Coming from Australia and working for Linden Lab in our San Francisco office, I am always keeping an eye out for the activities that are happening in my home country. My focus at Linden Lab is in the enterprise space, so I generally see the great work that has come out of several Australian corporations. This week, however, my attention has been focused on the amazing Second Life community that has rallied in support of the devastating bush fires that have hit Australia.
As many of you are aware, these fires are one of the worst natural disasters to hit Australia in over 100 years. In response, Residents have created several inworld campaigns to raise funds to donate to relief efforts, from donation boxes to concerts to vendors selling clothing to support the cause. There’s already been some great coverage of these efforts from outlets including Massively, the MetaverseJournal, and New World Notes.
Seeing Residents come together like this is another powerful reminder of the breadth and strength of our global community and another great example of how Second Life is being used in ways that can really make a difference in the real world.
I’d like to thank those who have initiated fundraising efforts or given their support to this cause. Please describe/link to your inworld relief efforts in the forums.
I wanted to introduce myself, Judy Wade, or Judy Linden inworld. I’m the new VP of Strategy and Emerging Business. Inworld I look a bit like a green sea fairy, which is what I always wanted to be when I was 6. Little did I know that I’d be able to carry out that wish in my professional life oh so many years later!
I’ve actually been working with Linden since last April, essentially on a borrowed basis from Kapor Enterprises, Mitch Kapor’s investment fund. I came on board to help with the CEO transition from Philip to Mark, and stayed on to help the company with strategic planning.
I started my career at Hambrecht & Quist as a semiconductor analyst, and then spent most of the rest of it at McKinsey & Company, working in New York, South Africa, and San Francisco, for a lot of different kinds of companies– from mines in Colombia to Internet start-ups in South Africa to technology behemoths here in the U.S. I’ve always tried to spend a chunk of my time working in the non-profit space, and have a passion for education and economic development, as well as for Cal specifically, where I spent my college years.
But I’ve never worked with or for a company with such passionate ‘customers’, such amazing opportunities, or one my dad would instantly fall in love with (as he did once he was given a tour around the rockets at the International Spaceflight Museum inworld – he’s a 77 year old wannabe physicist). I am continually amazed at the creativity of our Residents, be they consumers, enterprises, or educators, and our strategic roadmap has to focus on continuing to figure out new and better ways to enable the creativity of existing Residents and attract new people to participate in this incredible ecosystem.
So what do we mean by strategic roadmap? Sounds like a lot of consulting jargon I’m sure. At Linden it is the process we use to help us prioritize where we put our resources – to better serve existing Residents and to grow our user base in high potential markets. Some of it has resulted in big investments in what I would call the ‘must-dos’, those things we need to do no matter what – increasing technical stability, scalability and predictability, improving the overall user experience so we continually delight new and existing users, and enhancing core products such as land and e-commerce (thus the purchase of Xstreet SL and OnRez). Other parts of this roadmap are about where we invest to grow our user base, including how we can better serve and grow our international markets, how we can better serve inworld businesses and land owners, and what types of ‘killer applications’ will increase user hours and attract new users. While we conducted a formal inworld survey last May to get input on these issues, and will launch another one soon, if any of you have ideas on the above, please send in comments here.
Now that I have officially joined Linden in this new role, I will continue to work with Mark and the rest of Linden on our strategic direction, as well as being responsible specifically for potential strategic partnerships, international strategy and market growth, and education. Most importantly, I look forward to continuing to help Linden nurture and support the amazing Resident creativity and activity that is Second Life.
Back with the monthly grid update. Its been a bumpy few weeks, with Level 3 outages, and central database issues. The good news is that LLnet (data center fiber network) continues ahead of schedule and we should be starting traffic migration in the next week. We’ve also made some headway in the area of asset storage. Right now, central database issues are our core focus and have been at the center of most of the recent grid problems.
LLnet
The benefits of LLnet are to not only get us off of our dependency on VPN’s for inter data center traffic, but also lay the foundation for diverse internet providers that will allow us to handle an outage on a single provider (currently Level 3) and potentially improve latency. Most of our widespread and highest impacting outages have been network related, and that is why LLnet has been my top priority since joining Linden Lab this past summer. I expect final testing to be complete by the end of January, and production traffic cutover immediately after.
Improving Asset Storage
In the meantime, we have also been working to significantly reduce load on the Isilon storage clusters. I know that last month I indicated that we would discuss this more and wanted to touch on our strategy with storage. We’ve actually been working in a tiered storage environment for a number of months. The Isilons act as our primary means of storage, for those assets that are accessed on a more regular basis.
As you may imagine, however, most assets are either accessed very infrequently, or not at all. To determine how often assets are used, we’ve been running a detailed “collection” process. This process identifies those rarely used (or dead) assets and moves them to bulk storage, off of the primary Islion hardware. This is of primary importance to the stability of the Isilons, as we have been pushing the storage limits of these clusters, and a large number of assets in the “not frequently accessed” category have been taking up critical capacity. So moving these to bulk storage will not only provide us the necessary headroom and improved reliability, it will properly place assets on the right type of storage (depending on usage). We’ve also been using file compression on the Isilons as a “mid-tier” storage category, where we can maintain assets in the Isilons, for faster access, but minimize actual space used.
HTTP Dataserver and Agent Inventory Services
A quick update on a couple of our data access layer projects – HTTP Dataserver and Agent Inventory Services. Both of these projects are close to completion, you may recall from my previous posts that we are trying to simplify messaging protocols between the Simulators and back end databases (HTTP Dataserver), as well as messaging from databases to the viewer (Agent Inventory Services.) Implementation is dependent on a central server code release we expect will be deployed by the end of January, followed by these two projects for release in February. Also, expect a follow on blog post from one of our infrastructure leads, Sardonyx Linden, giving more details on our data architecture direction.
Read about the Central Database in January post
Finally, I’ve purposely not addressed our database issues, as I want to spend the January update on that component of infrastructure. Our central database has been a source of instability the past few weeks, and we have been spending considerable time investigating root cause issues. Given the complicated nature of the service, none of these issues have been easy to identify, but I’m expecting that we will have answers over the next few weeks, and I’ll comment on the issue in the forum thread. Please post your Grid related questions for me there.
To support the educational community, we would like to invite you to participate in and attend Linden Lab’s inaugural Education Support Faire! Over the years, Second Life has provided ways for the world of academia to put to use creativity lending to immersive education, distance learning, knowledge sharing, faculty networking–and many other ways to enhance the collective educational community’s efforts in the real world. The success of projects surrounding these efforts within Second Life can be attributed to the many innovative educators, academics, and students who have chosen to utilize Second Life for these purposes.
The main goal for the Education Support Faire is to bring together educators, academics, and students to explore the support mechanisms available to residents who use Second Life to enhance real world educational efforts.
With many networks of support provided by and for residents in Second Life, we would like especially to extend an invite to Second Life educational minds to take part in presenting at the Educational Support Faire.
While, as examples, Linden Lab will provide information regarding our Concierge and knowledge base support services, there are numerous resident developed programs in Second Life designed to orient new and experienced educators or help educators explore Second Life educational and academic opportunities. We want you!
The event will be held January 25th-30th, at Supporte /151/152/36. The venue will be built around a natural atmosphere with trees, rivers, and beaten paths, highlighting the theme of ‘Ecosystems of Support.’ The event will combine both displays and scheduled presentations in a central pavilion.
Organizations or individuals who specifically provide support services for educators, students, or academics in Second Life and would like to utilize space or give a speaking presentation should contact Pathfinder by email (pathfinder [at] lindenlab [dot] com). Please provide some information about the educational support service being highlighted for booths; if speaking, please specify a day/time they would like to reserve, along with the topic. There will be a finite amount of space, so booths and speaking time at the central pavilion will be first-come first-served.
A final list of scheduled events and participating/presenting Resident Support Organizations will be emailed to the SLED mailing list on January 21st.
If you have not yet joined the SLED mailing list, please check this link for details!
We are excited about the growth of the Second Life educational community over the years, and look forward to highlighting the support that will help educators in the years to come!
We have all experienced the sometimes strange and mind-bending intersection of real and virtual in Second Life. Just before Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to attend an exhibit at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which features a build in Second Life called Dante Hotel on an island known as Hotwire.
The SFMOMA exhibit intends to “examine how artists have engaged members of the public as essential collaborators in the art-making process”. The corresponding exhibit in Second Life displays the archives of a remarkable artist and film maker, Lynn Hershman Leeson.
Viewing the Dante Hotel in Second Life from SFMOMA
Lynn rezzed in Second Life in 2005 when Henry Lowood and others at the Stanford Humanities Lab suggested Second Life as an appropriate place to migrate some of her archived projects which were housed at the Stanford Library. Her goal was to make her history accessible digitally, and the project came into being as Life Squared.
Maybe because it felt so familiar to my experience as an avatar, I found the Roberta Breitmore story, showcased in its own room at the Hotel, to be especially intriguing. For years Roberta Breitmore was a “private performance of a simulated person”; a fascinating exploration of what it’s like to express yourself, even partially, through another personality. You can meet the latest incarnation of Roberta at the Dante Hotel in Second Life, where she is currently serving as a guide for the SFMOMA museum attendees. (more…)
As we roam the grid enjoying Winterfaire in Second Life, we wanted to take a moment to update you on some of what we did and learned at a different Resident-created event this year, Burning Life. The 6th annual Burning Life festival of fire, art and community took place from Sept 27 through Oct 5, 2008.
First, we would like to extend our appreciation to all the Residents who did such amazing work creating an environment that felt unique, held true to it’s real-life inspiration, and still used Second Life’s wonderful properties to full advantage.
Burning Life 2008
Much of what we report here builds on the Resident, Builder, Volunteer and Ranger surveys, conducted in part so we would be able to learn how we might improve Burning Life next year. We’ve learned a lot this year as the event grew in scale and ambition, and so we share those revelations to continue to build upon the legacy of Resident Burners before us.
Let’s start with some new things we tried this year:
Co-Community hosting with the Burning Man organization, which enabled the following:
Join us for the Winterfaire Grand Tour, through January 5, 2009 in Second Life
Festive holidays are upon us, Second Life is experiencing widespread snowfall, and Residents are decorating and celebrating. While our individual cultural traditions are diverse, Residents have created their own, homegrown fun, throughout our shared virtual world. It’s a cheerful sight to see so much gleaming snow, with delicate snowflakes falling….
Winterfaire runs until Jan. 5, 2009, and along with the many Resident-built and hosted locations and events to keep you busy and having fun all around Second Life, we’ve also got some delightful Linden-hosted events for you to join in as well. Click here for details on our:
Showcase Hot Spots! Daily updates through January 2nd
Snowman Building Contest, Dec 23rd, 11 AM-1 PM at Rainieron the Teen Grid!
Don’t Miss It! Residents vs. Lindens Snowball Fight, Dec 23rd and 24th
Look for your favorite Linden targets at the annual Residents vs. Lindens Snowball Fight in the following regions: Egan, Hatton, Moritz, and Prancer. December 23rd Noon til 10pm and December 24th, Noon til 7pm.
Welcome to Winterfaire. At this time of year, when many North American Residents are experiencing chilly weather in real life, we like to turn on the Second Life snow machines, set up pointy trees and blinky lights, and settle down for the hush of long winter nights.
Many Residents have transformed their homes and land into beautiful winter snowscapes, and they invite you to come by for a walk in the woods, a warm drink by a fire, or some neighborly conversation.
This year, the Winterfaire Grand Tour can be accessed inworld, through the Search >> Showcase feature in the viewer, and also on the Showcase section of the Second Life website. Specifically, the “Hotspots” tab in the Showcase has been given over to Winterfaire’s “cool” places of interest (and scroll down the page for more.) Some of the locations on the tour are on private islands not normally open to the public, so be sure you don’t miss them!
Watch for New Winterfaire Grand Tour Locations in the Showcase
We will be rotating new tour locations into the Showcase throughout the event, which runs until January 5th, so visit the Showcase more than once to see all the wonderful offerings.
Snowman Building Contest
Mark your calendars for December 22nd when Sejong Linden and friends will host this year’s Snowman Building Contest. Two hours only, on the following Main Grid regions: I-World Festival, I-World Festival 2 and I-World Festival 3, between 11:00 AM and 01:00 PM PST.
Teen Grid Snowman Building Contest
The Teen Grid Snowman Building Contest will be on December 23rd, at the Rainier region, from 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM PST ( 2 hours).
And now, the Event We’ve All been Waiting For: Residents vs Lindens Snowball Fight
Don’t miss it. On December 23rd and 24th, you will have a chance to pelt your favorite Lindens with snowballs in the great Residents vs Linden Snowball Fight.
Wintery Fort for a Snowball Fight...
Look for your favorite Linden targets at the annual Winterfest Snowball Fight in the following regions: Egan, Hatton, Moritz, and Prancer. December 23rd Noon til 10pm and December 24th, Noon til 7pm.
We hope to see you there throwing things at us. We can beat you with one hand tied behind our backs.
Over the course of next week, we will be testing a new design for the secondlife.com home page. The page really showcases the richness and breadth of the wonderful creativity and possibility of Second Life and is a small first step towards a larger redesign of the Second Life experience.
Testing New SL Homepage by Big Spaceship Dec 16, 2008
This homepage project is an example of the kinds of projects (small in scope, new user friendly, utilizing outside design resources from Big Spaceship) which we will be doing more of in the future to bring more Residents into Second Life.
The design is optimized for the new user coming to secondlife.com for the first time and not logged in. The logged in homepage (which is what most Residents, as opposed to potential Residents see) will not be changing.
Here are the goals for the design:
Express the richness and breadth of Second Life
Allow us to address a wide range of potential Residents
Set context for what a potential Resident might do in Second Life
The team produced a gorgeous design that uses Flash. In order to test the new design, we’ll be pushing this new page live for a few hours next week, so we can evaluate the impact to traffic. Since Residents that log in get cookied (and directed to the “logged in” home page), the impact to Residents as we run our test should be limited.
You might see it as we run our tests. But we don’t want to skew the results of the test, and we won’t be pushing it out to a broader audience until we have data.
Pods and Verbs
The core of the design is a nine-pod layout and a carousel of pods that can be “flicked” from left to right to reveal additional pods. This allows a potential Resident to see a wide range of experiences available to them.
Each pod has a beautiful visual from inworld or text that serves as a small billboard. It’s exciting to be able to show the amazing creativity and beautiful avatars Residents have created.
Some of the pods include “verbs” – the things you can do in Second Life – like shop, build, play, flirt, learn. Verb pods expand to play a short animated Flash clip that shows the Second Life experience in motion.
Flash is great for these kinds of interactive and animated experiences and will help us to provide great windows into the world of Second Life. But we recognize there is a tradeoff between accessibility and the richness of the experience, so we will have an alternate page with static graphics.
What’s coming?
The rest of secondlife.com has not been refreshed, so we expect elements of this look to make its way into the rest of the registration flow and elsewhere on the site.
In addition to the homepage, we’ve been working to improve the registration experience for the new user. In the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing localized registration for all new users, including the option for new sign-ups to select a first landing location in their language- thanks to the Community Gateway Program.
We plan to continue improvements to increase the numbers of new Residents, so stay tuned.
Let us know your feedback!
We would love to hear your feedback, get suggestions for pods and verbs, and hear your suggestions. Let us know in the forum. We won’t be able to get to it until tomorrow morning (Dec. 16th, pacific time) so please be patient. We look forward to reading and responding to your comments then.
Over the last several months we’ve been hard at work making Second Life more relevant, more usable and more reliable. Our work is showing up in Second Life’s usage statistics. On Sunday of this past weekend, we hit another concurrency high of 76,946 and yesterday log-ins for the previous 60 days crossed the 1.4 Million mark.
What have we been up to?
Reliability is a top strategic focus for the Lab. In October, FJ Linden described how we are launching LL Net (our private fiber optic ring connecting our data centers) to provide additional redundancy and eliminate our reliance on VPNs. I am happy to report that this project is ahead of schedule and other improvements are underway.
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