FASTLANE Ferrari: Time is the Ignition;

FASTLANE Ferrari: Time is the Ignition; Family if the Fuel; Freedom is the Journey; Wealth is the Highway (FastlanePhil)

A New Direction and Passion: Fastlane Philosophy

I’m back and rejuvenated after a hiatus of over a year.  Peace on earth and good will and prosperity to all for the 2011-2012 holiday season all over the world.

The past week I have been reading, pondering and acting upon MJ DeMarco’s advice in The Millionaire Fastlane.

My inspiration for today and “guidepost” for life: make time your friend and choose wisely how you “invest” your time to:

• Sharpen your skills
• Build your business
• Nurture your entrepreneurial spirit
• Widen your circle of “family”
• Enhance your health
• Achieve the freedom you deserve!

The Ozzie Paule Chronicles: Adventures In Second Life

BACK TO THE FUTURE TO RECONNECT WITH THE MYSTIC

Once a smiling Ozzie Paule rezzed into a Second Life
Onto a remote spot of the ImagiLearning islands
And he gazed as he walked around this place of tranquility
Who’ll help me connect with the island residents here?

Oh Second Life, oh Second Life, what a place to be
I need to explore and create in this immersive new world
Where there’s a will there’s a way so anything is possible
Let’s think how I can connect with the island residents here

So he stopped in his tracks and gazed into the ocean blue
And recalled a story from long ago about the ImagiLearning master
A mystic avatar by the name of Virtual Bacon, or VB for short
Will VB help me connect with the island residents here?

Oh Second Life, oh Second Life, what a place to be
How can I live and explore in this immersive new world?
Where there’s a will there’s a way so anything is possible
Recall the tools to connect with the island residents here

So he launched inworld communications and pondered what to write
But how could he easily reach out to the mystic named VB?
Luckily he’d befriended VB during the inaugural virtual learning experience
And there he was on the list of friends-currently inworld and online
Will VB remember me, one of the noobs from eons past?

So he highlighted VB’s name, clicked IM and began to tap away
Hi VB, it’s Ozzie, the guy with the quaint lilting accent and the funny green hat
Do you remember the time when you corralled a flock of wayward Aussie emus?
I’m back inworld for more adventure and would really appreciate your help
I’d like to reconnect with old friends from the ImagiLearning community

Within seconds VB responded: G’day Ozzie, great to hear you’re back with us
Lots has changed at ImagiLearning island since you last visited this magical world
However, your community friends still ask about you and raise a glass of cheer
To the Aussie from Down Under who brought his unique sense of humor
And a willingness to explore and collaborate to expand our sensory perception

Any chance of a teleport?, I typed as I pondered the exciting developments
Sure thing, responded VB, and up popped the familiar blue box to TP me
One click and I was gone in a whirl of expectation for time travel par excellence
To rez again in a swirling cloud at a place where I had not been before
Second Life lag I thought, as I began to reappear in familiar form and stance

I could hear VB speaking before I could see him as the scene rezzed slowly before my eyes
One of those days in Second Life, said VB, but great you’ve returned for more adventures
We have much to discuss my friend and to get you up to speed on exciting developments
Thanks for the warm welcome, I remarked as I took a deep breath to recollect my thoughts
And to recall prior experiences with old friends in planning, creating and testing projects

FCVW Conference 2010: Quotable Quotes

I attended the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds (FCVW) Conference 2010 held at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington DC on May 13-14, 2010.

This was an amazing event: mind-opening, insightful and energizing.  It was a privilege to interact with an eclectic group of virtual world experts, innovators and collaborators from US government agencies and companies from all over the Unites States and beyond.

I thought it would be worthwhile to pen some quotable quotes (to the best of my memory and with some “wordsmith” license) from a number of conference presenters:

Dr. Ted Castranova

“The main problems that vex society today are primarily social involving networks of people.”

“Natural problems like finding oil under the ocean can be easily solved.”

Ann Latham Cudworth

“Interactivity equals data selection.”

“Listen to and be one with the spirit of the data.”

“An artistic approach helps you engage with the data.”

Clark Aldrich

“Use simulation to tap the emotions of presence in virtual worlds.”

“Effective simulations need contextual activity that mimics the workplace.”

Dr. Tony O’Driscoll

“Knowledge management is an oxymoron.  Knowledge can only be enabled.”

“Content is king.  Context is the kingdom.”

Twitter Usage in America: 2010

Tom Webster, Vice President, Strategy and Marketing at Edison Research presents findings from the study, Twitter Usage In America: 2010 in a webinar.   For a quick overview summary with a number of diagrams, visit the write-up at MarketingProfs.  The webinar recording is located on Vimeo.

The findings were derived from a nationally representative telephone survey (via landline and mobile phone) of 1,753 Americans age 12+ conducted by Edison Research and Arbitron in February 2010.

Every Day by Alissa Moreno: Second Life Video by Pooky Media

I just located this fabulous example of Second Life machinima produced by Pooky Media.

Pooky has once again excelled in producing a music video in Second Life starring Alissa Moreno performing her Grammy nominated song Every Day.  Apparently this is the first machinima music video by a Grammy nominted artist performing as herself in a virtual world.

Way to go Pooky!  Your talents and insights never cease to amaze!

The Magic (and Brilliance) of Particles in Second Life

On Saturday, April 17 our ImagiLearning group was treated to an amazing array or sights and sounds as Jopsy Pendragon demonstrated his artistic and scripting skills.  Jopsy is the developer of the particle  tool called The Porgan that allows residents in Second Life to quickly create an endless array of particles that are special visual effects for the virtual world.

The beauty of The Porgan is that you do not need to know Linden Scripting Language (LSL).  Rather, The Porgan produces formatted LSL script to a website where you can copy the code to then create variations on the script when working in-world.

Some of Jopsy’s work is captured on Flickr and in this short video.

My basic understanding of LSL scripting is definitely growing as I start to understand the nuances and power of the code.  It’s always fun to experiment as I continue my quest to transform the way I think and create opportunities for immersive learning experiences.  I’m sure I’ll have more to report about my experiences with The Porgan and using LSL for specific projects in the near future (such as creating customized teleporters to instantly transport an avatar from one Second Life location to another).

HR-IT Imperative: Complimentary Webinar

HR-IT Imperative: What Every HR Professional Needs to Know About Using IT to Deliver HR Success

When: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

Registration: Website

Many organizations today are trying to make more effective use of Information Technology (IT) in order to deliver on their mission, reduce costs, improve quality, and save time.  Internal HR systems all have the potential to provide major leaps forward.  Unfortunately, many organizations spend countless hours and dollars building IT systems, yet they never achieve the expected results once the systems are live.  The problem is often not the technology itself, but rather the way the technology is used.  Most organizations ignore the critical element of user adoption and they often do not take the critical steps necessary to ensure their systems are used in a manner that delivers maximum benefits.

KEY BENEFITS
• Learn to differentiate between deploying technology vs. using technology to create value and deliver success.
• Develop a context for differentiating technology, process, and “people” issues using a framework for how you can take action to ensure IT success
• Identify the critical role HR professionals must play in driving effective user adoption in order to achieve their goals and deliver on their mission
• Share the 2 key questions for driving full user adoption of your IT system

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
• HR leadership & executives
• HR professionals implementing IT systems within their department
• HR professionals assisting other departments in major IT system implementations (like CRM, ERP, or other enterprise-wide technology)
• Professionals involved in the planning, managing and execution of IT implementation projects

FEATURED PRESENTERS
Jason C. Whitehead, President of Tri Tuns, LLC, specializes in driving organizational change and increasing user adoption of IT systems.  Check out Jason’s blog.

And your truly, The Aussie Guy (Philip J. Power, Chief Strategist of Knowledge-Boost LLC).  Check out my VisualCV and my LinkedIn Profile.

Collaborative Text File Editing in Real Time: notapipe

Let’s imagine you are writing a script (code) in Linden Language to animate your Second Life avatar and want to brainstorm the syntax in real time with one of your colleagues.  Well, wait no longer as notapipe is now available.

This is a  web service that allows you to edit text files in a realtime collaborative environment, from everywhere.  A free account will allow up to three users per document and then you can always upgrade to a Basic account at $9.90 per account that will allow six maximum users per document.

The service has some neat features:
1. A unique website address where you can store your documents and other collaborators can access your content.
2. Importing a text file into the current document so you don’t have to start from scratch.
3. A separate window for real-time chat while you are editing.
4. Color code indicator for the work of each editor.
5. Ability to create and then immediately name and retrieve revisions (versions) of the document.
6. Ability to tag a version of a document then generate a unique public website address for that version where others can view its contents.

Give it a test run and I’ll be interested in your feedback.  Happy editing!

Versatile web service: drop.io

Recently a friend alerted me to drop.io, an excellent web services that allows you to instantaneously (in two clicks) create a “drop” (site) for real-time file sharing and download to multiple devices, collaboration in real time, and presentations.

In my opinion, this is an improvement over Google Docs as each “drop” has an associated (and unique) email address, voicemail box and conference call number.  The site allows 100MB of space for free before you need to sign-up for a premium account.  A free account is a great way to share and collaborate without the expense of a commercial-grade web conferencing service.  The “freemium” business model is definitely working wonders!

To date, I’ve used a “drop” to upload a variety of files instead of sending them as email attachments to colleagues and friend.   I’ll investigate other uses for this service as time progresses so on with the experimentation.