What Is Your Digital Footprint?

Over the weekend, I read an interesting article aptly titled 92% of U.S. toddlers have an online presence and I was really shocked. We’re talking about toddlers not kids in high school or college. This piece really got me thinking about the implications of having an online presence so early in life. Just think, by the time you really do get online, you’ve already got a lot of information out there about you, some of which you may not want others to know about.

As silly as it seems, we all have pictures, videos, and or memories from our youth that though near and dear to us or to our loved ones, are not the type of things you want to share with the rest of the world. Perhaps your parents love that video of you taking your first steps around the house, or the picture of you in the hospital when you were in your mother’s arms shortly after birth, or there may be those pictures of you on a certain holiday or vacation dressed in fashions or donning a hairstyle you would like to forget you ever had. Those are the type of memories that most of us like to keep in the shoe box, photo albums, tapes, and slides, and out of the prying eyes of the public.

Yet, for those toddlers growing up in this day and age of the internet and social networking, keeping those memories hidden will be quiet an undertaking. I have friends on Facebook that post plenty of pictures of their kids as they compete in sports, pictures of the artwork they make for their parents, and pictures of them on vacation. I’m not saying it’s the wrong thing to do, but it’s something that makes us think about the future of information and how everything that’s on the internet never dies but ends up archived in some virtual vault somewhere akin to the Google cache option in search.

The article gets a lot more thought provoking when you figure that a lot of these parents are saving email addresses for the their kids so they’ll have one, most likely with their name, ready when they begin their foray online. I can see how some will want to have their name in their email address though most people use a combination of letters and numbers or nicknames for their email address. The only place I have not picked out my own email address is at work. Personally, I think an email address is not only something very personal but something one needs to get on their own that has to be to one’s liking. Having it picked out for you is similar to having someone pick who you should like, or what you should do.

Besides the fact that babies are getting email addresses put aside for them, the article says that most 30 year-olds have a web presence going back 10 to 15 years. That is a lot of information, data, pictures, and media that is out there in the public eye. It’s fascinating yet surprising at the same time. The best advice given in this article came from AVG CEO J.R. Smith whom cautioned parents on being careful about what information, pictures, and media were posted on the internet, since this information would follow them for the rest of their lives.

This article mentions the "online footprint" and it got me thinking about the BP ads that talked about the carbon footprint. In a similar fashion, we all have an online footprint; some larger than others. The online footprint also brings to mind something that Botgirl Questi spoke about, some time ago. She mentioned that she was reserving her name on different sites and virtual environments. That is, perhaps, something to think about insofar as our online presence is concerned. I for one don’t want my name used by someone who might be active in or participant in activities or lifestyles unlike me. I don’t want others to search my name and wonder “is that him or someone else?" This however, increases the size of your online footprint.

My questions to you are:
How big is your online footprint?
And
Are you willing to reserve your name in other worlds and sites to keep it from being used by someone else?

Emerald Dies, Burns, and is Reborn

Recently, twitter, facebook, plurk, and a few websites have been ablaze with talk of the very popular Second Life third-party viewer Emerald, with all the great features that were more what the users wanted and less of what the official SL viewer 2.0 offered. However the chatter was about it's many security issues as well as the ethics and sincerity of those on the development team. The last post from Emerald was one of closing up and throwing it all away. Linden Labs reacted with demands made of the Emerald team that they claimed they were unable to comply with. After that one of the developers applied for a trademark and severed access to the servers. It appeared that all was finished and those that continued to use Emerald would be doomed to find it disconnected from the grid in the very near future. Many were upset by the decision to close down instead of finding a way to comply, as other third-party viewers had done already. Emerald had features that others did not have; features that were unique and that had grabbed the attention of many faithful users.

That was two days ago on September 1st. Flash forward to today, September 3rd, where Jessica Lyons, in her blog, announces the Phoenix Viewer with all the functionality of Emerald as well as "100% public transparency in EVERYTHING." They already have an official website with download links for Windows, Mac, and Linus versions.

This is a step in the right direction and one that will be embraced by the throngs of Emerald lovers. The new development team promises to be comprised of "reputable residents in the SecondLife Community." I for one will download this viewer and take it for a spin. I've seen that some are exercising caution by waiting until they have the approval necessary that would put them the TPV list. And that is a good move if you are unsure of the promises that have been made. Considering all the negative press Emerald got and credibility of some of it's developers, it is perfectly understandable. Hopefully, they are right and it will be a quick approval. I know many that can't wait to enjoy all the nifty features.

A Four Year Retrospective of My Second Life

June 16^th 2010 marked my fourth Rez day in Second Life.  This week I have pondered on what it means to be an avatar and how far have I gone since my inception into this virtual multi-faceted world.  I’ve lived some amazing experiences in these 4 years and have met lots of wonderful people from the world over.  In fact, some friendships have transcended into my real life. 

I have been role playing in Second Life© since August of 2006.  Ever since I started role playing in the City of Lost Angels, I had not really wandered outside of areas that were not role play based.  As such, all my relationships in Second Life had to do with role play.  It all changed soon after I found the social network Plurk.  Through this unique networking experience, I found a world of Second Life avatars that I did not normally associate with during my time online.  Among them were designers, creators, writers, and bloggers.  Plurk helped me expand my horizons as I met many different people.

I am very proud of my accomplishments in-world.  I am grateful to Stacia Villota, owner of the blog Virtual Neko, who inspired me to start my own blog about role play, aptly titled, SecondLifeRoleplay.  My blog opened in March of 2009 and began to come to life in April of 2009.  To date I have over 23,000 views and readers from all over the globe.  Stacia was right when she told me that I would be making a contribution to the genre with my experience. 

My blog and my friendship with Stacia got me a writing job with the now closed Role Magazine.  Stacia recommended me to the editors, Ofelia Laval and Leeza Catteneo, whom were looking for a writer that would expand on role play, the most popular pastime in Second Life.  Role Magazine published its last issue on December of 2009 and it was then that it occurred to me to attempt to create my own magazine in a much smaller scale. 

    In July of 2009, I met Feles Seitan of Feles' Adventures in Not Dating. As an officer in the Brood demon faction of the City of Lost Angels, I had invited many different people to experience role play.  I wanted them to see a different side of SL; to see what we did, why we did it, and how we did it.  Around the end of September, I invited Feles to come see role play live and in person.  We hit it off right away and she returned in October joining the faction.  We created a great bond by working together to incorporate her character’s background with mine so that it would be a base for us and a reason for always being around each other in character.  All that time spent together in creative collaboration led to me getting to know her better OOC and a month later we mated, creating more role play for both our characters.  Together we also ventured out to the rest of Second Life that I had left behind, long ago.

Inspired by Feles and her creativity, I created SLRP.  SLRP is a magazine to highlight the different role play areas around Second Life that I felt were worth mentioning.  So many great places exist here, yet there is no one, to my knowledge, that is focusing the spotlight on these creative gems and allowing others to see what is available in terms of different types of role play.  The creation of my magazine was two-fold.  I wanted to spotlight the beauty of these places in words and pictures and I wanted to give the role play community a place where their work, imagination, and creativity would be exposed to readers interested in the genre.

There are still others to thank for their support, generosity, and friendship.  I really could not have achieved all that I have, had it not been for those that not only believed in me, but pushed me to do more and be more.  Though I won’t mention their names here, you know who you are.  I appreciate everything that every one of you has done that has touched my life as well as what we’ve learned and shared from and with each other.

Linden Lab Targeted in Second Life Sex-Code Lawsuit

Just one of what I've heard are countless issues with Linden Labs turning a blind eye to copyright infringement. Maybe this lawsuit will wake them up to the realities of what has been happening for a very long time in as far as copybots and other software made to copy and steal the very source of the economy of Second Life.

Content creators in Second Life have created a virtual economy that Linden Labs enjoys and profits from. Everything from skins, hair, and eyes, to weapons, homes, and clothing is being copied and stolen by these racketeers. Sadly, complaints to Linden Labs regarding stolen property fall on deaf ears.

It's time for them to perhaps create a department that deals solely with complaints of theft and copying. It might be the best way to tackle this problem head on, and show the entire Second Life community that something will be done about their complaints.

Linden Lab Targeted in Second Life Sex-Code Lawsuit

Posted using ShareThis

The future of virtual worlds

This short film gives us some insight into what the future may hold for the development of virtual worlds. It is very well made and really gives one much to think about as well as ponder on what could be.


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

IBM hold meetings in Second life

This is part of the benefits of virtual worlds. Meetings that can be conducted without spending money on hotels, airfare, and other expenses. The future of virtual worlds needs to count on corporate sponsorship and collaboration to continue to grow and be accepted as another medium of communication and global interactivity.

IBM holds meetings in Second life