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02:01:26 05/25/12
Myth McConnell
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 02:01:26 05/25/12
In the wake of the debt-ceiling crisis he helped manufacture last summer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell boasted it was "a hostage that's worth ransoming" which "also is a new template" for the future. As it turns out, those threats were among the few true words McConnell has uttered. Because while he's promising once again to blackmail the White House over the debt ceiling, the Kentucky Republican claimed it's because "we'd like to do something about the nation's biggest problem, spending and debt, which of course is the reason for this economic malaise." Of course, as the data show, it's the very austerity policies here and in Europe which are costing jobs and hurting growth.
But Mitch McConnell's myth-making hardly ends there. On the economy, taxes, deficits, health care and so much else, virtually all of McConnell's talking points are tried - and untrue.
( Click a link to jump to the details for each below ):
* "Obama Made the Economy Worse"
* "No Evidence Whatsoever That the Bush Tax Cuts Actually Diminished Revenue"
* "Punishing Job Creators"
* "We Look a Lot Like Greece Already"
* Public Sector Layoffs Are a "Local" Problem
* 47 Million Uninsured Americans "Don't Go Without Health Care"
* The Public Option "May Cost You Your Life"
* Democrats Are "Sticking It to Seniors with Cuts to Medicare"
"Obama Made the Economy Worse"
For months, Mitch McConnell (for example, here , here and here ) regurgitated the GOP talking point that President Obama " made the economy worse ." Sadly for the trickle-down mythmakers of the Republican Party , the facts and the overwhelming consensus of economists - including John McCain's 2008 brain trust - prove otherwise. President Obama not only did not make the American economy worse; no thanks to obstructionist Republicans in Congress he saved the United States from "Great Depression 2.0" and put the nation on the path to recovery.
Start, for example, with the conclusions of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Despite Republican mythmaking that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) "created zero jobs," in November the CBO reported that the stimulus added up to 2.4 million jobs and boosted GDP by as much as 1.9 points in the previous quarter. As The Hill explained, the CBO has found that "President Obama's 2009 stimulus package continues to benefit the struggling economy": >
The agency said the measure raised gross domestic product by between 0.3 and 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2011, which ended Sept. 30. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that GDP in that quarter was only 2 percent total...
By CBO's numbers, the $800 billion stimulus added up to 0.9 million jobs in 2009, 3.3 million jobs in 2010 and 2.6 million jobs in 2011.
Mark Zandi , an adviser to John McCain in 2008, was adamant on positive role of the stimulus. Federal intervention, he and Princeton economist Alan Blinder argued in August 2010, literally saved the United States from a second Great Depression. In " How the Great Recession Was Brought to an End ," Blinder and Zandi's models confirmed the impact of the Obama recovery program and other federal interventions dating back to 2008, concluding that "laissez faire was not an option": >
We find that its effects on real GDP, jobs, and inflation are huge, and probably averted what could have been called Great Depression 2.0. For example, we estimate that, without the government's response, GDP in 2010 would be about 11.5% lower, payroll employment would be less by some 8½ million jobs, and the nation would now be experiencing deflation.
"No Evidence Whatsoever That the Bush Tax Cuts Actually Diminished Revenue"
In his version of the Republican myth that " tax cuts pay for themselves ," President Bush confidently proclaimed, "You cut taxes and the tax revenues increase." As it turned out, not so much.
After Ronald Reagan tripled the national debt with his supply-side tax cuts, George W. Bush doubled it again with his own. (Reagan's performance would have been much worse, had he not raised taxes 11 times to help make up the shocking shortfall.) As a share of American GDP, tax revenues peaked in 2000; that is, before the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded, the Bush tax cuts accounted for half of the deficits during his tenure, and if made permanent , over the next decade would cost the U.S. Treasury more than Iraq, Afghanistan, the recession, TARP and the stimulus - combined .
Nevertheless, as the Republican Party waged its all-out attack in 2010 to preserve the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy , the GOP's number two man in the Senate provided the talking point to help sell the $70 billion annual giveaway to America's rich. "You should never," Arizona's Jon Kyl declared, "have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans." For his part, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rushed to defend Kyl's fuzzy math: >
"There's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject."
That may have been a view universally shared by virtually every Republican, but it happens to be wrong.
"Punishing Job Creators"
For years, Senator McConnell has been among the legions of Republicans wrongly arguing that even the slightest increase in taxes for the wealthiest Americans is tantamount to " punishing job creators ." As his colleague John Boehner put it: >
"The top one percent of wage earners in the United States...pay forty percent of the income taxes...The people he's [President Obama] is talking about taxing are the very people that we expect to reinvest in our economy."
If so, those expectations were sadly unmet under George W. Bush. After all, the last time the top tax rate was 39.6 percent during the Clinton administration , the United States enjoyed rising incomes, 23 million new jobs and budget surpluses. Under Bush? Not so much.
On January 9, 2009, the Republican-friendly Wall Street Journal summed it up with an article titled simply, " Bush on Jobs: the Worst Track Record on Record ." (The Journal's interactive table quantifies his staggering failure relative to every post-World War II president.) The meager one million jobs created under President Bush didn't merely pale in comparison to the 23 million produced during Bill Clinton's tenure. In September 2009, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee charted Bush's job creation disaster, the worst since Hoover.
That dismal performance prompted David Leonhardt of the New York Times to ask last fall, "Why should we believe that extending the Bush tax cuts will provide a big lift to growth?" His answer was unambiguous: >
Those tax cuts passed in 2001 amid big promises about what they would do for the economy. What followed? The decade with the slowest average annual growth since World War II. Amazingly, that statement is true even if you forget about the Great Recession and simply look at 2001-7... >
Is there good evidence the tax cuts persuaded more people to join the work force (because they would be able to keep more of their income)? Not really. The labor-force participation rate fell in the years after 2001 and has never again approached its record in the year 2000. >
Is there evidence that the tax cuts led to a lot of entrepreneurship and innovation? Again, no. The rate at which start-up businesses created jobs fell during the past decade.
The data are clear: lower taxes for America's so called job-creators don't mean either faster economic growth or more jobs for Americans .
As Jared Bernstein aptly put it earlier this month: >
"Tax cuts and job growth? They're just not that into each other."
"We Look a Lot Like Greece Already"
As their last round of hostage-taking of the debt heated up last summer, Republicans including Mitch McConnell warned, "We look a lot like Greece."
hile FactCheck.org was quick to conclude that "whatever it 'looks like' through Sen. McConnell's eyes -- the fact is that the U.S. is not yet a fiscal wreck of Greek proportions," its analysis hardly does justice to the scale of the Republican myth-making. The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen summed it up quite succinctly: >
New rule: every time a confused Republican lawmakers compare the United States' fiscal conditions to that of Greece, an angel loses its wings.
Look, the very idea is just crazy. The U.S. has extremely low interest rates and foreign investor are happy to loan us money; Greece has extremely high interest rates and no one is eager to loan the country money. The U.S. has our own currency; Greece has the Euro. We have a great credit rating (for now); Greece has an awful credit rating. We have a manageable debt; Greece has a debt crisis. We're a large country with an enormous economy; Greece is a small country with a small economy. We have one of the world's most stable systems of government (at least until six months ago); Greece's government structure is a little shaky.
For his part, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has been decrying the " Hellenization of economic discourse " for months. "Greece -- with a long history of fiscal irresponsibility, very high public debt, and a country without a currency -- doesn't bear much resemblance even to the other peripheral Europeans, let alone the United States."
>
Here's debt levels (if you ask me the IMF projections for Greece are too optimistic). >
Plus there's the having your own currency thing, and the fact that the interest rate on US 10-year bonds is 3.11 percent, on Greek bonds 16.82 percent. >
Otherwise we're exactly the same.
Public Sector Layoffs a "Local" Problem
Last fall, Minority Leader McConnell led the GOP opposition to President Obama's proposed $400 billion American Jobs Act. The loss of hundreds of thousands of police, firefighter, teacher and other public sector jobs, he insisted, was a "local" problem.
As it turns out, the 600,000 state and local government jobs already lost since December 2008 is very much a national issue. That " anti-stimulus ," it turns out, has added a full point to America's unemployment rate .
Last month, the Economic Policy Institute noted that the private sector had gained 2.8 million jobs while federal, state and local governments shed 584,000 just since June 2009. EPI concluded that the public sector job losses constituted "an unprecedented drag on the recovery": >
"The current recovery is the only one that has seen public-sector losses over its first 31 months."
Back in March, Paul Krugman expressed the same point , but with some inconvenient historical context for the Party of Reagan. "In fact, if it weren't for this destructive fiscal austerity," Krugman explained, "Our unemployment rate would almost certainly be lower now than it was at a comparable stage of the 'Morning in America' recovery during the Reagan era." >
We're talking big numbers here. If government employment under Mr. Obama had grown at Reagan-era rates, 1.3 million more Americans would be working as schoolteachers, firefighters, police officers, etc., than are currently employed in such jobs. >
And once you take the effects of public spending on private employment into account, a rough estimate is that the unemployment rate would be 1.5 percentage points lower than it is, or below 7 percent -- significantly better than the Reagan economy at this stage.
47 Million Uninsured Americans "Don't Go Without Health Care"
McConnell the " strict obstructionist " was naturally in the forefront of the all-out Republican effort to block health care reform at any cost. As he repeatedly put it in June 2009 , "all of us want reform, but not reform that denies, delays, or rations health care." To prove his point, McConnell didn't merely trot out a Canadian patient who came to the U.S. for special treatment, but insisted to NBC's David Gregory that no American does without health care now. >
GREGORY: Do you think it's a moral issue that 47 million Americans go without health insurance? >
McCONNELL: Well, they don't go without health care. It's not the most efficient way to provide it. As we know, the doctors in the hospitals are sworn to provide health care. We all agree it is not the most efficient way to provide health care to find somebody only in the emergency room and then pass those costs on to those who are paying for insurance. So it is important, I think, to reduce the number of uninsured. The question is, what is the best way to do that?
That President George W. Bush, Tom Delay and Paul Broun among other Republicans also claimed "people have access to health care in America...after all, you just go to an emergency room" doesn't make it any more true. As the numbers show -- 50 million uninsured, another 25 million uninsured, 45,000 unnecessary deaths, one in five Americans "self-rationing" care and 62 percent of all personal bankruptcies being related to medical bills -- the crisis is far worse than the one Mitch McConnell pretends doesn't exist.
The Public Option "May Cost You Your Life"
While Mitch McConnell insisted that the lack of insurance doesn't prevent anyone from getting health care, in 2009 he suggested having coverage could prove fatal . Months before the passage of the Affordable Care Act without the so-called "public option," Minority Leader McConnell said it would be deadly.
That irresponsible fear-mongering came during an appearance on Dennis Miller's radio show in October 2009. Blasting the "opt-out" version of the public option then being considered in the Senate bill, the Senator from the state ranked 45th in health care performance insisted access to coverage could kill you : >
MCCONNELL: Well, it doesn't make any difference frankly whether you opt-in or you opt-out, it's still a government plan. You know, Medicaid, the program for the poor now, states can opt-out of that, but none of them have. I think if you have any kind of government insurance program, you're going to be stuck with it and it will lead us in the direction of the European style, you know, sort of British-style, single payer, government run system. And those systems are known for delays, denial of care and, you know, if your particular malady doesn't fit the government regulation, you don't get the medication. >
MILLER: Right. >
MCCONNELL: And it may cost you your life. I mean, we don't want to go down that path.
As a Harvard Medical School study found, each year the path of no health insurance leads 45,000 Americans to the grave.
Democrats Are "Sticking It to Seniors with Cuts to Medicare"
For two years running, Mitch McConnell has been among the 40 GOP Senator voting for Paul Ryan's House budget plan to privatize and inevitably ration Medicare now used by 46 million American seniors. In the late 1990's, McConnell joined in Newt Gingrich's effort to slash almost 15 percent from the Medicare budget so that the program would "wither on the vine." But when the Affordable Care Act called for savings from the private Medicare Advantage program used by only 15 percent of elderly beneficiaries, it was Mitch McConnell who warned seniors about the mythical danger.
In July 2009, McConnell tried to scare America's 46 million Medicare beneficiaries by declaring, "The administration plans to use Medicare cuts to fund yet another new government program." Hoping to build on the momentum of the GOP's disgusting and demonstrably false " euthanasia " talking point, McConnell cautioned: >
"Some in Congress seem to be in such a rush to pass just any reform, rather than the right reform, that they're looking everywhere for the money to pay for it -- even if it means sticking it to seniors with cuts to Medicare."
That salvo comes just two weeks after McConnell promised to defeat health care reform in the Senate, warning America's highest turnout voting block: >
"They are going to pay for this plan by cutting Medicare, that is cutting seniors."
Those claims, the New York Times pointed out the day after the Republicans' overwhelming triumph in the 2010 midterms elections were misleading at best and false at worst. But, sadly, they worked .
And so it goes.
As Joshua Green documented last year in the Atlantic , "Mitch McConnell is a master manipulator and strategist" whose "relentless tactics have made his party victorious." But that doesn't make him a truth-teller, except on those rare occasions when he reveals his true motivations. During the debt ceiling stand-off last summer , McConnell briefly got weak in the knees at the prospect of U.S. sovereign default not because it would be a disaster for the nation, but because it could damage his Republican Party : >
"I refuse to help Barack Obama get re-elected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership of a bad economy. ... If we go into default, he will say that Republicans are making the economy worse and try to convince the public -- maybe with some merit, if people stop getting their Social Security checks and military families start getting letters saying service people overseas don't get paid. It's an argument he could have a good chance of winning, and all of the sudden we have co-ownership of a bad economy," he said. "That is very bad positioning going into an election."
Especially an election which marks the culmination of Mitch McConnell's work over the past three and a half years: >
"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives .)
14 Views
16:00:56 12/29/11
Mitt Romney's Big Promises - and Bigger Lies
[LESS INFO] 14 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:56 12/29/11
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In the election of 1928, the Republican Party of Herbert Hoover promised voters "a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard." (We all know how that turned out.) Now, Mitt Romney is pledging that "If I'm President" every college graduate will be guaranteed a job, Iran will have no nuclear weapons and the United States will dominate the 21st century. And when Romney isn't making fantastic promises about what he'll do when he gets to the White House, he's slandering the current occupant , Barack Obama.
"I Won't Let Iran Get Nukes"
Governor Romney's guarantees start with Iran and its nuclear program . In a November 10, 2011 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Romney pledged, " I won't let Iran get nukes ." Or as he put it 10 days earlier during a GOP national security debate : >
"If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. If you elect me as president, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon."
As to how he'll ensure that outcome, Romney explained that "If you want peace, prepare for war." And despite occasionally acknowledging the complexity of a strike against Iran and even the questionable possibility of success, Romney told the Wall Street Journal this weekend how he would get it done: >
So what would he do about it? "I do not have a top secret security clearance at this stage to be able to define precisely what kinds of actions we could take." But he adds that "the range includes something of a blockade nature, to something of a surgical strike nature, to something of a decapitate the regime nature, to eliminate the military threat of Iran altogether."
No U.S. Decline in Romney's "American Century"
Romney's promise to "eliminate the military threat of Iran altogether" is just part of his larger assurance that the 21st century will be another " American Century ." Pretending that the rise of India, China and Brazil doesn't inevitably entail the relative loss of U.S. power and influence, Romney announced in his October address at The Citadel : >
"This century must be an American Century. In an American Century, America has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. In an American Century, America leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world...As President of the United States, I will devote myself to an American Century. And I will never, ever apologize for America."
Not content to rest there, Romney accused President Obama of "waving the white flag of surrender": >
"An eloquently justified surrender of world leadership is still surrender. >
I will not surrender America's role in the world. This is very simple: If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President. >
You have that President today."
Two months later, Mitt Romney repackaged his promise and his slander at the December 15 Republican debate in Sioux City, Iowa: >
"Our president thinks America is in decline. It is if he's president. It's not if I'm president. This is going to be an American century."
As for Romney's charge that President Obama "went around the world and apologized for America," the Washington Post Fact Checker deemed it a Four-Pinocchio lie .
A Job for Every College Graduate
At an event in New Hampshire last week, Governor Romney's pandering went from the sublime to the ridiculous. There, Mitt pledged President Romney would deliver full-employment for all American college graduates: >
"What I can promise you is this -- when you get out of college, if I'm president you'll have a job. If President Obama is reelected, you will not be able to get a job. That's the reason I will hopefully get young people who are in college is to say, You know what, I understand what it takes to get jobs in America."
As the record shows , not so much. After all, as the Los Angeles Times recently documented, Romney's "Bain Capital often maximized profits in part by firing workers." That's why FactCheck.org , the Washington Post Fact Checker and Fortune all refused to vouch for Romney's claim that "In those hundreds of businesses we invested in, tens of thousands of jobs net-net were created."
Obama "Has Not Created Any New Jobs"
If Mitt Romney can't prove his boasts about his own job creation record, neither can he justify his blatant lie about President Obama's : >
"25 million people are out of work because of Barack Obama. And so I'll compare my experience in the private sector where, net-net, we created over 100,000 jobs." >
"I'll compare that record with his record, where he has not created any new jobs."
Sadly for Mitt Romney, the Bush recession began in December 2007. As ThinkProgress rightly noted, "The private sector has added 2.3 million new jobs since March 2010, and it took the Obama economy one year to create more jobs than the economy under President Bush did in eight." As The Economist explained earlier, the recession was not at its deepest just as Barack Obama was entering office, but far worse than official statistics revealed at the time. Romney might also want to check with former McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi as well as the non-partisan CBO , who concluded that the Obama stimulus program "added up to 0.9 million jobs in 2009, 3.3 million jobs in 2010 and 2.6 million jobs in 2011."
Obama's Debt Exceeds All Previous Presidents Combined
Mitt Romney didn't just lie about Barack Obama's jobs record. At the Sioux City debate, he got President Obama's contribution to the federal debt all wrong as well: >
"We all understand that the spending crisis is extraordinary, with $15 trillion now in debt, with a president that's racked up as much debt as almost all of the other presidents combined."
Of course, we don't all understand that, because it's not true . After Ronald Reagan tripled the gross national debt and George W. Bush doubled it again, Uncle Sam's red ink totaled almost $11 trillion when Barack Obama took the oath of office.
Obama is "Taking over 100 Percent" of Health Care
In his desperate quest to win over conservative Republican primary voters, Mitt Romney has turned his back on his signature achievement which he once boasted was a health care model for the nation. And to do it, Romney has been lying for months by telling voters "Obamacare is about taking over 100 percent of the people's insurance in this country."
In a September 15, 2011 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer , Romney made the same charge: >
"The Massachusetts plan was crafted for Massachusetts, for the needs of 8 percent of our population that didn't have insurance, not for the 92 percent that did. Obamacare is a plan that takes over 100 percent of the people in the country and their health care, and that's one of the reasons why people don't want it."
Sadly for Mitt Romney, repetition of a lie doesn't make it any more true.
The Affordable Care Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in the spring of 2010 targets the 17 percent of people (over 50 million people) who are uninsured . As Politifact explained in deeming Romney's fraud another "Pants on Fire" lie: >
According to the Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans without health insurance nationally was slightly under 17 percent in 2009, the year Obama began pushing for the bill. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, the number was about the same in 2010, when the measure was signed into law. Other estimates have pegged the national number at about 15 percent.
As Henry Aaron, a senior fellow with the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution right noted, comparing 8 percent to 17 percent "would have been apples to apples" when it comes to the impact of the individual mandate at the center of both the Massachusetts and national plans. Sadly, Politifact concluded, Romney was guilty of "a felony case of comparing apples and oranges."
Romney "Will Reverse President Obama's Massive Defense Cuts"
During that same "American Century" speech in October, Governor Romney pledged: >
"I will reverse President Obama's massive defense cuts. Time and again, we have seen that attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price, not only in treasure, but in blood."
Sadly for Romney, as Steve Benen pointed out, defense spending has not only gone up every year of the Obama presidency . It is higher than it ever was when George W. Bush sat in the Oval Office.
Of course, Romney's confusion over matters of war and peace are hardly new. In an April op-ed for the Manchester Union Leader, Mitt forgot about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as he denounced President Obama for "one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history."
Obama's "Equal Outcomes" and "Entitlement Society"
Last week, the Romney campaign rolled out what may well become the meta-theme and meta-lie for the 2012 general election race.
After President Obama declared in his Osawatomie, Kansas address that Republican trickle down economics "never worked," Romney struck back. Just not with the truth: >
"Just a couple of weeks ago in Kansas, President Obama lectured us about Teddy Roosevelt's philosophy of government. But he failed to mention the important difference between Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama. Roosevelt believed that government should level the playing field to create equal opportunities. President Obama believes that government should create equal outcomes. >
"In an entitlement society, everyone receives the same or similar rewards, regardless of education, effort, and willingness to take risk. That which is earned by some is redistributed to the others. And the only people who truly enjoy any real rewards are those who do the redistributing -- the government. >
"The truth is that everyone may get the same rewards, but virtually everyone will be worse off."
By raising the mythical red menace of communism and falsely attributing it to Barack Obama, Romney in the words of Paul Krugman had introduced " The Big Lie " into his " Post-Truth Campaign ." While Andrew Sullivan announced "Mitt Romney is a big, fat liar," Steve Benen lamented that "Romney, allegedly the responsible one in the Republican field, has been reduced to lying uncontrollably." And while Greg Sargent in the past had expressed amazement at "Mitt Romney's casual, effortless falsehoods," New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait explained that Romney's red scare rose to a whole new level of duplicity: >
"This isn't just a casual line. In eight sentences, Romney asserts over and over again that Obama wants to create "equal outcomes" and give everybody the "same rewards." This is nuts, Glenn Beck-level insane. Restoring Clinton-era taxes is not a plan to equalize outcomes, or even close. It's not even a plan to stop rising inequality. Obama's America will continue to be the most unequal society in the advanced world -- only slightly less so. The alternative proposals accelerate inequality even further."
Of course, as the proliferating profiles from the Wall Street Journal , the New York Times , the Washington Post and others show, Mitt Romney is no stranger to inequality. Legendarily cheap and analytical , as a Harvard Business School student Romney gave a presentation to his classmates that "proved the value of family time based not on emotion but on yield." Two Romney quotes - " I love business " and " I love data " - seem to sum up the man.
As for loving the truth, that for Mitt Romney is apparently another matter altogether.
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives .)
0 Views
11:18:35 12/09/11
Social Media Crucial in Recent Wave of Russian Protests
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 11:18:35 12/09/11
Social Media Crucial in Recent Wave of Russian Protests
For more news and videos visit ☛ english.ntdtv.com Follow us on Twitter ☛ http Add us on Facebook ☛ me.lt It's Russia's biggest protest in a decade. Twitter and Facebook help bring together a new generation of protesters against parliamentary poll results in Russia. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Vkontakte are helping to bring thousands of young people to street protests in central Moscow. The rally on Monday attracted about 5000 people who took to the streets to protest against what they see as fraudulent results of Sunday's parliamentary election. [Anna Kachkaeva, Dean of the Media Communications Faculty]: "They are not web criminals, not people who are just having fun, not people for whom the Internet is the only tool to get attention. No, they are a self-conscious community of people who believe in civil society, and the web has just brought them together. And now they have finally come out of their virtual world into the real one." Blogs, Facebook updates and numerous tweets were coming from election observers, ordinary voters, journalists, as well as from popular bloggers like photographer Ilya Varlamov. [Ilya Varlamov, Photographer and Blogger]: "People who had never before been interested in politics and had been very far from it started to understand that something wrong is going on, that they are not told the full truth, that they are being cheated. So they went to look for information, and they went to the Internet." This protest became ... From: NTDTV Views: 54 5 ratings Time: 01:47 More in News & Politics
5 Views
22:26:36 10/22/11
Inside the Avatar Studio: Bernhard Drax & Daniel Moshel
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 22:26:36 10/22/11
Kevin welcomes guests Bernhard Drax (aka Draxtor Despres) and Daniel Moshel, director of Login2Life.
About the film Login2Life:
Login 2 Life portrays people who have found an alternate home in an online world. This is the starting point of a journey into fascinating virtual realities, meeting diverse human beings in different parts of the world who have one thing in common – they are savvy in using virtual worlds as an extension of their real lives. The film premiered on German ZDF October 17th before heading onto the international festival circuit.
About Bernard Drax
Bernhard Drax (aka @Draxtor) writes music for TV, commercials and feature films.
In the virtual world “Second Life” Bernhard regularly files machinima reportages on social and political issues. His story on virtual Guantanamo won the 2008 Human Rights Media Awards from ‘Internews’ in France.
His series on “Public Good in Virtual Worlds”, co-produced with the Network Culture Project at USC has been used in many classrooms to illustrate the possibilities of immersive 3D platforms.
As news director at NPR member station KAZU in Pacific Grove, California – from 2002 to 2004 and as consultant from 2004 to 2006. Bernhard was instrumental in transforming the local news operation by producing high quality local content as well as training reporters and technical staff. A champion of non-commercial radio news and culture, Bernhard still develops formats for public radio and TV, in the US and abroad.
Sponsored by the US Department of State, Bernhard also finished up a video series showcasing the use of virtual worlds in public diplomacy, focusing on the 6-month collaboration between architecture students from Cairo and USC in Los Angeles.
More info about BD at draxtor.com
A playlist with machinima focusing on educational use of virtual worlds: youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C505E316DB51834A
About Daniel Moshel:
Daniel Moshel is a gamer and an award-winning director. He was inspired to make this documentary by his personal experience. But this is about more than just gaming – this is about a new lifestyle, necessary for some, fun for most.
Bits and pieces of digital life, glimpses linked within a larger network, a personal view of what drives the people behind the screen to live, love and do business in a virtual world.
Facebook: facebook.com/urockcliffe
Twitter: twitter.com/urockcliffe
Cast: Metaverse TV
Tags: second life , virtual world , metaverse , avatar , machinima , login2life and documentary
39 Views
01:14:59 01/27/11
We've Spent 5.93M Years Playing World of Warcraft...?!?
[LESS INFO] 39 VIEWS | ADDED 01:14:59 01/27/11
Complete Premium video at: http://fora.tv/partner/Gamification_Summit
Jane McGonigal, author of Reality Is Broken, points to the 3 billion hours the world invests every week in online gaming as a clear indicator that many people are not being sufficiently challenged in their day-to-day lives. "5.93 million years is how long people have spent tackling unnecessary obstacles in World of Warcraft," says McGonigal. "We've spent as long playing World of Warcraft as we have evolving as a human species."
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More than 174 million Americans are gamers, and the average young person in the United States will spend ten thousand hours gaming by the age of 21. According to world-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, the reason for this mass exodus to virtual worlds is that video games are increasingly fulfilling genuine human needs.
In this groundbreaking exploration of the power and future of gaming, McGonigal reveals how we can use the lessons of game design to fix what is wrong with the real world, boost global happiness and create engagement that transcends commerce. Jane McGonigal's work has helped define this new medium of gamification with a world view that combines elements of reality and fantasy.
She believes that we live every story we experience and we really do transform ourselves in this process to become every game we play. Her insights have been compared to plutonium in that they are elegant, concise, and pack an enormous amount of force. - The Gamification Summit
Jane McGonigal is the director of games research and development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California. She has created and deployed games and missions in more than 30 countries on six continents. She specializes in games that help gamers enjoy their real lives more -- and games that challenge players to tackle real-world problems, through planetary-scale collaboration.
30 Views
12:00:00 10/12/10
WebBeat.TV 010 | I like it Facebook Meme, Google Sreetview Future, Zingaya, and Filmsuggest
[LESS INFO] 30 VIEWS | ADDED 12:00:00 10/12/10
I Like It - Facebook Meme
I like it on the floor. I like it on the table. I like it on top of the fridge.
These posts are popping up all over Facebook. %ldquoI like it%rdquo is a new meme hoping to raise awareness of breast cancer. Women update their status saying where they usually put their purse, in a way that gets a lot of attention. It looks naughty, is actually pretty innocent, and has a very good cause.
Google Street View Future
An interesting blog post on Kaymeme caught my attention today.
While Google is building a virtual copy of the real world, game makers are thinking about potential applications and games.
Zingaya click-to-call
Zingaya is a website widget with a click-to-call button.
It basically lets you call people immediately, right from the browser, without a phone. The widget is connected to a cellphone or Skype account, and it%rsquos free for the caller.
Zingaya also offers Zin.to, which is a new way for Twitter followers to call you. You can specify who you want to be able to reach you, and in what time frame, without ever revealing your phone number or Skype name.
Website of the Day: Filmsuggest
Type in your favorite movies, and http://filmsuggest.com/ will suggest you any other films you might be interested in.
24 Views
12:00:00 10/12/10
WebBeat.TV 010 | I like it Facebook Meme, Google Sreetview Future, Zingaya, and Filmsuggest
[LESS INFO] 24 VIEWS | ADDED 12:00:00 10/12/10
I Like It - Facebook Meme
I like it on the floor. I like it on the table. I like it on top of the fridge.
These posts are popping up all over Facebook. %ldquoI like it%rdquo is a new meme hoping to raise awareness of breast cancer. Women update their status saying where they usually put their purse, in a way that gets a lot of attention. It looks naughty, is actually pretty innocent, and has a very good cause.
Google Street View Future
An interesting blog post on Kaymeme caught my attention today.
While Google is building a virtual copy of the real world, game makers are thinking about potential applications and games.
Zingaya click-to-call
Zingaya is a website widget with a click-to-call button.
It basically lets you call people immediately, right from the browser, without a phone. The widget is connected to a cellphone or Skype account, and it%rsquos free for the caller.
Zingaya also offers Zin.to, which is a new way for Twitter followers to call you. You can specify who you want to be able to reach you, and in what time frame, without ever revealing your phone number or Skype name.
Website of the Day: Filmsuggest
Type in your favorite movies, and http://filmsuggest.com/ will suggest you any other films you might be interested in.
0 Views
07:51:30 02/07/10
Intelligent Software Development Simulate Population Responses To Policy Products & Prices
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 07:51:30 02/07/10
Intelligent Software's virtual cities are the perfect place to test a population's response to policies, products and prices. Our Behavioural Business Intelligence and multi-award winning platform SimulAIt allow you to observe, predict outcomes and explore ways to influence them. The use of any resource depends on peoples' behaviour. How often a product is used, for how long, and for what purpose determines that product's environmental footprint. For improved sustainability outcomes, we need to understand people. That's where SimulAlt comes in. The real world is complex, dynamic, non-linear, and Human-centric, but our software can help you make sense of it. Households, business people and regulators- each group responds differently to policies, products and prices. Our systems integrate social, economic, environmental data and behaviours for accurate predictions of public response and behavioural change. “What-if” scenarios can be used to test, observe and influence outcomes. Cost-effective models of systems of all sizes and detail are realisable- from a business to an entire city. Driven by behavioural models, demographic data and population dynamics, SimulAIt has already been used to simulate up to 2 million households and has successfully informed Australian environmental policy Decisions. For more information, visit www.intelligentsoftware.com.au . Video produced by danimations. Distributed by Tubemogul.
9 Views
08:53:00 01/10/10
Plant A Million Trees By Surfing the Web - Mokugift
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 08:53:00 01/10/10
Nerd Stalker interview with co-founder Hans Chung of Mokugift at a recent Failcon conference in San Francisco.
http://www.mokugift.com/ About mokugift
Our Mission
* To create fun and meaningful gift experiences that benefit the environment.
Our name
Definition: mokugift [mōe-koo gift]
* moku means "tree" in Japanese.
* moku means "island" in Hawaiian.
Our mission
Our mission is to foster environmental solidarity by making it easy and rewarding for anyone to fight climate change and by providing the tools to inspire others to do the same. Mokugift makes it possible for concerned citizens, even those lacking access to planting space, to plant real trees for $1 apiece, either for themselves or as gifts to others. Gifting a mokugift tree is similar to sending an e-card, and recipients can display their trees online at Facebook, MySpace, MyYahoo, iGoogle and other popular Web sites. Award-winning nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry project—which restore depleted lands and boost the agricultural productivity and incomes of indigenous peoples in some of the poorest parts of the world—plant the actual trees purchased via mokugift.
Why trees?
Trees and forests help regulate the climate by absorbing heat-trapping carbon gasses, and there's a growing consensus that tree planting in tropical latitudes is one of the most efficient way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. On average, each tree planted in the humid tropics absorbs 50 pounds of carbon dioxide every year for at least 40 years, amounting to one ton over the course of the tree's lifetime.
In addition, although the majority of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels, unsustainable, slash-and-burn agriculture and other poor land-management practices have resulted in forestry itself becoming a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. Restoring tree cover through agroforestry programs, and ensuring that local communities receive a fair share of the benefits, is the most effective long-term approach to the problems of deforestation and land degradation.
Our platform
Mokugift is not just a Web site for planting/"gifting" trees but also a platform that enables individuals to inspire others to plant trees. Visual and interactive elements make receiving a mokugift tree fun, uplifting and memorable. Businesses and nonprofits can also leverage this technology to reward and motivate customers, donors or employees. As an eco-reward, mokugift is a great way to motivate up-sells and tap into growing environmental awareness and interest in sustainable lifestyles.
Mokugift provides personal Web pages (Tree Islands) that track and display tree-planting achievements. As individuals plant trees themselves or "gift" trees to friends and associates (who in turn receive their own Tree Islands), the system tracks how inspiration spreads from one person to another. You receive recognition not only for the trees you've planted but also for those planted by your friends and their inspired friends (3 degrees). You can see the total number of people you've inspired and the total number of trees planted by them. You can also see which friends you've inspired and their individual achievements. Active promoters of tree planting are rewarded with free tree planting.
Mokugift is an excellent fit for companies looking to reinforce a brand's environmental equity and reward customers for making environmentally responsible choices. To learn more about how businesses and institutions can use mokugift for rewards and incentive programs, click here .
Mokugift provides a fast and easy fundraising option for schools, religious groups and non-profits. Your members can promote tree planting online in support of your organization and mokugift takes care of all order taking and processing. Your organization will receive 50% of all proceeds. Focusing on online promotion makes it easier and more effective for your members.
Partnerships
Mokugift is an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme's "Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign. Launched at the Climate Convention meeting in Nairobi in 2006, the campaign originally set a goal of planting one billion trees but has since issued a new target of seven billion trees—roughly one tree for every living person on the planet.
"We are honored to partner with mokugift as part of the UNEP Billion Tree Campaign. Mokugift is taking creative approaches with its online gifting service and iPhone application to help the Billion Tree Campaign achieve a target of seven billion trees. In the spirit of the Billion Tree Campaign, mokugift empowers ordinary people to be part of the solution." — Satinder Bindra, Director, United Nations Environment Programme
Mokugift seeks to expand distribution through partnerships with relevant sites and services. We have, for instance, partnered with eBase Solutions in a joint venture to bring mokugift to Japan (mokugift.jp). Please contact us about partnerships via our contact form, and we will get back to you promptly.
Artists & Athletes Program
The idea: to inform, inspire and empower fans to plant trees in support of UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign. By visiting Artist & Athlete Tree Islands on mokugift.com, fans can plant trees and send a message to the artist or athlete. Anyone planting a tree with a participating artist or athlete can see their message posted on the Tree Island, along with the number of trees they've planted. For their part, artists and athletes can build goodwill by offering to plant a tree for each tree they receive as a gift. To help generate awareness, mokugift is approaching media companies for PSA ad spots and encouraging interested artists and athletes to participate in the spots and assist with outreach.
News
Please refer to our blog for the latest news about mokugift: mokugift.blogspot.com
Participate
Mokugift's affiliate program offers rich media ads that are engaging and stylistically consistent with our Web site. To join our affiliate network, click here .
Founders
Mokugift co-founders Hans Chung (Idea Guy) and Krates Ng (Build-It Guy) are high school friends who both gravitated to the San Francisco Bay area's technology sector. The selling of "virtual gifts"—teddy bears on Facebook, roses on dating sites—sparked the idea for mokugift. Why not have virtual tree gifts represent real trees planted in places fighting deforestation?
Their pursuit of online tree "gifting" coincided with a growing awareness that climate change was no longer just an abstract scientific and public-policy topic, but also a lifestyle issue calling for tangible action on the part of ordinary people everywhere. In researching agroforestry and prospective tree-planting partners, they realized that planting trees not only benefits the environment (by absorbing greenhouse gas emissions) but also can serve as a foundation for sustainable economic development for communities that have been adversely affected by poor land-management practices. Conceived as a social venture focused on customer experience, profit and tangible, positive benefit to the environment and society, mokugift launched on November 20, 2007.
Prior to mokugift, Hans founded CrispAds, a blog advertising network that wound up being acquired by a lead-generation company. He also worked at consulting firms such as The McKenna Group, as a strategy consultant for technologies companies including Japan's NTT. Hobbies: martial arts, cooking, furniture design. Residing in San Francisco's SOMA District, Hans has been on a mission to reduce his apartment's power consumption. He takes public transportation to work and the gym, and shops for local groceries at the farmers' market and Mission District grocery stores.
Krates is a typical startup engineer, preferring to join a team early on. Prior to mokugift, he was with a real-time computer server monitoring company, Wily Technologies, which was acquired by Computer Associates. Before that, he was an engineer at Andromedia (acquired by Macromedia, which, in turn, was acquired by Adobe). Hobbies: ice hockey, triathlon, cooking, scuba and travel. Krates lives with his wife and cats in the San Francisco Bay area, drives a Honda Civic Hybrid, eats less meat than before, recycles everything he can, and shops for local groceries at the farmers' market.
28 Views
12:46:39 11/09/09
GBTV #657 (HD) | Motorola Droid Review
[LESS INFO] 28 VIEWS | ADDED 12:46:39 11/09/09
As you know, the hugely anticipated launch of the Motorola Droid was on Friday. I went to a press event held at a Verizon store to get a hands on with the Droid and some footage to share with you guys. Boring, but I'll take what I can get. Surprise, surprise, Verizon was nice enough to let me hang on to a Droid for two weeks so I'm able to give you a more in-depth review. The Droid runs Android 2.0. Android is an open source mobile operating system, originally developed by, and heavily supported by Google. If you use Google apps like Gmail, Calendar, or Google Voice, having Android is a very good thing. It means those apps are going to run smoothly and you'll get more out of them. More on that in a minute. Verizon has put a lot of effort into their network, and the hope here is that you don't get the amount of dropped calls or inconsistent service a lot of people complain about with AT%T. In my experience with iPhones on AT%T, dropped calls are less of an issue than calls I have to drop because I can't understand the person on the other end of the call or they can't understand me. The Motorola Droid provides vastly better sounding calls than my iPhones. In a perfect world both phones would be available on both networks so I could tell if it's a hardware issue or a network issue. The Motorola Droid has the best screen on any handheld device I've ever seen. It's a 3.7 inch touchscreen with a resolution of 854x480. That's over 400,000 pixels, and you can definitely tell a difference. We're showing you The Droid playing a movie in HD. The Droid screen is brighter and richer and point 2 inches bigger. The downside? No multitouch in the US. It's capable of multitouch, and the GSM version in Europe has multitouch enabled, but we're not allowed here in the US. Instead, you double tap to zoom or use the plus and minus buttons on the screen to zoom in or out. If you've been using an iPhone, you're going to natually want to pinch the screen. The Droid's method of zooming isn't bad. It has nice animation, but precise pinch and zoom is better. The best part about the 5 megapixel camera isn't the additional pixels. What I liked was the software based zoom. I was taking a picture of some Thai soup when I discovered the feature by accident. Just double tap the screen to get up close and personal. You can snap the photo from the screen, or use the physical button on the side of the phone. Just like on a regular camera, hold the button half way down to focus, then click to take your photo. The Droid has both an onscreen keyboard and physical slider keyboard. iPhone users tend to agree with Apple that physical keyboards are overrated and I'm in that camp. However, there is a large market for whom the iPhone is off the table just because it lacks physical keys. No amount of Apple evangelism is going to convince someone who insists on a keyboard that they really don't need it. I say Motorola was smart to zig where Apple zagged. It's important to point out, though, since the keys are flush, there isn't really any tactile difference between the virtual keyboard and the one with real buttons. The biggest advantage of the slider keyboard, whether you think it's necessary or not, is that you can type and enjoy the full screen at the same time. One of my favorite things about the Droid is that it allows you to run up to six applications at once. This is one of the main complaints from power users about the iPhone. Being able to listen to Pandora while browsing the web or tweeting is HUGE for me. I do it on my laptop, and that desire doesn't change just because I'm using a smaller device. Apple doesn't allow that because having six applications all processing data at the same time puts the phone at risk of a crash. I totally get that! However, I'd rather have the choice to take that risk. I mentioned Google apps before, and I want to get back to that. I don't know how many of you are in the same situation as me. I can't use the Mail app on the iPhone or any mail app on any phone because I use Gmail. That wouldn't be a problem (the iPhone supports Gmail) except I use labels and filters like crazy! Most of my mail is sorted automatically and doesn't even see the inbox, so any time I can't easily see and use my labels on the go, I'm severely crippled. Since Google supports Android, they've made it possible for me to use the Gmail app successfully without having to go into the browser. There are 10,000 apps in the Android store, called Market. There are 100,000 apps in the iPhone store. No surprise there. Apple has a head start. That said, there are plenty of Twitter apps, if nothing else!! With the ability to run apps in the background, you're able to set up Twitter apps, for example, to notify you when something new arrives in your feed or Direct Message inbox. This is a great way to save on SMS costs if you don't have an unlimited plan. One thing I was super excited about was the turn by turn navigation with voice commands. No need to pay for an app - it's already installed when you buy the phone. The voice is very synthetic, but it works AND speaks in complete sentences! One of the coolest possibilities you get with the Motorola Droid requires an additional purchase. It's just $30, though and it's a dock for charging the phone. What's special about it is that it turns the phone's display into a digital photo frame, a widget display and an alarm clock. When you set the phone on the dock and use it as an alarm clock, you can dim the time and set the alarm. Motorola promises 6.5 hours of battery life when used continuously. I'm getting close to 10 or 11 hours of normal use. If you're ready to buy one, let's talk price. It'll be $199 with a 2 year agreement. This is after a mail in rebate, but David Pogue from the NY Times says that if you buy it from Best Buy, you'll get an instant rebate. Voice plans start at $40/month for 350 minutes and data plans start at $30/month. The mainstream media keeps looking for an iPhone killer. That's not me. I want the iPhone to continue to succeed, but I want other alternatives to succeed too. I haven't been looking for an iPhone killer. I've been looking for a smartphone that plays effectively on the same field. The Motorola Droid does that. Will I buy one? I have a couple weeks to decide so I'm going to take advantage of that. My sense so far, though is that moving from iPhone to Droid will not be a downgrade and in a few ways, like call quality and Google Voice integration it will be an upgrade. I'll write more about my experience with the Droid on my blog at www.calilewis.me. This episode was brought to you by SquareSpace.com. The actor and chat show host Kevin Pollak is using Square Space for his site, kevinpollak.tv. It's the easiest way to build a great looking Web site and my promo code GEEK will save you 12%.
6 Views
01:15:36 02/12/08
Virtual Worlds Libraries Education And Museums Conference Saturday March 8 2008 In Second Life
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 01:15:36 02/12/08
“Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, and Museums”Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Second Life - New Media Consortium Conference Center.http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds/Purpose of the Conference: To provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds. Please note: Although the conference will be held in the virtual world Second Life, presentation and paper proposals about LEM developments in other virtual worlds are encouraged. Tentative Schedule 9:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Ancient Mesopotamia: Engaging Online Resources from the Oriental Institute," Presented by Wendy Ennes and Lisa Perez Wendy Ennes, Teacher Services and e-Learning Coordinator for the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, will present information about the new, engaging website Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History. In this highly useful online resource, students and educators can learn about various aspects of Mesopotamian culture. They can participate in the interactive "Dig into History", playing the role of an archeologist or a museum curator. Also, they can peruse the "Learning Collection", zooming in on various teacher-selected artifacts. Teachers can also locate primary source materials, lesson plans, and recommended learning activities. This presentation will be useful to teachers, librarians, students, and history aficionados. This presentation is brought to you in collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries and Information Services. "Persistent Worlds: Will They Ever Go Away?" Presented by Dr. Susan Hazan Now that Second Life has hit the front page of Newsweek it seems Neal Stephenson's vision of the Metaverse has crossed over -- from being a fringe fantasy land for pure escapists to a persistent world for play, commerce, creativity and exploration. It's time to take a close look at this synthetic world. Presented by three leading avatars directly from Second Life, this panel will showcase some of the leading cultural institutions from their 3D graphic locations, and will explore how they welcome visitors, guests and colleagues in-world. "The State of Librarianship in Second Life" Presented by Lauren Pressley This session examines the idea of librarianship in Second Life, specifically focusing on reference practices and the development of a library's presence in a virtual world. The session will conclude with a discussion of possible virtual world library services that have not yet been designed and implemented. "Reflections in Wonderland" Presented by Alison (Wynne Merlin) Williams & Mary (Merry Mayo) Hudson This paper takes a reflective approach concentrating on the authors' explorations of Second Life. These explorations were undertaken as part of a project to assess how the university library might operate in such an environment to support student learning. An introduction briefly outlines the project and we then go on to describe our initial experiences of Second Life, and of participation in courses and meetings. In the light of these experiences we reflect on the possibilities offered by this type of environment, before concluding with our thoughts on the way forward. "Reconstructing Maya: Student Created Poems" Presented by Beth Ritter-Guth (SL Desideria Stockton) The students in College English II: Literature at Lehigh Carbon Community College are creating interactive poems to celebrate the poetry of Maya Angelou. Conference participants will be able to view the work of students, meet them, and construct a poem of their own. The workshop will require the use of voice and participants should download a free recording program like Audacity. Students will showcase their interactive poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. A notecard with the instructions on how to build the poem will be provided, and participants will work together to create a collaborative poem using WAV files, objects, and scripts. 10:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Voice vs. Text Chat: Solutions for Teaching/Presenting in Two Languages Simultaneously" Presented by Chris Haskell As voices ring out over the virtual landscape, some oppose vocal communication for its technical imperfections, infrequent use, and VW cultural bias. Educators, presenters, and facilitators in the Metaverse need solutions to communicate in both "native" languages. This session demonstrates tools and techniques currently being employed to engage multiple learning and communication styles in this expanding virtual space. "Immersion Environments and Recreational Learning: Opportunities for Informal Education on the Virtual Landscape" Presented by Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater When the residents of an online three-dimensional platform such as Second life are able to create their own immersion environments, learning opportunities abound. Experience with a number of recent experiments has indicated that the educational potential of these builds comes not just within the context of a formal, institutionally-managed didactic approach, but also--and in some cases, more successfully--in the context of informal, self-directed learning opportunities. Panelists Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater draw upon their real world backgrounds in the museum and library fields, along with their extensive experience in a variety of experimental collaborative educational, cultural and recreational environments created on the SL platform, to discuss the relative success of traditional "classroom" approaches in various builds, and the surprisingly vibrant informal learning dynamic that has developed alongside--or as an alternative to--the attempts at structured, hierarchical didacticism. The panelists also will seek to explore how what has transpired in-world is analogous to the real world living history/reenacting "hobby" movement of the 1970s-1990s and other recreational self-directed learning opportunities, and consider issues of how institutions and organizations might utilize the potential of online creative platforms in the future to more effectively foster and encourage self-directed learning, and to integrate it into their programming in ways that it could compliment and enhance more traditional approaches to engaging and educating diverse audiences. "Whatcha Gonna Do?: An Academic Health Sciences Library in Second Life Embraces New Roles" Presented by PF Anderson (Perplexity Peccable); Gillian Mayman (Gillian Oh); Anne Perorazio (Kaiya Qunha); and Jane Blumenthal (Wrenaissance Jewell) Academic health sciences libraries support the educational, research, clinical, and service missions of the universities and healthcare institutions of which they are a part. In the recent past, this has meant primarily building print and web-based collections of health and research information, and providing classes and services that facilitate the use and integration of these collections into the skillset of the local academic healthcare community. In Spring of 2007, the University of Michigan Medical School purchased an island in Second Life. In supporting the activities associated with this initiative, we have found that many of the activities and services we have traditionally offered are not immediately relevant in the new environment, are needs that are being filled by others, or are beyond the scope of what is possible with the resources currently available to us. Examples of these might include teaching how to search Medline, offering classes relating to health skill sets, building collections of health information. Similarly, many of the activities and services we have found ourselves embracing in Second Life are hard to imagine ever happening in our real life libraries. Examples of these might include building freebie collections, teaching classes on how to make clothes, setting up a Spirit Shop for the university (along with making the inventory), hosting in-world and out-world events to engage community, setting up a patient support group, as well as helping folks navigate Orientation and Help Islands. Here we present information about the similarities and differences between what we do in which environment and why we do or do not offer similar services in the other environment, as well as discuss the planning process and skill sets required. We would particularly like to focus on tools that have formed the basis of our community building efforts, which have largely depended on resources that bridge Second Life and the broader online and analog environments. So, when it comes to leading the way in a new and emerging technological environment, what are librarians going to do? Our answer: whatever needs to be done. "Interaction, Visibility and Searchability in Virtual Worlds: The Possibilities, Benefits and the Future" Presented by Namro Orman Interaction with the Web should be a major focus point for libraries in virtual worlds. Resources, news, and communication are needed, and not only with Second Life Residents. The merging with other social networks looks promising, but a lot can be improved/gained inside Second Life as well to make library services and resouces more visible, and findable, also on the Web. This goals of this session are to improve awareness of current possibilities, to show developments, and to offer a sketch of the future. "The 3D3C Metaverse" Presented by Yesha Sivan Dr. Yesha Sivan, founder of Metaverse Labs, is interested in interoperability. He also has been looking into how virtual world simulations can interface with the real world. 11:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Applying Distance Educational Theory to Virtual Worlds" Presented by Rebecca Hedreen Current adult educational theory is student-centered and those students have experience, abilities, and preferences that affect or control the learning process. This presentation will show (and tell) you how to use these theories, and the practices that spring from them, to improve your Second Life presentations. In the process, we'll cover some techniques that also improve accessibility and decrease the chance that a technological glitch will ruin your work. "The Museum Phenomenon in Star Wars Galaxies" Presented by Annie Platoff Annie Platoff, the Director of the Wookiee Cultural Center, the premier Wookiee museum in Star Wars Galaxies, will discuss the museum phenomenon in Star Wars Galaxies. "My Life as an Avatar (So Far)" Presented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle This presentation is intended for teachers, librarians, and those who work in museums; as well as amateur history buffs. In this discussion I will provide an account of how I came to portray one of the best known authors of the Victorian era; the development of a plausible "back story" to cover my inadequacies; my successes and failures in Second Life; my views on the educational potential of ReCreationism; and, finally, my advice to aspiring ReCreationists. "The Festival of European Languages in Second Life" Presented by Birdie Newborn (Birdie Newcomb in SL) This session will look at the Festival of European Languages recently held on Belle Isle in Second Life. It was a venture in outside-the-classroom education. It was a 6-hour festival over half the island with a schedule of speakers, demonstrations, booths, and a giant map of Europe with landmarks to every known language community in Second Life. 6:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Self-directed Group Learning in Virtual Worlds" Presented by Nick Noakes This will be a mix of an interactive discussion session on the affordances of Virtual Worlds with respect to self-directed group learning, followed by a tour of Boracay sim to see one way self-directed group learning can be implemented. "Virtual Museums: When Do They Become "Real"?" Presented by Annie Platoff With the launch of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), players were given the opportunity to build their own communities within the confines of virtual worlds created by the game developers. When Star Wars Galaxies was launched in June 2003, players were also given the opportunity to manipulate their environment. SWG Developers not only allowed players to place structures within the landscape of the game, but also gave them the opportunity to decorate the interiors of their buildings. It wasn't long before players began to open their own museums. At first, the museums were nothing more than decorated houses containing developer-made paintings and objects. Eventually, however, the museums evolved and now there are quite a number that include interpretive labels, thematic exhibits, and more. While some of these museums are quite well known within their communities, they are virtually unknown by those who do not play the game. That is not the case for the museums in another virtual community, however. The emergence of museums in the virtual world of Second Life has been the topic of much discussion in the museum community. Also launched in 2003, Second Life presents itself as a 3-D virtual world rather than a game. In the world of Second Life players can create just about anything they can imagine and add it to the environment including, of course, museums. Some of those museums have been replicas of real-life museums created by private individuals. Other museums in this virtual environment were created as initiatives of established real-world museums. But there are some museums in Second Life that only exist in that virtual landscape. The International Space Museum, one such museum, has spawned a real-life non-profit organization to support the work of the virtual museum. All of this activity in virtual museums brings with it some interesting questions for members of the museum community. Are virtual museums "real" museums? And if they are, what are the implications for established real-life museums? This paper will examine a variety of museums in two virtual environments ? the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies and the virtual world of Second Life. It will apply established definitions of what is a museum and determine which of those virtual museums appear to meet the criteria. Finally, it will draw conclusions about the "realness" of virtual museums and the potential of these institutions for reaching new audiences. "An Overview of Science-Related Stuff in Second Life" Presented by Dr. Troy McConaghy (Troy McLuhan in SL) Troy will give examples of how Second Life is being used for science education, public outreach, prototyping, and research Intendend Audience: Scientists, science educators, science librarians, and science museum professionals. "Immersive Education: New Models for Lifelong Learning" Presented by Kevin Roebuck Open source technologies for virtual worlds, on-line games, and new media have tremendous potential to offer new models for lifelong learning. Sun Microsystems Global Education & Research Group has formed a new community to explore these new immersive worlds and their application with the Project Wonderland 3-D tool-kit, Project Darkstar Game Server and SunSPOT sensor platforms. The new Sun Immersion Special Interest Group has announced a joint initiative with the Immersive Education Initiative at Media Grid including a $25,000 set of "Immersion Grants" to see pilot projects in K12 schools, community college, and higher education institutions. This session will feature Kevin Roebuck, Community Manager for Immersive Technologies at Sun, to give a brief overview of the communities activities, initiatives and worldwide projects in open source and open content for Immersive Education. 7:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Using Second Life to Enhance Student Research and Presentations" Presented by Robert Walker The presentation will look at an exciting Second Life assignment being used at Labette Community College in the Music Appreciation classes to enhance student presentations. This assignment could easily be adapted for use in any class that requires students to research and present that research to the class. It is useful for both onground and online classes. Students are given the following assignment, using Second Life, prepare a museum exhibit on the following composer. You should include written information, audio, images and perhaps video. Your presentation should not only include biographical information about the composer, but information about the period that the composer was writing. That information should include people of historical interest, other artists of the period, clothing and architectural styles of the time. This presentation will show the mechanics of managing an assignment like this. What tools do the students need? What knowledge/tools does the instructor need? These concerns will all be discussed and examples of previous semester projects will be reviewed as well as the assignment and the rubric. "Virtual Worlds for Learning" Presented by Ann Crewdson and Sachin Patil Virtual Worlds offer a quick and inexpensive ways of simulating information artifacts(in libraries and museums) into multi-faceted synthetic learning environments that merit interaction, immersion and information equally. The Federation of American Scientists, as part of its "Virtual Worlds for Learning" research program, has created a Virtual World Sim (Mesopotamia) in Second Life that leverages collective intelligence by enabling interdisciplinary communities of scholars such as archeologists, librarians museologists, historians, technologists, artists, and academia to share data and their expertise. The prototype has developed a web-integrated inworld tool, called Medulla, to collaborate on 3D content creation, peer-review the content for authenticity and edit it continuously based on new academic & research findings. In the near future, this tool will support functionalities for incorporating game-like features to make simulation experience more interactive and engaging. This presentation will describe content creation & management processes we have developed to collect, render, manage, evaluate and preserve digital assets for 3D virtual environments. Attendees, mainly librarians and museum administrators, will learn how virtual worlds together with web technologies can be used for a wide variety of learning opportunities, scholarly interaction, and the collection, development and management of digital assets for 3D virtual environments. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" Presented by Rochelle Mazar This presentation will demonstrate and explore the ways that digital objects have been archived in older virtual environments, their contribution to a competitive gift economy, and the kinds of lessons those practices bring to bear on the work being done by librarians and educators in Second Life. In text-based MOO spaces, object archives function as museum spaces, shops for finding useful objects to use in one's own builds, and as a structure that reinforces and supports a functioning gift economy. In worlds without built-in money economies, archiving and "generics" organization allows new users to see what has been built before, to take advantage of that older work by taking their own copy of these generic objects to build upon, and provides a form of feedback and recognition for those who build the best objects across the entire MOO community world-wide. With a long tradition of including the builder's name as part of the object, a successful builder can build a reputation across many different virtual worlds as others request archived copies of their objects. This gift economy encourages builders and programmers to donate their work for use by others as well as to create more and better generic objects for general use. Their active participation in the gift economy thereby assists in the creation of richer online spaces for all. Could this model work in Second Life, in spite of its existing money economy? This presentation would consist of audio content detailing the structure of these digital archives and their use, as well as detail about the gift economy and how it encouraged more and better objects to share with the community, and would include discussion with participants about its pros and cons and feasibility for use in Second Life. 8:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) "Education on the Teen Grid: The View from Eye4You Alliance Island" Presented by Kelly Czarnecki (Bluewings Hayek in SL), Anthony Curtis (Stone Semyorka in SL), and Beth Kraemer (Alice Burgess in SL) So what's it like to be an educator on the teen grid? Eye4You Alliance Island has been a source of education, creativity and fun on the teen grid since 2006. Librarians, professors, authors, technology specialists, subject matter specialists, and teens from around the world are involved in projects ranging from classes about SL and RL skills; recurring events like book discussions, space talks and island management meetings; special events like the recent literary festival, last year's college fair and craft fair; and a host of other activities. The presenters will provide an overview of what it's like to be an adult educator on the teen grid, describing the challenges and opportunities, and will discuss recent activities and plans that are underway. We'll compare the experience with education on the main grid and discuss our view of the future of education for teens in Second Life. The presentation may also incorporate comments from the teen residents themselves. "VW Libraries and Education: The Purpose and the Potential" Presented by Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg in SL) Virtual worlds seem to be exploding into existence online. For everyone from toddlers to senior citizens, a virtual world beckons. Valibrarian Gregg, a Second Life librarian (and real life school librarian) shares her journey learning in a virtual world to help understand the purpose and potential for librarians and educators. Read some of the latest Virtual World news at iVinnie.com. "Providing Library Services in Second Life" Presented by Margaret Ostrander and Anne Mostad-Jensen Margaret Ostrander will share her research in progress exploring information seeking behavior in Second Life. All research is taking place in-world, combining structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork. Research questions include: What are the information needs of everyday Second Life residents? What kinds of information are people in SL utilizing, and how do they go about finding it? This research explicitly studies SL residents in non-library contexts. A more robust understanding of such "native" information seeking behavior can help inform SL library services. This research is under the supervision of Dr. Michael Stephens of Dominican University (Illinois, U.S.A.). Read more about Margaret's research at Librarian Dreamer. Anne Mostad-Jensen will present her research in progress focused on the new user's experience in Second Life. Research questions include: How do new users approach and use virtual worlds? What are the information needs of new users and what are their information seeking behaviors? Research subjects will be observed while utilizing the Second Life interface for the first time, accompanied by pre- and post-interviews. This research will inform how libraries in Second Life can help meet the needs of new users. This research is under the supervision of MLIS faculty member Dr. Joyce Yukawa of the College of St. Catherine (Minnesota, U.S.A.). Both Anne and Margaret will share their findings to date, along with learnings about the methodologies and research instruments they have adopted.CREDITS: This machinima was filmed on location with the help of avatars in the teen grid and main adult grid of Second Life: Info International, Talis, and Eye4YouAlliance Island, funded by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC). http://infoisland.orghttp://www.talis.comhttp://www.plcmc.org/teens/secondlife.aspMachinima: Bernadette Daly Swanson / HVX Silverstar in Second LifeMusic: Revostock.com
28 Views
03:30:00 09/26/07
Second Life: Big Avatar on Campus
[LESS INFO] 28 VIEWS | ADDED 03:30:00 09/26/07
It's a virtual world, but the transactions are real. Go inside Second Life, an online game where millions of people are creating digital personalities called avatars and are living virtual lives-- meeting other avatars, going to events, and even buying property with real money.
7 Views
04:00:00 06/12/07
Better Grades Fast! Summer Program Online
[LESS INFO] 7 VIEWS | ADDED 04:00:00 06/12/07
Catapult - Accelerated Learning Program This summer K-12 program is the fastest way learn online. For those who need to catch up or move ahead in school, this catapult program is the way to do it. 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Ranked 4.17 / 5 | 23587 views | 5 comments
Click here to watch the video (01:50) Submitted By: odestiny Tags: E-learning Elearning Summer Schools Online Distance Learning Class Course K-12 Virtual Categories: How To
4 Views
03:06:45 05/12/07
Jazz-Baragge-Second Life
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 03:06:45 05/12/07
The goal of this experimentation is to permit to all people who participate through the web all around the world, to meet together and to recreate the ambiance of the club on the famous virtual world http://www.secondlife.com. Based on the Swiss land, the show is broadcast by DBC in real and virtual world, live inside the Radio Tv studio, and the Swiss House, the best place to meet swiss people. To find this place inside Secondlife, search DBC radio Tv or Swiss House. You need quick time installed on your machine pc or mac to see video inside http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ If you have second life installed in your pc follow this link http://slurl.com/secondlife/Switzerland/38/59/35 If not you can reach by this link, https://secure-web9.secondlife.com/join/?u=d697eeb688ef44adb39facd6f24e1370 There is an free option, you pay only to have access to full interactivity, like build your home and other many possibilities inside this world. JfR Beaumont and Mady Schuman ( Avatar Name on SL)
3 Views
14:16:18 04/11/06
Kelsey McLeod
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 14:16:18 04/11/06
Mini-clip interview for TheWeblogProject with Kelsey McLeod: What is a Blog? Shot in March 2006 in Rome.
Here below a full text transcript of this video clip. > " A blog is... well, I would say that a blog is where people can go, a sort of free of any kind of editing at all, post their opinions on, well, depending on the blog, pretty much any subject that they are interested in, and amazingly they are able to get an immediate feedback from the virtual world out there, which is millions of people, and touch base on lots of interesting subjects, whatever is interesting to them.
I would say a blog is kind of a nucleous of ideas that people contribute to freely and take from as well, so it's sort of a networking hub of ideas.
Main advantage of using a blog ... I think, you talk to real people.
...I use blogs as technical resource a lot of times. Hi-tech companies and software companies often are helpful but it's too laborious to go through official channels to try to get answers for how come this product doesn't work with this product or how do I tweak this software to get it to do exactly what I want it to do. Or why cant I get my cell phone to sync up with my computer, with my laptop, you know, it's supposed to do it, but it doesn't, so how did you guys get it to be done? ... So you read the blog, I guess you could call me...a "lurker", I'm the person who kind of like sits there and I read all the entries... I don't contribute that much really but I read the conversations and I come to some conclusions like "oh this thing never worked", or maybe I hear rumors that maybe the company is promising a fix so I say "oh I will check that in a month"... so people kind of guide me and help me on my road there.
Other than that, a blog is sometimes useful to get your feelings out, you know, on a subject that might be particularly touchy if your are feeling really outraged about some subject, then maybe you feel strongly enough that you go and go to your blog and you really get it off your chest and hopefully there are like-minded people who will give you some credibility and say yes, you know, you are right, they make us upset too. So it's a way to associate with people who have a like-mind.
Alternative source of information ? I think I touched that a little bit when I was saying about how people talk about things and you dont hear directly from the person who has the biggest commercial interest in the product that you are looking for. Again, I'm looking mostly out for product stuff. So I would say that's probably the biggest advantage, just being able to get the unofficial point of view on something . "
2 Views
12:58:16 03/29/06
Kelsey McLeod - What is a blog?
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 12:58:16 03/29/06
Mini-clip interview for TheWeblogProject with Kelsey Mc Leod: What is a blog? Shot in March 2006 in Rome.
Here what he says:
" A blog is... well, I would say that a blog is where people can go,
a sort of free of any kind of editing at all, post their opinions on, well, depending on the blog, pretty much on the subject that they are interested in, and amazingly they are able to get an immediate feedback from the virtual world out there, which is millions of people, and touch base on lots of interesting subjects, whatever is interesting to them. I would say a blog is kind of a nucleous of ideas that people contribute to freely and take from as well, so it's sort of a networking hub of ideas.
Main advantage of using a blog... I think, you talk to real people. I use blogs as technical resource a lot of times and hi-tech companies often are helpful but it's too laborious to go through official channels to try to get answers for how come this product doesnt work with this product or how do I tweak this software to get it to do exactly what I want it to do. Or why cant I get my cell phone to sync up with my computer, with my laptop, you know, it's supposed to do it, but it doesn't, so how did you guys get it to be done? So you read the blog, I guess you will call me, you know what they call it a "lurker", I'm the person who kind of like sits there and I read all the entries... I dont contribute that much really but I read and I read the conversations and I come to some conclusions like "oh this thing never worked", or maybe I hear rumors that maybe the company is promising a fix so I say oh I will check that in a month, so people kind of guide me and help me on my road there.
Other than that, a blog is sometimes useful to get your feelings out, you know, on a subject that might be particularly touchy if your are feeling really outraged about some subject, then maybe you feel strongly enough that you go and go to blog and you really get it off your chest and hopefully there are like-minded people who will give me some credibility and say yes, you know, you are right, they make us upset too. So it's a way to associate with people who have a like-mind.
I think I touched that a little bit when I was saying about how people talk about things and you dont hear directly from the person who has the biggest commercial interest in the product that you are looking for. Again, I'm looking mostly out for product stuff. So I would say that's probably the biggest advantage, just being able to get the unofficial point of view on something.
