I will be continuing to use this blog at least up until the exhibition of the work so this is more of a stay tuned call than a goodbye. I would just like to take the time to thank ANAT, particularly Gavin Artz who has been so helpful throughout the whole experience, and finally I would like to encourage anyone who has a good idea to pursue funding for it as this country needs more research taking place in creative areas, without corporate influence or involvement, for the good of knowledge rather than the economy.

I will post a video soon detailing where the project is now at and how it is looking! Ciao

this is a great step foeward, although I have found a lot of exporting information, but nothing on importing back in world… this is disappointing. Like I said previously this is very possible on other platforms such as Croquet and Wonderland, but it doesn’t have the social accessibility through the media that SL has… Oh well, I’ll keep plugging away!

I got back a couple of results for my job search- got one no and one into the next selection round. I am finding it a bit tight for time at the moment which is frustrating me slightly, but hopefully this will ease over the next week. I still have to finalise the method of presentation for the exhibition, but everyone seems to be away at the moment so I am playing a bit of a waiting game at the moment. I’m researching using planes with the AR project so I can incorporate the animations into the project. This may not happen before I have to present, but I have advertised for programmers and animaters to get on board, which will speed the process up! I am now in a bit of an awkward position because in order to keep moving forward I either need to get more assistance or learn very complex processes in not a lot of time. I’ve settled on plugging away for now until it works itself out.

I’m also in the process of beginning to organise the exhibition… I’m developing the content for the presentation of the work, mainly how to make it widely accessible, while still a personalised experience. For this I will use a projection that displays what the viewer will see through the head mounted display.. This will all be discussed with the curator for the show, Chris Malcom.

I am also in the process of finding a new career specific mode of employment, mainly lecturing or in another residency…

Well I just got to London.. I’m here for a good few hours until my flight as this was the only bus I could catch.. I’ve just spent the last night and day with my Aunty and Uncle catching up on some family sightseeing, I went to Bristol where my Dad is from, and Western Super, and a few areas where mum grew up…

So now I will decide whether to sleep or not, and will post again once back in Perth.

Well Oxford was great , got to see a whole lot of history while here, it was a really surreal experience seeing such genuine age. I am off for a day to see my Aunty and uncle now… Haven’t seen my cousins ever so that will be great, even if only for a day!! Well home very soon!!

All the best,

I left Manchester today for Oxford, to check out the universities and get ready for home.

I have secured an in-world residency with Paul Sermon at the Sylgrut Centre in Second Life. This allows me a free space to prototype and develop myt project until I exhibit it in May. I will post the link once its all ready to be seen. I have also applied for a PhD scholarship that m,ay be available at Salford Uni. This would be excellent as it is in SL working with 2 other researchers from different fields.

Had a really great last few days, networking and discussing projects with peers. It really is great to have the opportunity to be able to interact with people with similar areas of research to myself and also to have a social scene involving such people. I have mainly been still hanging out with Alan and Rachael and they are both great people! Also doing really great things and great to talk to!

Well its almost time for home, from here I go to my Aunty and Uncle for my last day in the UK and then I go on the horror trip to heathrow.. I will have to spend 9 hours at Hethrow as that is when my last coach I can take arrives there… Argh!

Post sonn…

Preston is about 40 minutes north of Manchester and was well worth the train ride. I went there with Alan, an artist studying at Salford who also works with Second Life, and his partner Rachael, a film lecturer. They were great to hang out with and we’re going to the Bodyworks4 exhibition tomorrow. That’s the plastination exhibition by Gunther von Hagens. Here is an example:
http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html

Paul is away at a show in Poland at the moment, so I’m staying alone at his house until tomorrow. I’m waiting for a bankcard to be sent to where I’m staying so I’m here until that happens. I’m currently applying for jobs/residencies and editing my c.v. I gave a lecture at Salford on Wednesday and got some good feedback as a result. I’m trying to do a talk at the Sandbox before I leave the north, but may not have time. I’m really wanting to get to a p.c with a good graphics card so I can start playing with the project again.

I have had some good dialogue with Raphael from HITlab this week and there will a follow up to this soon. He is also working towards a paper for this project and has defined some of the technical aspects for me. Which direction the project goes in is a matter of further research now. I have reached the point where I intended to and now have a bit of time spare for further develop everything which is great.

Also on Thursday I went o Liverpool to see the sk-interfaces show on at Fact gallery. http://www.fact.co.uk/news/?id=128
This was a good show, mainly work I had seen before, but the catalogue is the best I’ve seen for a while. While in Liverpool I got to see a few other galleries, including the Tate and a beautiful Richard Wilson work. I also squeezed in Openeye gallery, View Two, St Georges Hal, and even had a quick beer at the Cavern Club, the place where the Beatles started out.

It has been a great few days and I look forward to the last week of my time in Europe!