I did work for the Electric Sheep / NBC / the NBA in Second Life - still no need to be identified with Susan Reynolds.
Working for Metaversed as their evangelist did make me start thinking about the fact that press releases were signed by Susan Reynolds, and tweets, eventful notices and facebook groups were associated with my name, not the avatar name. Then came cancer, the Frozen Pea Fund and I’ve thought even more about identity.
So now I have a Reynolds Clary avatar who, as she evolves, may take over some of the consulting work. Say hi when you see her around. She may be having an identity crisis and will appreciate knkowing who you are in the physical world when she ses the name above your head in the virtual world.
1.
Download the Second Life Installer. 2.
Register for a Second Life avatar account. 3. Make sure you can join by reviewing the
system requirements documentation. 4. Make sure you can hear the live Q&A and TechChat events by enabling streaming media: Be sure you have the “play streaming music” option turned on in your Audio Preferences (press control-P) and the latest version of
Quicktime downloaded. When you are on a parcel of land that has streaming music, a small Music Control window pops up on your screen. Click the play button, and you’re listening to the events live. 5. Make sure you can hear the demos by:
a. Enabling
Second Life Voice 6. Reach the
Cisco Bandwidth Stage (or the other location where an event is scheduled) in Second Life.
