Since I used to live in Cleveland and now live in Philadelphia (well actually on the NJ side), it is only appropriate that these stories come from these two great “classic” cities.
Last Saturday, there was the first orchestra performance in Second Life. The Red {an Orchestra} from Cleveland performed in Second Life. The performance was supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, OneCommunity, the New Media Consortium, Leonard Steinbach Cultural Technology Strategies, MediaAffect.com, JaredJared.com and the musicians of Red {an orchestra}. It was watched from an “amphitheater” at Case Western Reserve University or Machima Studio in Learning on the NMC Campus, each with 50 seating capacity of avatar. The goal of the performance was to introduce classic music to the emerging generation who may have not seen “real” orchestra performance.
And, Philadelphia Orchestra started its own podcast. Surely it may not be as interesting as the performance in Second Life, but this type of innovations by cultural establishments should be encouraged and supported. Technological innovations like blog, flickr, and YouTube have enabled the production of various creative works by average Joe and Jane. A critical question is how the cultural elite institutions who used to dominate the means to produce such creative works in the past respond to this radical change.
Youngjin,
This weekend I visited an art exhibit in northern Virgina. Among the various exhibits was one that got my attention. It was a darkened room with a computer and a large screen. On the screen was another art exhibit, mirroring the one I was in, but on second life.
Your post makes me wonder how much the second life experience should resemble the first one. Yes, holding a concert or an art exhibit there is interesting. But I am not sure if this is the best use of the new landscape. Maybe it should be a wild and crazy kind of “different” place rather than a poor copy of the real world.
Hi Samer,
Time to time, I am pleasantly surprised by the visits by my academic colleagues. And, I agree with you that these are not necessarily the best way to use SL and I am hoping to see examples of wide and crazy places as you mentioned. Yet, we will never get there, unless we try with a poor copy of the real world. We will get better. Do you want to propose a panel at ICIS through Second Life, albeit it might be a poor representation of the real ICIS?