Brett Atwood, web editor at Linden Lab, recently unveiled Showcase, a new feature in the virtual world which will serve as a guide to the 3D Second Life environment.
“Showcase will allow users to find some of the highest quality places inside the virtual world,” Atwood said.
The Showcase feature categorizes high quality virtual locations of Second Life, a 3D virtual community where users are represented by avatars. Showcase categories include: arts and culture, education and non-profit, fashion, hot-spots, music, photos and machinima, and tutorials.
In a Linden Lab press release Atwood said the company believes Showcase will make it easier for users to find the best content and communities that may have been difficult to find until now.
There are approximately 20 million long-term downloads of the Second Life program, Atwood said. Although, 78,000 is the highest number of concurrent users recorded.
Showcase will feature the best user-created 3D videos, referred to as Machinima in the virtual world, and over 240 professional training videos in the Tutorial section.
The virtual world allows for the creation of a variety of virtual spaces including online museums, forums for press releases, night clubs, and virtual universities. Some professors are using Second Life to enhance online teaching and universities are creating virtual campuses to engage prospective students.
Second Life is growing in more than 100 countries and residents are continually creating new virtual spaces. Over 70 percent of users are outside the United States.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Feature Post
Whitman County has turned blue—a rare spectacle considering it is historically a conservative community. Glance at a state map that is coded with election results and you will see that Whitman County is the only speck of blue in Eastern Washington. So what or rather who has been responsible for this drastic change of color?
A key component in this change of political leaning is Washington State University student Alex N. McDonald. The Field Organizer of the Ninth Legislative District of Washington for the Obama Campaign for Change, McDonald organized Whitman County residents and college students.
“I had one day training in Seattle and from there I was expected to set up this operation in Pullman. I have been a very involved student, so I had a lot of connections in the community. I recruited volunteers and we began phone banking, canvassing, and registering voters,” McDonald said.
To be a WSU student is to know Alex McDonald. He has either stopped you on your way to class to ask you to register to vote or obtained your cell phone number and sent you repeated text messages reminding you to vote.
“I would describe Alex’s commitment to the campaign as extreme,” Jarmyn D. Kramlich, a volunteer for the Obama Campaign for Change, said.
McDonald originally became involved with the Obama campaign when he
co-founded WSU Students for Barack Obama in January 2008. He became an official employee of the Obama Campaign for Change in August 2008.
“Alex has been very successful. This is one of the few times Whitman County has gone blue and it had a lot to do with student voters. He organized and motivated students to vote,” Dan B. Wandschneider, a volunteer for the Obama Campaign for Change, said.
The operation McDonald set up in the downtown Pullman, Whitman County Democrats office is responsible for registering 1, 679 voters.
“The biggest successes of our operation was winning Whitman County and registering voters,” McDonald said.
The political environment of Whitman County seems an accurate microcosm to the overall trend in the 2008 election. The youth registered to vote and in spite of the skepticism that they would actually turn out, they chose their candidate and participated in democracy. In Whitman County the students have spoken.
McDonald said he was overcome with joy when Obama won and shed countless tears.
As for the challenges of the next four years McDonald said, “We, the American people have to use the resources the Obama Administration provides. Obama is opening a window, but we have to climb through it.”
A key component in this change of political leaning is Washington State University student Alex N. McDonald. The Field Organizer of the Ninth Legislative District of Washington for the Obama Campaign for Change, McDonald organized Whitman County residents and college students.
“I had one day training in Seattle and from there I was expected to set up this operation in Pullman. I have been a very involved student, so I had a lot of connections in the community. I recruited volunteers and we began phone banking, canvassing, and registering voters,” McDonald said.
To be a WSU student is to know Alex McDonald. He has either stopped you on your way to class to ask you to register to vote or obtained your cell phone number and sent you repeated text messages reminding you to vote.
“I would describe Alex’s commitment to the campaign as extreme,” Jarmyn D. Kramlich, a volunteer for the Obama Campaign for Change, said.
McDonald originally became involved with the Obama campaign when he
co-founded WSU Students for Barack Obama in January 2008. He became an official employee of the Obama Campaign for Change in August 2008.
“Alex has been very successful. This is one of the few times Whitman County has gone blue and it had a lot to do with student voters. He organized and motivated students to vote,” Dan B. Wandschneider, a volunteer for the Obama Campaign for Change, said.
The operation McDonald set up in the downtown Pullman, Whitman County Democrats office is responsible for registering 1, 679 voters.
“The biggest successes of our operation was winning Whitman County and registering voters,” McDonald said.
The political environment of Whitman County seems an accurate microcosm to the overall trend in the 2008 election. The youth registered to vote and in spite of the skepticism that they would actually turn out, they chose their candidate and participated in democracy. In Whitman County the students have spoken.
McDonald said he was overcome with joy when Obama won and shed countless tears.
As for the challenges of the next four years McDonald said, “We, the American people have to use the resources the Obama Administration provides. Obama is opening a window, but we have to climb through it.”
Monday, November 10, 2008
Frontline Response:
Frontline exposes journalism trends, particularly in televelision and the internet news industry. Part 3 brings to light the deterioration of hard news on television programs and the move towards entertainment due to profit incentives. It also highlighted the growing popoularity or programs like Jon Stewart which satirizes and mocks today's news sources.Jon Stewart is targeting the youth of America and is presenting news in a creative and humourous manner.
Programs like 60 minutes whose audience continues to get older has partnered with Yahoo to put the program on-line. Many news programs also have on-line blogs from their main anchors such as Katie Courics' Journal segment on-line. There are also more informal and low budget news productions on-line that receive 400,000-1,000,000 visitors a day. These bloggers and citizen journalists operate without journalistic training which can be somewhat controversial, yet they are still presenting valuable news and are "hitting the pavement." Sometimes the determination of young journalists to uncover true news and considering that they are free of advertising pressures can make thier reporting refreshing.
Google and other major on-line news providers pick up stories that newspaper journalists have originally written, such as stories from the AP wire and then provide them to an internet audience. This is controversial because newspaper sales are down becuase the stories are on the internet but the stories are from newspaper journalists. Google has made the decision not to write thier own news, rather just present it to the public. This causes me to question whether google is paying for this news and buying it off the wire? Or merely recycling news. It only seems ethical that these journalists would be paid for the news they are uncovering and writing becuase they are doing the grunt work.
The newspaper industry's financial trajectory is gloomy, as highlighted by Frontline's feature of the LA Times. Newspaper stocks are down because journalistic trends are going more and more toward the internet medium. Advertisers and readers are moving toward the internet. Investors are also skeptical so stock prices are down. Even original news outlets on TV are being challenged by programs like Jon Stewart and Colbert report. The news trend is one of change, and the question is who can keep up and adapt?
Craiglist is also taking classified ad revenue from newspapers because it is free to post there. This has affected the economics of newspapers. Interestingly enough newspaper consumption has increased but newspaper sales are down. But newspapers are the content providers so if they are threatened google and these other newspaper providers will not have content.
Frontline exposes journalism trends, particularly in televelision and the internet news industry. Part 3 brings to light the deterioration of hard news on television programs and the move towards entertainment due to profit incentives. It also highlighted the growing popoularity or programs like Jon Stewart which satirizes and mocks today's news sources.Jon Stewart is targeting the youth of America and is presenting news in a creative and humourous manner.
Programs like 60 minutes whose audience continues to get older has partnered with Yahoo to put the program on-line. Many news programs also have on-line blogs from their main anchors such as Katie Courics' Journal segment on-line. There are also more informal and low budget news productions on-line that receive 400,000-1,000,000 visitors a day. These bloggers and citizen journalists operate without journalistic training which can be somewhat controversial, yet they are still presenting valuable news and are "hitting the pavement." Sometimes the determination of young journalists to uncover true news and considering that they are free of advertising pressures can make thier reporting refreshing.
Google and other major on-line news providers pick up stories that newspaper journalists have originally written, such as stories from the AP wire and then provide them to an internet audience. This is controversial because newspaper sales are down becuase the stories are on the internet but the stories are from newspaper journalists. Google has made the decision not to write thier own news, rather just present it to the public. This causes me to question whether google is paying for this news and buying it off the wire? Or merely recycling news. It only seems ethical that these journalists would be paid for the news they are uncovering and writing becuase they are doing the grunt work.
The newspaper industry's financial trajectory is gloomy, as highlighted by Frontline's feature of the LA Times. Newspaper stocks are down because journalistic trends are going more and more toward the internet medium. Advertisers and readers are moving toward the internet. Investors are also skeptical so stock prices are down. Even original news outlets on TV are being challenged by programs like Jon Stewart and Colbert report. The news trend is one of change, and the question is who can keep up and adapt?
Craiglist is also taking classified ad revenue from newspapers because it is free to post there. This has affected the economics of newspapers. Interestingly enough newspaper consumption has increased but newspaper sales are down. But newspapers are the content providers so if they are threatened google and these other newspaper providers will not have content.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Al Jazeera:
1. I think that the internet will be a very effective medium to reach a U.S. audience. The United States has realized that we live in a time of globalization and the opinion of foreign countires does impact the United State. Al Jazeera provides a more neutral news source than media outlets within the United States because it is not owned by U.S. entities with special interests.
2. I personally think Al Jazeera should be allowed to be broadcast in the United States. It would open the minds of U.S. citizens and allow people to see the issue from the other side, increasing the knowledge of international affairs and relations. I spent several months in Africa and they receive thier news from Al Jazeera, after watching it for several months I can say it provides a more bipartisan and fair way of looking at the news. It is a refreshing news source and just becuase it has Arabic ties does not mean it has a connection to terrorism, that is ignorance and exposing people to Al Jazeera could reduce this misunderstanding and brutal stereotypes that exist between European American(caucasians) and people of Middle Eastern descent.
3. It takes a more global approach and tells the story from a neutral stance, whereas the U.S. reports news which will impact our nation. Al Jazeera is more focused on the international community. They do not allow advertisers to set their news agenda. Advertisers have incredible power in the U.S. media. Also diverse groups are represented, not just the majority. In the U.S. the white dominant culture is portrayed in a certain, often more positive light than minorities creating a cultural narrative and reinforcing negative stereotypes.
4. Al Jazeera lives up to its' Code of Ethics, it maintains a neutral viewpoint on news. It also presents diverse viewpoints, ackowledges human diversity through covering a range of issues that are occuring in the global community. Al Jazeera aims to achieve honest and truthful journalism which I believe they do more so than in the U.S. because they are not aiming to paint a specific nation or party in a certain light, rather are presenting the reality of the event or situation at hand.
1. I think that the internet will be a very effective medium to reach a U.S. audience. The United States has realized that we live in a time of globalization and the opinion of foreign countires does impact the United State. Al Jazeera provides a more neutral news source than media outlets within the United States because it is not owned by U.S. entities with special interests.
2. I personally think Al Jazeera should be allowed to be broadcast in the United States. It would open the minds of U.S. citizens and allow people to see the issue from the other side, increasing the knowledge of international affairs and relations. I spent several months in Africa and they receive thier news from Al Jazeera, after watching it for several months I can say it provides a more bipartisan and fair way of looking at the news. It is a refreshing news source and just becuase it has Arabic ties does not mean it has a connection to terrorism, that is ignorance and exposing people to Al Jazeera could reduce this misunderstanding and brutal stereotypes that exist between European American(caucasians) and people of Middle Eastern descent.
3. It takes a more global approach and tells the story from a neutral stance, whereas the U.S. reports news which will impact our nation. Al Jazeera is more focused on the international community. They do not allow advertisers to set their news agenda. Advertisers have incredible power in the U.S. media. Also diverse groups are represented, not just the majority. In the U.S. the white dominant culture is portrayed in a certain, often more positive light than minorities creating a cultural narrative and reinforcing negative stereotypes.
4. Al Jazeera lives up to its' Code of Ethics, it maintains a neutral viewpoint on news. It also presents diverse viewpoints, ackowledges human diversity through covering a range of issues that are occuring in the global community. Al Jazeera aims to achieve honest and truthful journalism which I believe they do more so than in the U.S. because they are not aiming to paint a specific nation or party in a certain light, rather are presenting the reality of the event or situation at hand.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Search Results
1. Hate Crimes:
Pullman has more hate crimes than other small communites in Washington. In quarter one of 2007 four hate crimes were reported and said to be racially based. In quarter three of 2007 one hate crime was reported and was related to the victim's sexual orientation. In 2006 Pullman reported 4 hate crimes, all based on the sexual orientation of the victim. Obviously discrimation based on sexual orientation is not a new problem in the Pullman community and is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed.
2. Money in Politics:
Dino Rossi received the most donations in the 2008 election. He received $7,587,579 compared to Gregoire's $7,408,120.
Following the Republican Party, health professionals donated the most to Rossi ($15,330).
Lawyers and lobbyists donated the most to Gregoire with $55,110, following the Democratic Party.
The Forestry and Forest Products donated $872,236 to the Republican Party and $374,137 to the Democratic Party.
The "lobbyists and public relations" industry donated $2,423,512 to the Republic Party and $1,917,987 to the Democratic Party.
3. FirstReference to:
Digital Video Recorder
http://www.google.com/patents?id=eEk2AAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Digital+Video+Recorder%22
Social Networking:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=fVsGAAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Social+Networking%22
Automobile:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=Kh9TAAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Automobile%22
Pullman has more hate crimes than other small communites in Washington. In quarter one of 2007 four hate crimes were reported and said to be racially based. In quarter three of 2007 one hate crime was reported and was related to the victim's sexual orientation. In 2006 Pullman reported 4 hate crimes, all based on the sexual orientation of the victim. Obviously discrimation based on sexual orientation is not a new problem in the Pullman community and is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed.
2. Money in Politics:
Dino Rossi received the most donations in the 2008 election. He received $7,587,579 compared to Gregoire's $7,408,120.
Following the Republican Party, health professionals donated the most to Rossi ($15,330).
Lawyers and lobbyists donated the most to Gregoire with $55,110, following the Democratic Party.
The Forestry and Forest Products donated $872,236 to the Republican Party and $374,137 to the Democratic Party.
The "lobbyists and public relations" industry donated $2,423,512 to the Republic Party and $1,917,987 to the Democratic Party.
3. FirstReference to:
Digital Video Recorder
http://www.google.com/patents?id=eEk2AAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Digital+Video+Recorder%22
Social Networking:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=fVsGAAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Social+Networking%22
Automobile:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=Kh9TAAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Automobile%22
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