We really, really need your help on this one!  We are confident that if the readers of this blog collectively vote as a unified voice to push 3D Model Interoperability as a priority item for Linden Lab, we will be heard.  You all know that Importing and exporting models is currently the biggest bottleneck preventing architects and designers from using Second Life as a tool in professional practice, and Linden Lab’s public Jira system is the perfect way for us to make it clear that this is a must have feature.

So, please, please, please take a minute and log in to Jira and vote on the following issue: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-2634

To vote, go to the left margin on that website and click on ‘Voting:’
You will have to Login first.  That’s it.

Spread the word!  Post this on your own blog, and link to this page!  Let’s do whatever it takes to raise the priority level on this!  If you have any other ideas about how we can move this forward, feel free to leave comments!

It is with great pleasure I bring you the news that Studio Wikitecture’s entry in the Open Architecture Network Challenge was awarded the ‘Founder’s Award’ as well as ‘3rd Place’ for our design of the Nyaya Tele-Medicine facility in Western Nepal. The announcement was made this morning.

Architecture for Humanity awarded its Founders Award to the third place Asia challenge finalist, Studio Wikitecture, for embracing a truly collaborative way of working using online crowdsourcing and Second Life as a way to create a highly participatory design approach. Source

I want to direct a big ‘congratulations’ to those individuals that contributed, on whatever level, to the ultimate success of this entry. Well done! In particular I would like to thank the following for their dedicated contributions.

Jon Brouchoud - (Keystone Bouchard in SL)

Roger Wellington-Oguri - (Omei Turnbull in SL)

Roberto Carretero - (Otrober Breda in SL)

Michael DiTullio - (Far Link in SL)

Simone Riccardi - (Turboy Runo in SL)

Ethos Erlanger in SL

Chip Poutine in SL

I would also like to thank the programming gurus at i3dnow for helping us develop the 3d-Wiki technology we used to help facilitate this whole process. With all the contributions made throughout the process, it would have been a virtual impossibility to build a consensus without it.

And finally a shout out to Kirsten Kiser from arcspace for generously donating a large part of her Second Life island to this project.

We’ve definitely come a long way since asking the question: Can the design and production of architecture learn anything from the open and decentralized methods of production demonstrated in projects such as Wikipedia and open-source software. We certainly learned a lot since the early days of Wikitecture 1.0 and 2.0. I have no doubt Wikitecture 4.0 will prove just as successful.

Thank You, Again.

Ryan Schultz

We’ve moved the Wiki-tree containing the results of our 3rd experiment (the entry in the Open Architecture Challenge) to a new parcel on Architecture Island.

Since the project is completed, the tree is no longer accepting design contributions or votes, but you can still click the leaves to cycle through the leaves that weren’t pruned. As always, if you have any questions, or would like to hire Studio Wikitecture for your next project, please don’t hesitate to send an IM to Keystone Bouchard or Theory Shaw.

Here is the SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Architecture%20Island/90/90/24/?title=Studio%20Wikitecture

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves (though we’ve tried!) - the power and potential of mass collaboration and creativity is becoming increasingly evident, and this video outlining the ideas in Charles Leadbeater’s new book explains it incredibly well:

If you can’t tell, I was more than a little nervous, and couldn’t quite shake my midwestern accent! =)

Many thanks to Henrik Bennetsen, Stanford University and everyone who helped make Metaverse U so successful (see more videos HERE). We did receive a lot of positive feedback and made some great connections with several individuals and companies interested in the possibility of helping us advance the project.

We haven’t reached our sponsorship goals yet, so if you’re interested in helping us develop the next phase, there’s still time! We have a wide range of goals, but we’re primarily interested in simplifying the interface and making this collaboration technology available to communities throughout the Second Life grid and beyond.

As if that’s enough RL Keystone for one day, here’s my little blurb/interview about what excites and scares me about metaverse technology:

If you happen to be in the Chicago area, Ryan and I will be at the Illinois Institute of Technology on Tuesday, April 1st (6pm Central) talking about Wikitecture, and how virtual worlds and web 2.0 will revolutionize the architecture industry.

If you can’t make it to Chicago, you can attend our presentation from wherever you happen to live this Thursday, March 20th at 3pm PDT inside Second Life at the Life 2.0 summit (register HERE).

Both events are free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!

I just wanted to thank all the contributors on the OAN Nepal Challenge for all their hard work and dedication over the last couple months. The following images are of the final boards submitted to the OAN project site (larger images here). You can be your own judge, but I think they turned out great! What a far cry from Wikitecture 1.0. Looking forward to Wikitecture 4.0, whatever project that may be.

I also wanted to thank everyone for their patience and persistence in working through a very rough and rudimentary technology. Although the ‘Wiki-Tree’ and website have a long way to go to improve upon their usability, the final project is a major testament to the potential of what can result from a more open source approach to architecture.

It goes without saying we learned a lot from this last experiment and are excited to further refine the Wikitecture technology to allow for more seamless collaboration on future projects. In this regard, if you have a project you’d like to have designed and developed via this more open, Wikitecture way, please let us know. (ryan [dot] schultz [at] studiowikitecture [dot] com). Having been part of the Studio Wikitecture group for some time, I am confident that the group has enough skill and experience, architectural and otherwise, to tackle any size project that we would have the good fortune to be offered. I’m sure Wikitecture 4.0 will continue to demonstrate what can happen when a loose network of passionate individuals are given the tools to collaborate around an architectural project.

Thank you.

Hello everyone! As you may already know, the third Wikitecture experiment using our new 3D-Wiki technology will be wrapping up in the next few weeks, and we are already looking forward to the next experiment. If you are not already familiar, HERE is a demo of how the in-world interface works, and HERE is a link to the website.

Based on what we have learned from this experiment, we have developed a list of interface simplifications, features and most importantly, the ability to install the 3D Wiki on multiple sites throughout Second Life. In order to implement this phase of development, we are looking for sponsors who would be willing to provide much needed funding to carry this project forward.

In exchange for your sponsorship, you will be given liberal use of the newly developed 3D Wiki, and your logo will be prominently displayed at all in-world installations of the wiki, and on the Studio Wikitecture blog as well. We consider the current experiment to be a very valuable proof-of-concept, and will be giving lots of live demonstrations and presentations - further increasing the visibility of your sponsorship.

If you are interested, please contact us via email at theoryshaw (at) yahoo (dot) com.

We sincerely appreciate your support!

With the network effects of the digital age, combined with the principles of non-exclusive, ‘copyleft’ licensing, the world is starting to see the beginnings of a more decentralized method of production—a method producing a surge in innovation and creativity not seen since the advent of the industrial revolution. Projects such as Wikipedia and open-source software are examples of how a loose and decentralized group of individuals can come together in a more bottom-up fashion and create something greater than the sum of its parts. Recently, it has been demonstrated through companies such as Crowdspirit (http://www.crowdspirit.com) that this more ‘open source’ method of production is not just limited to information goods, but can be applied to physical products as well.

How can these more decentralized approaches be harnessed to improve the quality of architecture and urban planning throughout the world?

Last month, Jon Brouchoud and myself (Ryan Schultz) gave a presentation at the annual convention of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), which tried in part, to shed some light on how virtual worlds might provide the platfrom for a more decentralized approach to architecture in the future.

The presentation was broken down into two sections. The first Slideshare gives a quick overview of some of the more significant architectural projects currently going on in the Second Life.

The second Slideshare outlines a broader perspective—trying to answer ‘why’ these virtual worlds will become more important for architects in the future.

As is always the case when trying to paint a picture of the future, there’s some level of speculation here, but as Jamais Cascio says “with enough minds, all tomorrows are visible.” So please, if you see another storyline emerging, let us know what you think.

Part One:

Part Two:

(Update: If importing 3D models in Second Life is important to you, please vote for this issue on Second Life’s Issue Tracker: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-2634.  You’ll need to login with your SL name and password first)

I’ve been using Second Life for a number of years now to run experiments, through our ‘Studio Wikitecture’ group, to see if a Metaverse, such as SL might one day act as the platform for collective intelligence in architecture and urban planning. I’m also an active member of the ‘RL Architects in SL’ group. As you can imagine, most of the members that compose these two groups are architects. What I have found, participating in these groups over the last year or so is that new members are always excited about using Second Life as either a collaborative tool or as a platform to exhibit their work. Unfortunately, however, their interest soon wanes when they find out there’s no easy way to import in models from third party programs. I realize there’s a number of grass-roots initiatives out there that have developed rough and crude ways to import from the following:

Blender
Sketchup
Max
Maya

Although, I give my utmost respect to the programmers that have developed these projects, to say they are crude, is to pay them a compliment. What invariably happens is that after sharing these links with the many people that ask, they come back (if they come back at all) even more confused and frustrated having labored through the elaborate and evolved process of copying and pasting pieces of code back and forth between one program and the other. The process is about as easy as painting with rice grains.

Having had a number of conversations over the year with people about this, I can say with confidence, that SL’s lack of portability is the number one hurdle for our demographic and the main reason why many people never come back. Although speculation, I would imagine this is a major hurdle for other groups as well.

What I don’t really understand is why this issue is not pushed more by the SL community at large. I have noticed there were a number of issues posted on SL’s Issue Tracker that call for portability of a number of various file types, such as .OBJ, .3DM, .3DS, .DXF, & .DAE.

What I don’t really understand is why, firstly, the overall SL community is not voting on this en masse and secondly, why have some of these grass-roots initiatives outlined above, just withered on the vine? Some of these projects are over two years old, with no sign of life or continued evolution since they were first posted.

Having been in the middle of this conversation for awhile, it seems the standard responses usually involve two factors: technology and/or SL’s economy—Technology, from the aspect that it’s currently still too difficult to do and economically, from the aspect that the sudden influx of new models would dilute the value of existing in-world creations, resulting in a negative impact on SL’s economy. Although I’m sure there are more reasons, these seem to be at the forefront of the discussion.

What confuses me, from my perspective anyways, is that these reasons still don’t seem plausible to me and I’m found wondering if I’m missing a valuable part of the equation.

First, although I have a limited background in programming, it appears from the existence of these grass roots projects, that portability is indeed obtainable. Having dabbled a little with each project above, I realize the process is laborious—cutting and pasting code from one program to the other.

I also realize that most of these conversion programs drastically simplify the form when imported into SL, such as textures being stripped off, and meshes and certain objects such as cylinders and sphere’s being simplified down to plain ‘box’ prims in SL. Although these are indeed hurdles, the technology is currently there to do this on a very limited basis.

What I don’t understand, is why these projects haven’t evolved into a more user-friendly format after the years they have been in place. This is just a lack of user-interface design verses a lack of back-end programming. Even though they are crude and might only import texture striped SL boxes in some cases, i know that I, as well has a horde of others, would still jump at the chance to have access to a tool like this and in most cases would actually pay good money for such a thing.

On to the economic end of the argument. I guess I can see on the surface, why a number of residences might be fearful of a world where seamless importing and exporting becomes the norm. I would imagine their argument springs from the fear that they either think their creations would be diluted by all these new models or that their creations could easily be exported and in turn imported, further diluting their value. I think these are legitimate concerns, but are there not ways of regulating this? Could you not add an additional layer of modifications rights that would give the owner of the in-world object the choice on whether they allowed subsequent owners to export out their creations?

From the importing perspective, yes, I’m sure such functionality would initially effect the market. The problem is however, that in the long run, the longer SL holds out on this functionality, the more negatively it will impact the economy, that is, when they finally do implement it. I’m not an economist, but I would imagine this is the same phenomenon you see when age old tariffs are removed and the economy in which they were trying to protect in the first place, finds itself unprepared to compete in the more innovative and efficient economy that was growing up all around them the whole time.

The assumption here, of course, is that they will do this eventually. The reason being, I believe, is that they will be forced to from market pressures from other virtual worlds offering portability as standard service and perhaps. In the end, perhaps this is exactly the reason why SL hasn’t offered this service yet. There’s no real viable competitor yet.

Although part of the reason for writing this post is to rant a little, my main objective is to start a conversation around why you don’t think portability has become common place for the end-user by now. I just wanted to share my confusion with everyone and see if there are others that are either just as confused, or perhaps have a more nuanced answer to this problem.

And by all means, if this too is a thorn in your side, please place your vote on Second Life’s Issue Tracker. Pick your poison. .OBJ, .3DM, .3DS, .DXF, & .DAE. Voting is easy, just login in first.

And if you’re a developer, just know that I’ll be the first to put my order in and I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone. The market seems to be begging for it.

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