Tag: art
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Anthropology in an AI image creation channel
I could write a thesis on the evolving behaviors of people writing AI generation prompts, but since I have a full-time job, a few posts here and there will have to satisfy my anthropological curiosity. On the Midjourney Discord server, I am essentially a participant observer. Midjourney is open-by-default; working in stealth mode would require…
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AI art and ethics: starting a conversation
I am astounded daily by AI-generated art. I also understand the position of artists who rage against the theft of their visual style, loss of earnings, and disrespect for human creativity. There are some tricky ethics to consider. I won’t reach a conclusion in this little post, but you can be sure I’ll revisit the…
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An hour in Sansar
When I read about a historic roleplaying sim moving from Second Life to Sansar, my reaction was surprise that it was still a thing. I know, I know; while I was away from SL, I didn’t frequent the virtual world blogs either. I had an hour and a decent desktop computer, so I took a…
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Practical effects used for gorgeous Lumino City video game
I love CGI and some of my dear friends are digital graphic artists, but effects made with physical objects can be so delightful. The Verge has a nice piece about Lumino City, the sequel to the game Lume, which takes place in a 10 foot tall miniature city that was built in a studio. The article…
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“Shakespeare By Request Auction” to benefit live theater group in Second Life
The Avatar Repertory Theater has a unique auction going on in Second Life and they were kind to send me a press release. This blog is intentionally not devoted to SL news, but I am always happy to share information about things that I plan to attend/visit or would if I could. In the case of…
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Roaming through virtual museums
When is the last time you went to a museum? I have a few friends from anthropology studies who are working in museums or preparing to do so. One just got a new position in digital curation and that, combined with the recent article Alone in the Virtual Museum from The New Yorker got me thinking.…
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Talking about loneliness in a virtual world
This will be a somewhat personal post, so if you’re looking for cool robots or my scolding of presumptuous researchers, come back soon. Canary Beck has written a series of thoughtful posts about loneliness in Second Life this week. They’re excellent and are the jumping off point for the rest of this post, so take a few…
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Artistic anarchy
German artist Karen Eliot ran a recent experiment in Second Life: she paid for a sim and opened it to everyone. By joining the free landowning group, anyone could build or rez there, nothing was disallowed, and at times even terraforming and other land control rights were unrestricted. Sometimes it looked like this: and at…
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Visiting Rust
I finally got around to visiting the much-lauded Rust in Second Life. The corroded environment was surprisingly whimsical and worth the trip. My photos are dark because I didn’t adjust the atmosphere setting; it was a disturbing twilight and I didn’t want to ruin that effect.