UgoTrade

A recent story in World Changing, about Free Internet for Conservation Efforts in the Amazon led me to have a long conversation with Marcelo Fortaleza Flores. We discussed how the arrival of internet access in remote areas of the Amazon could be empowering to indigenous communities. I will go over the the major points of this conversation later in this post.

Marcelo has been teaching photography and film making (Digital Media) to Amazonian indigenous peoples as well as to disenfranchised children in Africa since 1995. The photograph above is of Yanahin Wauja filming in Xingu Park, Brasil. Yanahin is an indigenous photographer and cameraman who is co-directing a project with Marcelo about the Wauja mask dance and its representation in Western cultures.

Anyone who has read Ugotrade before will know that the central question I am asking on this blog is:

How can we bring the social and economic benefits of Web 2.o and the rich collaborative, multidimensional potential of the next generation of internet development - virtual world development (aka Web 3.D) - to all communities across the globe?

The premise is that, this time round (the development of virtual worlds and Web 3.D ), the inequalities of the digital divide must not be replicated or made worse by high end access coming only to a privileged minority. Access to the coolest and best technologies should be for all, but especially for communities who missed out on the first round of the internet revolution, to open a new door to peace and prosperity .

Every post on Ugotrade looks at some aspect of this aspiration. So, if this is your first visit, you may want check the archive for the evolution of this discussion.

The conditions to break down digital divides have arrived!

Closing the Digital Divide, “is not a job for business or government but both……..not about bottom-up vs. top-down efforts but both (Digital Divide.org).”

Attitudes towards positive global development have changed as the New York Times noted yesterday. And, issues of sustainable development are on the corporate agenda, at last, see - “Businesses Try To make Money And Save The World.”

NYT describes Altrushare a brokerage firm “whose mission it is to support struggling communities with our profits.”

like hundreds of new businesses starting up around the country, it is both. Altrushare is an example of the emerging convergence of for-profit money-making and nonprofit mission.

“there is a whole generation of people who’ve become extraordinarily wealthy as a result of the technological revolution and are now asking themselves if they can create change in the world” (R. Todd Johnson).

Metaverse Evangelists, Designers, and Architects

Are you sheep electric?, originally uploaded by Ian Hughes/Epredator from IBM and turned into a fake Wello Album, “a stern talking to/the storm was last year,” by wellohorlds. To learn more about, “the real life of a metaverse evangelist” go to epredator’s blog.

Virtual worlds are fast proving themselves the killer app. of broadband. Justin Bovington of Rivers Run Red, an advertising and events company that works in Second Life writes:

“I think one of the things is that the collaborative space [of virtual worlds] is so social and creative…..In addition there’s no doubt that broadband has been looking for its killer application.”

Virtual worlds have caught the attention of people and businesses around the world. There are not only new kinds of business model emerging from large enterprise corporations like IBM and Xerox as they begin to move in. But, new kinds of companies like Beta Technologies and the Electric Sheep Company are emerging from virtual worlds themselves.

And, futurists, and meta thinkers are introducing us to new ways of thinking about their possibilities. See Bruce Sterling’s talk about his visionary manifesto, “The Internet of Things,” on the Google campus. In “The Internet of Things: ‘What is a Spime?” Bruce Sterling explains Spimes and the role they play in solving the world’s greatest problem and need for sustainable development.

Last Friday, I went to a Real Life Meet Up with the Electric Sheep Company and friends held at Barcade, Brooklyn, New York. And, before Barcade became so completely packed with Brooklyn hipsters that I could no longer hear the names of people I was introduced to, I got to see just how interesting being around an emerging metaverse company can be.

I have already blogged, Jerry Paffendorf’s, ROA/Return On Awesome - the antidote to the habit of using outmoded concepts like ROI when thinking about virtual worlds. Paffendorf notes: “The currency we are using doesn’t know how to quantify what we are making.”

The Barcade meet up with The Sheep and friends was an opportunity to meet some of ESC’s metaverse friends, evangelists, architects, designers, developers, machinima makers and meta-thinkers in person. And, they are an interesting bunch.

Go to WelloHorld to see this “electric sheep company flickr photo annotated with mouse-over namey and roley goodness.” The digital divide of gender common to much of the tech world doesn’t seem as evident in the Sheep world. Among the Sheep and their many interesting metaverse friends I met at Barcade were Becky Carella (SL: Digi Vox), software developer and Sunny Cerchi, Virtual Architect/3D Artist (SL:Endira Udal), Rick Panganiban of the Click Heard Round the World who is also the author of, “E-democracy and the United Nations,” and Frank Dellario, Director of Machinima Production, Electric Sheep who was also involved, earlier in his career (like me), in commercial film production and special effects.

Ugotrade is part of a growing community of advocates for the role virtual worlds in positive global development in general, and developing countries in particular (see also Africa and Second Life, Zim Daily.) Up to now issues of broadband connectivity has been the biggest obstacle. But, increasingly, there is encouragement re issues of connectivity. (See Wiring the next Billion, connecting East and Southern Africa to the global broadband infrastructure, and now this free internet initiative by the Brazilian Government in the Amazon ).

The Explosion of Edtech on Second Life

As Andy Carvin, Internet activist, author, Edtech expert for learning.now points out edtech enthusiasts have started moving in Second Life in a big way. Carvin notes with excitement the launch of the Center for Advanced Virtual Education, or CAVE. In fact, there are so many educational initiatives in Second Life, I cannot begin to cover them in one post. But, there will be much more on this in future posts. And don’t forget the Second Life International Education Conference, May 25th, 2007.

Carvin has chosen an unusual avatar on SL. He is Abdi Kembla, who is modeled on a former child soldier from Somalia: “I choose to experience SL through Abdi’s perspective because I’m interested in seeing how others perceive an African character in a world where everyone is usually white or some mythical being.”

But, things are changing fast in the demographics of Second Life. ComScore reported May 4th, “That ‘Second Life’ has a Rapidly Growing and Global Base of Active Residents,” and only 19% of residents come from North America, where Second Life started.

And, with the recent launch of Second Life Brasil, the arrival of Second News! Brasil, Europeans may not be majority (61%) on Second Life for long. Recently, I noticed that Capoeira clothing was already being sold on SL. And, I assume we will be seeing more of Capoeira - the African Brasilian martial art/dance/culture on Second Life Brasil. This liberation culture that originated in Africa and remained outlawed during slavery, and until the late 1950s, has become immensely popular in Brasil and around the world. To see a video of the two legendary Mestres (Joao Grande and Joao Pequeno) playing the traditional form of Capoeira Angola in Real Life go here and to see a clip of Mestre Joao Grande in Sidney Pollack’s. The Interpreter here.)

The Internet in the Amazon as a Channel For Culture.

The Brazilian government recently announced that they will make free satellite internet available to native Indian tribes throughout the Amazon region as a way to enhance monitoring, management and conservation efforts.

World Changing asks will the Internet “strengthen tribal culture,” or “undermine the chances of cultural survival in the Amazon.”

a piece on the new development suggested conflicting views over whether networking tribes through the Internet would strengthen tribal culture by interlinking previously isolated people and allowing widespread environmental education, or whether the presence of technology and the Internet would undermine and ultimately degrade the chances of cultural survival in the Amazon.

But, in our phone conversation, Marcelo Fortelaza Flores explained his experience working in the Amazon leads him to believe such fears of the Internet undermining Indigenous culture may be ungrounded. Rather, internet access in remote regions, as well as contributing to environmental conservation efforts, could be a an important channel for indigenous culture. Marcelo pointed out:

Most of the communities that would be part of such an initiative in the Amazon have been using wireless radio and other technologies for several years. The problem has been typically that the technologies that reach these areas have been outmoded versions of what is available in more developed parts of the world.

This picture by François-Michel Le Tourneau is of Paulo Wakalitesu Nambikwara at the top of tree, getting reception for text messaging on his cell a village a hundred miles away.

Internet Access could bypass unscrupulous intermediaries in local economies

Even in remote areas of the Amazon, Indigenous people are already relating to world economies in order to sell their craft products and because of a world wide interest in watching indigenous culture and ritual. But, because there has been no way to participate in a wider economy without leaving their communities, up to now, traders from indigenous communities, like the Xingu, have been forced to leave their homes for long periods and travel to major cities like San Paulo. Not only do they have to deal with many often unscrupulous intermediaries. But, such trips are expensive and take them away from their families for long periods. And, these long absences, not only disrupt village life, but as the cities are expensive, they eat up what little cash is earned. Also, collectors use strategies to manipulate prices by keeping Indigenous people waiting in town without buying to get them to sell at a low price because they can’t afford to stay longer.

Cultural Activities and Rituals Cost Money.

Indigenous people are already in relations with regional economies but often little comes back to the community from a lot of effort. If more resources came back to the villages, and some of the unscrupulous actors could be avoided, indigenous communities would be in a better position to fund cultural activities and rituals that cost money to put on. Marcelo also pointed out that these rituals are often broadcast around the world on pay per view channels with indigenous communities making nothing or next nothing from their performances.

The Internet and Self Empowering Community Based initiatives

The “free internet for Amazon conservation” initiative can bring many benefits for indigenous communities in the Amazon if internet development is incorporated into self empowering community based initiatives. Marcelo pointed out how Indigenous communities in the Northern Amazon in particular, and increasingly in other regions, are very well organized. All communities have their own associations with different generations represented. These indigenous organizations are patterned after NGOs and have been working since the early nineties to link the complex politics of village life into the wider frame of government and civil society in Brasil.

Marcelo mentioned to me that as soon as connectivity allows, he will be working with these community organizations to set up virtual self-empowering, community based initiatives on the ‘net in the Amazon.

Tags: Second Life | Web 2.0 | Web 3.D | Amazon | Amazon conservation | Indigenous communities | metaverse | virtual worlds | virtual reality | digital divides | metaverse evangelist | global development | indigenous media | sustainable development | 4th sector | for benefit corporations | internet access | Xingu | Electric Sheep | Rivers Run Red | Return On Awesome | indigenous culture | Nambikwara | Brasil | Second Life Brasil | Capoeira | Mestre Joao Grande | Capoeira Angola | Virtual Education | Edtech | internet activism | Spime | Spimes | The Internet of Things | broadband | Altrushare |

Virtual Worlds will change the nature of who we are. This type of experience changes you, makes you demand change in the real world that is so easy to change in virtual environments…..this technology ends up changing us as people.” Philip Rosedale, Virtual Worlds 2007.

I found this drawing on the Clear Night Sky blog. Igor Gasowski saw this picture by a second grader at an art exhibit at one of his kid’s schools. To get a feel for the possibilities for change please take the, “What You Want Machine,” for whirl. Gasowski suggests:

Just pour yourself a drink, light up a cigar and ponder the implications of the “What you want machine.” Can you even imagine how your life [and the world] would change?

Gasowski also notes:

I also want to compliment the artist on the user interface. Given the benefit it delivers… It’s an exercise in restraint.

I agree with Gasowski on the elegance of the user interface. The only possible downside I see is the “What You Want Machine” will miss out on all the brand loyalty an arcane user interface produces with a good old fashioned hazing.

Thought experiment #1: Try out the “What You Want Machine.” (And, read to the end of the post to see #2 and #3!)

“Real Life” Development Stories in the News This Week.

Ecocity in China

These pictures are from Rizhao, China. The March/April 2007 issue of World Watch published a one-page article titled “Rizhao, China. Solar Powered City.” In a letter to the editor of the HJNews, George Hargreaves summarizes the report:

It is a city of nearly 3 million inhabitants and a climate similar to that of North Carolina. In the city’s central district, 99 percent of the houses use solar heating. Six thousand houses have solar cooking facilities and 60 greenhouses use solar heating.

Hargreaves concludes, “China has made an inventory of the wind potential for the country. We in the U.S. can learn from China.”

And, so we must. But, the lessons will not always be easy or unidirectional. Boing Boing reported from a post on the Wired News blog Threat Level that “shareholders ask Google to counteract foreign ‘net censorship.

In recent years, American internet companies have swooped into booming foreign markets and, occasionally, cooperated with repressive regimes seeking to crack down on free speech and democracy. The NYC Comptroller’s proposal attempts to limit Google’s ability to forgo internet rights that most of us take for granted.

See previous posts on Boing Boing for the full story on Google, China, and genocide: web censorship and Tibet. Also see, Preserving Tibetan Culture: A Digital Cultural Library For All.

Legacy of Enron Orgy in India

These pictures are of the Dabhol power plant in India which was closed down five years ago in the Enron debacle. “Nothing quite captures India’s dilemmas ['fast growing but energy poor'] like the sorry tale of the Dabhol power plant,” wrote Vir Singh in IEEE Spectrum. It was announced recently that after years of problems (see timeline for Dabhol tangle) that India’s Dabhol plant will “run full throttle by Nov,” althougn only yesterday there was a report of the possibility of yet another delay.

“Many energy companies have invested in closed or repressive countries — arguing that their investment would help develop the local economy and thereby improve the human rights situation. But in this case, Enron has invested in a democratic country — and human rights abuses there have increased. Enron hasn’t made things better for human rights; it has made things worse.” (Human Rights Watch, 1999)

These stories caught my attention this week because they show that complex development issues don’t always lend themselves to chirpy optimism in real or virtual worlds.

Real Dreams for Emerging Worlds

It is early days for virtual worlds, and as a metaverse evangelist (a job description that IBM has given cache to!), unless you are an Ostrich, you cannot be unaware of reports of griefing, and corporate misunderstanding of how to participate in the developing economies of Second Life, and other issues of connectivity, stability, scaling and social instability in virtual worlds.

I am reminded how advocates for developing economies in “Real Life,” e.g., Benin, from Africa Ready For Business, and beninmwangi work with the negative perceptions that arise from real and imagined obstacles to development. Benin writes about Africa in “What Do Investors Think?”

I am torn here, because on the one hand what the Economist says here is true. I mean, although there are some countries on the continent which have made some tremendous gains over the last decade, as a whole the continent has a long way to go-politically and economically. However, on the other-hand, I ask myself why would potential investors and business people think any differently about Africa if this type of ambiguous reporting about Africa is all that they hear? Sure, the risk may be higher in a country like Ethiopia or Nigeria, but there are still some companies that do extremely well there-in spite of all of the other things that go on there.

African American/African New Media Collaboration

These pictures are from an African American internet entrepreneur, Patrick Gorham, who is pioneering a collaborative new media project called Africa Writes. The Africa Writes crew don’t let the challenges of developing environments keep them from realizing their dreams.

Patrick writes:

Nearly a year ago while filming near the border of Liberia in the deep forested mountains of Guinea, the AfricaWrites staff and I were honored to witness the Kissi ritual known as the Hiowolan, the dance of the Yokia (see video here). Although performed by the young males of the community, who were not of age or ordained Yokia, it was an impressive display of animal mimicry, acrobatics and defensive capability. Luckily, our low powered batteries held up during the incredibly dusty shoot.

“Real Action” in “Virtual Reality”

The mission of Ugotrade is not just to talk about innovative uses of technology in developing “real life” countries. I have decided to make a leap and treat virtual worlds as developing “countries.” I make this coupling, not just because I think virtual worlds have an enormous potential role in human development. But, also, because I think looking at some of the “real life” development dilemmas through the lens of virtual worlds will be helpful, and visa versa.

On Ugotrade, I follow the development of virtual worlds in general, when I can (see Croquet). But, I pay particular attention to Second Life. This is because, at present, Second Life’s open, persistent, genuinely user generated environment, vibrant community and economy gives the best glimpse of what a global metaverse might have to offer humanity in the future. (See my post, and “Onder’s big three,” for more elaboration on the specific qualities of Second Life in relation other virtual worlds.)

Also, CEO, Philip Rosedale is unequivocal and passionate about opening up every piece of software, every line of code, “right down to the filesystem formats,” so that SL can become the basis for a 3D platform that could become “as ubiquitous a platform as the web is to us today.” (from speech on Second Life at the Life 2.0 convention, May 1st, see Metaverse).

Virtual worlds have a huge role to play in positive global development - again see my earlier posts, if you are wondering how I arrived at this view.

Yes, virtual worlds as social spaces face many of the familiar obstacles to development that “Real Life” developing countries do - problems with instability (see recent open letter to Linden Lab and LL’s response, with a promise to address the grievance in full. And, another ongoing democratic movement that NWN says will impact SL just as much, if not more), accusations that they are poorly governed “dictatorships,” (see, Can You Be A Citizen in A virtual World?), and questions about their fitness for for business and investment (see the 4th of Gartner’s 5 Laws for Virtual Worlds, and the cautions: “Be prepared for interruptions that can range from strange behavior from new residents to vandalism (Gartner).”

But, my interest in coupling the development of virtual worlds with positive global development in “Real Life” is about something more awesome than the obstacles both face. The closest I have found to a way to frame the enormous potential of developing environments, virtual and real, is the Electric Sheep futurist, Jerry Paffendorf ’s meme, “Return On Awesome.”

Jerry explores ROA of life logging with his Nike

Click here to view.

I asked Jerry to give me a short history of “Return On Awesome.” And, his reply confirmed my instinct that ROA is an idea good to think with:

The short story is I first used ROA/Return on Awesome to describe the spirit I wanted to see come out Sheep Labs, the beta and R&D site that’s been bubbling up out of The Electric Sheep Company. Since it’s more of a sandbox space we need the freedom to pursue interesting ideas and ROA more than immediate ROI. When it popped into my head, I remember hearing someone somewhere present what I thought was a very poor idea which was defended because it would ‘provide good ROI’. Worse than defended, I could tell it was a very poor idea *because* they were starting from the POV of ROI. Not unusual, but it really made me think Gross! There is not ROI [return on investment] without ROA [return on awesome]!

ManorMeta Mashup: SING by Dresden Dolls
Click to view video.

In my exploration of Second Life this week, I met and talked to a few of the many Second Life pioneers who explore ROA (not sure whether they would all call it that themselves, yet!)

I chatted with Second Life visionary In Kenzo, Creative Director of Amoration - a new media nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a culture of conscious compassion. You can see an excellent profile of In kenzo, Dave Pentecost, Technology Director, Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York (Avatar: Usu Ventura), and Barry Joseph, Director of the Online Leadership Program, Global Kids, (Avatar: Globalkids Bixby) on Tech Soup. Tech Soup describes how these three organizations use Second Life to “Change the World by Working in a Virtual One.”

I hope to get updates from these three groups and talk to Sue Stonebender soon. Also, I will follow up on Infinite Vision Media’s Social Responsibility Initiative that “offers high-end services to Second Life bound non-profits” (see story on Business Communicators of Second Life).

I met Sibley Verbeck, founder of The Electric Sheep Company right at the end of Virtual Worlds 2007. We were both too exhausted to talk! But, he kindly got back to me. And, Sibley will be doing an interview for Ugotrade on positive global development with an ESC perspective.

Thought Experiment #2: Think about Return On Awesome and take the “What You Want Machine,” for another spin.

There is not ROI without ROA

Click on these pictures to find out more about Open Architecture Network.
OAN asks the question: “How Can You Improve the Living Standards of Five Billion People?”

This week, I talked to two digital marketing agencies, Clear Ink and Converseon who unlike say The Electric Sheep Company, Millions of Us and Infinite Vision Media, do most of their work outside of Second Life and other virtual worlds. But, both of these agencies have put up pro bono builds that impressed me (and Clear Ink more than one - TED Island, and Capitol Hill). Capitol Hill has been the site of much activity including, Rep. George Miller (CA) and Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi joining Joanne Colan of Rocketboom there, anti-war protests in February, and gatherings of Obama supporters in March). Clear Ink seems to be right in the ROA groove.

Clear Ink works with Sun (see 3pointD for news on Sun’s new 3D ebvironment) and Autodesk in Second Life (sim opening today). But, I was prompted to visit Clear Ink Island this week mainly because I noticed they had streamed the recent TED conference into Second Life, and were responsible for the construction of TED Island (to be publicly announced this month).

When I met Kiwini Oe, co-founder, EVP and chief strategist for Clear Ink inworld, I was very excited to hear they are discussing streaming Global TED, June, 2007 in from, Arusha, Tanzania, Africa.

Clear Ink also organized a live audio discussion in Second Life with Cameron Sinclair, 2006 TED Prize winner, Executive Director of Architecture for Humanity, co-editor of the book ‘Design Like You Give A Damn‘ and contributing writer for Worldchanging.com and Sun Microsystems founder John Gage. They discussed:

collaboration and participation in 3D environments, as well as the newly launched ‘Open Architecture Network‘ - which represents the fulfillment of Cameron’s 2006 TED wish. The event will feature a virtual version of the ‘Porchdog‘ and the Global Village Shelters - both of which are contributions to the Open Architecture Network.

The Arch writes (for more about Wikitecture see here):

Given the open and collaborative nature of this initiative, I think Second Life provides a perfect platform for visualizing, co-designing and brainstorming future contributions to the Network. Perhaps architects and designers from all around the world could gather virtually and collaborate on real-time relief solutions in the wake of an unforeseen disaster.

On the left is the Porchdog home. Real-life construction is part of Architecture for Humanity’s effort to provide housing relief and redevelopment in post-Katrina Biloxi, Mississippi.

On the right is another of my favorite projects from Open Architecture Network, An Edible Home For Humanity.

Reforestation through Second Chance Trees

I spend a lot of time on this beautiful build last weekend - a collaboration between Converseon and Plant-It 2020. For the price of 300 lindens (roughly equivalent to US $1), visitors to Second Life can purchase and plant one of 10 species of trees on a designated island in the virtual community.

Converseon payed for the build, and the island maintenance so that every tree here results in a tree in the real world. The planting of a tree in Second Life will trigger Plant-It 2020, a non-profit organization founded by the late singer John Denver, to plant the same species of tree in the endangered rainforest to which it is indigenous. The virtual island is accessible online at: Second Chance Trees. Luna Bliss - a virtual environmental designer, built Bliss Gardens, a huge seven sim nature reserve. Bliss Gardens provided the location for the Earth Day Hub.

Luna Bliss writes: “We offer a unique perspective in SL - nature comes first and the buildings follow.” The beauty of the Second Chance Trees build may be a big part of its remarkable success. While I have no hard data, it is evident just by walking through the planting areas that many, many trees have been planted in only a few short weeks since the build opened. In fact, after I had planted my Tamarind tree, I couldn’t find it amongst the many other trees. But, one of the community of Crimson Star “furries” that support the sim, Idris Heroin spent a long time searching the note cards to help me find it again.

I had a very interesting discussion on “immersion or augmentation” with Idris while we did this. I have been giving more thought to the “Augmentation versus Immersion debates“ - another post! And, when I returned the next day to talk to LLPlatypus, from Converseon, the “immersion” discussion continued with Skunk Spatz.

Awesome!

A two decade veteran of the UK music and game industry, Laukosargas Svarog has built a functioning ecosystem in Second Life. For the more on this story see New World Notes.

Laukosargas Svarog’s island of Svarga (direct portal here).

“If I was to turn off the clouds the whole system would die in about six hours,” she tells NWN “Turn off the bees and [the plants stop] growing, because nothing gets pollinated. And it’s the transfer of pollen that signals the plants to drop seeds. The seeds blow in the wind, and if they land on good ground according to different rules for each species, they grow when they receive rain water from the clouds. It’s all interdependent.”

Xerox and Customer Led Design in Second Life

I visited Xerox Innovation Island again to talk in depth with Jonas Karlsson, aka Poinky Malaprop, a researcher for Xerox, Webster New York and Karen Arena, Xerox PR. Xerox is one of a growing number of major league corporations who seem to be giving virtual worlds their full attention.

The conversation began on the issue of stability of virtual worlds. Poinky was going through something a bit beyond feeling a little green on an ordinary bad hair day!

my eyes keep falling out of my head, and my body leaves little pieces of itself when I move, so stability is something I look forward to…

Xerox, and the PlayOn group at PARC (Bob Moore and friends) has been studying Second Life, and avatar interaction in particular, for a while. But now Xerox is starting to look at what applications they can develop for internal use as well as for external.

Karen Arena later sent me this article from Business Week , “Xerox New Design Team Customers,” which gives a pretty good idea of what Karen meant when she said:

We’re looking to explore ways in which Xerox can engage in the community as well, learn from the community……..

More on this at the Xerox Thought Leadership site from Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox Chief Technology Officer, (and a Second Life video).

And Jonas added:

Rather than trying to target the right people or everyone, you setup a space so that the right people find you. ………One idea we are exploring is this notion of bringing customers into environments like these and exploring what new technologies they would like to see to solve their problems. These environments are so useful for interaction, so taking advantage of that and making the interactions easier and more valuable is very interesting.

Here I am cruising around on my Nu-Ness bike inspired by the Xerox Nuvera digital printing systems. It is a specially commissioned 9-foot-long, black-and-white, chrome-covered custom motorcycle designed by Arlen Ness – one of the world’s most innovative customized bike builders.

When I asked Jonas about some of the cautionary tales about Second Life that circulate. He responded:

I’m not that concerned with the cautions listed by Gartner and others because I think the community understands how to deal with most of those issues. A lot of people cite instability, only being able to have 40 avs at an event, and adult or other disruptive content as reasons to be cautious. But, in day-to-day SL activities and events, I see those things being handled in various ways. So, I think we’re at the point (and Sibley and Reuben said this at VW07) to seriously start thinking about how to use these tools in an integrated way with our business and create value.

But, there is pretty general agreement of the need for business to integrate into virtual worlds. Steve Nelson (aka Kiwini Oe) of Clear Ink noted, “One of the main things for corps to remember is they have to be in-world more than they think they do. They can’t just lob brands in over the wall.”

A piece of wisdom in the Gartner Report to enterprises who may not have the established research and innovation teams that Xerox has. ““Find enthusiasts within your enterprise and support them.”

In an earlier post, I mentioned Seven Digital Divide Fallacies from Digital Divide.org. Three of these fallacies may be as good to think with in virtual worlds as they are in real worlds.

Three fallacies of digital divides that seem to apply to virtual worlds.

1) It is not a job for business or government [or "Gods" like Linden Labs or their equivalent] but both.

2) Not about choosing open source software over closed systems but both.

3) Not about bottom-up vs. top-down efforts but both.

The amazing statistical presentations of Hans Rosling brilliantly illustrates how skewed and erroneously pessimistic many of the myths about global development are. I haven’t seen the equivalent kind of analysis done for virtual worlds. But, I am sure such a look might debunk many myths about development in virtual worlds too.

Thought Experiment #3: Use the, “What You Want Machine,” to imagine a map of the online communities of Web 3.D, 2011.

Here is the great map of the World of Online Communities in 2007 Kroosh posted that inspired me to think about this.

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Reality | Virtual Worlds | Metaverse | Web 3.D | Web 2.0 | What You Want Machine | Rizhao | China | Ecocity | Enron | Dabhol | Metaverse | Metaverse Evangelist | IBM | Xerox | Xerox Innovation Island | Xerox Thought Leadership | Xerox Parc | Global Develoment | Digital Divides | Return On Awesome | |

Steve Prentice, analyst for Gartner Research, very kindly talked to me on Skype from the Symposium/ITexpo in San Francisco, yesterday. Of course, I asked about his controversial prediction, “the majority of active Internet users and major enterprises will find value in participating in this area [Virtual Worlds] in the coming years.” And:

By 2011, 80% of active Internet users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a “second life” - but not necessarily IN “Second Life.”

Metaversed and others have found this “way off the mark.” But, “Things always happen sooner that people think,” was Steve’s response. And, I had just spent most of the day watching the amazing Gapminder.org videos of Hans Rosling (presented at TED - see TED blog), so I was definitely in the mood to agree.

When dealing with world scale development on issues like poverty, global health, or even the rate of growth of a developing world like Second Life it is very hard to get a handle on events that occur on this kind of massive scale. The amazing, animated, interactive statistical analysis of Hans Rosling brilliantly debunks conventional pessimistic views on beating world poverty - and other major “Myths about Developing Worlds.”

Hans Rosling, co-founder of Gapminder, manages to turn boring numbers into vibrant animations that make sense of the world.

Click on the video grabs to watch these videos!

And as I watched Rosling’s dynamic analysis unfold, I kept thinking about the Seven Digital Divide Fallacies from Digital Divide.org

Those involved in the ten-year effort to close the Digital Divide were all well-intentioned. But we were like blind men describing the elephant as a tusk or a hoof rather and missing the point about the whole elephant. Similarly, closing the Divide turned out to be not a matter of gaining access to computers or cell phones but finding room for both. It is not a matter of promoting personal use of gadgets vs. shared use of gadgets but both. It is not a job for business or government but both. Not about choosing open source software over Windows but both. Similarly, it is not about GSM wireless vs. CDMA but both. Not about bottom-up vs. top-down efforts but both.

Pessimism leads to an over emphasis on top-down efforts.

Well my own small commitment to step out into the sunshine has been to keep the conversations about technology in developing countries linked to an exploration of the development of virtual worlds. Even though the mantra, “What about issues of broadband access?” is ever present in my ears. But, as I mentioned in my last post there have been some big developments in broadband access in Africa, and elsewhere, recently, and new opportunities will emerge with this.

Rosling gives a completely new view on issues of development, poverty and health on a global scale. But, he does not look at virtual worlds! Probably, there isn’t the kind of data available for virtual worlds for this kind of analysis and projection. But, I think it would be very interesting to see some of the same interactive analysis techniques that Rosling applies to developing countries applied to virtual worlds. It might help people get a handle on some of the issues that are just too big too grasp without these kind of visual thinking tools.

What is important about virtual worlds is that they are social and immersive.

Neomeme, recently, brought both the beautiful map of the internet and the blogosphere that are at the beginning of this post to my attention. The image on the left traces links on the blogosphere - blue are reciprocal links and green are one way. Discover posted the original story which will tell you where your favorite, “jocks, gadget hounds, political junkies, and porn aficionados hangout,” and which blogs create the white hot spots. But, what struck me was how color coding the two way links blue on the map told a new and very interesting story of the blogosphere from the point of view of “active”citizenship.

[The] blue blob represents a balanced sociopolitical discourse. The prevalence of blue in this area shows that most of these links are reciprocal, suggesting a sort of metadialogue between bloggers who hurl headlines at one another. The brightest light belongs to syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin.

The dream for a metaverse that is a single coherent environment, with a single client interface and countless virtual planets is possibly emerging faster than we can imagine. In my conversation with Steve Prentice, we went over many of technology issues/obstacles concerning a stable scalable supporting ground for virtual worlds to flourish on.

Who might be the big players? Would Google with their server farm savvy, or even the giant telecoms be the big virtual world service providers one day soon? What about IBM’s announcement of building a massively scalable main frame platform using cell processors? (see discussions of this on 3pointD and eightbar.) Also see eightbar’s comments in support of Steve Prentice and Nick Price’s report from ITexpo.

I asked these questions and Steve patiently answered. But, in the end the most exciting aspect of virtual worlds is emerging regardless of uncertainties around the exact path the technologies will take. The extraordinary quality, or ROA (Return on Awsome), of virtual worlds is the new levels of collaboration and connectivity they present. I also spent time with Jonas Karlsson and Karen Arena from Xerox today and, as this was a long conversation, it is fodder for another post. But, in closing, Jonas summed things up very clearly: “To me, the main point is that these environments are immersive and social.”

Second Life, Ustream and Twitter!

As I was writing this post last night, alerted by a Twitter, I found myself watching Eric Rice stream live from Second Life to Ustream. He was interacting with a group (not to mention a bunch of vehicles!) on Second Life and with a live audience on the Ustream chat lines. It was a social mash up that really started to spin my brain on the possiblities for virtual and RL integrations. I haven’t had a chance to ask Eric about the Fed Ex van that showed up a few times in his stream also. Another interesting point, Eric Rice has decided to switch to his RL identity in Second Life despite the almost legendary status of his Spin Martin avatar. A sign, to me at least, that the linking of virtual and real worlds is happening faster than we think.

Also, thank you Aleister for introducing me to Adri at Metaversality and taking me to Wednesday night’s ” KRTU Jazz for the Metaverse.” KRTU , on 91.7 FM, provides jazz for San Antonio from Trinity University. Here’s Adri and the legendary Ella Fitzgerald - kindred spirits!

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Worlds | Virtual Reality | Twitter | Ustream | Second Life | Web 3.D | social media | social networks | global development | myths of global development | TED | gapminder | Hans Rosling | World Health | global poverty | Jazz | Ella Fitzgerald | blogosphere | internet | interweb | ROA | return on awsome | metaverse | Gartner | IT | digital divides | blogosphere | positive global development | sustainable development | Itexpo |

Picture from ilounge.

This week the announcement by Bob Geldof of his Dictionary of Man or Encyclopedia Humanica triggered a discussion on digital divides.

Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and the BBC announced Tuesday they had joined forces on an ambitious multi-media project to produce a Dictionary of Man [aka Encyclopedia Humanica] that will be a complete record of humanity.

Geldolf said the web-based Dictionary would be a limitless repository of content: an immense, digital catalogue of all current human existence and an enormous resource for the exchange of ideas and information.

There was some criticism of the apparent culture in aspic paradigm.  Culture Matters pointed out that The Dictionary of Man project seems to be framed in these early press releases in an outdated mode of cultural preservation that ignores that “new diversity is created by the encounter between global consumer goods, media, ideas and institutions with local ways of doing and thinking.”

But, my favorite comment on the DoM project was on The Village Pump:

eh, it might be a bit uncoordinated.. but don’t we already call this ‘the internet’?
Oh well, more power to him, I guess. A freakishly massive undertaking, to be sure.

Yes the internet would already be on its way to being the Encylcopedia Humanica, if it wasn’t for digital divides, or rather lets call it Wikipedia Humanica, or even Humanica Life - the potential offspring of Second Life after it goes open source server side, (see announcement).

But, unless digital divides are addressed the internet is a long way from being a platform for all Humanica. And, while Geldof indicated that the DoM website may be up as early as next week, it is not clear from the press release how they will include voices from any of the 900 cultures that will be “captured” by camera crews.

I first saw picture on the left on Boing Boing and traced it back to Wired , and then ilounge where it is currently up to 28,347 views. The picture is captioned, “Female member of Mursi tribe in Southern Ethiopia.” There is no other background on the photo that I have found yet. But, I include the picture to the right for anyone who is not familiar with the genre of ilounge photos - ipods displayed in exotic locals.

When seen on its own the photo on the left suggests that a digital divide is being crossed, in context of other ilounge photos it seems to indicate a digital chasm.

But there was some good news this week in terms of bridging digital divides. From the i-witnesses:

At long last the World Bank has approved a US$164.5 million package to connect East and Southern Africa to the global broadband infrastructure – which will enable cheaper access to the internet and international phonecalls.

And, from Screenshots:

iBurst, is said to have transformed wireless broadband in Africa. The buzz will be in KL next Thursday: MoBif and Kyocera are bringing iBurst International Forum 2007 to town.

“Freakishly Massive”

And, then there is the “freakishly massiveness” of the Encyclopedia Humanica undertaking. The internet, in all its wiki open source glory, is the only media which makes such a project is even imaginable.

But, massive projects approached from the principle of sharing from the bottom up are what has defined the power of open sourcing to create new processes for businesses and society. And, these processes have gone well beyond their origins in software development.

Open Source evangelist Dana Blankenhorn’s famously posted on:

Bill Gates demanding that AIDS researchers share or open source their results if they’re to get some of the $287 million the Gates Foundation is putting into the search for AIDS vaccines.

Blankenhorn asks: “If you can change the way things work in AIDS vaccines, how about the world’s other pressing challenges? And if Bill Gates can learn the value of sharing, isn’t that the final proof open source works?”

Open Source activism has been in the news this last week when an open source heckler at Bill Gates recent talk at Bejing university seized a photo op.

The picture on the left is from Boing Boing and the picture on the right AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel.

But, if Bill Gates is not yet willing to put his money where his mouth is on open sourcing, Linden Labs it seems is.

“Having already taken the timid steps of open-sourcing the code for its client software, Linden Lab has confirmed that they’ll be going the whole way, and will soon be opening up the server code for Second Life. This furthers Second Life’s ambitions to be a fully distributed 3D network — built on interoperability and not owned by one company — a bit like the Internet itself.

ZDNet’s The Social Web asks: ‘who will be the first to offer Second Life hosting or use the server code for their own internal purposes? IBM would be an obvious candidate, perhaps offering corporate Second Life services. And for the rest of us? GoogleLife, free virtual land — ad supported of course. It’s certainly a possibility.’”

Humanica Life: virtual worlds serving all humanity.

It was quite clear at Virtual Worlds 2007 that IBM has no intention being caught napping re virtual worlds. The IBM key note speaker, Colin Parris, succinctly articulated the potential of virtual worlds to facilitate large scale collaborative innovation across geographical boundaries. Also noted was the power of virtual worlds to enhance learning by leveraging a variety of sensory inputs and to realize an individual’s potential that comes only from being able to tap into a larger network of people.

IBM is clearly focusing on making virtual worlds “fit for business and society.” But, without at the very least a discussion of virtual citizenship from the rest of us, will virtual worlds ever be fit for humanity?

I would really like to thank all the folks who discussed virtual citizenship in their comments on my last post, Can you be a citizen in a virtual world? This topic was well beyond the scope of my own imaginings. But, it came to life for me in the discussion of Aleister Kronos,Team Mascot, Gwyneth Llewelyn, Tisha, Dandellion Kimban, and Ziggy Figaro.

Some projects to watch re Humanica Life

African Path - “is one of the most exciting African citizen media projects. It is an online platform whose content comes from bloggers, readers, artists, and specialists. It also aggregates news on Africa from different sources (Global Voices).”

Language Labs - this Beta Technologies build and their client, Language Labs, have been getting a lot of press lately.

Second Life International Education Conference, May 25th, 2007

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Worlds | Virtual Reality | Virtual Citizenship | Virtual Citizen | Web 3.D | Bob Geldof | Dictionary of Man | Encyclopedia Humanica | Open Source | Bill Gates | Africa | internet | e-learning | internet development | Wikipoedia | digital divides | global development | positive global development | wireless broadband | open sourcing | user generated content |

In the year of 2010, 70% of the population in the developed nations will pass ten times more time per day interacting with people in the virtual world than in the physical world, says Charles Abrams a Director of Research for Gartner in, Internet Midia Digital.

What with the upcoming launch of Second Life Brasil, the arrival of Second News! Brasil, and the Gartner Conference in, Sao Paulo, Brasil (April 10th and 11th), virtual worlds in general and Second Life, in particular, are making a big splash in Brasil at the moment.

The picture on the left is of the opening party on Second Life for Second News! Brasil. The picture on the right is of the Pelorinho, Salvador, Brasil from Omar Junior’s Flickr photostream.

What is it about virtual worlds that will draw this many people in for this amount of time? Certainly it is not just about being 3D! The pivotal points of a virtual world are outlined in “Onder’s Big Three.”

“Onder’s big three” describes the qualities any virtual world must have if it is going to play the kind of role in 2010 that Abrams from Gartner describes. (Notably, Onder finds that, at this time, Second Life is the “ONLY virtual world that completely complies with ‘Onder’s Big Three.’”

1. Real money must move in and out of the “virtual” economy freely. RMT (Real-Money Trading) is designed in, not forbidden by TOS.

2.Users must be able to create unique content and retain ownership over it. Things like scripting and accepting uploads are important here. Multimedia is a bonus. We must be able to control the rights to our content.

3.The world must be persistent, and the users able to change it. Residents like being able to build the world themselves, and don’t need somebody stepping in and erasing their work.

But, in terms of the growth of virtual world’s in developing countries, at the moment, Onder’s number one point is, perhaps, the most important. The use of mobile phones as virtual bank accounts, to send, receive and save money is being touted but Telecom industry pundits as the major market driver after SMS.

M-Banking

BBC News notes: “M-banking, as it is known, might help to serve the three billion people who currently have no access to financial services, according to the World Bank.”

On the left is a Kaizen Cash booth on Brazilian Second Life (Kaizen is one of the Brazilian partners in Second Life Brasil - see 3pointD for the complete story). It will be possible to buy Linden Dollars using Brazilian currency, the Real.

On the right, is a “Geesm,” (GSM) kiosk in Lagos for mobile phone based virtual banking (no connection to Second Life, yet!).

Olusola Oyewola points outs call centers as they are known “attend to their customers just like your banker does when you go to cash some amount of money.” For more about the role of mobile phones in job creation in Africa see, Textually, Mobile Africa, Afrigadget, and Timbuktu Chronicles.

Leapfrogging

Jamais Cascio in World Changing, discusses “Leapfrogging” - the “notion that areas which have poorly-developed technology or economic bases can move themselves forward rapidly through the adoption of modern systems without going through intermediary steps. ” Bowers writes on PSD blog, “M-banking remains the most powerful example of leapfrogging that I know of. It’s actually a double leapfrog - from landlines to cell phones, and from traditional banks to virtual wallets.

Scott Schaffer has been blogging for a while about “leapfrogging” from “Phase 1 of internet development, the connection of the electronic world” which has been dominated by the platform creators (Microsoft) and search (Google) to “Phase 2 - connecting every physical item to the Internet,” which will take the internet into 3D. He notes, “Phase 2 will be 1000 times larger and more lucrative than Phase 1.”

Physical World Connection Players

Business Week, last week summarized the Chinese physical world connection players. Gmedia uses two-dimensional bar codes to bridge “the online and offline worlds, turning, say, a coffee table into a physical hyperlink, and your mobile phone into a giant mouse pointer. You “click” the barcode on the coffee table by taking a picture of it with the camera on your phone, and then are automatically taken online.”

Hong Kong-based, MyClick, “Although, it uses a patented photo recognition technology, not barcodes, the end result is virtually identical. Any visual medium - a magazine page, billboard or television commercial - can carry an image framed by a special border. The user simply snaps a photo of the framed image.”

Steve McCormick, vice-president of MyClick says: “In China, consumers are into marketing that’s hao wanr (fun). It’s not like the US, where the internet is a tool for purchasing products. Here, it’s all about yu le (entertainment).” Also, see Pacific Epoc’s interview with MyClick.

But, for a questioning look at whether mobile phone advertising and datamatrix codes will work , see Danwei.

What is happening “on the ground? M4G and Life Logging

Africa - Ready For Business tagged me recently. And, ever since, I have been wondering what to write for a meme post - What are my goals? Well one of my goals for this blog is not just to focus on top down innovation, but to keep looking at what innovations are coming from people who take up and use technology in creative and unexpected ways.

I love coming up with big ideas. But, I have been reining in my love of “big ideas” lately. I have come to realize that more often than not deep engagement with very specific areas evolves into big ideas one could never have imagined when starting out.

In Africa, the focus of innovation may not be on broadband at the moment, but, this does not mean trails are not being blazed. Virtual banking “the next big market driver after SMS” is being pioneered in Africa and other developing countries (including Second Life!).

Also, Africa Ready For Business notes, new and innovative uses for SMS are emerging . See their post for a video on M4G - Mobile For Good about how MG4 is helping Kenyans find jobs. And, check One World, to see more about this “social franchise project designed to use mobile phone technology to alleviate poverty” by delivering vital health, employment and community content via SMS.

Innovative approaches to connecting on grid and off grid worlds don’t just come from large corporate ventures.

Please check out, the other here, to learn about Jerry Paffendorf’s (The Futurist In Residence at The Electric Sheep Company) “on the ground” experiments in Phase 2 internet development using his shoes.

Pursuing an instinct to life log with his Nike+ tracking shoes plus new camera plus new Google MyMaps service, Jerry begins work on the virtualizing the neighborhood side of things.

Bridge blogging is a very big idea!

Recently, I was following a link from Clapping Trees post on, Top Blogs in China Malayasia and the Phillipines, when I came across Yee’s Blog, “Ya, I Yee, if only I could be a bridge blogger.” Aha, there you have it. That’s the way to think about “bridge blogging.” It is too big of an idea to pin down. Now I feel I can write down three goals:

1) Aspire to”bridge blog” while remembering this is a lofty goal.

2) Work on some practical bridge building everyday. For example, put time into at least one of my avatars (other than my blog), e.g., in Second Life, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Jaiku, Mybloglog, etc., etc., to build connections, make friends, and exchange ideas with an aspiration to building bridges across digital divides, and towards the goal of positive global development.

3) Practice meditation everyday.

I tag

Ya, I Yee, Electronic Village, Mshairi, JynxedPanda, African Gadget Geek, Congo Girl, Zanglu, Team Mascot, Brown Thoughts, Mutant Palm, Black In Business, Steli

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Worlds | Virtual Realty | m-banking | kaizen | global development | internet development | leapfrogging | Web 3.D | Web 3.0 | GSM | SMS | Africa | Second Life Brasil | physical hyperlinking | mobile phones | cell phones | mobile computing | MyClick | Gmedia | Electric Sheep | social media | social networking | life logging | Nike | Web 2.0 | virtual china | bridge blogging | Brasil | MMOGS | digital divides | social entrepreneurs | social entrepreneurship | internet | web development | positive global development |

Children are working on their OLPC laptops in a school 10 miles outside the capital of Nigeria, Abuja. This school was selected by Khaled Assounah, Director of Nicholas Negraponte’s One Laptop Per Child Program (OLPC) who spent a year touring schools in Nigeria. For the full story from Nigeria, see CNET, and here for more background on the OLPC project, and a video demonstration.

Tags: OLPC | Nicholas Negraponte | Nigeria | global development | digital divide | education | $100 laptop |