A Look Back at the VWPBE 2014

VWBPE Brings Out the Whos-Who in Virtual Education and Linden Lab

By Celene Highwater

The 2014 Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, better known as VWBPE, kicked off on April 9 to a packed house. The four-day conference is in its seventh year and is an annual gathering of virtual educators.

On opening day, which fell on April 9 2014, people started pouring into the VWBPE Central Auditorium two hours early to ensure they had a seat in time to hear this year’s opening keynote speaker who was none other than Philip Rosedale, the founder of Second Life.

Philip Rosedale, also known as Philip Linden stands behind the podium wearing his Second Life T-Shirt.

 "As a kid, I played with electronics. I tinkered, programmed computers, used power tools. I tried to build things from things I found around the house. I cut into my ceiling because I wanted my door to go into the ceiling like Star Trek. It was hard work.  Much harder to do than to imagine," He said when describing his childhood during his speech.

As the internet emerged, Rosedale explained that he had a desire to build a space "where we could all build what we dreamed."

 In 1995, he created Freevue, an innovative Internet video conferencing tool which was quickly sold to a company called RealNetworks. For a short time, he served as Vice President and CTO of the company. Then, in 1999, Rosedale left RealNetworks to launch his own company: Linden Lab. And as they say, the rest is history. Rosedale built a virtual civilization called Second Life, thus fulfilling his lifelong dream of creating an open-ended, online virtual world.

 "I was super motivated to build virtual worlds, not because they would be better games or social spaces. . .  I just wanted to build crazy stuff,” He explained.

In 2010, Rosedale left Second Life and worked on several projects including Coffee and Power, and Worklist.net before co-founding High Fidelity Inc. in 2013, to explore the future of a next-generation virtual reality system. In his speech he discussed the amount of time and devotion it takes to learn Second Life and the amount of mouse useage that is required. With the new virtual world he is building, Rosedale wants to eliminate the need for the mouse, opting for a more realistic-looking world where he says users will be able to more naturally interact with one another through facial and body movement.

This exhibit shows off posters from the Freedom Project, an art exhibition featuring work by disabled artists in Second Life.

Science Circle Discussion Panel.

Other events at the VWBPE included sim demonstrations,panel discussions, networking events, lectures, and a host of speakers including Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg, David Gibson who is an Associate Professor at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, and Dr. Larysa Nadolny, Assistant Professor at Iowa State University.

Celene Highwater

Editor's Note: This article intended for publishing at the Metaverse Tribune. But the publication ceased updating before it could go up. Now working for the Newser, Celene sent this over as a look back at this major event (Bixyl Shuftan's VWPBE pictures, Ebbe Linden's VWBPE Speech).

Third Annual Hot Bay City Nights a Roaring Success

by Celene Highwater

  Set between 1940’s and mid-1960’s America, Bay City is a sprawling city with forty regions, with 24 of those regions containing land owned by residents. And as its time period suggests, this metropolis takes us back in time before computers, fast internet, color TV and missions to Mars. And every August, this mid-century city seeks to bring together the finest car designers in SL for an unforgettable exhibit of classic cars from decades that car lovers consider the hay-day of classic autos.

  These cars are on display for a reason. They are quite realistic. It is obvious from looking at them that the designers take a lot of pride in their creations. Most if not all of the models at this year’s event featured working lights, doors that opened, realistic steering, multiple speed andturn settings, and customizable license plates. These vehicles came in a wide variety of styles and colors. I even saw a light pink Cordail that I was highly tempted to purchase!

  Some of the companies featured in this exhibit were Bull God Choppers, Alkloto Fun Cars, GEMC,  Cindy Henusaki Custom Cars,, What-Iff Motors, and CHC.  Launched three years ago by the Bay City Alliance, this event is produced by Marianne McCann, a city resident.

  Recently I sat down for an interview with her in which she explained a bit about Bay City and its events. “The land is Linden-owned and used by the Bay City Alliance for local events, such as Hot Bay City Nights, our annual Tree Lightings, Mole Day, our anniversary, etc. Bay City is mainland. We all own our own parcels here, though about half of the infrastructure is owned by Linden Lab and used by all Bay City Residents. Well, anyone on the grid, really.”

When I asked how the event got started she said: “About three years ago, we did our first Hot Bay City nights. The idea for it is simple. We invite in some of the best vintage car designers in Second Life to show their wares. No cost to them. They can show and sell the best of what they have. We just ask that they keep it in the "theme era" of Bay City, of course, which is 1940-1965. Then we as a community hold car washes throughout the week, to raise money for charity.”

Those car washes were very successful, with L$115,900 raised for ChildsPlay, a charity that provides toys to sick children who are hospitalized. And this, it seems, is what the residents are most proud of. Childsplay.org is the charity’s website, and Marianne says that with such low overhead cost, the organization is very effective.

She went on to discuss another highlight of Bay City Nights: the crowning of Miss Bay City. “We have our annual Miss Bay City competition, where one lucky contestant will be crowned.” This year’s winner was Uccie Poultry-Seale, a Bay City resident herself.

At the conclusion of our interview, when I asked if she had anything to add, McCann said “just thanks for all who did participate in hot Bay City Nights, from Linden Lab for their help in promoting, to our car designers, to all our Residents who came out to wash cars, participate in Miss Bay City, and just enjoy the event.”

Pictures by Bixyl Shuftan, Uccello Poultry

Celene Highwater