Digital Guqin Museum Project Logbook 2007-2008, BD Haiku created this volume, master book binder he wants to be... this is his first book! I love it! I want to read all about this silly Swannjie cold turkeying her way in sl...
Mobile Music Digital Guqin Museum in front of an American Classic MansionI met Wildo yesterday, a charming rl musician long time resident at Penglai island; guest of WangXiang. She does electroacoustic music. She said, there are no avatars, everyone is a real person. Well said!
This is so true.
When I first came into sl, a real life author held a contest for a cover photo of his soon to be published book. He offered linden dollar rate - like 10us. Dont know how many people responded. But from his blog, I see quite a few sniffed and rightly refused to participate in such a proposition.
The author up the prize after I explained why its should be so. This issue comes up over and over again.
How can anyone taking the stance that sl is real life - for a real publication; in real events; when no such reality of recognition is given? Its too convenient to pretend that its sl but a real book in real life! Symbolically the gesture is not made, or not made sufficiently to be convincing.
I was proposed to do a Chinese music event organised by a group of highschool teachers from Portugal, not for teaching purpose but for themselves - for fun - on Owls Bay island. They are just playing among themselves, no budget. But they took it seriously and paid me - a small amount but this amount made me very happy. Because it means they took it seriously. And they came in beautiful Chinese clothes - they wanted to touch the instrument, they asked questions. They listened to the music, they invite me to their events. Want to be photographed. This is a true experience. Something valuable to me. This adorable group played their sl existance, invested their emotional joy into the sl event. How can sl experience be exported to real life?
There are certain conditions, and these conditions apply way back in the history of mankind, before Linden Lab made Secondlife. It is the recognition of the presence of the other and the exchange they made with you.
First, recognition through exchange of goods - and in sl, either through real payment in linden or real life currency; Second : participation with real emotions by the people involved(avatars) - without this part, the exchange of goods could take on some symbolic function if the amount is sufficiently important, and not some "goods depleted of symbolic value".
People (even though they have an avatar)are paid to set up Princeton university campus etc, IBM head quarter etc. A real job with a real contract.
For our Digital Guqin Museum events, I would like to see more people - avatars are real people, not some chatbot - enjoy the music using the sl platform in the way that sl provides.
Digital Guqin Museum, and Guqin music is made for people who are capable of imagination and feeling, and has human intelligence to recognize others as real people. They should have, or have the desire to develop, functioning ordinary human "captors".
I met an old friend we talked about an ex-classmate - all I remember of him is how rude he was, turned out that; surprise surprise, he has a bordering Asperger syndrome! Suddenly I see him in a different light, he tries very hard to learn from his children who are helping him. He learns Chinese (as an adult wasp) by pasting words all over the house... such efforts made me see him differently. I have a new vision of him. He has the desire to go beyond his condition.
We are all swimming in the same pool, everyone trying to go beyond our condition. Including me! What is DGM if not trying to make a time and space that has some pleasure and meaning for myself?
Enjoyment from sl will only be realised through these two channels, concrete recognition of the other in sl/rl, either through the exchange of goods; or investment of emotional feelings. This investment is visible from the detail and care in the realisation of the SIM and the quality of the human exchange.
As Paul Bowles says in Sheltering Sky, How often in your real life time, do you remember a certain sunday afternoon, a pleasant moment in time? At most 3 or 4 times. And if our memory is all we have, the memory from sl is just as precious as in rl because sl is real life.
There are only real people, there exist no avatar.
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Now, we must move on to the real life Digital Guqin Museum Project that will be housed first in Secondlife, and in various real life locations.
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