I've been getting into my research into second life during my recent times at DPI. I first saw a presentation about second life back in the beginning of 2006, when someone from Linden Labs came to NYU.  I was pretty amazed by it then, but have never spent time there until now, mainly because of my natural disinclination to spend (even) more time looking at screens, and also because I find that 3D aesthetic to be tough going.

But I've been in there, hanging out, dancing, chatting, staring around stupidly and flying for no reason - the things that a newbie does in SL, I guess. As I guessed, there seem to be very few non-humanoid avatars. In fact, it's more like going to a halloween party in LA.  Many people look like they've had cosmetic surgery, and most have some kind of 'sexy' costume.  This is probably good for my portrait project, because it's going to be easier for a stylist to convincingly dress someone up as a gothic vampire than a blue frog, or whatever. 

My avatar is a fox.  Simply because this was the sole non-human option on offer on arrival in SL. Screw it - I'm already human in RL.

Anyway, so far I've been to a dance club, a British theme pub, a New Moon Ritual, a new age church and a rather serious artists discussion group.  I've been very interested to observe my own familiar reactions to group social situations, even though I'm not even in the room... 

Hi all, this is Ed checking in. My allocated months at DPI will be this Spring, and I've been gestating my original proposal and watching it evolve.

My original idea was to research online performance of self, and move towards an interactive video installation that somehow merged our physical bodies with online avatars.  I am also interested in the real-life re-performance of online interactions.
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