Virtual Concerts in the Park: Introduction

Presenter:

Linda Rogers

Co-presenters (online):

Jonathan A. Smith

Alpha Hockett Walker

Alessandro Marangoni

Amy Ferguson

Opening video

SL BASICS: What is Second Life ?

The largest virtual reality environment online

500,000 users per week, 13 Million users total

Users create objects and their own experience, own their own content

More information at:

http://www.secondlife.com

SL Basics: Avatars

Participants in SL are represented by “avatars”

Avatars are customizable

Movement is keyboard controlled Kate Miranda/Linda Rogers

SL Basics: Avatars are as varied as the imagination

Avatars can be realistically human, animal or abstract

Second Life language tip

Avatarize

Definition: the point at which a participant feels comfortable in their avatar as an extension of self.

SL Basics: Building

Participants in SL able to build objects from virtual building blocks called “prims”

Second Life language tip

RezDefinition: to bring a 3-D object into existence in virtual reality through creation or dragging from inventory. “He rezzed a few chairs for us” Also, waiting while virtual reality scenes resolve in the participants viewer. “One minute, the room is still rezzing for me.”

SL BASICS: How are people using Second Life?

Business

Education and Non-profit

Social

Organizing for social change

Arts

SL BASICS: Second Life BusinessPromotion, marketing and sales of real and virtual productsLow/No cost virtual meetings and conferencesInvestment in the virtual economy itself

Second Life Business Links

Find Second Life Businesses

How businesses are using Virtual Reality

Some business success stories

EducationA growing list of universities and colleges have Second Life campuses:

Harvard, Stanford, University of Texas, New York University, University of Saskatchewan

A full list on the SL wiki.

FAQ’s about education in SLUniversity of Edinburgh in SL

SL BASICS: SocialMeeting people, dancing, chatting

Hobbies, clubs, gaming

Line-dancing

SL BASICS: Organizing for Change

EnvironmentalistsPeace ActivistsUnion OrganizingPolitical groupsAnti-poverty groupsFaith-based groups

Bali climate change talks: interactive sessions in SL with delegates

Second Life Arts

Museums and GalleriesGraphic Artists in Second LifeMulti-media artsTheatreDanceMachinamaMusic

Second Life Arts: Museums and Galleries

One of the best examples of art galleries in Second Life is the Dresden Museum

Second Life Arts: The Arts Community

Art openings are a vibrant part of SL social life

Second Life Arts: Graphic Artists

Real world art works are reproduced in SL by artists for promotion and sales of real work and virtual reproductions

Second Life Arts: 3-D art

Second Life artists are inventing new art forms daily using SL prims, textures, animated textures, scripted objects, sounds and/or particle scripts.

Second Life Arts: 3-D art with interactive scripts

Second Life artists are using scripting to make art interactive. In this example, “Rebirth” by Gwen Carillon, viewers enter the sculpture, view an endless corridor of whirling stars and become animated as part of the sculpture

SL Arts: Scripting the viewing experience

An ink on 3-D cube work by Leou Aeon scripts viewers’ experience of the work by floating them meditatively through the cubes

SL Arts: Multi-media artsComposer Paul Kwo (Enniv Zarf) is one of the multi-media artists in SL, shown here improvising with an SL sculptor working with shape and light

SL Arts: Theatre

3-D virtual reality is an ideal lab for set-design and blocking productionsVirtual productions are popular in SL

SL Arts: Dance

SL dance as an art form is in it’s infancyAvatars are scripted from life so involve real dancers, choreographers

“The Nutcracker” Dec. 2007

SL Arts: Machinama

Making film within virtual reality is a new and vibrant art form Examples can be found here

SL Arts: Live and Inter-active

Live story-telling is a popular recreation in SL

Participants seem eager to re-capture simple and participatory art forms

SL Music: Live Music

A search on “Live Music” yields more than 100 events on this average day

SL Music: Dance Music

Most live music in virtual reality serves a social function

SL Music: Classical Music

Art Music has been increasing in popularity over the past 1-2 years

SL Music: components of a live virtual concert

Live music webcast

Avatars with animated musical instruments

Live audienceInteractive

engagement

SL Music: How is a virtual concert different from a webcast?

Virtual concerts are a social experience

Able to text other audience members

Facilitators and/or artists interact with audience

Audience members float above full concert space

Meet virtual performers: Sinfonia Leeds

Concert Photos

Orchestra website

A community orchestra in Leeds England. This was one of only three full live symphony concerts in SL between 2004-08

Meet virtual performers: the Schumanns

David Weiss and Alpha Hockett Walker’s siteA professional duo from Los Angeles with varied classical careers and music teaching experience and goals in SL.

Meet virtual performers: Akito Kuramoto

Akito’s MySpace Musician page

A highly proficient amateur violinist from France.

Meet virtual performers: Winters Kanto

Winters’ MySpace Musician page

A professional jazz, tango, classical fusion pianist from Uruguay. Earns significant income from virtual performances.

Meet virtual performers: Thom Dowd

Thom’s Musician page

An early music enthusiast, Thom teaches flute in Switzerland. He performs and engages students in performances in virtual reality

Meet virtual performers: Benito Flores

Alessandro’s musician page

Benito Flores is the avatar of Alessandro Marangoni, a rising-star of the piano from Italy. Alessandro is a NAXOS recording artist.

Supporting virtual concerts: venues Venues need to be built for

high capacity

Simplicity in design minimizes lag

Creating venues in 2 or more sims is a novel approach

The Music Island stage is set for the conference panel

Supporting virtual concerts: security Concerts should be

supported by security protocols

Individual(s) with permissions to eject and ban trouble makers must be available

Griefer (hacker) attacks are rare but can shut down a concert

A rare griefer attack disrupts an Early Music concert with noise and visual grafitti attacks.

Supporting virtual concerts: land controls Concerts need to be supported

by landowners or estate managers

Individual(s) with permissions to alter land settings are required to re-connect sound stream or adjust settings when sim performance is threatened.

Simulations have crashed during performances when bandwidth and fps is not monitored

The map of Music Island during Sinfonia Leeds concert shows 83 avatars in the sim, an above-capacity number

Supporting virtual concerts: promotion

Signage

Group Notices

Fan Clubs

Promotional Items

Second Life Media

Supporting Virtual Concerts: groups

Second Life groups are:Opt in—participants must choose to join, some are invitation only

Limited—avatars can only join 25 groups

Communications tools—group notices are the most frequent source of news about events

Competitive—because of the restriction to 25 groups, participants drop low-value groups.

Supporting virtual concerts: promotional items

Virtual T Shirts and CD tables connect participants to artists URL’s for more information, ticket and CD sales.

Supporting virtual concerts: SL Media

Print media

A list of Second Life Radio and TV

An example of arts programming on SL TV: interview and performance with Benito Flores, piano

Using SL for real world arts orgs

Professional development meetings

Audience outreach activities

Single event promotional appearances

Arts education

75% of the audience at SL concerts have never been in a real concert hall

What is the appeal?Texting during concert

Coming and going without disturbing others

Camera controls

Inter-acting with artists

Dancing, floating during concerts

Final thoughtsWhat would concerts look like if:

Audience could text during concerts?

Concert halls were designed so people could come and go without disturbing others?

Cameras gave a changing view of the performers on big screen?

There was an area in the hall for people to dance or move to the music?

If we want to attract new audiences maybe we should think about the success of virtual concerts

Contact informationIf you want to learn more about classical music in Second Life:

Join the Classical Music Group in-world

Join other special interest classical groups in-world.

IM Kate Miranda in-worldThis project is made possible through its inclusion in the Cedar Island open-learning project

Closing video plays as we join our panelists in-world