Twitter Hack Attack

CSO Online has an article about how Twitter was hacked by someone (possibly an inside job) using a phishing scheme to try to steal the user’s password. Phishing is exactly what it sounds like. Some unsavory person will set out a web line with an attractive little worm on the end (a prize, a newsletter, freebies, etc) to try to get you to bite (give up private information). In this case, the tweet would appear in a person’s message stream with a url to a site that would ask you for your password. The article: 3 Ways a Twitter Hack Can Hurt You
Just another warning to always, always, always beware when you’re asked for passwords online.

Internet cables under water

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/21/internet-cable-cut

For anyone still watching, this is a very good article to read. It relates a bit to the vulnerability of the Internet and global communications. We should all be conscious of how these back-bones work, so that we can track status and continuing investment in them.  One hundred years ago, people were ecstatic about railroads, and then highways. And, today we have run out of money to fix them! Now, we’ve got another network to care for and sustain and we each need to be responsible to make sure that happens!

BiW Dance event review

As a final Second LIfe event opportunity, Josephine arranged the dance performance event for the Brooklyn is Watching site.  We were to meet in the Theatre on Funk Soup Island to rehearse and then go to the BiW site for the performance.  A decent number of participants showed up for the event and Josephine began to explain the process and to distribute the dance moves and explain how to use them.  It took much longer than expected to get everyone informed and dancing so we should plan for that if we do this again. I also had to take a few minutes to change my appearance since we were all supposed to wear dark colors to appear more uniform and to allow the shapes we wore for the second part of the performance to take center stage. 

Part of the reason I think it took awhile to get going was that so many of us are so new at SL.. it took a lot of time to figure out how to use the gestures to dance and also how to wear the shapes and then drop them in the space.

Once we had finished the rehearsal we teleported to the BiW space. There were other people there doing other things and it was strange at times to hear them talking in the background. Our group settled on to the large green lawn area to begin the performance. We each went through a series of the gestures and danced around for awhile until we got the signal from Josephine to begin wearing our shapes.  We continued to dance, adding layers of shapes.  This part of the performance seemed to last while. I kept looking for Josephine to make sure I hadn’t missed the cue for the next section.  Once we received the cue we began to drop our shapes and go back to just the gestures for a few minutes until we ended the piece by all going to sleep and then teleporting away from the space and leaving our shapes behind.  

I had a lot of fun with the dance performance piece as I think others did as well and will be glad to participate again next semester. I thought it was great to interact with my classmates and to meet some of the grad students as well.  Interestingly, since I had been to the pencil factory event and had interacted with with some of the other student’s avatars previously, I felt pretty comfortable with them and didn’t really feel that bit of awkwardness that I felt at the Pencil Factory. Through these two experiences I have found that voice chat is so much easier than typing in SL and it allows for more casual interaction.  

As far as the dance gestures go, I would have liked to have been able to string some together in order to keep moving as some of the gestures were really short and my avatar would complete them before I could type the next move!  Overall, I really enjoyed participating in this piece and look forward to the next time. Check out my pictures on our Flickr photo stream.

JAYCUT ASSIGNMENT: FOOD CRISIS IN NEW YORK CITY

Brett, Nancy and I worked on a very current and serious issue on the impending Food Crisis in New York. Brett has been working very hard on data maps that indicate the serious lack of enough health food and grocery stores in New York. So when we teamed together to work on our Jumpcut (now Jaycut) assignment, we decided to showcase these maps.

We began our meetings in Second Life which proved to be better than conference -calling on Skype. After a few meetings, we had a basic outline for our film. Brett took the lead on putting the maps together and shooting interviews, Nancy began to work on shooting some photographs and footage, while I worked on blocking out the sequence of the film and creating a script.

So here is our finished Video on the Food Crisis and the Maps: http://jaycut.com/video/305031/preview

And a special note from Nancy on the making of the film:

Creating Food Crisis in NYC Networked Collaboration Project

Kavya, Brett and I (Nancy) decided to make our mashup a movie based on a data mapping project he’s associated with in New School Food Studies program, PIIM (Parsons Institute for Information Mapping) and his consulting firm called Indigo which is using data in the form of graphical maps to describe the food crisis in NYC.
We tried our initial meeting in Skype but had trouble getting sound to work with everyone.  The first time Brett and I met we tried to Skype but his audio wasn’t working so he called me on the cell and we used Skype for the video.  Our first team meeting was in Second Life and we met at Funksoup Island.
We’ve used a method that Kavya described well as “divide and conquer.”  After discussing what the message of the movie would be Brett uploaded sample movies of actual data maps PIIM had produced.  Kavya sketched out a script based on the info on the maps.
Our intention was to use Jumpcut as assigned, but I couldn’t get the movies uploaded successfully. Kavya suggested Jaycut, which worked well.  Brett uploaded the data clips and a movie of an interview he did, I included a movie I took on the Manhattan Bridge using a regular digital camera, Kavya and Nancy uploaded pictures that were relevant to the story, and I pieced together the movie.  We would email each other to make comments and suggestions as the movie was assembled. I also added narration to the map clips to make them easier to understand.  The narration was recorded with Windows Sound Recorder.  The titles were added using Windows Movie Maker.  There were other quirks in Jaycut that I worked around with Movie Maker.  All these apps are free, by the way.
The background music came from mobygratis.com, Moby’s free music resource.  The music are the tracks “Silver” for the opening and “Morning Span” for the closing frames.  Moby offers free music for filmmakers. You just have to request a license.
This was a very interesting process especially trying to coordinate our meeting times since Brett and I work full-time during the day and Kavya had evening classes. We either met in the evenings on Saturday or Sunday or would make online lunch dates.  I also learned how important it is to begin planning early so that we could have all our components together in a timely manner (not one of my strong suits).

Pencil Factory event review

The Pencil Factory event was a very interesting experience and helped me to become aware of a place in SL that I probably would not have found on my own.  I had a bit of a rough start the day of the event… When I logged into SL I could not teleport out of where I was. Adam (Mellow) sent the invite multiple times but it just would not work.  Luckily I was able to IM chat with Mellow who suggested I restart the SL program.  Once I restarted the application, and accepted Mellow’s teleport invite again I was able to teleport and went directly to the Pencil Factory site where the group was already gathering out front. 

 

At first I found it a bit unsettling that the “sidewalk” was clear. I was unsure of where the edges were and as the hosts were getting started with the introduction I wandered around a bit and ended up walking right off the sidewalk and fell straight into the water below! Luckily in SL I can fly and I was able to get back to the group (hopefully before anyone noticed I was gone). It’s interesting how we behave in the online environment vs. RL.  I would never just wander away from a presenter in real life, but many times throughout the evening I would stray (just a little) from the group to explore on my own.

 

Once we entered the pencil factory and began exploring the art installations we found that all of the pieces were designed to be interactive. First we explored a piece that displayed colored cubes and played chimes as you walked or flew through the space. This piece was pretty neat but I was not clear exactly where the borders were to trigger the cubes. And I had difficulty determining how to make certain tones. Not sure if it was random or specific based on where you moved.  This could also have to do with the number of people interacting with the piece at the same time.  Next we explored a couple of rooms with pieces that I personally found less impressive. As a beginning SL user these pieces seemed to require more mobility skills than I currently have so I was not able to enjoy them as much.  The hosts continued to escort the group around the space and we explored other exhibits that were more fun.  I personally was a big fan of the “harp cages” or at least that what I’m calling them.  There were 2 small round “rooms” on either side of the “deck” and as you turned in the room you triggered what sounded like harp strings.  I like this piece because I liked the sounds it made and found it very easy to use, until I fell off the “deck” and due to my mobility issues I ended up lost in space.

 

Once Mellow teleported us back to the space we discovered the disco cube piece.  This one was a lot of fun, particularly with the large number of people all playing with it at the same time.  After that I moved on to exploring “The Well” piece. I learned how to jump and how to control how high or low I fly to get in and out of the piece.  I didn’t explore it much because the group was moving on but it was not the easiest to understand how to use without someone telling you how to use it.  This was an issue I encountered many times, I felt like I would not have interacted well with the pieces if I did not have Mellow as a guide and the other class members to explore with.

 

Finally we fell into an area were we could explore different rooms, and I liked that piece as well.  It had a very circus fun house feel to it. I particularly liked the “space” room and I also enjoyed the room with the big space that looked like a jumble of things and played loud music.

 

Looking back, I find it interesting that, aside from my wanderings, it seemed to mirror a RL group experience.  Or at least my perceptions of the evening’s interactions were not much different than if it had been a RL event in that we didn’t really know each other at first and didn’t interact or talk much.  As we progressed through the pencil factory we had shared experiences that helped us to connect and interact and by the end of the evening I felt that I had gotten to know everyone there a little better. I posted photos to the class page on flickr. Overall it was a good event and I’m glad I went!

Critique Recap: Networked Event one and two

Unfortunately I only made it to one of our class meetings in SL, however I am posting here on a few other events I’ve participated with outside of the course through online collaboration.

 

A good friend of mine has a recording studio, LVIS Productions, in Switzerland. We used to work on building a fanbase through facebook and myspace, offering samples of music to get a following going. Now tools like seismic, last.fm, seeqpod, and other blog spaced lets us get directly to music fans.

 

We would also meet online in a facebook group to discuss details that needed to be organized for shows and events coming up. It’s unquestionable that these events would not have been the success they were if it was not for the online collaboration, however the most fascinating part is what we did through YahooLive:

 

We would set up our webcam while in the studio and make music for online surfers to run into in real time. Through yahoo live, users can stream whatever they are doing in real time… we would set up the camera and tap into yahoo live just to play around on the synthesizers or jump in with some instruments. At one point we ended up with close to 100 viewers by just pushing play and doing what we would have otherwise around the studio! It’s no sold-out theatre, but for putting in little more effort than we would have jamming alone we were able to get our art to the front page of their network, and in result had continued hits and comments from people who liked what they heard. That feedback and collaboration from fans would not have come our way if it weren’t for this feature; not with such few time and effort put into it.

 

Keep in mind this still goes to show the importance of physical performance with the arts, which I feel technology can not replicate. I believe there is something about human performance being the art underlining music, dance and even fine arts, which dancing in Second Life does not come close to replicating. Yes, web solutions bring the world closer and will unleash opportunities in the art world we have yet to imagine (likely in my lifetime) however tools such as yahoo live have my support because they tribute the physical performance by bringing it to the desktops of people from all over the globe, in real time.  

 

My other Networked Collaboration Event was the dance performance for Brooklyn is Watching. I’ve already blogged about it in other threads, however want to note that this connection with virtual and physical space is again what I find most invigorating about networked collaboration. Knowing people sitting in a café in the streets of New York can have access to what I was doing, giggling in my room with a friend while tapped into a classroom among online-enthusiasts is an inspiring thought. I like that this world of ours, at least the behavioral patterns we are taking in it have begun to stray from such linear tendency.

Online Tools- extra tips I came across

I want to share some tips that helped me with this course, and that I found while working on projects this semester.

For photo editing, take a look at Picnik.com which is a browser-based photo editor. It does wonders and is so simple to use! I’d even suggest editing pictures on their site, and transforming them into animations in jumpcut!

Also, I have created my own social network for my company though Ning. Ning enables anyone to develop their own “facebook” for free! There is a lot of creativity you can add, in adition to their templates if you know a bit of html. Otherwise its still pretty simple despite the ability for video uploading, blogging, forums, groups, and plenty of other bells and whistles.

SnagIt is a screen capture software that was awesome for these projects! It allows you to capture any part of the screen you want and manipulate the picture through their tools. Usually they charge, but there was a 30 day trial I tried and it made mashups and online collaboration a sinch.

And Twiddla is an online whiteboard which I found best for business. Brett and I used it for our group project. People can log-in from any computer and collaborate on the same “whiteboard” in real time, commenting on pictures, uploading shared documents, and all sorts of things that eliminate the job of a fax machine… and wasted paper!

Another thing to keep an eye out for, especially you students taking physical courses, are free online sources that will convert pictures you take on your cell phones of notes on a whiteboard, into digital notes. Snap a few pics of the board on your way out of class, upload them using the software, and print them out or review them from your computer!

I always like hearing about these kinds of things that are very useful, so if any of you come across a great online tool that makes life and work easier, keep in touch…

 

kelley

Here is something really cool, about networked collaboration, fractor.org, etc etc.  Seems like this kind of training is happening out ther and there is a lack of people with the skills.

I think these skills and practices will spill over into marketing too. They are already starting to happen in Publishing where ‘community organizer’ is becoming a real job in publishing businesses to rival ‘editor’.

I totally believe that innovations in marketing and communications are happening in NFP fields today, and the marketers will eventually need them in agency-land. The first direct mail appeal in the US was Dolly Madison writing a letter to other ‘ladies’ to fund the first not-for-profit in this country to provide shoes and uniforms to revolutionary war soldiers (they didn’t have their own shoes back then, and guess what, we’re headed that way again!). George Washington evidently didn’t like the idea of NFPs because that would undermine the power of the government.  Of course, we know what kind of multi-$B industry the direct mail biz became (quickly being replaced by the effectiveness of fund raising and marketing online which has higher yields and lower costs). And, it seems the government is quite capable of undermining its own power itself!  Happy careers in Networked Collaboration!

http://www.neworganizing.com/about.php

Networked Event Review 2: Graduate Art Exhibit

Here was a major surprise for me!  Adam and Fia offered a tour of a space that their fellow students had created to make collaborative, interactive art pieces.  There were all kinds of dazzling exhibits here.  The first space was an interactive musical piece that played cords and created greens squares when an avatar walked or flew into it.  That was really quite beautiful and magical.

The next musical space was a weight of sorts that would play notes when you pushed it. 

In the third room we encountered floating cubes that one could “push” by pointing at them.  Both of these installations definitely gave the feeling of being a physical being while in the online world.

We visited a cave that spells out the letters of the words you say from within it’s belly.  However, I’m not sure if it was really a trap cause you had to be teleported out of there!

The next stop was a larger than lifesize typewriter that was hooked up to twitter.  So whatever you twitted, the typewriter typed on the paper. (See Andrea’s pictures in the previous post)

Before the typewriter, we all (or at least me for sure) got lost in outerspace.  I tried to climb the invisible stairs back to the visible land, a pathway floating in outerspace, but kept bumping my head underneath instead of making it up and around.  I also had to teleported back to land from here.

Next, we visited a space with rooms that contained all kinds of possibilities; one was an annoying hologram-like thing that was really confusing to look at.  One was a a room that lead again to outerspace, but this time with planets!  Another just had a  desk & chair, while the last one I discovered was a room that was pure white, with a few furniture items.  It was kind of peaceful and probably good for reflecting in.

One of the last exhibits, and my favorite, was the discotec/musical performance exhibit.You could turn different parts of the music on and off, like the drums or the background.  These musical parts were represented by multi-colored squares floating around in a circle.  You could enter the circle and see a character dancing as the music got louder and colors spinned before your face.  Unfortunately we didn’t have any dance gestures, but the excitement was captured!

I think the students definitely were successful in creating art installations that are not only are as imaginative as real life installations, but that are designed to be more successful in an online arena than a live one.  I have been in a real-life installation that was a humming, pulsing, round white room that responded to the amount of people in the room by changing colors.  It was fun for a minute and cool on a novelty level to me.

These SL installations were interesting to me in that its seems like a lot of work may have went into it, and that they were collaborative art pieces.  I do not remember Adam elaborating on how the work was broken up or how they were collaborative, and maybe I should’ve asked that question.  They were also interesting in that they created uncontrolled, first-hand experiences for the online user, unlike most online experiences, where most immediate experiences are delayed by time or choice.

A few students also commented that all these experiences were much more fun when having them with other people/avatars.  Just like in real life!

SL: Exhibition at Pencil Factory (review)

(This posting should again be a comment to smartscrutiny’s last entry – since I want to put up pictures I do my own post instead):

This SL meeting was about exploring space(s) and interacting with amazing, surprising, aesthetic objects – when the nicest part about it was to have a guided tour, get instructions on what to do in front of objects, and getting saved (re-teleported) once you got lost. I feel that meetings like this are a condensed learning experience. What would take me forever to figure out on my own, is happening here really quick: jumping into a cave, creating sounds together, creating messages on the huge typewriter. Or, meditating on a stone: I loved to see my movements that just happened without me doing anything, animated by the artwork (as I naively explain it).

This time communication (besides the tour guides)m mostly  happened through text, without voice, which made it possible form me to focus more on my experience on the exhibition then on the class interaction itself. Still there was this ‘doing something together’, and I think it was an important part of the class.

At times, being in an online class for the first time, some part was missing for me, communication- and energy wise: meeting people for talk and exchange: what you get from just listening to other people’s ides. The SL meetings where definitely inspiring in that way, there was the energy of the common experience …

Doing a performance together would have been the perfect part III, sorry I missed it but will come back for it. Thanks Josephine for a very inspiring class and ideas that can be built on!