Hello, World!
…and welcome.
This is 3pointD.com, a source for news and information about the 3D Web — sometimes called the metaverse — in all its manifestations. From virtual worlds like Second Life to applications like Google Earth, from cool mapping hacks that link up real-world locations to new ways of creating virtual ones, from concepts like folksonomy to the culture of online worlds, 3pointD.com will carry news and feature articles about all that and more.
Why 3pointD? The World Wide Web is now more powerful than ever, especially with the advent of the tools and applications that fall under the broad heading of Web 2.0. But although things like blogging and social software are still hot topics, the World Wide Web as an open and collaborative development platform and a space for more powerful human interactions is now not such a new idea. In fact, it has begun to move beyond even the second generation of functionality. What’s most interesting about recent developments on the Web is the way they do two things: create three-dimensional virtual spaces that can be explored, inhabited and developed for in deeper ways then 2D Web pages, and connect those spaces to the physical world around us.
Those 3D spaces and that vital connection between the virtual and the real is what 3pointD is all about. At its most fundamental level, it’s about connecting people in new ways, and about giving them the tools to get more out of not just the Web but out of the real world around them.
That’s what 3pointD.com will report on, whether it’s some engaging new build in Second Life, a cool new plug-in for Google Maps, a fascinating instance of emergent gameplay in a massively multiplayer online world or whatever may arise from the primordial ooze that is 3pointD.
The site is kindly sponsored by the Electric Sheep Company. While occasional eSheep announcements may appear on 3pointD, they’ll be clearly marked as such. Otherwise, the site is managed and edited by journalist Mark Wallace, with no direction from anyone.
Enjoy!
Feeds
Blogosphere Gets New Herald Affiliate…
A new blog hits the blogosphere this month, run by the uber-reporter currently known as Mark Wallace (but also known as Herald editor Walker Spaight). Check out 3pointD.com for news of all things 3D Web-related, including stories from virtual worlds….
Walker, what does “sponsorship” mean? It’s not clear to me. Do they actually pay any salary? Or an advertising fee? How free will you feel to report on the ESC itself critically?
Why is the ESC taking over everything? Oh…because they want to rule the entire Metaverse! *slaps forehead*.
I think it’s a grave danger when the only free press we had in Second Life essentially transmogrifies itself to be a ticker tape of breathless blurbs about tekkie stuff and abandons its mission, which should be to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.
It’s not clear who will really run the Herald — I think the honourable thing to do, if you’re entranced with 24/7 streaming blurbies now about kewl new tekkie stuff, would be to turn the Herald over to an independent editor who is able to go on reporting criticially about these worlds.
BTW, everything so far sounds like a total echo chamber of what Jerry and other Sheep have had on their blogs for weeks. I hope you’ll be getting beyond that soon.