Difference between revisions of "User:Thaumata Strangelove"

From Second Life Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(prepping for removal of sl4b param from Template:visl)
(→‎Thaumata Strangelove - Second Life Mentor: My page was very outdated! Added all my projects from the last two years and deleted out-of-date info.)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[Image:thaumatastrangelove.jpg|right|frame|512px|Thaumata Strangelove - Second Life Mentor]]
[[Image:thaumatastrangelove.jpg|right|frame|512px|Thaumata Strangelove - Second Life Mentor]]


==Thaumata Strangelove - Second Life Mentor==
==Thaumata Strangelove==
Hi.  I joined Second Life in November 2005.  I was doing a bit of research about how permissions combined in a collaborative artistic space and ended up sticking around.  I spent quite a lot of time learning new skills here, and eventually met and married (in both lives) [[User:Kisa_Naumova|Kisa Naumova]].  We have a great business here building sims and managing other cool projects for all kinds of people, but mostly for universities.  Our SL work has been featured on the BBC news (and actually, we've done some SL work ''for'' the BBC), and are always pretty excited to get involved in something new.


=== Second Life Experience ===


Hello, kids.  I first came to SL in November 2005, after a friend told me that I'd appreciate the highly collaborative nature of the platformThey were right, and I have been here ever sinceI really enjoy spending time exploring the nature of relationships and community in a virtual space, and you will find me working on things to that end most of the time:
===SL Work===
I have been lucky to move the majority of my full-time freelance work to SL.  I have listed some recent projects below.   


* I had a gallery at [[SL4B]] to display some of the artwork I've made here.
====Jeans for Genes (Sept 09 - Ongoing)====
* I follow the MusicDev discussion lists here at SL (and [http://slmc.myfastforum.org/index.php the related forum] and tend to watch the music scene closely.
[http://jeansforgenes.com Jeans for Genes] is a UK based charity which helps children and families affected by genetic disorders by funding support services and research into the causes and cures of these conditions. They run an annual event in the UK on October 2 where people wear jeans (to work and school) and donate £2 towards the cause. In 2009, they are also holding a grid-wide fundraising event, which I am participating in as a builder, promoter and all around get-it-done girl.
* I recently became a mentor, so you will see me on that list, as well.
* I'm a moderator for the [http://flickr.com/groups/secondlife/ PG SL Flickr group].


I'm always interested in new projects, so please let me know if you can use a hand.
====Ormesby Woods and Priory Schools (Autumn 2009 - Ongoing)====
Ormesby Woods and Priory Schools are real life elementary schools in the UK which are rebuilding in the next year.  We work closely with school administrators, area technology evangelists and architects to convert the blueprints into a working scale model in SL.  Ormesby is a school for children with special needs which made for an interesting build.  Staff will then use the build to determine furniture orders, wall colors and accessibility, and perhaps as an online community home for students and parents in the future.


I'm married to [[User:Kisa_Naumova|Kisa Naumova]].
For the privacy and comfort of the students and staff, this build is not open to the public.  If you would like a guided tour, please contact me.


=== Real Life Experience ===
====Acklam Grange iSchool (Spring 2009)====
Acklam Grange School is an elementary school in Middlesbrough, England which is rebuilding this year.  As with Ormesby, we worked closely with the staff and architects to ensure the Second Life model is to exact scale.  Admins can then use the model to finalize real life building details.  Teachers at the school are regularly using Second Life to educate their students, and will use the model to continue those lessons.  Ground for the real life school broke in Spring of 2009.  As Acklam is the first school using SL to teach younger pupils on a regular basis, it got a bit of press in the UK.  You can see coverage of this build [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7829070.stm on the BBC site] as well as on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCI_P5UaUNM Gazette Live].


In RL, I'm 29 and originally from ChicagoI majored in music (piano/voice) and then assisted an eye surgeon for a while, until I left to help start [http://www.splicemusic.com.com Splice Music]I did a lot of community directing for them and learned a lot there.  I really enjoy traveling;  I lived in Barcelona for a time and am currently exploring the UK.  I am extremely interested in using the web to fund non-profit organizations, and once raised $10k USD on [http://www.youtube.com YouTube] for breast cancer charities... mostly just to prove that I could.
Eventually, this school will be duplicated to the Teen Grid to provide a more enclosed environment for the staff and studentsFor the time being, the Main Grid location is closed to the publicHowever, if you should want a tour of it, please contact me.


=== Follow along ===
====Leeds Metropolitan University (Ongoing)====
I am a mentor for LeedsMet and you will frequently find me hanging out on their sim, watching my partner break things.
 
====MUVENation (Ongoing)====
MUVENation is a great project designed to help educators educate in SL.  I occasionally assist them with builds and events, including an in person panel in London about optimizing virtual classrooms.
 
====Mentoring====
Along with LeedsMet, I also volunteer for Linden Lab as a mentor for new and old residents alike.  I particularly enjoy working on Orientation Island, helping new users get acclimated, and answering challenging oldbie questions in the New Citizens Incorporated chats.
 
====Emerge Island (Autumn 2008)====
Emerge Island is mostly the work of my partner, Kisa, and is a gorgeous build.  I built their freebie market, and have run several events for them geared towards helping new educators get started in SL.
 
====Flickr====
For several years I was a moderator for the [http://flickr.com/groups/secondlife/|biggest SL Flickr group].  During this time, I helped them develop better clarity in their submission policies and user help.  I also did a guest panel at Orange Island about Photography in Second Life.  Around the time we hit ten thousand members, I resigned in order to make more time for building and real life.
 
====[[SL4B]]====
I had a small gallery of SL related artwork on the SL4B sim.
 
 
===Panoramic and Tiny Planet Photography===
I've got a pretty good technical grasp of SL photography and am happy to assist if you're learning.  My special passion in that arena is panoramic photography and rendering sims into Tiny Planets.  [http://www.flickr.com/photos/thestrangestloveofall/sets/72157606829643403/  You can see my entire series of Tiny Planet artwork on Flickr.]  I do contribute to the [[panorama]] wiki page occasionally, but I have not written a tutorial about my methods yet because they are a little higgly piggly and hard to follow.  My preferred stitching/rendering programs are:
 
* AutoPanoGiga (professional grade and very cool)
* Hugin (open source and cross platform!)
* Photoshop's Photomerge feature (under Automate.) 
 
 
===Contact Me===
If you would like to chat about anything SL related, please say howdy!  I do paid consulting work but really, I'm always happy to just sit with a curious person in my free time and help them get a general idea of what they're going to need to make a project happen when the time comes.  I like talking shop!  Come talk shop with me, hah!  I also honestly enjoy helping other residents sort out a variety of issues, from weird SL bugs to installing their new kitchen and re-wallpapering the house.  '''If you do not hear back from me within 48 hours, please assume something went amiss and try again.'''
 
* '''IMs''':  They will go to my email if I'm not online.  They do not cap.
* '''Email''': [mailto:thau@eyefood.co.uk thau@eyefood.co.uk]
* '''Skype''':  Thaumata
You may also try carrier pigeons and messages in bottles, but no guarantees there.
 
* [http://thaumata.tumblr.com Strange Loves] is my blog about interesting SL prims.
* [http://thaumata.plurk.com Plurk] (checked quite regularly)
* [http://twitter.com/thaumata Twitter] (checked rarely)
* [http://flickr.com/photos/thestrangestloveofall/ My SL Flickr stream]
 
 
===Real Life===
In real life, I generally work as a project or community manager for web startups, though that is slowly melding quite nicely into SL, just the way I like it.  I am an American expat who now lives in England, and I wite about my experiences as a foreigner in a blog called [http://inteawetrust.tumblr.com| In Tea We Trust].  I've studied piano for 25 years and enjoy teaching, singing and occasionally writing music.  Oh, and I have a cute little dog who enjoys walks in the park.


* [http://flickr.com/photos/thestrangestloveofall/ My SL Photos]
* [http://flickr.com/photos/thaumata/ My RL Photos]
* [http://twitter.com/thaumata Twitter]
* [http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=thaumata&btnG=Google+Search&meta= Or take your pick.  Most of these are me.]


=== Contact ===
* Email: <b>thaumata@gmail.com</b>
* Skype:  Thaumata


=== Resources I've Gathered ===
[[List of all Second Life Groups on Flickr.com]]




Line 45: Line 79:
|}}
|}}
{{skills
{{skills
|Builder=
|Builder=*
|Scripter=
|Scripter=
|}}
|}}
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|eng}}
{{ISO 639-3/cat-speaking/Volunteers|eng}}
 
{{Plurker}} 
{{Tweeter}}
[[Category:SL4B Event Volunteers|Thaumata Strangelove]]
[[Category:SL4B Event Volunteers|Thaumata Strangelove]]

Revision as of 16:10, 9 September 2009

Thaumata Strangelove - Second Life Mentor

Thaumata Strangelove

Hi. I joined Second Life in November 2005. I was doing a bit of research about how permissions combined in a collaborative artistic space and ended up sticking around. I spent quite a lot of time learning new skills here, and eventually met and married (in both lives) Kisa Naumova. We have a great business here building sims and managing other cool projects for all kinds of people, but mostly for universities. Our SL work has been featured on the BBC news (and actually, we've done some SL work for the BBC), and are always pretty excited to get involved in something new.


SL Work

I have been lucky to move the majority of my full-time freelance work to SL. I have listed some recent projects below.

Jeans for Genes (Sept 09 - Ongoing)

Jeans for Genes is a UK based charity which helps children and families affected by genetic disorders by funding support services and research into the causes and cures of these conditions. They run an annual event in the UK on October 2 where people wear jeans (to work and school) and donate £2 towards the cause. In 2009, they are also holding a grid-wide fundraising event, which I am participating in as a builder, promoter and all around get-it-done girl.

Ormesby Woods and Priory Schools (Autumn 2009 - Ongoing)

Ormesby Woods and Priory Schools are real life elementary schools in the UK which are rebuilding in the next year. We work closely with school administrators, area technology evangelists and architects to convert the blueprints into a working scale model in SL. Ormesby is a school for children with special needs which made for an interesting build. Staff will then use the build to determine furniture orders, wall colors and accessibility, and perhaps as an online community home for students and parents in the future.

For the privacy and comfort of the students and staff, this build is not open to the public. If you would like a guided tour, please contact me.

Acklam Grange iSchool (Spring 2009)

Acklam Grange School is an elementary school in Middlesbrough, England which is rebuilding this year. As with Ormesby, we worked closely with the staff and architects to ensure the Second Life model is to exact scale. Admins can then use the model to finalize real life building details. Teachers at the school are regularly using Second Life to educate their students, and will use the model to continue those lessons. Ground for the real life school broke in Spring of 2009. As Acklam is the first school using SL to teach younger pupils on a regular basis, it got a bit of press in the UK. You can see coverage of this build on the BBC site as well as on Gazette Live.

Eventually, this school will be duplicated to the Teen Grid to provide a more enclosed environment for the staff and students. For the time being, the Main Grid location is closed to the public. However, if you should want a tour of it, please contact me.

Leeds Metropolitan University (Ongoing)

I am a mentor for LeedsMet and you will frequently find me hanging out on their sim, watching my partner break things.

MUVENation (Ongoing)

MUVENation is a great project designed to help educators educate in SL. I occasionally assist them with builds and events, including an in person panel in London about optimizing virtual classrooms.

Mentoring

Along with LeedsMet, I also volunteer for Linden Lab as a mentor for new and old residents alike. I particularly enjoy working on Orientation Island, helping new users get acclimated, and answering challenging oldbie questions in the New Citizens Incorporated chats.

Emerge Island (Autumn 2008)

Emerge Island is mostly the work of my partner, Kisa, and is a gorgeous build. I built their freebie market, and have run several events for them geared towards helping new educators get started in SL.

Flickr

For several years I was a moderator for the SL Flickr group. During this time, I helped them develop better clarity in their submission policies and user help. I also did a guest panel at Orange Island about Photography in Second Life. Around the time we hit ten thousand members, I resigned in order to make more time for building and real life.

SL4B

I had a small gallery of SL related artwork on the SL4B sim.


Panoramic and Tiny Planet Photography

I've got a pretty good technical grasp of SL photography and am happy to assist if you're learning. My special passion in that arena is panoramic photography and rendering sims into Tiny Planets. You can see my entire series of Tiny Planet artwork on Flickr. I do contribute to the panorama wiki page occasionally, but I have not written a tutorial about my methods yet because they are a little higgly piggly and hard to follow. My preferred stitching/rendering programs are:

  • AutoPanoGiga (professional grade and very cool)
  • Hugin (open source and cross platform!)
  • Photoshop's Photomerge feature (under Automate.)


Contact Me

If you would like to chat about anything SL related, please say howdy! I do paid consulting work but really, I'm always happy to just sit with a curious person in my free time and help them get a general idea of what they're going to need to make a project happen when the time comes. I like talking shop! Come talk shop with me, hah! I also honestly enjoy helping other residents sort out a variety of issues, from weird SL bugs to installing their new kitchen and re-wallpapering the house. If you do not hear back from me within 48 hours, please assume something went amiss and try again.

  • IMs: They will go to my email if I'm not online. They do not cap.
  • Email: thau@eyefood.co.uk
  • Skype: Thaumata

You may also try carrier pigeons and messages in bottles, but no guarantees there.


Real Life

In real life, I generally work as a project or community manager for web startups, though that is slowly melding quite nicely into SL, just the way I like it. I am an American expat who now lives in England, and I wite about my experiences as a foreigner in a blog called In Tea We Trust. I've studied piano for 25 years and enjoy teaching, singing and occasionally writing music. Oh, and I have a cute little dog who enjoys walks in the park.