Hi, all.

As noted, today will be a “work day” giving you all a chance to put finishing touches on your projects. I’ll be visiting a bit to check in, and be physically in the classroom.

I think we can do presentations online, rather than in person. I was talking with someone in the class, and it seems a bit dumb to put together a powerpoint and talk of what already exists in world. So, I’m going to ask you each to prep a short (~20 minutes or so) presentation in-world. Voice or text–whichever you prefer. There is a HUD that might be helpful for a text presentation, I’ll link to that shortly (or just distribute it to the group).

The only hitch is course evals. I’ll check with Michele Moore about maybe doing online evals, but I suspect that isn’t possible. I won’t encourage this, but if some of you want to have a “live” person record your evaluation, there’s no way I’d know . Alternatively, I think I can mail (or PDF) you an eval form and give you an address to send it to. Let me know if you would like me to do this.

Finally, you should each have a wrap-up post next week about the final project, what you did on it, how you think it turned out. This isn’t an attempt to sell me on the project–I’ll get that in the presentation–but rather a reflection on what you think you learned, what you are proud of, what you were frustrated by, what you wish you (or we) might have done differently. I know many of you have been doing this on the blogs all along, and so here is a final shot at that.

Nice overview… I vote Science Friday as the coolest entry .

Just heard Duran Duran’s “Zoom In” for the first time, which they say was inspired by experiences in Second Life. Here are the lyrics (taken from here):

Zooming in
Stood on the line
You understand
I’ve been waiting forever
Come rain come shine
In the wind in the snow
In the filty weather
You’ve got it all worked out
Ya but it knocks you out
But I’m zooming in

Now she arrives
In a flaming crash
Like a falling star
Heading straight for the dive
Gonna make some cash
With the avatar

You got it all worked out
I know you know
I don’t want you to go
Ya but it knocks you out
I’m zooming in on you on you

Don’t look back you’re a heart attack x 4
You’ve got it all worked out
Ya but it knocks you out

We’re not alone
In the 2nd life
There are millions like us
Right here
In the stones
In the air too bright
All the new insiders

You’ve got it all worked out
I know you know
I don’t want you to go
Ya but it knocks you out
I’m zooming in on you on you

Na na na na na na
I know you know
I don’t want you to go
Na na na na na na
I’m zooming in and out on you

The FFRC is offering three grants of 25,000 Lindens each to develop interesting events and environments for Second Life. Deadline for short proposals is November 25. More info here.

Be sure to check out some of the haunted houses for Halloween! Here’s a guide.

Information Week has a piece on what to wear for business in SL. A lot of people think that it’s silly to wear a suit & tie in a setting where you can be anything at all. Others think–as one of the commentators has it–that some RL/SL continuity is worthwhile. What do you think?

I’m kicking myself for not requiring you all to read Snow Crash–or at least the parts that deal directly with the Metaverse. It’s really a large part of the inspiration for what a lot of what people do in virtual worlds. In the book the protagonist (Hiro Protagonist) jack into Second Life the Metaverse using his “deck,” a mobile system that allows him to immerse in the virtual world.

Here’s a guy who’s made his own version, based on a Sony Vaio and goggles.

Viral out of Saatchi & Saatchi.