Happy Blue Day!

It’s Blue Day! And we’re just about ready for our celebrations at bar jokaydia!

Join us at Bar jokaydia (Slurl) from 6pm - 11pm AEST (Check your local time here!) to check out the links and information we’ve established there, or teleport over to the Online Therapy Institute (SLurl)! There will also be dancing and virtual silliness… so dress up in your favourite blue outfit and join us!

I’m also very excited to announce that the fabulous Dave Koi has shared a wonderful piece of virtual sculpture which you can visit at the event! Dave describes his sculpture  on his blog …

… I created this in early 2008 and it evolved out of a lingering sadness which started a couple years ago after a period of depression after burn-out from work and residual things from, well, life.

There seemed to be in me an unending need for release which only I can relate to a build up of tears -  yet unfulfiled. …

However apart from showing friends at various times it remained in my work space, not quite gestated. The perfect time to inspire me completing it at getting it out publicly was Blueday2008 - 10 October - World Mental Health Day. For reasons I hope are obvious. …

Read more on his blog! or visit him in SL!

Dave has also kindly made some Beyond Blue T-Shirts, which you can pick up for free @ Bar jokaydia (Slurl) tonight!

October 10, 2008 | Filed Under blueday2008, fun, news, photography, slart, virtual classroom project | Leave a Comment 

Newbie Session and Maintaining my Sense of Wonder

Jo has already written about the hugely successful April Festival on jokaydia which took place last weekend, but I’d like to add a few words about the Newbie Session that she asked me to help out with. It was very inspiring to be with a group of visitors who are keen to start exploring the educational potential of Second Life. One of the most important things that I learned during that session was not to take Second Life for granted. Interacting with those who are new to Second Life reminded me how inspired I was when I first created my avatar and started exploring some of the educational spaces inworld. It was like discovering a new frontier - it was a time to reflect on what I’d accomplished as an educator in the physical and online world, and to also think about the possibilities that await in the virtual environment of Second Life. In other words, it was a time to push my own thinking about education.

As I reflect on that Newbie Session last week, I am reminded of the wide-eyed enthusiasm of our guests and the importance of that almost child-like sense of wonder and exploration that we all experience when we first discover Second Life.

jokaydia Newbie Session (April 18, 2008)

One thing that helps me keep that sense of wonder alive and makes me feel like a perpetual SL newbie is my passion for inworld photography and machinima. If you’re interested in my work, feel free to visit the home of my March Studios at blip.tv or my growing collection of Second Life landscape photography.

Finally, here’s a video to celebrate last week’s festival and, specifically, the magical Newbie Session balloon ride that reminded me of why I love Second Life: As our first Educator-in-Residence continues to demonstrate, it’s a place where the only limit is our creativity (… and the number of prims at our disposal :-) ):



For a full-screen version, click here.

April 28, 2008 | Filed Under events, jokaydia, machinima, photography | 3 Comments