October 06, 2008
xTimeline Embeds for Easy Dissemination of Timelines
Over at the Public Health blog, I just added an entry on the 100th anniversary of water chlorination.
100 Years of Clean Water: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/PHLI/archives/2008/10/100_years_of_cl.html
For the blogpost, there was a timeline that had been sent to me to include that I didn't have a good way to put online. So I popped over to xTimeline, entered minimal data, added in some pics to spiff it up, and voila! Please note, most pics were from Wikimedia Commons or other copyright free sources, and all images linked back to the original source.
Even better, the timeline itself is embeddable, although it really doesn't fit well in the confines of the blog layout. Play with it here.
Best of all, xTimeline is a wiki, so I can go back to the person who sent it to me, and invite him to edit it. That should save me a lot of work, and of course he could invite other people to collaborate as well.
Nice tool!
Posted by pfa at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2008
The New A.viary (Dollars and Making Sense and Sweet Spots)
There is an interesting class being taught at the School of Public Health on social technologies by Gillian Mayman. Yesterday, at her request, I taught an intro session on getting started with A.viary. I love Aviary. I love it so much that I did something I've never done before and started teaching sessions about it while it was still in beta.
Gillian and I discovered that Aviary has changed a LOT in the past couple weeks. No more beta, no more invites — it is now live and open to all comers. They changed the look and feel of a lot of pages. They fixed some long-standing problems. For example, it looks like the text glitch in Phoenix is better now, but I'm not sure because they didn't say so in the Forum discussions on the topic.
The big thing is that A.viary now charges money. Sort of. I am hearing different things in different places, and trying to figure things out from their FAQ on the site. What I'm hearing doesn't quit add up, so I'm not entirely sure I've got this right. I did a little testing, with the help of my friends, and here is what I know right now.
1. You can create an account, log in, and make stuff without being asked for any money. That is the good news.
2. That account you make is a trial account.
3. If you like it, you are supposed to pay. They have two rates.
a) $7.99 per month for one A.viary application
b) $14.99 per month for all A.viary applications
4. There is NO annual account option; there is no persistent free account level.
Personally, I loathe trial accounts with a passion. When I encounter something I need to test out that has the trial account option, I make an account, grab a few screenshots, write a blog post or something to tell folks about it, and then I abandon the site and never return. Trial accounts give me hives. The problem with most trial accounts is that they have a time limit. I am always really busy, and doing a decent test within a specific time span is just not gonna happen in my life.
A.viary is doing something a little different with their trial account. They say, "Aviary is Trustware. We allow you full access to the tools, but trust you to pay for them." Well, I kind of like that, but then don't call it a trial account. That is going to be a bit confusing since the phrase is not being used in a standard way. That actually might account for some of the different understandings and assumptions I've been hearing about.
What I would personally like to see is something like this.
1. A basic free account with restrictions of some sort, probably allowed to make/upload only X number of images per month, like Flickr. Maybe two flavors: all apps, no more than 3 images per month, or one application per month with slightly more numbers.
2. A pro account that has unlimited access and no restrictions.
3. A hobbyist account that has all apps and access between free and pro.
4. An inexpensive ANNUAL discounted educational account that gives access to all applications at a level around the hobbyist, preferably priced around the same level as the Flickr pro account.
For myself, I'm teaching Aviary to different groups. I tend to use it rarely to sporadically in between classes. When I'm preparing for a class, I use it heavily and test all new features I can find. My pattern of use doesn't fit any of the account types provided currently. If I was using this heavily for personal use (like I use Flickr), then I would be willing to pay, but would probably not be willing to pay as much as they are asking. I certainly won't continue teaching this if the pricing stays at this level. I am looking for free or inexpensive tools that can be used by students, educators, and underfunded professionals such as those in academia, K-12 education, health advocacy and support, public health outreach, independent small consulting firms, etcetera. Yes, some doctors and independent consultants make a lot of money. Trust me, they are not likely to be editing their own images, and if they do, they'll be buying Creative Studios (CS). If you want to dominate that in-between niche market, get in with education, get the kids so used to using your product that in five or ten years they won't care about CS. You start with hobbyists, but if you want brand loyalty, get in with education, and make it easy for them to do so. Most educators don't have budgets for toys like this. They will end up paying out of pocket. They are very ethical and responsible, and are unlikely to explore or promote a tool that would cost students money. You have to make all of this really easy and accessible for them.
Aviary, you have a sweet product line. Personally, I think education could be a sweet spot for you. Think about it. Maybe give it a try. :) Meanwhile, here are my slides from last week's class. I have another class scheduled for the first week of November. I'm waiting to see what Aviary does next before I decide whether or not to teach that class.
Aviary: http://a.viary.com/
Aviary FAQ: http://a.viary.com/faq
Posted by pfa at 01:28 PM | Comments (2)
October 02, 2008
After the Twitter Blackout, part 2: What are "Best Practices" Now, Two Months Later?
Today is the 2 month anniversary of when Twitter accidentally deleted my account. Actually, my first post on this was shortly after midnight on August 2nd, so the account was deleted on the first. Here is the background for those who missed this.
Twitter Banned Who?: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/etechlib/archives/2008/08/twitter_banned.html
Twitter "Banning", Day Two Report: Social Media Troubleshooting: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/etechlib/archives/2008/08/twitter_banning.html
After the Twitter Blackout, part 1: Lessons Learned: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/etechlib/archives/2008/08/lessons_learned.html
I find, even two months later, that this event had a large impact on my life and how I work. I grieve that even a month after the original event, there were people still suffering the same problems. One individual had to wait over three weeks to get Twitter to restore their account, if you can even believe that.
Get Satisfaction: Twitter: Account Deleted/banned with no reasoning: http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/etechlib/archives/2008/08/lessons_learned.html
At the time my account was deleted, there were several other accounts deleted. There was a fairly substantial community outcry and expression of concern. Many people offered suggestions and asked for Twitter to make visible changes in how it handles community support. Has Twitter addressed the concerns? Not as far as I know. Maybe they did, but it was done quietly? One of the most often repeated requests was for Twitter to post information about this problem and its solution to the blog. This certainly never happened.
As a result, my personal engagement with Twitter has changed. Frankly, I don't trust them anymore. I still Twitter, but I am not as enthusiastic about it, I'm not there as often. The relationship has been wounded, and the wound seems to be totally one-sided. So, what am I doing about it?
I have changed how I microblog — I have become diverse, and work aggressively to be present in a variety of microblogging platforms. I am pfanderson in Twitter, Plurk, identi.ca, Pownce, Jaiku and Friendfeed. I spend time in each of them, in roughly that order.
How am I maintaining a presence if I don't visit them equally often? I'm using Ping.fm.
Ping allows me to post simultaneously to several locations, and allows me to customize groups or subsets of places I want to post at the same time, as well as allowing individual posts. Advantages are many:
- present in multiple spaces;
- posts are archived in many places as well as in Ping;
- time efficiencies;
- convenience.
Twitter, Plurk and Identi.ca I try to check daily or more often. Pownce and Jaiku I visit monthly or when I receive a notice that someone has commented or replied to something I've posted there. I wish I could be equally present in all, but I just don't have the time to manage it. If anyone else has worked out a good approach, let me know. I'd love some ideas on best practices for microblogging.
Some people really dislike the approach I've taken.
It is a bit like being a tourist or summer resident in a beach property. You engage with the community, but only three months of the year. The relationships are not as rich, as intense, as deep.
Aside from microblogging itself, I am relocating my blog to a platform that will allow me to archive my tweets as blogposts. This blog is currently in a branded institutional Movable Type platform. It lacks a lot of functionality, which I have tolerated specifically to be associated with our institutional brand. No longer. It is costing me too much. I will be switching this blog to WordPress sometime over the next month, I hope.
The really big thing for me out of all this is FriendFeed. I am starting to love it kind of like I used to love Twitter, but ... I am reluctant to trust any one platform at this point.
I am sad about it, a bit. Excited to have learned these new tools and strategies. I miss being deeply engaged with Twitter, marinating in it the way I used to. I have found new communities in the other spaces. I wish all my Twitter friends were in FriendFeed or the other spaces, so I could really easily engage as richly and deeply as I used to. It is kind of like moving to a new town. You miss your friends, but you make new friends.
I welcome other thoughts and suggestions. Exploring widely ...
Posted by pfa at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
September 30, 2008
Cool Toys Conversations: September 2008
We had a small group today, from computer science and architecture, but wonderful dynamic discussion.
Discussion: Tools for bringing online media into Second Life. We were looking at some items sold in OnRez and talking about WebX.
LabMeeting: http://www.labmeeting.com/signinm
NOTE: Conversation was along the lines of what is going on with online and social media tools to support research processes and long distance collaborations, as well as off campus graduate students.
Google CSE: Disability Info: http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=017697754354459676484%3Ae54laa4xksu&hl=en
NOTE: Talked about Google custom search engines (CSEs), with this as an example, focusing on power of CSEs for the expert who really knows their field. Showed briefly how to start your own.
Launchcast: Make Your Own Radio Station: http://music.yahoo.com/launchcast/setup.asp
NOTE: An addition to the various personalized audio experience tools such as Pandora and last.fm, from Yahoo.
Evernote: http://evernote.com/
NOTE: This was discussed as an example of a relatively undiscovered class of tools for annotation, collecting and sharing the web via tools that allow you to embed notes or highlight sections of a web page in a way that allows you to share that note with your friends and colleagues. More web annotation tools are available here: http://delicious.com/rosefirerising/annotation
Joyce Bettencourt: Global Kids Second Life Curriculum: http://www.rezed.org/group/GKslcurriculum
NOTE: Not coming up to speed as fast as you'd like in Second Life? Have grad students or classes you want to bring along quickly? Take a look at this curriculum designed for youth but being also used at the grad student level.
50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers / By Christina Laun: http://www.jobprofiles.org/library/students/50_awesome_open_source_resources_for_online_writers.htm
NOTE: I have a lot of work to do ...
Story of my Second Life: Imagine a Person Who Is Blind Using Second Life…: http://www.storyofmysecondlife.com/?p=733
NOTE: Several folks interested in web accessibility were at the table, including a few using virtual worlds and gaming. We covered the gamut, from games designed specifically for those with visual impairments to universal access applied to virtual worlds design. This topic needs a whole blogpost just for itself.
DabbleBoard: http://www.dabbleboard.com/main
NOTE: Ideas included putting up blueprints as a background texture and having persons at remote sites sketch on and annotate the design. Need to test to find out if this is possible. Meanwhile, we can do exactly this function in Second Life using the whiteboards available from AngryBeth Shortbread's CyberGrrrl shop.
Simple Wikipedia: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
NOTE: Could be used with children, students with learning disabilities, international students seeking assistance in explaining concepts, teaching / expanding literacy, consumer health, writing projects / assignments, and much more.
Keith Jarrett / Welcome to NCS-Tech!: Let students design their own video games with Atmosphir!: http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=1715
NOTE: Gaming is increasingly important in basic and distance learning. The blogpost has links to several excellent resources and research about gaming for education and learning. Atmosphir is a free tool for making your own video game. Very exciting. We watched the video. :)
Google Base: http://base.google.com/
NOTE: We talked about Google Base Clinical Trials and Google Base: Recipe Search, looking at some interface design issues, content sources, and potential for marketing local content.
VuFind: http://www.vufind.org/
NOTE: Open source searching platform being evaluated by the UM Library system. Potentially very interesting. Discussion about going directly to the best source/tool versus stab-in-the-dark tools.
Plurkshop: Delicious: http://www.plurk.com/p/42esr and http://www.plurk.com/p/4d393
NOTE: Someone mentioned their bookmarks were out of control, so we talked about Delicious, and showed this Plurkshop about things to do with Delicious. Talked about the similarities and differences between Twitter and Plurk.
Embeddable Google Books: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/09/embeddable-google-books.html
NOTE: Excitement about being able to embed a Google book on the course page for your class. Wondering if it is possible to embed the page you searched, with the search terms highlighted, to promote / provoke discussion.
Superstruct Game: http://www.superstructgame.org/
NOTE: Crowdsourcing meets gaming — solve the world's problems by brainstorming with the best and the worst in "the world's first massively multiplayer forecasting game."
* Flickr: Shareski: Interesting Quotes: http://flickr.com/photos/shareski/sets/72157606411341392/
* Flickr: InJenuity: Slides: http://flickr.com/photos/jentropy/sets/72157606210370733/
* Google Docs: Reflections: http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dct3x4vw_65hcgq6bg5
NOTE: Looking at how folks use social media to share resources for professional presentations, collaborate on presentations, and as viral marketing for concepts.
* About Garrett Lisi and the e8 Polytope
Talked about open science, open notebook science, the Nature Publishing Group event on scientists and the lack of engagement with social media, impacts on translational research and bench-to-bedside practice, changing publication models, and Garrett Lisi as an examplar of these, and how his work has continued to move through the online social environments into Second Life.
Nature Network: Joanna Scott's Blog: Scientific Researchers and Web 2.0: Social 'NotWorking'?: http://network.nature.com/people/joannascott/blog/2008/09/16/scientific-researchers-and-web-2-0-social-notworking
Open Science Blog: http://www.openscience.org/blog/
A Preliminary Forensic Exploration of a Scientific Social Technologies Success - The Garrett Lisi Story
http://www.slideshare.net/umhealthscienceslibraries/a-preliminary-forensic-exploration-of-a-scientific-social-technologies-success-the-garrett-lisi-story
Posted by pfa at 03:02 PM | Comments (2)
September 25, 2008
SparkPeople for Nutrition: The Blogpost that Turned into a Class
This post started as my telling my colleagues in a meeting about a social network I thought they'd enjoy.
SparkPeople: http://www.sparkpeople.com/
At the previous Cool Toys Conversations meeting, someone had told me they like to use SparkPeople to analyze the nutritional value of recipes. Hey, that is useful, I thought! So I mentioned it. They said, "You should do a blogpost. Just a simple one." Famous last words, right?
The next day I found another fitness / nutrition community. Then I found a nutrition-only network. And it kept going — more and more. Quickly the number of tools and communities I found far outstripped anything appropriate for a blogpost, so we are now planning a mini-class overview of Food and Nutrition Online Communities. If we're lucky, maybe right before Thanksgiving?
Meanwhile, I checked out SparkPeople for the rumored recipe analysis, and here are some screenshots to show how you'd get there.
SparkPeople: Getting Started with the Nutrition Tracker:
SparkPeople: Nutrition:
SparkPeople: Nutrition: Meal Plans:
SparkPeople: Nutrition: Add a Food:
NOTE: Did you see the Serving Size Calculator in the upper right hand corner of the picture above?
SparkPeople: Nutrition: Find a Food:
SparkPeople: Nutrition: Create a Food Not Listed:
NOTE: You would use this when you are using a food in a recipe or meal plan that isn't already in their database. For myself, this is often when it is an old family recipe that starts with a mix or prepackaged food of some sort, and I will use the nutrition data from the packaging information.
Okay, not go have fun. We can get into more detail in the class, later.
Posted by pfa at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2008
Torley Linden on Living With Asperger Syndrome
I've been meaning for a long time to do a substantive post on the amazing benefits of online social media and communities for persons on the autism spectrum. Well, it hasn't happened. I also have wanted to blog about the potent value of the support communities in Second Life for persons with health concerns. There is some overlap between these two topics, which I've been tracking. Ironically, earlier today I was working on the page about the Autism section of the SLHealthy wiki.
Today, these two topics came even closer and more unavoidable as a blog entry through the events at the Autism Society of American weekend, Bounce for Autism. I spent a lot of tiem there today, and took a lot of pictures. I want to blog about that, too, but it probably won't happen before the weekend is over, so go see it, don't wait for me to talk about it. One of today's presenters was Torley Linden, in the guise of his "alt" (which is actually probably his original avatar), gave a talk with slides on the topic of his life with Asperger Syndrome and how Second Life has benefitted him relative to this. It was pretty wonderful.
Because some folks were having difficulty with sound or voice, I offered to try to do a rough transcription, and later got permission from Torley to put this on my blog. I stripped out the backchat, because I did not have permission from all participants. He goes awful fast and says beautiful things (and I was having a small RL minicrisis during the transcription), so chances are very good that I missed some important things. Please note, hope springs eternal - Ravenelle captured video of the talk which will be posted in YouTube. :)
While I did not capture or transcribe the chat after the talk, I did capture the URLs shared, and have activated them as links below. In the question and answer section, I did capture the questions, but only used initials of the avatar asking, again to protect privacy of the people there.
Oh, and please notice his watermelon eyes ... More pics coming later, probably when I get to work and have a wired connection.
=====================
[18:00] Crysta Laville: I ask all to please turn your mics off while Torley speaks so we dont hear you
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: yes Anaid
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: thanks Crysta :)
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: yes that's important
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: hehe
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: i love seeing gestures circulate...
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: it's one of my fave things
[18:00] Torley Olmstead: oh i have TOTALLY heard that Linden Time one before, oodles
[18:03] Brett Stand shouts: If I can have your attention please!
[lots of applause]
[18:05] Torley Olmstead: yes it's in voice
[18:06] Crysta Laville: Please everyone keep your mics off while Torley speaks
[18:06] You: Rod, would it help for someone to take notes in chat?
[18:06] You: I will do that
[18:06] You: he says embarassment is part of having Asperger
[18:07] You: pictures of him as a child
[18:07] You: stereotype of Asian kid who plays piano
[18:07] You: childhood strange behavior - not in sentences, kind of incoherent, odd behavior
[18:07] You: music helped him with phrasing and tempo
[18:08] You: need a sense of timing to tell jokes
[18:08] You: tends to race in speaking
[18:08] You: His mom read books about gifted children
[18:08] You: Went through rough times abefore 2nd life
[18:08] You: His wife reminded him to face the audience
[18:09] You: He was depressed in 2004 because his dad died and used to be a music producer?
[18:09] You: he has hyperacusis - distorted hearing
[18:09] You: this meant he lost his music career
[18:09] You: his main focal interest
[18:10] You: very depressing
[18:10] You: Read about transhumanism and cyberpunk
[18:10] You: He loves game Deus Ex
[18:10] You: He found Neil Stephensons's Diamond Age
[18:10] You: Neuromancer
[18:10] You: felt lonely online because he wanted to share these new loves
[18:11] You: New World Notes is what gave him intro to SL
[18:11] You: slide shows his first av
[18:11] You: he chose to focus in SL on skills that are struggles in RL
[18:12] You: socialized as much as possible
[18:12] You: chatboxes, sandboxes
[18:12] Ravenelle Zugzwang: Torley crashed but will be right back
[18:13] You: no - he crashed
[18:13] You: back!
[18:13] Torley Olmstead: sorry! crashed!
[lots of welcome backs, and comments about "Lindens crash?"]
[18:13] You: after all the socializing "crazy crazy crazy"
[18:13] You: he was using text viewer, thus crashed
[18:14] You: Met a lot of mentors
[18:14] You: corrected help guides, fixed errors
[18:14] You: by famous early leaders in SL
[18:14] You: helped with bug reports
[18:14] You: serendipitous path to becoming part of the community
[18:15] You: He thought LL folks were really cool people
[18:15] You: sent in a fan letter / resume
[18:15] You: talked about how SL had transformed his RL
[18:15] You: He did contracting for a while before becoming a fulltime employee
[18:15] You: Simple things that make a difference
[18:15] You: you feel emotions here
[18:16] You: you share things together, like gestures
[18:16] You: his gestures in RL are awkward
[18:16] You: personal space
[18:16] You: gestures help him learn
[18:16] You: there was a gesture bug that took away his gestures
[18:16] You: and he had to learn about them
[18:16] You: Being hired by LL has let him "amplify your awesome"
[18:17] You: such cool coworkers
[18:17] You: looking for and making tools to help you get things done
[18:17] You: lots of how tos
[18:17] You: Started video tutorials
[18:17] You: A great social moment
[18:17] You: a woman
[18:17] You: you see someone across the room
[18:17] You: your eyes meet
[18:17] You: Ravenelle ...
[18:18] You: "Ravie, please come up on stage"
[18:18] You: SL gives us opportunities in RL
[18:18] You: expotentially increase opportunities
[18:18] You: Torley loves watermelons
[18:18] You: Here is his sweetie
[18:18] Ravenelle Zugzwang: *waves*
[18:19] You: not enough emphasis given to real love stories - great friendships
[18:19] You: great stories
[18:19] You: when something really moves you
[18:19] You: tell them right away
[18:20] You: keep the love flowing
[18:20] You: facelights
[18:20] You: kind of maligned
[18:20] You: he helped get the fashion industry hooked on them
[18:20] You: transformative effect on our culture
[18:20] You: Another picture of Toryley and Rav
[18:20] You: better skies, suns, and moons
[18:20] You: ambassador for windlight
[18:21] You: romantic - share your hearts
[18:21] You: 650,000 images tagged SL in Flickr
[18:21] You: abt 15,000 mine ;)
[18:21] You: other creative things
[18:21] Torley Olmstead: http://torley.com/textures
[18:21] You: Torley textures
[18:21] You: all free
[18:22] You: He offers them for free,
[18:22] You: use them in yr builds
[18:22] You: they are on help island
[18:22] You: Creative photography
[18:23] You: he has taste for loud colors because of how his eyes perceive
[18:23] You: he learned where his weaknesses are
[18:23] You: learned to speak confidently
[18:24] You: he loves the great avatars here
[18:24] You: very beautiful
[18:24] You: encourage you to never stop being creative, never stop living SL
[18:24] You: carry it on
[18:24] You: concerned not with buzzwords (social media) but how to really connect with people
[18:24] You: last picture, next to last
[18:25] You: Here Island
[18:25] Torley Olmstead: http://torley.com/here
[18:25] You: A joke - "You are Here"
[18:25] You: all video tutorials there
[18:25] You: how to use click actions
[18:26] You: he answers questions
[18:26] You: type them in text
[18:26] You: Please type questions in chat
[18:26] You: It is super fantastic to be here
[18:26] Crysta Laville: Thx Torley for being a speaker tonight
[18:27] You: he'd have to see what anti-scam scripts are all about
[18:27] You: be sceptical
[18:27] You: of "get rich now"
[18:27] You: don't trust anti-lag scripts
[18:27] MC: this question came up in there.com the other day, do you object if people use the textures in other virtual worlds?
[18:27] You: Use Torley textures ANYWHERE
[18:27] You: totally open source
[18:27] [multiple people]: As a mother of an autistic child, what advice could you give parents to support their child to succeed as well as you have
[18:28] You: advice for parents: accummulation of small victories
[18:28] You: they get discouraged, look for the small victories
[18:28] You: his mom was nurturing, dad was Donald-Trump-esque - they balanced well
[18:28] You: don't compare too much to other people
[18:28] You: comparisons are useless
[18:29] You: unrealistic expectations
[18:29] You: such as to compare to Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods i
[18:29] You: don't listen to bullies
[18:29] You: he's been bullied a lot
[18:29] You: Have a happier first life and SL than not
[18:29] You: if tempted to snipe, try to be nice instead
[18:29] You: person by person - small victories
[18:29] CR: Torley: Do you think of Asperger's as a disability, or as being 'different' with no significant impairments? If the former, what would you consider to be your 'worst' AS-related disability, and how do you deal with it?
[18:30] You: come to his office hours for technical questions
[18:30] You: disability: not being able to relate to others, using body language, but flip side - he doesn't feel inhibited
[18:30] You: he just goes for it :)
[18:29] RH: Torley I have a very interesting question, if you have someone who is Autistic or is with Asburgers who is harrasing residents, is it okay to file ARs against them if they are persistant? That is to say, should they be treated like everyone else even though they have disabilities?
[18:31] You: first talk to people to understand who they are
[18:30] LM: Is Asburgers an excuse for being an intolerable poop face?
[18:31] You: even people with Aspergers need to be sensitive to community standards and communicating kindly
[18:31] You: even if you don't know how
[18:31] You: have a heart to heart to help
[18:31] You: do the humane thing
[18:32] You: there are bound to be communication barriers, we should aspire to transcend them
[18:32] You: I will reach out to you, will you reach out to me? keep trying
[18:32] RS: Q: I have been told you also suffer from a mild form of agoraphobia, is that missinformation, or if it's true, how has SL affected you. ---
[18:32] You: agoraphobia rumor is true
[18:33] You: anxiety in crowds when he was a child
[18:33] You: trying to come off as someone who wasn't a total freak
[18:33] You: the first few times I do something, I'll goof up, make horrible mistakes
[18:32] Milton Broome: Greetings Torley. In your opinion what is the advantage of Second Life over real life for people with Autism and Asperger’s?
[18:33] You: Don't. Give. Up.
[18:33] You: how we learn
[18:33] You: is to keep trying
[18:33] KM: Torley, what is the difference between Aspergers and High Functioning Autism?
[18:33] EA: is your opinion of where your weakneses are the same as what others view of what your weaknesses are????
[18:33] KK: does repitition sometimes help with understanding?
[18:34] You: what are teh benefits of SL for folks w/ Asp/Aut?
[18:34] You: you don't get all the emotional bandwidth, but it is safer, not a fear of phsycial violence
[18:35] You: allows you to focus on your obsessions -> glad addictions
[18:35] You: opportunity to share
[18:35] You: without feeling your are being stared at
[18:34] BG: How is the way you see colors different from most people's perception of them?
[18:36] You: Torley has keen grasp of dynamic edge with respect to colors
[18:34] CB: Is there help for people with Autisum & Asbergers in Teen SL?
[18:35] You: He would love to know more about TSL
[18:35] You: there are communities outside SL
[18:35] Torley Olmstead: http://wrongplanet.net
[18:35] MS: Torley, have you found, as you get more immersed in SL, that your AS has come to the fore as it would in RL? I find that as SL becomes more integrated as part of my RL, some of my issues have crossed the border as it were?
[18:36] shiney Sprocket: I'd say!
[18:36] You: there's always been a crossover between Asperger in SL and RL
[18:36] You: Some folk are interested because they have family
[18:36] You: Torley loves to help
[18:37] LM: Is autism a reason a 16 year old would expose themselves on camera?
[18:37] You: He can't talk about other people's motives
[18:37] KM: Torley, What is the difference between Austism and Asberger's?
[18:37] You: encourage people to do research and learn more
[18:37] MF: Why would you use poor pokeman as shoes?
[18:37] You: Pika-Shoe = Pikachu
[18:38] You: no actual Pokemon were harmed in the creation of these shoes ;)
[18:37] You: come to office hours for more answer to questions
[18:38] You: email is listed in his profile
[enthusiastic applause ensues and lasts for several minutes]
[18:38] You: followup followup followup
[18:38] You: share with a friend
[18:38] You: spread the goodness
[18:39] You: there are always problems, but there are not always solutions unless you help make them
[18:41] RH: Can I have your autograph?
[18:41] Torley Olmstead: hehehe
[18:41] Torley Olmstead: thanks so much each and everyone!
[18:42] Torley Olmstead: Rei what an awesome hat
[18:42] Torley Olmstead: EYE AND TONGUE OMG
[18:42] Torley Olmstead: aww shiney
[18:43] Torley Olmstead: yup hanging out!
[18:43] Torley Olmstead: i <3 awesome hats
[18:43] Torley Olmstead: i have this giant hat collection
[18:43] Torley Olmstead: it shall never cease
[18:43] Torley Olmstead: oh cool to know that re: textures Rei
[18:45] Torley Olmstead: http://filterforge.com
[18:51] You: Torley - would it be OK to share the portion of the chatlog that was trying to transcribe your voice talk?
[18:51] Torley Olmstead: sure Perplexity!
[18:52] Torley Olmstead: THANKS for helping
[18:52] You: Thank you very much!
[18:52] Ravenelle Zugzwang: I also took video and we hope to have that up soon
[18:52] You: Thank you, Ravenelle! I will watch for it
[18:57] Torley Olmstead: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Release_Candidate/1.21 also
[18:58] Torley Olmstead: oh totally fine, Jaymes, what's the URL?
[18:59] JK: http://www.flickr.com/photos/masterjamie/2854127837/ --- Here you go, Torley. :)
[18:59] Torley Olmstead: thanx Jaymes!
[19:00] RH: Torley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKi-fkyAtg8 this is a interesting concept someone has for new in world features
[19:00] SS: http://veodia.com/ that is the site I used to stream various capture devices and webcams in SL.
[19:01] SS: Not to access it there Perplexity, to stream INTO secondlife from a camera.
[19:01] You: ah - oh, thanks!
[19:01] You: that is really useful
[19:01] You: veodia as a bridge
[19:02] Torley Olmstead: yeah have you seen the shadow-draft in Second Life :)
[19:03] Ravenelle Zugzwang: We did a video recently..let me find a link
[19:03] Ravenelle Zugzwang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBIdIiSY45U
[19:03] Torley Olmstead: KirstenLee Cinquetti
[19:03] Torley Olmstead: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/09/behold-shadowdr.html
[19:04] You: thank you for all the links :)
[19:04] Ravenelle Zugzwang: it's not ready to go live, that is why it's considered in the experimental stage at this time
[19:08] JC: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E48RG_m9OaY
Posted by pfa at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
