Caught this bit of terror and horror from the Twitterstream, although I’m sorry I’ve since lost track of specifically from whom. YouTube description below:
New Media is the tipping point where Good finally beats Bad
About This Video: Gary Vaynerchuk sounds off for 120 seconds on The fact that our technology is moving so fast and it is actually helping one major thing, it is allowing good people to wine
By the way, I’m pretty sure “wine” is a typo on his part even if it is, ironically, appropriate.
Why is this the most horrific thing I’ve heard about since a soldier tossed a puppy off a cliff? I’ve blogged about this before under the context of Halloween and along the lines of deleting my old work, but it’s worth saying again.
The problem with people “knowing who you are” is that you’re constantly checking yourself for presentability and consistency. Over and over you clamp down on your creativity, restrict your passion, and censor your thoughts because the world is watching and you’re never, ever allowed to change. You are what the record says you are. There’s no escape, and to hell with what “feels right” for you at the moment.
It also means that, ironically, people will accuse you of being “fake” or “lying” if you try to grow or if, god forbid, you merely change your mind about something. Favor will be granted toward those who’ve been consistently pleasant. Mediocrity be praised!
Pretty soon, you’ll have to look like this to be trusted:
Oh wait, that’s already true and I kind of do look like that. Damn. We’re screwed.
I guess it’s true what they say: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Draxtor Despres serves up yet another brilliant report, this time on The International Justice Center.
Video description: The International Justice Center opened recently in Second Life with a panel discussion featuring International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. What will the SL community do to further the cause of the forgotten and helpless of the world? Draxtor Despres captured some voices from the frontlines.
David Rumsey has digitized 17,000 historical maps. You can now walk around them in Second Life, as well as cross-reference and remix them. The 3D build comes courtesy of the geniuses over at Centric, but it’s Rumsey that deserves credit for having a vision to do something truly remarkable. He’s taken a huge collection of historical documents and found ways to remix them, mash them up, warp them and find new meaning.
Below is a full presentation entitled “Giving Maps A Second Life With Digital Technologies”, showing how one can leverage virtual world technology to make fragile and fascinating things accessible in ways that nobody ever would have imagined before.
Giving Maps A Second Life With Digital Technologies – David Rumsey
If the above video does not play for you, click here.
This is one of those presentations that just gets more fascinating with every turn. Most certainly worth a half-hour of your time.
If you’d like to find out more about the Second Life installation, Jenn tells me she’s posting about it over at SL Things To Do. They recently upgraded the website and added several features – do check that blog out if you want to do something interesting today.
