I first visited Austin Hall when Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society hosted OSCOM3, a conference on open source content management systems. The building is both historic and beautiful.

Now I am standing outside Austin Hall again. It is sunny and I’m wearing a Podcast Network T-shirt with “Stick it in your ear” on the back. The Beyond Broadcasting conference was held here last weekend.

I picked up the T-shirt from Adam Curry, aka The Podfather (because of his contribution to podcasting). The shirt was a free gift that I found when I jumped off a Sikorsky helicopter hovering nearby and flew over to the rooftop lounge of Curry Castle, a gathering place for podcasters and listeners in the virtual world of Second Life.

Yes, it’s actually my avatar wearing the shirt and it’s a virtual construction of Austin Hall that exists in a world where I can fly, chat with people from around the world, and even attend conferences like Beyond Broadcasting… with a virtual presence, anyway.

When Adam Curry started telling podcast listeners about how he was building a castle and encouraging a virtual podcast community within an online virtual reality “game” I thought it might be interesting.

But when I caught a presentation by Ed Castronova on IT Conversations with an economist was specializing in the virtual economy there (and the real life economy that is linked to it) I knew there was more going on here than an online diversion and I was complelled to visit the place.
I had a great time creating my avatar in an idealized version of my real self and when I found I could fly I was virtually blown away!

The concept of people meeting and creating & promoting virtual businesses in a virtual environment makes my “somethin’s happening in here” sense tingle in much the same way that it did when I first started downloading and listening to podcasts.

In a way I had been waiting to hear about something like Second Life since my daughter started playing in the virtual world of Disney’s Toontown (her big green bunny persona is great at defeating “lawbots” and “headhunters” by throwing pie in their faces!).

I missed Beyond Broadcasting, by the way… got there too late. But I’m sure at least a few of the presentations made the point that a virtual world like Second Life is part of the future of the entertainment industry…

Why watch actors on a screen when you can be one?

Last night I visited a club and caught the tail end of a set by a singer-songwriter. The music was streamed to my computer and I used a new “gesture” I had scripted to clap and shout “Whoo Hoo!”

I’d love to tell you more about it, but there’s a class on building castles that I don’t want to miss… gotta fly!!

HiHo!
-pmh