Start parameters and Swarm Gods

Seems our upgrade to the Havok 4 physics engine is causing problems with start parameters. This means our textures don't rez and we spend the afternoon taking dramatic photos instead. This one is for an interview Justin did with The Australian Centre of Photography's Photofile Magazine. I'll post a full link once his most excellent comments are published.

Disturbing the Peace, Scripted Object

Seems our wandering, random babbler has been causing some troubles. A Linden employee noticed ACVA was suffering from physics lag which is no biggy... but then they came down hard:

Linden Lab individually investigates the circumstances of every Abuse Report we receive. Following a careful review of our server records and logs, we have determined that your recent actions violated the Second Life Community Standards or Terms of Service. The violation in question occurred on January 24, 2008 in the region of ACVA.

Violation: Community Standards: Disturbing the Peace, Scripted Objects

Every Resident has a right to live their Second Life. The use of repetitive sounds, following or self-spawning items, or other scripted objects that intentionally slow server performance or inhibit other Resident's ability to enjoy Second Life are examples of Disturbing the Peace.

The rules of conduct are interpreted with the broadest meaning possible.

Discipline:

No additional action is being taken at this time.

Appeal Process: The decision to issue a warning or suspension for your Second Life account was reached after investigation of your use of the Second Life software and service. If you would like to appeal your warning or suspension, you may contact Second Life Support, in writing, at the address below:

Second Life Support
Linden Lab
945 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111

We will not disclose the identity of Residents who file Abuse Reports.

Meta Babeller

Thanks to Adam's code optimisation the babeller is now capable of generating a huge volume of prims without effecting the island's overall performance. We're also starting to see some interesting emergent behavior which is very exciting and something we've been hoping for. Audio is coming along nicely, as is a database that acts as an archive and source for random babel towers to draw from. Oh, and night shots rock!

Interview with Adam

networked_music_review has a long interview with Adam. Its mainly a discussion of ideas of post-convergent media art within realtime 3D environments, trying to clarify some of the issues that are informing the process and creation of the BabelSwarm project.

All your base

Adam has created a great script to aid in the creation of a Babelswarm base, aptly named "auto_spawn_rotate_with_delete". You can see the beginnings of the island-wide platform above.

The problems with physical space

We've had two meet and greets with prospective Babelswarm hosts so far. While ACMI were initially enthusiastic, the timing didn't fit with their schedule. Same for (an unnamed contemporary art institution), although it seemed their understanding of art created in virtual environments was somewhat uninformed, patronising and dismissive. They were interested in running a mediated forum on the legal and cultural debates surrounding virtual art, although I believe these debates have already been successfully addressed in academia and the (virtual) public realm. The "unnamed" did have valid observations regarding OzCo's framework, including the need for a physical space to exhibit Babelswarm. This is something we're still debating the merits of - why does virtual art need a real world interface?

Babelswarm makes the cover

The latest issue of Desktop Magazine features the Babelswarm project!

New milestone

A new milestone has been reached with Adam implementing the final letter forms. Audio is being embedded and tested this week.

Proof of concept

Adam has been busy scripting, with some great outcomes seen below in this pre-beta build. The php was relatively simple (for Adam), but as always SL is proving more problematic. Still - the outcomes are impressive and we're moving on to final letter-forms soon. The swarm behaviour, voice recognition interface, audio effects and housing are being discussed and we'll begin integration once the scripting issues are sorted.


Adam rides a swarm wave


Adam and Christo catching some "Zs"

The BabelSwarm Team

Left to Right: Adam Ramona, Adam Nash, Christo Kayo, Christopher Dodds, Justin Clemens, S1 Gausmann.

Recipients of the Inaugural Australia Council Second Life Artists Residency

We are proud to announce that we have been awarded the inaugural Australia Council Second Life Artists Residency. A project-based grant, at AUD $20,000, it is the biggest grant to be awarded for Second Life work.

We'd like to thank the Australia Council for recognising 3D Multi-user Virtual Environments (MUVEs) as a medium for serious art. For a public funding body to give such significant support shows vision and commitment to innovative post-convergent practice.

We will collaborate to develop an inter-disciplinary artwork in Second Life, which converges possibilities of literary, music/sound art and real-time 3D arts practices within the virtual world. There will be a simultaneous installation in Second Life and in a real world gallery, where gallery visitors can be directly involved in its creation via a voice-driven interface.

The installation, a metaphor for the Tower of Babel, will use voice recognition software that converts the spoken word of real and virtual world participants into 3D letterform images in an evolving tower of words. The behaviour of the individual letterforms and the meta-tower will be informed by swarm theory.

Our team consists of Christopher Dodds (aka Mashup Islander), Adam Nash (aka Adam Ramona) and Justin Clemens (aka S1 Gausman). Details in the People section at right.