A few minutes after I had sat down in the tea room, I saw Friedrich walking up toward the door nearest to the bridge.
Pema Pera: Hi Friedrich!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi pema
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: snuck up from the back door
Pema Pera: yup
Pema Pera: saw you coming ;>)
Pema Pera: camera controls are amazing in SL (^_^)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: eyes behind your teahouse?
Pema Pera: everywhere :-)
Pema Pera: How’ve you been?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: phew. long week. quiet in here
Pema Pera: yep
Pema Pera: this morning we had a full house
Pema Pera: All six cushions occupied
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i’ve been good, thanks. I traveled last week
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: had fun playing w/ the foreign country metaphor we’ve been talking about
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and yourself?
Pema Pera: fine! Busy, but happy.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yes, i can imagine this group growing quickly
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: folks keep hopping on, but not many are dropping off ;-)
Pema Pera: I have lost count. but I think more than fifty people have visited
Pema Pera: and about half of them keep coming back
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: not bad, considering it has only been word of mouth
Pema Pera: yes, there seems to be natural interest in this kind of thing.
I was wearing my Kralinger Bos T Shirt. The name referred to a large park in Rotterdam, Holland, where a major pop festival was held a year after Woodstock. I still have great memories of that event. I was a high school student then. But the shirt itself did not have a picture that could be easily interpreted.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: what’s on your t-shirt?
Pema Pera: not exactly sure
Pema Pera: got it from a friend of a friend
Pema Pera: but it looks nice
Pema Pera: I think
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. as long as you don’t know either. yeah, its neat
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i caught half of this ed-tech event down at FIT yesterday… they have dove head first into SL
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it is quite ideally suited to teaching fasion and design
Pema Pera: FIT?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: fasion institute of technology
Pema Pera: Ah!
Pema Pera: was it a mixed RL/SL event?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i don’t think it simulcast. but SL journlists and writers were present
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: http://www3.fitnyc.edu/techdevelopment/techday/main.htm
Pema Pera: thanks!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: this experience has allowed me to better understand and judge conversations around virtual worlds - lots of stuff in the Chronicle of Higher Education, New Media Consortium, and research over at Stanford
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, I still think PaB is the most interesting way to leverage this platform to date!
Pema Pera: well, thank you, Friedrich!
Pema Pera: yes, texting is an acquired cultural habit
Pema Pera: Many of my friends and colleagues look at it in astonishment
Pema Pera: unless they have children AND have kept up with them :>)
Pema Pera: but it didn’t take me very long to get a feel
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. well, i have some experience in irc rooms
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: in fact, that is part of what contributed to my skepticism over the added benefits of 3d immersion
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: in retrospect, i think many of the successful irc chats were between people who had previously met in person
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: allowing them to imagine and associate a voice and personality with the txt
Pema Pera: most people here I’ve never met in RL
Pema Pera: even central people here, like my neighbors Dakini and Storm
Pema Pera: and Bunan and Isen
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: right - i think this experience lends itself better to meeting strangers
Pema Pera: and Caledonia who works with me on the astro stuff as well
Pema Pera: and Kat who was my first mentor in SL
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: more than a txt handle to connect a sentence with
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: it is an interesting question what all contributes
Pema Pera: somehow you really seem to get a sense of people here
Pema Pera: from their actions, responses, in many subtle and not so subtle ways
The conversation switched to virtual worlds in general.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: just curious - w/ the chats, do you enable bubbles over people’s heads, or watch the chat window
Pema Pera: both
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yes, i think its tougher to claim as much of a sense of people (at least ones you don’t know) on pure txt irc
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i only found the buble option recently, though i still leave the window open
Pema Pera: many options in SL!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: its the ommsions that are tougher to identify ;-)
Pema Pera: which omissions?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, its a fixed platform, and does embody inherent constraints
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: guest visitors, comes to mind. truly anonmous avatars, for example.
Pema Pera: anonymous in what way?
Pema Pera: Isn’t almost everyone here anonymous?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, anonymous to each other, if they like, but not in RL, to Linden
Pema Pera: you mean with omissions those people who come in under a false name? Or am I missing the thread of your reasoning?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: um, i am talking generally, about what is inherent or encouraged in this platform vs. what is lacking. it seems to be quite flexible…
Pema Pera: yes
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but I am trying to imagine what it could or might be
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: as one example, i think it would be quite different if guests could appear without really registering. like anonymous edits in wikipedia.
Pema Pera: it could be many other things, yes, the whole growth of SL has been completely contingent on many historical and largely arbitrary factors, totally unplanned by anyone
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how is the bar coming along? are you designing it, with Storm’s help?
Pema Pera: not yet
Pema Pera: too busy so far
Pema Pera: but we may need it soon
Pema Pera: a few days ago we had eight people, didn’t fit in the tea house
Pema Pera: sure
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i love the rieul soundtrack. its just a short loop, i think, but very peaceful to listen to
Pema Pera: yes, indeed!
We turned to the PaB practice.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i must say, busyness and travel have taken their toll on my discipline. rationally, i know that’s when I likely need it most
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but it slips.
Pema Pera: I know the feeling, yes
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: my current plan, for lots of good reasons, is to hold off on fully diving into this until the semester is over
Pema Pera: oh sure, no rush
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i will share that the first week of this practice led to a bit of raciness, that I can manage, but shouldn’t play with unless I can focus
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the nature of the ideas we are toying with here have that effect (at least, on me, and I think in others sometimes too)
Pema Pera: brb
Pema Pera: sorry
Pema Pera: RL
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: no prob. i am gonna leave in a few minutes too
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (famous last words, in here)
Pema Pera: haha
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: can you say a bit more about that raciness?
Pema Pera: is it excitement?
Pema Pera: or anxiety?
Pema Pera: or how would you characterize it?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: errr, i think i have a hard time distinguishing between those two ;-)
Pema Pera: haha
Pema Pera: well, that gives me an idea then
Pema Pera: there is certainly overlap
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: that’s my pathology though… some call it mischievous or precosiousness
Pema Pera: you mean you feel drawn in too much?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the raciness is excitement and energy and rapid connections and associations
Pema Pera: and what is the side effect and/or not so ideal consequences?
Pema Pera: if any?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, when i recognize it, its mostly positive
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: source of creativity, passion, interest
Pema Pera: but you felt like you needed a break, since it took too much time perhaps?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, in this particular case i consciously pulled back. didn’t really even let it get that far
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: with some help/advice of a close confidant
Pema Pera: but the reason for pulling back was that it would otherwise take too much time?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: basically. at least right now, i have to make sure i fulfill prior responsibilities
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: time being mindshare here.
Pema Pera: of course
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: not just time in SL. a complete redirection of focus and attention
I then asked about the specific 9-seconds exploration.
Pema Pera: how about the notion of the 9-sec practice in itself, apart from coming here?
Pema Pera: that cannot take much time
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: similar. i want to go to 4x/hour, but not until i can focus more on the effort.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i think it will be very consuming. I can already tell from dabbling
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, i know how bad we are at predicting how we will feel about something unknown
Pema Pera: that’s fine of course, and you should do what you are comfortable with, but since you are a philosopher, and philosophers like to analyze, I am curious: can you put your finger on what it is that will take more than one or two minutes in total, if you do the 9-sec exercise for a few hours a day every 15 minutes? On paper at least, there shouldn’t be anything, right?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. its ;>)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: certainly alot to cram into 72 seconds!
Pema Pera: and even if you could do it for, say, 2 times a day, 2×9=18 seconds, and if you could after, say, a week, look back and use your philosophical training to analyze what happened that week, I would very much appreciate and respect hearing what you found.
Pema Pera: or even just 1 time a day
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: tnx. i’ll try. i am actually sitting on a third post that is just about done.
Pema Pera: great!
Pema Pera: looking forward to reading it
Pema Pera: let me know, and I’ll link it in from my blog
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, they aren’t the stream of consciousness stuff. analysis and all.
Pema Pera: fine!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: yeah, maybe we should have folks tag stuff playasbeing, or something
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: will be easier to collect later
Pema Pera: well, I shouldn’t keep you here longer than you have time
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: right
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: fun stuff, for sure. to be continued as usual.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: tnx.
Pema Pera: yes, any links are welcome!
Pema Pera: yep
Pema Pera: thanks for coming over!
