Chilbo Community Blog

Chilbo’s Land Stewards

Fleep Tuque is the founder of the Chilbo Community Building Project, and is also involved in a number of other endeavors in Second Life, including supporting the use of virtual worlds for education, collaboration, and in support of arts and culture in the metaverse.

Professionally, Fleep founded the University of Cincinnati Second Life Learning Community and also serves as the Second Life Ambassador for the Ohio Learning Network. In 2007, she co-chaired the Second Life Best Practices in Education conference, the first 24 hour, international education conference to be held in a virtual world, and more recently published an observational survey of educational institutions in Second Life entitled “Virtual or Virtually U: Education Institutions in Second Life” with SL colleague Sweetpea Sunnyside.

Fleep maintains a personal blog, Fleep’s Deep Thoughts, and has an abiding interest in how social media and virtual worlds will impact our economic, political, social and cultural systems in the coming years. She currently lives in Cincinnati, OH with her bazillion cats.

Cosimo Urbanowicz is an urbanist who helps communities develop tools and environments that make life more convivial. He thinks Second Life is a great opportunity to reconnect with the spirit of community and prepare for a mixed-reality future. Cosimo runs Chilbo Road Press under the Chilbo Arts Foundation, and wants to support residents’ projects and cultures.

Chilbo Advisory Council

These residents provide assistance to the Land Stewards in a variety of capacities.

Rachel Corleone is the Prim Manager for the Chilbo community. She helps keep an eye on the overall shared prim assets in the community and assists with maintenance and litter removal. Rachel became the first intentional resident of Chilbo, when she moved from the nearby Kuwol sim in November of 2006 to join the Chilbo sim. She also runs the Renaissance Gallery located near the Chilbo Road Press, and enjoys blogging about her travels in Second Life at SL Travel. In real life, Rachel is a resident of Canada and works in online education. “What I love most about Second Life,” she said, “is having a whole world to explore, full of virtual creations, made by real people.”

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/191/190/115

Ryan Snook is the Head of the Chilbo Department of Public Works (not affiliated with the Linden Lab moles), where he provides consultation on community-wide infrastructure. He wandered into La Bella Dam one night and promptly moved into Chilbo - and hasn’t left us yet!

One of Chilbo’s most creative artists, Ryan specializes in non-human avatar creation, with a wide range of completely customized critters, dragons, robotechs, and much much more. His work is so highly regarded that he is one of Grendel’s Children’s prized builders. In real life, Ryan is a Psychology student in San Diego, CA (US).

“Chilbo’s one of the only places where you can wander in a stranger and feel quite at home,” says Ryan, “and, well, the folks here seem to like being a community.”

Tommy Brouwer is the European Ambassador for the Chilbo Community. He works with other residents physically located in Europe to help ensure that community events and resources are equally accessible to all. He also helps welcome new European residents to Second Life, and assists them with locating resources appropriate to their language and community.

Tommy came to Chilbo in 2007. “I was helping a friend who wanted to sell her land, so I came to Chilbo by chance, but I stayed because of the community,” said Tommy, “Chilbo changes so quickly, it is like a small town in - what’s the opposite of ’slow motion’?” He does both building and scripting in Second Life, and enjoys helping new residents.

“I see Second Life as a big laboratory, we can see all the problems and issues of real life here, and see how new laws and forms of community develop to solve them,” he explains. In real life, Tommy lives in Cologne, Germany where he is a software engineer and project manager in the healthcare insurance industry.

Lizzette Zenovka is the Non-Profit coordinator for the Chilbo community. Residents interested in starting a non-profit organization or site in Chilbo should speak with her for guidance. Her experience comes from running the very successful SL HIV Education & Prevention Center, with a main office in Chilbo and several satellite sites.

This ties into her real life work, where she serves as the Prevention Program Coordinator for Bronx AIDS Services in New York City. “I see Second Life as a place where people can explore and learn,” said Lizzette, “and it’s a great platform to educate and provide counseling to those that may be living with the virus or are affected by the virus. I also hope to promote HIV testing and condom use.” In her spare time, Liz enjoys visiting Second Life’s beaches and spending time with friends.

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/51/221/121

Malburns Writer is the Communications Director for the Chilbo community as well as the proprietor of Malburns MetaHub in the northwest corner of the sim. Mal first came to Second Life to explore the possibilities for expanding his web work into 3D, but became fascinated with the social and cultural aspects of the thriving communities he found inside. His professional experience included software training and producing mixed media, so it was a natural transition for him to become one of Second Life’s most prodigious news sources with a keen eye for highlighting stories, people, and events that promote the public good. “The focus of what I do seems to fit with the community here,” said Malburns, “And I like that Chilbo has a blend of a functional environment with aesthetic.”

His main website is Mal Burns Metaverse, but he also produces a live weekly webcast about Second Life on Operator 11 and a 24/7 news channel appropriately called Metaworld. He blogs about SL art and culture at Second Arts, about education and technology at Mal’s SL-Edu blog, general and promotional items at Mal Burns Annex, and editorial content at Mal’s Second Space. His non SL related blog is at Mal Burns Monitor.

“I have an eye for building something long-term as it comes along. Fortunately I can take it at a leisurely pace since Second Life is a bit manic of its own accord,” he laughs. In real life, Malburns lives in London, England.

Corcosman Voom first heard about Chilbo at Sophrosyne Stenvaag’s Saturday Salon during a presentation from Fleep and Cosimo discussing online communities. Soon after, he ran into Fleep at a parcel of land that had come up for auction in Chilbo and decided to stay. “The idea of maintaining a community on the mainland by common agreement of a group of diverse residents was very attractive to me,” said Corcosman.

Corcosman enjoys the artistic side of Second Life and the wide variety of people that he has met. He established the Corcosmia art gallery with the idea of promoting the work of two watercolorists friends and showing paintings and photographs for the pleasure of casual visitors to Chilbo. Corcosman usually has one or two of his own pieces out for display, but focuses mostly on other people’s work that he enjoys. He also often provides landmarks to interesting exhibits by other artists. “The people are definitely what make Second Life a valuable experience for me,” said Corcosman, “On any given day you can meet anyone from a scientist to the most casual tourist, sometimes in the same group of people chatting away amiably.”

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/28/46/116

Chilbo Residents

Alain Delpiaz first came to Second Life in December of 2007, and quickly found many interesting things. He first saw it as a medium to communicate with people from all over the world and also as an environment for doing business. With no prior knowledge of the scope of activities taking place, he began to explore the things that “come to life” in-world. “Today, I’ve now met my partner here, Nuuna Nitely, and together we run a small business in the Chilbo community,” he said, “I still enjoy going to different classes and learning new things, plus creating my own things as a member of the NAH!creations team.”

In real life, Alain lives in Tallinn, Estonia in northern europe, a very small country about the size of Massachusetts. He works as a psychology coach and team-building trainer in his hometown, and also enjoys doing a lot of sports. He’s played ice hockey for 10 years, and soccer for 7. “As a hobby, I go hip-hop dancing and whenever I get the chance I try to travel as much as I possibly can,” says Alain, “Seeing new places and making new friends is what makes me smile.”

SLurl: NAH! Creations - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kuwol/13/31/92

Economic Mip found a cheap plot of land in the Mujigae sim and before he knew it, the community of Chilbo began springing up all around him. A wonderful builder with a commitment to helping new residents integrate into Second Life, Eco was an instant fit with the community. “For me, the most important thing is building a sense of community and friendship,” said Economic, “I like that in Chilbo there is always someone online, there seems to be so much activity!” Eco is available for newbie assistance, just shoot him an IM!

SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mujigae/156/26/119

Gem Blue joined Second Life when she attended the Life 2.0 conference.  “I had heard about Second Life for several years, and always wondered what it was like.  Holding a conference in a virtual world seemed like a great way to bring people together from all over.  Team work and community building are two important topics for me, and Second Life seems like a great laboratory for developing new ways to do those things.  Chilbo is a great example of both of them, and I hope to be able to contribute to the community.”  Gem has an office in Madhupak where she has hung a picture of one of her other passions — of herself sailing her all blue Tako sailboat.  “I don’t get to sail enough in real life, and sailing in Second Life is a lot of fun,” she says.

In real life, Gem’s owner is a software engineering manager in San Francisco focusing on quality issues.  “I have a great deal of tolerance for Second Life’s performance and quality issues because I can see how complex the software is.  Linden is riding a software tiger, and it will take some time to tame it.  I’m hopeful that they will.”

If you drop by Gem’s office, you may enjoy a chat on any topic you might like.  “I’m somewhat of a philosopher, and have some definite opinions.  But I like to hear other views and learn from people who think differently from me,” she notes.  She also likes to hang out at public spaces, like Town Hall, so say “Hi” when you see her.

SLurl:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/67/199/89

Karina Jewell is the artist behind the beautiful variety of plants, trees, and flowers at The Flower Plant garden and landscaping store. More to come!

Kim Link first logged into Second Life after reading an article in Wired magazine. She found Chilbo by wandering west and her place in Kuwol is a tribute to the kooky and humorous in-world. She enjoys unusual building, scripting, and spending time with friends, but really enjoys finding funny things in Second Life. “I like Chilbo because it IS a community,” she said, “I think that’s very unusual on the Mainland.”

In real life, Kim lives in California and in Second Life she is an Estate Manager for Waikiti Island. She also has some custom built items for sale at her Kuwol home.

Marius Polikarpov has a variety of interests in Second Life. He does in-world photography, has a gorgeous sailboat, and will soon be opening a music club with live DJs. In Chilbo, he consults with Alain Delpaiz and Nuuna Nightly as part of NAH!creations, but he also enjoys helping new residents and building and creating. Professionally, he runs his own product and graphic design business located in New York City, NY (US). “Exploring is a big part of my Second Life,” said Marius, “meeting new people, the variety and different professions and nationalities… its just amazing!”

SLurl: NAH! Creations - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kuwol/13/31/92

Mauro Lednev is co-owner of the The Flower Plant landscaping and garden store on the Main Street of Chilbo. He came to Second Life in early 2007 and went from bad camping places, to loud techno dance rooms, to overdecorated shops (and this all in not very well fitting freebie t-shirts and jeans) until he found his niche and added some very nice people to his friends list. He originally lived in the now demolished Chilbo Apartments Tower - West, but now uses The Flower Plant as his home base in Chilbo.

In real life, Mauro is an artist and writer who lives in the Netherlands.

Monarchy Republic became a resident of Chilbo in early 2008. After a short hiatus due to running over her laptop (!!), she has returned to the fold. “I fumbled around, not sure how I got to Chilbo,” she said, “But it was here when I finally got my bearings and met some cool people, so I feel at home here. ” Monarchy lives in Madhupak near the border of Achado sim and Valentino’s Card & Gifts Shop. “The work that has gone into Chilbo is self-evident,” she said, “It’s very inspiring!”

In real life, Monarchy lives in England where she works in the organic produce industry. She also enjoys discussing religion, politics, and social justice issues. “All the things you aren’t supposed to talk about!” she laughs.

Olando7 Decosta doesn’t remember what first brought him into Second Life in the spring of 2007, but at first he wasn’t very impressed.  Then a few months later, he happened to be on vacation at a time when the weather wasn’t cooperative and he decided to explore Second Life more closely - and then spent the rest of the week in-world!  Some of the first very positive things he experienced were the Metanomics shows and part of a course through Harvard’s Berkman Center, where he was invited to read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash.  “I must say,” he remaked, “that really helped me develop a better feeling for Second Life.”

Over time he attempted to develop a “practical philosophy” group, and though that eventually fell by the wayside, he began writing about and reporting on his experiences in world, culminating in what is now a very popular blog called Mixed Realities, where he writes about the intersection of philosophy, business, and virtual worlds.  “I considered the blog to be just a way to write down personal musings, with the advantage that maybe someone would react and give interesting feedback,” he said, “In fact, many people contacted me, among them real virtual worlds experts and entrepreneurs, famous bloggers. That was so amazing.”  He now also blogs for Metanomics and soon also for Media Shift, and also writes about virtual worlds and business for his real life newspaper.  “So these days my life in Second Life is not that much different from my life in the ‘real world’ - in both cases I am a journalist,” he said.

Olando7 moved to Chilbo in the spring of 2008 after some mixed experiences as a landowner elsewhere in Second Life.  “I had a house on a private island, for months, and also on mainland. I think it is important to have land and a house, because that means you also have neighbors. But of course, you also have ad farms, on mainland anyway, and griefers, or the feeling that there is not a real community because people move away every few months,” he explains, ” So I decided to look for a place with a non-profit profile, made by people who want to engage in debate and intellectual, educational and artistic exploration of virtual worlds.  For me Chilbo is such a place.”

In real life, Olando7 lives in Antwerp, Belgium with his wife, and he works in Brussels as a journalist for the newspapers De Tijd and L’Echo.   “I am so glad my wife supports me in my virtual activities, because as we all know, virtual life is time-consuming,” he said.  He also enjoys contemporary art and tries to find some time to practice karate and ju-jitsu.  “I am fascinated by Japanese culture.”

Scalar Tardis knew about the Second Life project early in its development but didn’t have much interest since he was already busy playing the MMORPGs Anarchy Online, Everquest II, and later World of Warcraft. “As a rural person stuck on dialup at 30 kilobit, using Second Life wasn’t much of an option,” says Scalar. After friends from another online community took a stab at SL as a group, Scalar joined the activities and got more involved in exploring SL’s building capabilities. “I was still casually interested in the Second Life physics engine, but not enough really to pay for land ownership; I saw no value in having a virtual ‘home’ with virtual furnishings, when the avatar doesn’t need food, sleep or shelter, and most of my projects were too big to fit into a small privately owned space,” explains Scalar, “So for about a year after the initial group foray into Second Life, my main ‘home’ was the free public sandboxes, just building and experimenting.”

But then Scalar moved to Chilbo and has displayed his interesting and unusual devices and art objects for people exploring the possibilities of Second Life at Scalar’s Museum of Curious Builds & Physics Experiments. “I recently started paying for basic tier land ownership in order to help the Chilbo community grow and to add more prims to its collective building pool, just because I feel it is the right thing to do,” says Scalar, “But the community group would likely still support my museum project space even if I were not contributing financially.” One of Scalar’s recent projects is a recreation of a RL CT scan of his brain, converted into two-dimensional slices as a full 3D image in world. “This tool would potentially allow me to point out and highlight various objects in the skull like the inner ear, the vestibular organs, the hippocampus, etc.,” explains Scalar, “I believe this [kind of tool] has extremely high educational value.”

In real life, Scalar is a self-taught network administrator employed by two small school rural school districts in the mid-west US. “I am interested in the educational potential, the hidden power of the physics engine, and showing people the learning and simulation potential of Second Life,” says Scalar, “I’m not a highly competitive social gamer. Instead I would like to do things that help other people, and to be a part of the developing virtual-worlds experience.” In his free time, Scalar enjoys improving technical articles on Wikipedia and working on various technical/design projects in Second Life.

SunQueen Ginsberg is the proprietor of SunQueens Creations on the Main Street in Chilbo. Her husband discovered Second Life in 2006 and introduced her to it. “From the beginning I knew I wanted to be a builder and it’s been a continuing learning experience,” she said, “But one thing that surprised me was the extent of deep friendships I’ve made.” She lives just south of the Chilbo Museum district at the Pastafarian Collective in Madhupak and was one of the first members to join the Chilbo community from a neighboring sim.

SunQueen specializes in creating Mexican and Mayan furniture, as well as some African pieces. She was invited by Mexico’s Tourism Department to place her furniture on their Mayan and Mexican sims at Ruta Maya, has contracted with universities to do custom campus builds, and she also runs a Mayan inspired department store called Where Worlds Collide, in the Linda sim. “This is really a work of love for me since I’ve always been a lover of Mayan art,” she said.

In real life, SunQueen lives in the southwest US, near Mexico, where she breeds roses and enjoys photography, clay sculpture, and pottery making. She’s also a volunteer for the Humane Society near her home, and enjoys the company of her dog Wilbur.

“Chilbo is kinda my roots. I like the way it’s been fashioned as a real community,” she said, “Very nice people here too!”

Tara Yeats came to Second Life in the fall of 2005 through an online message board game called Wild Divine. “I registered for SL only to find I couldn’t run it!” she remembers, “It was another 9 months (love the symbolism!) before I had the upgrades to slogin.” She received an offer she couldn’t refuse on her First Land and ended up purchasing a parcel in Mangyeong next door to the original Chilbo Welcome Center, precursor to the Town Hall and before the Chilbo community was even formed!

In world, Tara has been a builder for the Bodhi Buddhist sim, but lately finds herself drawn into the social and community aspects. “I’m particularly interested in how the metaverse is developing as the next phase of the internet, ” she said. She is just starting to explore machinima making, she has an alt that does live music performances in-world, and she specializes in building streams and rock gardens. Tara also co-hosts a live weekly webcast about Second Life with Chilbo resident Malburns Writer and maintains a SL blog at Tara Incognita.

In real life, Tara lives in rural Washington state, near the Olympic Mountains. Her professional experience includes non-profit communications and web design, and she ran one of the largest religion and spiritualities forums on the internet, in pre-virtual world days. She also grows a mean tomato in her real life garden!

“What I like about Chilbo is the organic-ness of the community,” she explains, “There are interesting challenges for mainland communities that are much more like RL, you’re likely to bump into a much more diverse range of folks as far as interests and RL locations. I really enjoy being part of that mix, and supporting it in whatever small ways occur to me.”

Valentino Tendaze began his Second Life with First Land in Mindulle, just north east of the Chilbo sim, and he slowly began to expand his land holdings in order to have more prims available for his store. He now owns or manages large swaths of land in the Achado and Mangyeong sims and does a booming business at Valentino’s Cards & Gift Shop. “When I was new, I loved exploring, there was so much to see and do,” said Valentino, “It’s funny, many of the creative people in Second Life don’t have creative jobs in real life. I like SL because I get to do that, and people like what I make.”

In real life, Valentino lives in Scotland and works in IT in higher education, but in Second Life, he plans to continue his creative work and wants to incorporate elements of Scotland into his land holdings in-world. “I like gardening in Second Life as well,” he laughed, “No weeds!”

Wainbrave Bernal is an EdTech Research Associate, professional futurist, cryptozoologist and grillmaster. Currently planning new developments for his cryptozoology lab, lounge, and grill in Chilbo, Dr. Bernal is also the chair of the Applied Research for Virtual Environments for Learning (ARVEL) - a Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association and Director of merlot.org’s Center for Learning in Virtual Environments (CLIVE).

A longtime resident of Chilbo who is best known for his unorthodox avatar, he spearheads the SaLamander Project, which seeks to to enlist people to collaborate, find, index, and discuss aspects of Second Life that have educational value and share in the research, development, and training opportunities associated with those factors. He also coordinates the GUILD Academy @ Chilbo and serves as Co-Chair for the Second Life Education Community Conference 2008 (SLEDcc).

More to come soon!