A few of us seem to have accidentaly moved into an arena where we have made a name for ourselves, connected with all sorts of other people, worked the web and web2.0, delivered and shared ideas, led the way despite never being asked to. That has led to some personal branding and in the case of eightbar some group branding.
It is a tricky area for many people to come to terms with, when the have only up to now kept a local “office” reputation. People understand that, there is an order of things to that. It may be a regimented promotion and exposure process. Now of course we have suddenly been landed with the ability to share and work anywhere. The early adopters in all this typically being the ones who have not always felt comfortable with traditional structures.
So we find ourselves in a cultural place, some of the world values our reputations, much of it does not but would really like to have one, an equally large percentage has no idea its happening.
Jeremiah Owyang (of Forrester) started a thread over on his blog that I recommend you all dive in on if you have particular feelings about your personal brand, how it impacts your future career, how you protect it, how you value it and choose to use it for the good of your company.
Category Archives: Second Life
IBM Academy of Technology meets in a virtual world
Irving has a very good write up over at his blog about extremely important and highly influential gathering of veyr senior and influential IBMers that occured on our behind the firewall Second Life servers.
“The early feedback indicates that about 75% of the participants thought that the event was successful, not a bad number when you consider that the whole virtual Academy meeting was put together in the short four weeks from the time the physical meeting was canceled.”
Eightbar, an emotional hello
We had a bit of a gathering today on my Hursley island in Second Life. Since mid 2006 I have been providing us as eightbar with a bit of a haven. A place for IBMers and now some exIBMers and guests to call home in the crazy world that is Second Life. As this has always been an unofficial space, just as this is an unofficial blog the island(s) have existed out of a need for community but not in anyway paid for by the community. I viewed it as a duty upon myself to grow the community and provide the islands. I thought we had reached a point where we no longer needed them, and that maybe it was time to free up the hundreds of pounds a month that had been such an important investment.
So, a core bunch gathered to hear me tell the story of Hursley, some of the oldest eightbars and some of the newest. I should not have been suprised, but I was moved, by the waves of support from the gathering and agreeing that we all still wanted this place of history and future to exist. It is something that any of the masses of eightbars woudl have been proud to have been at.
I am not sure we worked out exactly how to pay for this all, but we have so many people that its really a no brainer to cover the costs of 2 islands. There was certainly a willingness and some fabulous donations to get that going.
So why has Hursley and IQ remained so long as our personal island? Well because it was the right thing to do, and now by mass concensus and action, sharing the message with our fellow eightbars it still is the right thing.
Its not a server, its a place, and its our place. We started our tribe in that space and the tribe has even more heart than ever and is quite a force to be reckoned with.
Go eightbar and thank you all who atteneded, who wanted to attend and who will hear the message for the support! 🙂
TED talk with Philip Rosedale
The TED talks are a great series of talks and here we Have Philip Rosedale creator of Second Life talking. I suspect this will generate some interest as TED reaches places and provides credibility for a large number of subjects.
I like the reminder that visual memory is stronger than textual. One of the main elements that seem to catch people by suprise when I refer to “meetings” and people refering to “whex you were sat opposite in hursley house and you said….”. For the metarati this is less essential watching other than maybe for validation, however for those still wavering, who knows a TED talk may just swing it. So spread the word.
Props to Annieok for twittering it 🙂
Virtual Worlds and London 2012 Olympics
After all the intial work at Wimbledon on sports events in virtual worlds I was often asked about the London 2012 Olympics and what it migh mean for them. I wrote a document with some ideas, almost a little dated now but it was November 2006.
After a recent event explaining all things metaverse I was prompted by a note (thankyou J) asking about the implications and potential for 2012 to try and get some more traction on this.
There are lots of people in companies on loan to 2012, but there is also still a good few years to go development wise. So, to capture our thoughts as a community I just set up a PBWiki.
It is here https://virtualworldolympics2012.pbwiki.com/ as an extended open to anyone eightbar project. If you want to come and share some ideas about how we can get people to represent sports events in a richer way, and if it does not cuase you any commercial conflicts and you want to do the right thing, then please come and join in. We have 4 years 😉
So, virtual world, mirror world, augmented reality, gaming, social media, crowd content creation, 3d printing etc, all up for discussing. (yes this really should have been a superstruct type project, but lets try and grab some people into this who dont normally do social media too ;))
* also if I could figure out how the london 2012 website let me blend with it, trackback, or hook in anyway I would !
AM Radio does it again in Second Life
AM Radio is a fantastic artist and designer and fellow eightbar in Second Life. I was sitting with twitter zooming past and Malburns twittered Hamlet’s article on New World Notes saying AM Radio had a new build, so I popped along and was once again amazed at the intricate detail that AM puts into things. Astra Thorne was there, so the beauty of the immersion of Second Life and having a common friend in AM we got talking. Astra mentioned some of the delightful details and mid west references on this project. The hood ornament in green is just brilliant.
So once again, I popped into a place, based on a feed recommendation from a friend and made a new aquaintance, another person who feels the same way I do. The serendipty engine was in full flow. It cannot be ignored, the number of times these connection happen, in this case midnight for me whilst tidying up some late night work items.
Inspired by the social entrepreneurs – 3d Printing for the world
I have just spent 2 days fully immersed in the chain reaction event in London. At this very vibrant event I was expecting to spend most of my time explaining to people how we use the web and virtual worlds to communicate, to get things done, to power change in business. I certainly did get to do that, but I also got to meet and talk with a whole host of people from very varied backgrounds who had fantastic stories and goals.
Many of the people at the event were social entrepreneurs. People who work for change in the commnuity and an better world, not merely profit. In fact seldom for profit.
There was of course a balance as there were some very important business leaders at the event and the prime minister at one point. They spoke of generating wealth, of running successful businesses but then setting up foundations and mentoring schemes. There were also a large set of the attendees(contributors) who were of a much younger demographic. Young people who were willing to hear about how they can make a difference, or more often those that already were just getting on with it.
One of the huge messages, and the biggest take aways from this was that you do not have to wait to get started doing anything. As Dr Victoria Hale (founder of One World Health the not for profit pharmacutical company) said, just when is it that you will have enough money, resources, people or power to do what you feel you need to do to change the world for the better? You just have to start.
There was a meta layer to the event in talking with production team called in to help with the social media reporting. All very experienced web 2.0 people. So we all had a lot in common and had some breakout sessions on where this is all going, and what the best way to produce events, gather whats happening and distribute it.
Finally the chain reaction is about the links people have made sparking ongoing work. The third sector (a very strange name but its a tribal label) is there to make a difference to the world. I wrote a commitment to be placed on the wall, one of many that were added that I want to get the technology of 3d printing, local manufacture to be distributed and practical around the world. Being able to manufacture designs from 3d data held elswhere in the world could allow local communites to manufacture the things they need from simpler raw materials. Imagine being able to fix a broken water pump, or create new water carrying vessels without the need to have products shipped to remote, deprived areas. Think one laptop per child, people finding the parts they need online or co-desiging them in a virtual world with remote engineering experts and add local 3d printing manufacturing abilities, making the virtual designs real to fix any problem. Now that can change the world, and I can help make that happen.
Chain Reaction – Changing the world tomorrow
It’s time to go and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs at a 2 day event in London called Chain Reaction. “Chain Reaction is a unique and challenging project based on a very simple idea – that none of us on our own can change the world, not governments, not businesses, not charities. We succeed when we work together”. Sounds familiar doesnt it 🙂 Tribes? Smart Planet? Eightbar? well thats why I am heading along to share my experience and learn from others too.
Well a whole host of industry leaders will be offering their time and their insight to the audience of 1,000+ people, mostly under 30 years of age apparently.
Our UK Chief Exec Brendan Riley is in a session on the monday. Also Andy Dean ( a fellow eightbar from Hursley and I) will be in attendence for the full event, probably running the odd workshop here and there, mingling and helping people realize their full potential.
For me to be able to either talk about life online, the rise of metaverses or the story of eightbar and Godin’s tribes approach should keep me failry sparked and busy for the event. If I can persuade even just one person to just start doing, dont wait, dont overplan, start. Then it will be a success.
The main speakers are really awesomely impressive, including the great Richard Branson
So if you are going to be there, come and say hi.
Chainreaction in on twitter and spread over the web as you might expect and I am sure many of us will be live twittering, webcasting etc as its that kind of event.
From Little Big Planet to a Smart Planet
As you know we don’t usually do press releases or “official” stuff here on eightbar, but the very recent words from Sam Palmisano around the drive for a Smart Planet do fit in rather well with what we have been doing over the past years.
Firstly Smart Planet is not directly named after our very own Rob Smart, but just as Second Life surnames act to aid serendipity we should not ignore that link.
Secondly, this is not really related to Little Big Planet as such, but there are parallels that can be drawn.
However the main drive behind the Smart Planet is around these three themes.
First, our world is becoming instrumented
I often talk about things being instrumented, but this fits in with the approach we took to Wimbledon in SL(first blogged in 2006), an instrumented world re-envisioned and experienced. It fits with Andy SC and DCJ’s work with sensors, actuators, current cost meters etc. It was the core of my business process management pitch at VW London. If we have the data, openspimes, facts, figures, messages then we can do a whole lot with it.
Second, our world is becoming interconnected
Well…. if you are reading this blog you know this is the case. This is not just about the data but about the people. Web2.0 and virtual worlds have connected us all in incredible ways, formed new tribes of interest, brought eightbar into existence. Being able to create and share across company and cultural boundaries, breaking geography, all fit into this from what I can see. This is where Little Big Planet fits too, even Sony dipping their toe into the great creative power of user created content.
Third, all things are becoming intelligent
This is the extra leap, but we can apply compute power to vast amounts of data as a service. We can also apply human power, the wisdom of crowds. Things are not isolated units of processing. We can gather insight and points to innovate on with more simulations and visualizations at a global level.
So bring on augmented reality, transparent sharing across interested groups, remote rich interaction between people and information at distance and new ways to determine what is happening in the real world.
So to finally quote Sam Palmisano “But I think one thing is clear: The world will continue to become smaller, flatter… and smarter. We are moving into the age of the globally integrated and intelligent economy, society and planet. The question is, what will we do with that?”
Tell me that does not fit in with all the drivers of virtual worlds that we and our fellow tribe members inside and outside of eightbar have been pushing?
Eightbar a tribe Seth Godin would recognize
I have been completely blown away by listening to the audiobook version of Seth Godin’s new Tribes book. (Thanks to @ids for shining the light on this one for me)
Why? Well Seth articulates not what we should have done as our Eightbar tribe, but what we actually did. Every line had me nodding in agreement. He has saved me the bother to write the story of eightbar and how our particular tribe formed in and around virtual worlds as he has documented what has happened and can happen when anyone, anywhere steps up to lead people with something they believe in.
It may occasionally come across as a bit of a self help book, slightly American in its apparent dream, but as one of the many heretics he refers to who has used many of the channels, techniques and ideas to get things done and to help form a tribe it is completely true.
Seth talks about overcoming the fear that very often holds back people when they consider any form of change. Whilst written pre-credit crisis he referes to a previous crash, when half the people in particular real estate conference we full of doom and gloom and the other half, the mavericks, entrepreneurs and heretics saw the opporunity to rise form the ashes and make something happen.
He also points out (as I do) that there is nothing stopping anyone sharing their idea, creating their tribe, starting there movement right now, this instant. The gathering of people around a cause can happen at the push of a button on a blog post, NOT after you have been through some validation process by a mythical board of good ideas giving you the thumbs up.
I had to enter quite a self reflective mood when the book discusses the role of a leader, trying to keep the ego and self interest in check and doing things for the right reason. He suggests people lead not have statues made of them, but to do things that are worthy of a statue. A subtle difference. People who set out to rule, for self gain are sniffed out quickly by human intuition. Being able to use notoriety and public awareness for the good of the whole tribe is important. Not seeking fame but knowing how to use it. (That all sounds quite pompous but it is something that many of us feel I think).
The book also talks about the death of the factory, of old corporate structures based purely on time served and geography. Anyone who has heard me speak knows thats a pet subject for me. Not to destroy the corporate structure but to improve it, though that requires some bypassing.
It is the techniques many of us instinctively use that Seth refers to in the book, using the analogy of faith and religion. Not for any discussion of god per se. Faith is the belief in something, anything, an idea, a direction, a product, a group of people. Religion is often the rules and rituals that re-enforce that faith. He refers then to corporate religion, this is the way it has always been done, here is a process to follow and how that can then get in the way. Herectics have faith, they may appear to follow the rules, but in reality they are working for something to replace those rules with a better approach, and not leave things netrenched in “well its always worked that way”.
In some ways he is letting the cat out of the bag, but to keep the animal analogy he refers to many people in life who turn up for a paycheck and fear any change. He calls those people Sheepwalkers. Its a brilliant term and one that is now in my lexicon. It is not wrong to be a sheepwalker, but that is not fulfulling any human potential. He constantly throws in the question “how was your day?”. Aiming to help people understand that driving and leading change, working for a cause you believe in for a tribe of people that care about one another is way more rewarding than anything else.
Seth Godin is a marketeer, he is trying to help those in marketing understand that massive ads, swamping people with “messages” is not longer going to work. People choosing to follow something or someone, gathering together across the web, twitter, virtual worlds etc means is far more powerful and profitable than the “old way” in the long run. He makes an important point that if you are expecting the next thing to be better than the current thing on a 1:1 comparison then you will be missing the point. The next thing will evolve to be far better, the comparisons will not be valid and if you wait for the perfection of the next thing you will be too late.
This reminded me of the example of the visits to Second Life Wimbledon in 2007. When measured on web scale the visits were tiny, 200 people a day. as opposed to the millions to the website. Yet all those people were engaged with and talked to, bonds were formed. It exceeded the 50 people a day who visited as customers at the real venue, each of those is engaged with and talked to. Comparing, or demanding the right measurements and facts in place before doing anything does not work. I guess thats where faith comes in, an utter deep belief this is the right way forward.
So eightbar is a 6,000 person tribe made up of IBMers who are able to communicate and connect with one another. It has a feel, it has a reason to exist to explore to push the boundaries. It has also formed several different spin off tribes. The virtual universe community, with its charter, its guild leaders inside IBM, and it has caused the formation of the Emerging Business Unit for virtual worlds and digital convergence in a more traditional corporate structure. It also, as a tribe has people with an affinity to it, the people who are kindred spirits and fellow heretics pushing these ideas forward.
I am immensely proud of our tribe, what we have done and everyone in and around it. It is woven deeply into my life and history, and thats why seeing the very thing we are explained with other examples has given my faith a massive re-injection and validation.
We all rock!