The Imagination Age

Tonight, while preparing The Imagination Age, the Dancing Ink Productions island in Second Life for a meeting with TREET.TV-- I felt extremely honored to work with DIP House Artist Mencius Watts, shown above, writing intern Diandra Louarn, whose new column will premiere next week, and Chief Global Strategist Joshua S. Fouts.

Happy Friday, everybody. Thanks for reading.

Sew?

"Sew?" is a sculpture by my mother Rita Ferrugiari (known until her recent surprise elopement as the Fabulous Miss Rita Brown). The New York Times publishes images of artist's rendering of the T. My mother's mixed media version, a labor of love made of pins and needles, thread, sequin beads, scissors, measuring tape, mirrors, beads, antique buttons, trim a bobbin and a label on a meticulously hand-cut wood base, courtesy of her new husband, Mike, is shown above.

For a quarter of a century, my mother has been reading the Sunday Times, section by section, all week long. I asked her this morning what she thought of digital and print media. The New York Times has finally hired an editor to handle social media, I told her.

"I just read an article about it this morning," she said. "The death of newspapers. The article says it's a myth."

"In the New York Times?" I asked.

"No," she said. "The local paper. Hang on. I'm checking. It wasn't an article. It was a full page ad. John F. Sturm. 'The Reality About Newspapers,' that's what it's called. He's the President and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America. I can mail it to you if you want."

I already had it up in front of my screen from another publication that came up first on Google. The piece lists several "myths" and "realities."

"Myth: If newspapers close, you will still be able to get news from other sources.
Reality: Newspapers make a larger investment in journalism than any other medium. Most of the information you read from aggregators and other media originated with newspapers. No amount of effort from local bloggers, non-profit news entities or TV news sources could match the depth and breadth of newspaper-produced content. This is not a portrait of a dying industry. It is illustrative of transformation. Newspapers are reinventing themselves to focus on serving distinct audiences with a variety of products, and delivering those audiences effectively to advertisers across media channels."

As a journalist, I resent the implication that my work can best and only be delivered on paper. As a blogger and co-designer of a Virtual Newsroom, the idea that somehow "blogging" is less valuable than working in print for an established publication is outrageous. As a person with a mother who lives in a small town and has never experienced news in a digital format, I have moments of extreme sadness when I think of all the people in the world who subscribe to newspapers or randomly find those left behind by other people and learn something about the local, regional, national and global systems within which we can choose to struggle for transformation, for new ways of being and doing. Less newspapers mean less chance of that happening.

"I read the New York Times because it relaxes me," my mother said. "I read things that I wish I hadn't read, like about the mothers in Africa who have to stand around for so long when they are having babies because there are no doctors and the babies come out on their own. So many of the women die from infections after birth that there's an orphanage right next to the clinic. I can't even call it a clinic. It's a crude, dirty room, and these people who aren't even doctors cut open their stomachs a layer at a time with no sterilization. Then the babies go to die at an orphanage next door."

Hearing this from the person who delivered me into the world choked me up.

"When I read the New York Times Travel Section I can go anywhere in the world," she said. "I can sit here in this tiny town and see things I wouldn't normally see. I love the New York Times, I don't care what anybody says about them. And I thought it was very worthy, when they published your photographs in the Travel Section."

When I Googled Elisabeth Bumiller's article, I found that the digital version does not contain my photograph, so I'll close with an image of my mother, who was once on billboards over Times Square and in many print publications.



This blog post was inspired by New York Times reporter Brian Stelter who, two hours ago, tweeted "Figuring out what to write next. Any ideas?" As soon as I read the question, I knew what I was going to write next. I don't think that's much help to Brian, though...

Bartle in Metaplace: "everything is luck ... just some odds are better than others"

As mentioned earlier, Richard Bartle appeared in Metaplace today. True to form, Richard was informative, wry and witty. The complete transcript is here. I include some particularly choice bits below.

On the quality of immersion in games today ...

Richard: I can barely believe how people don't care about the way that the physics of the worlds are so sucky
Richard: the main issue I would say is the cost of implementation
Richard: in a text MUD, if I swam across a river I got wet .... all my stuff got wet ... some of it would be destroyed from being wet yet in WoW I can swim across a river and come out looking just like I did when I got in, even if I'm swimming in PLATE MAIL and am carrying biscuits
Richard: authenticity helps with immersion

On getting a job in the game industry ...

joecastille: what's the most important quality of young people who want to work in the game industry, in your opinion?

Richard: there are many more people want to work in the game industry than the game industry wants to work in it
Richard: you can have the skills, the imagination, the passion, the ideas - yes, all of that
Richard: that's taken for granted. however, if you want to get a job then you have to be in the right place at the right time. I would say that it's easier to get in if you try the production side rather than the dvelopment side

ThinkBalm Releases Immersive Internet Business Value Study

Erica and Sam Driver of ThinkBalm have just announced the release of their new Immersive Internet Business Value Study Analysis.

DIP is proud to be one of the 15 in-depth interviews conducted as part of this study. Rita J. King is quoted in the report about the business value of machinima videos:

“At this stage in the development of virtual platforms, machinima is the record of a shared experience. What you see when you watch a piece of machinima is a collaborative effort to create a space in which people from around the world can inhabit and enhance one another's ideas.”

In fact, DIP has two forthcoming machinima videos in the next few days. A report on the recent CDC/Swine Flu event from the virtual newsroom of the American University in Cairo; and a discussion with Spencer Zuzolo of 3D Squared about the Digital Workforce Initiative.

Some findings from the study include:

• More than 40% of those surveyed (26 of 66) saw a positive total economic benefit from investments in immersive technologies in 2008 and 1Q 2009. More than 50% of respondents (34 of 65) expect to obtain a positive total economic benefit in 2009. The number of respondents who expect to obtain economic benefit of \$25,000 USD or more in 2009 is more than double the number who indicated they achieved this level for 2008 / 1Q 2009.
  
• Nearly 30% of survey respondents (19 of 66) said their organization recouped their investment in immersive technologies in less than nine months, once their project(s) launched. Almost 30% of respondents (19 of 66) said their organization did not recoup their investment. Another 38% (25 of 66) said they didn’t know if their organizations had recouped their investment. This is not an unexpected finding because many Immersive Internet initiatives in 2008 and 1Q 2009 were experiments or pilots.
  
• One third of respondents (22 of 66) said their project data shows success. Another 61% of respondents (40 of 66) said the project “feels like” a success, for a total of 94% of respondents.
  
• Over a third of those surveyed (23 of 64) said their organization will definitely expand investment in immersive technology in 2009 and 2010, and another 38% (24 of 64) indicated that they might expand their investment.
  
• The top motivations for investment in immersive technology in 2008 /1Q 2009 were enabling people in disparate locations to spend time together, increased innovation, and cost savings or avoidance.
  
• Early implementers are choosing the simplest use cases first. The most common were learning and training (80%, or 53 of 66 respondents focused on this use case) and meetings (76%, or 50 of 66 respondents). Some intend to take on more complex use cases in 2010 or 2011.
  
• Immersive technology won out over a variety of alternatives primarily due to low cost and the increased engagement it delivers. The leading alternatives were Web conferencing and in-person meetings, followed by phone calls. Nearly 60% of respondents (38 of 66) indicated that immersive technology was less expensive than alternatives, and 11% (7 of 66) reported that it was more expensive.
  
• Work-related use of the Immersive Internet is in the early adopter phase. Before it can pass into the early majority phase, practitioners and the technology vendors who serve them must “cross the chasm.” The most common barriers to adoption are target users having inadequate hardware, corporate security restrictions, and getting users interested in the technology.

Congratulations to Erica and Sam.

Tweetminster

I've just discovered an interesting Twitter-based web community called "Tweetminster." It's an interesting community experiment using Twitter as a base for political information and discussion on politics in the UK. From the site:

TweetMinster is a service that makes it easier to connect the public with politicians using Twitter. TweetMinster helps you track UK politics in real time and to find and follow Members of Parliament and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates.

By encouraging greater participation in public forums like Twitter, we are all promoting better communications between voters and elected representatives.

Incidentally, I will be moderating a panel at the upcoming Twitter "140Conf" on the topic of "Digital Diplomacy and Cultural Collaboration." I will blog more about that in coming days.

It's fascinating to see how Twitter is becoming an increasingly mature medium for political action and engagement. It was only last December that the Israeli Consulate in New York held their first Twitter Press Conference around the conflict in Gaza. Followed by the community storytelling game experiment "Signtific" in which we participated. There have been a number of interesting news stories of late of political activism on Twitter being challenged by governments. In this article in the Guardian, a

"woman behind the mass protests which rocked the capital of Moldova ... [went] into hiding after the so-called "Twitter revolution" forced a recount of the general election."

... To a series of posts on BoingBoing about a Guatemalan Twitter user being arrested.

Richard Bartle to appear in Metaplace on Tuesday

An early map of a MUD from Richard Bartle's collection.

Just received an email from 3D Squared that Richard Bartle, the godfather of the multiplayer online world, will appare on 'the stage' in Metaplace Central on Tuesday, May 26, 2009, at Noon Pacific Time (2PM Central, 3PM Eastern). Richard is probably best recognized for being the co-author of MUD, the first multi-user dungeon. I mentioned an interview I did with Richard in 2003 earlier. I think it's very special and symbolic to have Richard appear in Metaplace at this early stage in its evolution. I'm looking forward to the conversation.

New: Richard appeared on Pooky Amsterdam's program in Second Life. I found them particularly entertaining. So many great lines, "In the real world, there's no backspace."

Part 1.


Part 2.

Pintak Named Founding Dean of Murrow College at Washington State University

Larry Pintak is the new, founding Dean of WSU's Murrow College.

Congratulations to Lawrence Pintak at being named Founding Dean of the Murrow College at Washington State University!

From the release:

“Heading the center here in Cairo has put me at the heart of Arab journalism at a fascinating time in its evolution,” said Pintak. “But American journalism – like the global media industry as a whole – is in the midst of revolution and the opportunity to help shape its course at the helm of a new communication college is difficult to pass up.

“And as someone steeped in the Murrow legacy at CBS – known as ‘the house that Murrow built’ – serving as dean of a college that bears his name is a particular honor.”

A veteran of more than 30 years in journalism on four continents, Pintak specializes in the role of media in shaping policy and the perceptions of policy; the intersection of media, religion and conflict; and the impact of technology, culture and globalization on journalism.

He has contributed to many of the world’s leading news organizations. As CBS News Middle East correspondent in the 1980s, he covered the Iran-Iraq War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the rise of Hezbollah and the birth of suicide bombing – including the 1983 destruction of the Beirut U.S. Marine barracks.

We've worked extensively with Larry over the past year and can't say enough about how lucky the Murrow School is to have him. (I've blogged about his public diplomacy credentials a few months back.)

By coincidence, in April we premiered our Second Life documentary "Virtual Journalism: The Virtual Newsroom of the American University in Cairo," which was co-produced with Larry at a virtual journalism conference at the Murrow School in Washington State.

Full-length video from the CDC/Swine Flu brief in the AUC Virtual Newsroom in Second Life

Special thanks to Texas Timtam and Starr Sonic of Treet.TV for their quick turnaround in delivering the video from Saturday's CDC conversation on coverage of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus. The video is about 60 minutes long. In coming days we will provide a shorter, YouTube-friendly report.

Two versions are available for viewing:

* high quality video for web & mobile devices;
* HD 720p for computer, large screen or home TV set-top box viewing

Playing Dolls Pays Off

Yesterday, while speaking to a group of distinguished journalists and bloggers from the Arab region and around the world in the American University in Cairo's Virtual Newsroom in Second Life (a project co-created by Dancing Ink Productions and Larry Pintak, Director of the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research, with funding from USAID) the realization hit me: all those countless hours playing with Barbie dolls as a girl were *not* in vain. Ha! Even the ceaseless gripe that Barbie's unrealistic measurements will cause the future women who are obsessed with them nothing but grief later? Tell it to my seven-foot-tall avatar, Eureka Dejavu, shown here at work. At *work* just like Barbie used to be.

My parents never bought me the pink plastic set up that my friends had, but I had no shortage of dolls or imagination, and pretty soon, I'd converted a series of filing cabinets into a metal metropolis filled with commerce and intrigue. Those dolls each had his or her own identity, and they had lives. Real lives. They acted out long hours at work, with little briefcases I'd made out of cardboard. One of them was a Supreme Court Justice, and she heard cases about gun control and euthanasia. She had glitter in her hair and a messy line of nailpolish across her lips thanks to my own misguided attempt to "do her face" for court one day, but I never took her skills on the bench any less seriously. I remembered this when a tiny furry showed up to do our sound check for the Saturday morning event with the CDC. Check out the above picture and you'll see him.

In Second Life, many of the Kens are thankfully less conventional. Schmilsson Nilsson, shown above, is Chief Global Strategist at DIP.

For work in Second Life, Eureka always looks the same, more or less, especially if we are broadcasting live or creating machinima. She has to *be* Eureka Dejavu, in 94 prim-count hair.

Tonight, though, we're appearing as guests on Copper Robot with Spencer Zuzolo of 3D Squared, and I'm finally going to wear my Eshi Otawara Jardin des Milles Fleurs, which looks as if I'm wearing a kaleidoscope made of light. My dolls never had anything so outrageous, although I found their subtle arguments about gun control and euthanasia to be surprisingly advanced and measured, for a bunch of dolls.

Data-Visualization of Imperial History in the Middle East

Maps of War has a fascinating data visualization of Imperial History of the Middle East.

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on. Who will control the Middle East today? That is a much bigger question.

Additional Questions from the CDC Briefing from the American University in Cairo Virtual Newsroom

In addition to the questions that were asked at today's live event between bloggers at the American University in Cairo conference, "Blogging the Future" and Glen Nowak and Jay Bernhardt of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the bloggers submitted the following questions, the answers of which we have listed below. If readers have additional questions for the CDC, please leave them in comments below and we will forward them.

I believe that Swine flu appeared for the first time in New Jersey in 1976, but it didn't grow to become as serious as it is now. Why is that?

This is a different strain of swine flu than the 1976 one. It would be like comparing apples and oranges. Because the 1976 outbreak was identified and contained on a US Army Base (Fort Dix) it was immediately contained, measured and scrutinized. This empowered the CDC to take a much more measured approach to containment and prevention vs. the current strain of H1N1, which was first identified in Mexico.

Reference: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol12no01/pdfs/05-1007.pdf
Reference: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/pdfs/05-0965.pdf

If swine flu is not contracted from live pigs or from eating pork, how did “Case 0” come to be? How was the first person infected with this new strain?

We don't know about a “Case Zero” yet. We are still learning more about the origin of this virus. But it doesn't come from eating pork. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

Reference: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm

What do you think of Egypt’s decision to slaughter all pigs in the country?

This is more of a question for the World Health Organization, which addresses international approaches to the health issues. WHO may the best source for these types or questions, and CDC does not generally comment on the work of outside scientists or other countries. CDC believes in having all available scientific data and carefully deliberating via scientific review process before delivering an opinion. This usually means they can't respond to off-the-cuff inquiries about outside scientific work or public health actions

DIP on Copper Robot this Sunday: Social Good and Virtual Worlds

Rita J. King and I along with our colleague Spencer Zuzolo from 3D Squared (about whom we have blogged recently) will be on Mitch Wagner's talk show "Copper Robot," this Sunday, May 17 in Second Life discussing virtual worlds and social good.

Digital Diplomacy and the Future

Joshua S. Fouts has been tirelessly appearing globally in recent years to promote "digital diplomacy," one of the core areas of focus at Dancing Ink Productions. We congratulate Secretary Clinton for supporting digital diplomacy. Read the White House announcement.

Read our report on Digital Diplomacy.

Press Release--Live Broadcast from the AUC Virtual Newsroom--CDC Brief on Swine Flu

The American University in Cairo's Virtual Newsroom will broadcast live to the internet on Saturday, May 16 at 9 am EST. Anyone in the world with broadband access can participate in a live chatstream while the Center for Disease Control briefs journalists and bloggers on swine flu. Special guests include members of Global Voices.

On Saturday, May 16, 9 am Eastern Time (4 pm Cairo Time), Dancing Ink Productions will produce a live broadcast from the American University in Cairo's Virtual Newsroom. This broadcast will take place as part of the "Blogging the Future" summit at the American University in Cairo, Egypt from May 15-17, 2009. (Download the release here.)

The broadcast will be hosted by Lawrence Pintak, director of the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism, Training and Research at the American University in Cairo. It will be streamed live from the virtual world of Second Life to a global Internet audience. The event will feature two senior executives from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Glenn Nowak, Director of the Division of Media Relations, Office of Enterprise Communication; and Jay M. Bernhardt, Director of the National Center for Health Marketing. Nowak and Bernhardt will brief some of the world's most active and prominent bloggers and digital journalists with a distinguished selection of their Arab colleagues. The international community blog, Global Voices, the leading participatory media news room for voices from the developing world with over 150 volunteer authors and translators, will also participate in the event. Global Voices has been covering worldwide approach to the Swine Flu crisis. You can view those reports here.

The Second Life event is part of a two-day “lessons learned” conference on the AUC campus in Cairo that brings together 14 bloggers from around the world, 15 online journalists from across the Arab region, and a dozen Egyptian bloggers to discuss the role of information on the internet.

Journalists from around the world are invited to take part in this event by registering for the live stream at the Dancing Ink Productions website (Register here.). Participants will be able to view the entire event taking place in Second Life without needing to be in the virtual world, and those in attendance on the website will be able to communicate in live, real-time chat with event participants in Second Life. Registered users can view the live event here. Questions can be posed in the "chatbridge" and event moderators will pose the most compelling queries to the CDC, Global Voices or the AUC Virtual Newsroom.

The Inaugural Broadcast of the American University in Cairo took place on January 12, 2009 and featured then-US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy James K. Glassman in conversation with a group of Egyptian bloggers. This was part of a larger USAID-funded project to help Egyptian bloggers better understand the U.S. political process. The effort is coordinated by the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research at The American University in Cairo, which sent eight bloggers to the U.S. to cover the elections. The AUC Virtual Newsroom was created as a venue where Arab journalists can meet virtually with experts and officials around the world.

This event will begin punctually, so it is advised that participants register ahead of time (registration is extremely simple--just a username) to avoid missing the beginning. Press inquiries can be directed to (info@dancinginkproductions.com) or +1.914.420.0258.

Cultures in Harmony

DIP recently participated in a fascinating cultural diplomacy conference hosted by the Gilman Foundation at White Oak Plantation. The purpose was to discuss the creation of a Resource Center for Cultural Engagement. We met with many policymakers, luminaries, artists, creatives, and fellow cultural entrepreneurs throughout the three-day retreat. While we haven't yet had time to blog about our reflections, our new friend William Harvey, who runs the non-profit Cultures In Harmony has. Here are some excerpts from his thorough blogpost:

Christopher Mackie, an Associate Program Officer for Research in Information Technology at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, spoke of the extraordinary audience for RIT software, which has 10 to 30 million users and which is available on all seven continents and in outer space. He outlined the challenge facing the conference by giving the example of a website designed to attack the cultural portal of the New Zealand government. The attack site has fifty times as much traffic as the cultural portal.

and

Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution, gave a fascinating presentation. The Smithsonian has always studied cultural engagement, and enjoys a unique ability to engage huge numbers of people. The Folklife Festival draws one to two million people to the National Mall and celebrates various cultures from around the world. The museum has 137 million items in their collection, draws 25 million visitors annually, has 6,000 staff members, and enjoys a website audience that will grow to three billion annually in ten years.

Recently, the Smithsonian was forced into the culturally sensitive yet oddly humorous choice of whether to bring the Dalai Lama to the National Mall or a giant panda to the National Zoo. Since the Dalai Lama promised not to declare independence for Tibet, the Smithsonian was able to bring him to the Mall, and the zoo got their panda without irritating the Chinese government too much.

When they highlighted the Muslims of central Asia through a project featuring Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road ensemble, they juxtaposed enormous replicas of the domes of Samarkand with the Capitol Dome, to highlight the architectural connection between cultures. Mr. Kurin then shared the anecdote that drew the biggest laughter of the conference: when Malian builders were asked how they managed to build a traditional gate on the National Mall in the rain, they responded mournfully: "We come from the Sahara desert. We know a hundred prayers to make it rain. We don’t know any to make it stop."

A festival about Northern Ireland was instrumental in proving to people back in Ireland that cooperation and peace were possible. An event that brought together Bhutanese astronomers with NASA astrophysicists proved incredibly meaningful for all concerned.

Rita King, CEO and Executive Director of Dancing Ink Productions, gave a mind-blowing presentation about the relationship between the virtual networking platform, Second Life, and cultural diplomacy. A group of architects has painstakingly worked to re-create ancient Mesopotamia on Second Life, and a young Muslim woman built a mosque there. This excellent film offers a glimpse of the ability of Second Life to improve our understanding of Islam. After her presentation, I concluded that Cultures in Harmony should build and maintain an office in Second Life.

Thanks William!

Interview with Iran's PressTV

Rita J. King and I are featured guests on The Autograph, a program on Iran's PressTV, hosted by Susan Modaress. We discuss the potential of virtual worlds for cultural dialog, better communication between the West and Islamic communities worldwide, public diplomacy, digital diplomacy, our recent project on Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds and more.

The Million Flower Garden

Jerry Paffendorf, augmenting his coastal reality.

By Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts

For the past few months we've been watching Jerry Paffendorf transform, level-up, evolve. For those who don't know Jerry; he co-founded Wello and was the former Resident Futurist at the Electric Sheep Company. Jerry's outlook on the 21st century is heavily inspired by acceleration thinkers like Ray Kurzweil and John Smart. Jerry's latest venture, the Million Flower Garden, is totally DY.NO.MITE! Details are still in flux as the project, which centers on Detroit, takes shape. But Jerry is starting to give glimpses.

Jerry just started a newer blog, "7 Billion Friends." (Ed. Note: Annie Ok tipped us off to an earlier, equally fun iteration of this blog here.) His first post discusses the nuances of "tri-coastalism". According to Jerry:

It is my opinion, based on research and feeling, that in the next couple of decades the world will become so wired up, inter-connected, transparent, on-demand, paved over with virtuality, and malleable to our collective desires that it won’t resemble the world of the past or present very much at all. I reserve the right to change this opinion, but I also reserve the right to operate upon it today.

If I were forced at gunpoint to write a six-word autobiography it would go:

Grandfather: Farmer. Father: Soldier. Me: Futurist.

Jerry Paffendorff at a MetaverseMeetup DIP attended in NYC organized by Annie Ok, (click here for her latest, an augmented reality Star Trek app.)

DIP caught up with Jerry moments after he posted about tri-coastalism. (Frankly, we can't believe we beat Tish Shute to it!)

Jerry explained that he sees himself as an artist/futurist/entrepreneur/swell guy, which is exactly how we see him. As an artist, he's "interested in meaningful objects not coupled with utility." As an entrepreneur, he found himself attracted to the global network, "trying to be a creative person," working on various startups that mix art with utility and profit.

"Now I'm trying to put those things together in a way that is meaningful to me," Jerry said. "I like things that are part Disney and part Google. That sometimes gets lost when I say it, because people think I mean Disney the way it is now, but that's not what I mean. I mean the story, the characters and fantasy worlds to mix with a faster, more efficient way of doing things. Mixing things that have utility with things that have meaning."

Stay tuned as the Million Flower Garden unfolds. DIP also has strong ties to Detroit, a city in the midst of a radical transformation, and we're curious to see where this takes Jerry, and us, and y'all.

Second Life and "Lousy Journalism"

Information Week Executive Editor, Mitch Wagner has a solid new post up about how lazy journalism reporting around Second Life has led to unfounded predictions of Second Life's demise. The article, "Rumors Of Second Life's Failure Are Just Lousy Journalism." Mitch addresses how a recent article describes Second Life's failure using faulty data:

While it's true that Second Life has lost its glamor as a hip marketing destination, many real-world companies still do business in Second Life. Two examples: Dell and IBM. While the article cites them as examples of Second Life failures, in fact they're successful. Dell and IBM are still active in Second Life, as are Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Nokia, Cornell University (hosts of Metanomics), and the U.S. Armed Forces, to name just a few examples.

Rita J. King wrote about a similar issue last November when Reuters pulled out of Second Life. Mitch's excellent article is one example why DIP has been so focused on exploring the ROI of virtual worlds. Our two latest projects, on Virtual Journalism and Digital Diplomacy are but the beginning.

Wildly Creative Book Art Photography

If you need a reason to feel happy just to be alive, we suggest out these fantastic pieces of art by Thomas Allen made from aging paperbacks. (thanks, @mactonnies).

New Digital Workforce column on Policy Innovations

Rita J. King has a new column up today on Policy Innovations, the web magazine of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. It's called, "Digital Workforce Initiative Transforms Gulf Coast Job Prospects." It discusses the importance of the work of 3D Squared and their work to create new models for education, 21st century jobs skills and cultural preservation using Metaplace. We encourage you to check it out. From the article:

This approach could be revolutionary for Louisiana because the number one reason students drop out is lack of engagement with the educational system—they simply aren't interested. They are definitely interested in games, and are motivated to learn when lessons are framed in relation to games. In learning how to collaborate on the creation of games, students are being prepared for related collaborative opportunities, such as participation in the state's increasingly robust mixed media and film production industry and the creation of simulated virtual training environments.

In learning how to design games, kids are also learning the most important skills to compete across sectors in the 21st century. Creative collaboration and fluency within the digital culture are modern necessities. Most importantly, people can work within these fields from their own communities without feeling the necessity to leave and find work in cramped urban centers.

As we mentioned earlier, the project is up for renewed funding but support is not guaranted. Please contact the Louisiana legislators we have listed here and ask them to support Louisiana's Digital Workforce Initiative at LITE.

Carnegie Council Needs You

The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs needs your support. Rita J. King and I are Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council and partnered with them on the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project, which was funded by a grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.

We know firsthand how seriously they take their mission on Ethics, War, and Peace; Global Social Justice; and Religion in Politics. Having collaborated with them now for a year we can vouch for the authenticity and importance of their mission.

We encourage you to support their important work.

Now That You've Noticed: Episode Six

Last night DIP friend Jim Brazell sent us a poem he wrote called, "The Universe: A Poem" based on a conversation with Dr. Francis X. "Duke" Kane, Military Father of the GPS and President of the Schriever Institute. According to Brazell's latest newsletter (which you can subscribe to here.):

Duke proclaims that our energy and education solutions are possible in the realm of "metaphysics" and the "structure of reality" if we make the arts part of our design for the future in the world of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Information Technology (IT). Join me for breakfast and discussion with Duke Kane about President Obama's announcement of investments (3% of GDP) in science, R&D, education, innovation and the "speed of light generation."

Rita J. King has adapted that poem into the latest installment of "Now That You've Noticed."

Game Company Looking for a CTO

If you've shipped a game for PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and or XBox 360 and you're looking for a position as the CTO of a great game company, Replay Games, with a staff well worth moving to Austin for, please leave a comment below with more information on how you can be reached. President and CEO Paul Trowe has left a comment below--feel free to respond.

Ed. Note: Paul Trowe from Replay Games emails with this addendum:

Please email me if you're interested in speaking with us: paul@replaygamesinc.com

Our requirements are merely that you've shipped a game on one of those platforms before and have been in the industry long enough to know what you're talking about, basically.