Caledon Oxbridge Q&A for 2015-01-04
| 15:02 | Carl Metropolitan | Welcome to Q&A with the Deans |
| 15:02 | Larkylouz | However, wherever she is, I can't eject her. She must be off sim now |
| 15:03 | Carl Metropolitan | We are here to take your questions and sometimes even answer them |
| 15:03 | Carl Metropolitan | Ask us about Oxbridge, Caledon, or Second Life in general |
| 15:03 | Larkylouz | I will start with one. I think perhaps the new mesh LL avis have been revised. I'm seeing newbies successfully putting on clothing with them. Last night there was a woman here who had the clothes of one and the dress of another! |
| 15:04 | Carl Metropolitan | Just in case you missed last week, I'd like to introduce two new Deans: our new Dean of Commons, David Cooper-Pentewyn and our new Dean of Information, Lindal Kidd (who may not be able to get in the sim right now) |
| 15:04 | Carl Metropolitan | In addition, each Dean has or is working on getting an Assistant Dean to help with his or her activities |
| 15:04 | Fauve Aeon | I will look into the new avatars again, I did not give up hope... |
| 15:05 | Carl Metropolitan | Larkylouz is Assistant Dean of Tutors under Dean of Commons |
| 15:05 | Carl Metropolitan | Phrynne is Assistant Dean of Information |
| 15:05 | Carl Metropolitan | Wordsmith and Tali are both talking to candidates for Assistant Deans in their areas, too |
| 15:06 | Fauve Aeon | and welcome new deans and assistant deans :) |
| 15:06 | Tali Rosca | Or, well, looking for. |
| 15:06 | Carl Metropolitan | And we have still yet to fill the Dean of Development position. |
| 15:07 | Carl Metropolitan | I'm going ahead and doing some work on that front in the interim |
| 15:07 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) raises a hand | |
| 15:08 | Carl Metropolitan | Go David! |
| 15:08 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I expect this to settle down, but we have seen a rise in avatars with unacceptable names |
| 15:08 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | and with other attributes unsatisfactory in a G sim |
| 15:09 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | That does seem to come in cycles. |
| 15:09 | Carl Metropolitan | Usernames or Display Names? |
| 15:09 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I am asking my tutors and professors to be relatively rigid at this time in enforcing that |
| 15:09 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | User names |
| 15:09 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | we had two today that got estate bans for truly offensive user names |
| 15:09 | Carl Metropolitan | Do keep in mind that there is nothing in the signup process that lets people know that someone will even be able to see their username |
| 15:09 | Carl Metropolitan | It's very obfuscated by LL |
| 15:10 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | indeed |
| 15:10 | Carl Metropolitan | But I trust that you can probably pick out the would be griefers and troublemakers. |
| 15:10 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | and i have a little script that says in essence to log out and get an acceptable name |
| 15:10 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Which basically means, get an Alt. |
| 15:10 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | some are just silly kids with no understanding |
| 15:11 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Or people with throwaway accounts |
| 15:11 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I have suggested that the worst names be ARed |
| 15:11 | Tali Rosca | At the same time, we have also seen a rise in interested newbies asking fairly incisive questions. So to some extent, I think it is a side effect of rising traffic (possibly in the vacation days). |
| 15:12 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | But my point is that in the commons we need to eliminate those offensive so we can serve those that as Tali says are here to learn |
| 15:12 | Larkylouz | I need to clarify for myself, and by extension, the tutoring staff, exactly what the TOS says. There are things I understand we can no longer call people on that used to be confrontable. |
| 15:12 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | What's you policy on profiles and groups, David? |
| 15:12 | Carl Metropolitan | We can set our own rules that are tougher than those of the ToS |
| 15:13 | Carl Metropolitan | As this is a G-rated sim, I think that's expected. |
| 15:13 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | if it is sexual in nature it has no place in A g rated sim |
| 15:13 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | Groups showing that are mildly sexual get a warning and a quick lesson in how to hide it |
| 15:14 | Larkylouz | So if I talk to a guy who's name includes '69' and he says that's his tank number in the Gulf war?. . . |
| 15:14 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | that is not overt |
| 15:14 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | even tho he may be ... |
| 15:15 | Larkylouz | I think some guidelines need to be set, or we will be confronting people based on our own values, rather than a campus-wide agreement. |
| 15:15 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | I remember one newcomer who did not know what her name supposedly meant. AS soon as we told her, she registered new account. |
| 15:15 | Tali Rosca | Do we need to formulate dress code as well? It's my impression that we're not *entirely* consistent there. |
| 15:15 | Carl Metropolitan | 69 alone in a name is not sufficient to be a problem. It is a common number when people just have to come up with a number to add to a username. |
| 15:15 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | We have been fragmented. that is true |
| 15:15 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | and I hope to develop, with consultation all around, a coherent policy |
| 15:15 | Carl Metropolitan | As for a dress code, I would just say the "naughty bits" must be covered with non-transparent clothing. |
| 15:16 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | There are some gray areas that have arisen |
| 15:17 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | for example huge mammaries ...covered but so obviously bovine and sexual that they called out for action |
| 15:17 | Carl Metropolitan | Why don't you work up a dress code enforcement draft for review, David. |
| 15:18 | Carl Metropolitan | Consider names and edge cases. |
| 15:18 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I will do so |
| 15:18 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | and I would like my tutors to participate in the draft |
| 15:18 | Carl Metropolitan | Thank you. We need to be welcoming, but consistant, and G-rated. |
| 15:18 | Carl Metropolitan | However, you want to create it. |
| 15:19 | Carl Metropolitan | Do you think you can have a draft by next Sunday? |
| 15:19 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I will try my best |
| 15:19 | Larkylouz would be somewhat relieved to have a reason to encourage people who lurk in sexually oriented clothing to move along. | |
| 15:19 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And also, I believe, try not to get into subjective areas. For example, Carl's naughty bits covered is pretty clear. |
| 15:20 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | The issue of grotesquire is one that really needs attention |
| 15:20 | Fauve Aeon | and in line with Caledon Dress code :) (covering naughty bits) |
| 15:20 | Tali Rosca | Does that include shirts for men? |
| 15:21 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | in all equality... if women must wear shirts so should men |
| 15:21 | Phrynne has been called on not wearing a shirt when wearing a male avatar | |
| 15:21 | Larkylouz | We have always required mens' nipples to be covered. So an open shirt has been okay. |
| 15:21 | Carl Metropolitan | A deliberately ugly avatar is grounds for suspicion of a possible griefer, but not grounds for removal. In other words, keep you finger near the ban button, but don't click it. |
| 15:21 | Tali Rosca | (I think that's one point we have specifically been inconsistent on) |
| 15:21 | Fauve Aeon | aha but what is considered grotesque to one is beautiful for another, it's subjective |
| 15:21 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Distorted body shapes with leaking organs is not that subjective. And I have seen them. |
| 15:21 | Carl Metropolitan | I would stick with normal American law on the subject. |
| 15:21 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | my reference to grotesque is to sexuality |
| 15:21 | Fauve Aeon has a couple of ugly avatars because of their difference | |
| 15:22 | Larkylouz | Particularly if LL is creating grotesque newbie avatars. |
| 15:22 | Carl Metropolitan | That is something that David can address in his draft. |
| 15:22 | Fauve Aeon | good point Miss Larky |
| 15:22 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I suspect that we will need to get a draft via internal commenting and then make it "public" for comments. |
| 15:22 | Carl Metropolitan | Yes |
| 15:22 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I will try to make a clear objective set of criteria |
| 15:22 | Carl Metropolitan | On another topic: |
| 15:22 | Carl Metropolitan | Caledon Oxbridge is planning a winter fund raiser auction and dance for late January/early February to raise money to expand our class offerings. (Thanks to the Patrons program, tier is covered.) We are looking for high-end donations (especially limited or one-of-a-kind items) to auction. If you have something to donate, please contact me at j.carl.henderson@gmail.com. |
| 15:22 | Carl Metropolitan | You may have seen that annoucement. |
| 15:23 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | A question then on fundraising |
| 15:23 | Carl Metropolitan | Or not, depending on LL and the way group notices are working. |
| 15:23 | Carl Metropolitan | Please go ahead? |
| 15:23 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | How is the gatcha project coming? Or is it on hold for now? |
| 15:24 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | abd aby other projets in the works |
| 15:24 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | *any other |
| 15:24 | Carl Metropolitan | It never really got organized as I was waiting to have a Dean of Development to manage it. |
| 15:24 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | ah ok |
| 15:25 | Carl Metropolitan | On fundraising, we need to rescript and revamp how we do class sponsorships. |
| 15:25 | Carl Metropolitan | We also need to do some stuff like the Gachas. |
| 15:25 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | So, both conversations end up being issues of development. |
| 15:25 | Carl Metropolitan | I'm working on the Winter Dance & Auction. |
| 15:25 | Carl Metropolitan | And looking for a Dean of Development. |
| 15:25 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | Nodds |
| 15:26 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | ty |
| 15:26 | Carl Metropolitan | Tali has two other scripting projects in works before she can get to the class sponsorship stuff. |
| 15:26 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | The sponsorship boards inside are redone, and the ones outside are close to being redone. |
| 15:26 | Fauve Aeon | I am going to start following the gachas closer, to see what is more suitable for our time periods, I was goi g to do it anyway so I could report on it a bit. |
| 15:26 | Carl Metropolitan | Thank you. |
| 15:26 | Fauve Aeon | in the Gazette, perhaps, which brings up that too... |
| 15:27 | Carl Metropolitan | We don't know yet. |
| 15:27 | Larkylouz | I wonder if the Gazette should pssibly be renamed? |
| 15:28 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | What Oxbridge does is likely to be more focused and also likely renamed. |
| 15:28 | Fauve Aeon | The Zephyr is reporting on Caledon in general with a section to cover Oxbridge, I saw... |
| 15:28 | Carl Metropolitan | I saw that. I was happy to see that. |
| 15:28 | Gronk Seriman | I am completely confused about the Gazette. It's going away. It's splitting off from COU. It's staying where it is. |
| 15:28 | Fauve Aeon | so I was wo dering what direction The Gazette would take to perhaps be more focused here or ? |
| 15:29 | Fauve Aeon | I was too :) It looks promising |
| 15:29 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | More focused here would be correct. |
| 15:29 | Carl Metropolitan | It will be more focused on Oxbridge, unless Steadman takes it off to become the Caledon Gazette, in which case an Oxbridge focused blog of a different title will come into being. |
| 15:30 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | If Steadman Kondor wants to continue a Caledon wide oriented newspaper that would be separate, another reason to use a different name for what we do specific to Oxbridge. |
| 15:31 | Fauve Aeon | perhaps that needs to be decided and clear editorial guidelines created? |
| 15:31 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | As we can. |
| 15:31 | Fauve Aeon | no urgency or such, just ideas. |
| 15:32 | Carl Metropolitan | The Gazette is a low priority project right now. It may be several weeks before we know how it is going to pan out. |
| 15:32 | Fauve Aeon | understandable. |
| 15:33 | Carl Metropolitan | Oh, our Winter Dance & Auction has a DJ already: Magdalena Kamenev has volunteered |
| 15:33 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | What is clear is that I'm not going to go in and trash existing articles. |
| 15:33 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | excellent |
| 15:33 | Carl Metropolitan | And I have several very nice contributions to bid on. |
| 15:34 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I've also asked Miss Kamenev if she would be so gracious as to give an Oxbridge Seminar in the near future. |
| 15:34 | Carl Metropolitan | Excellent news. |
| 15:35 | Carl Metropolitan | We would also over the next several months like to expand our class schedule, funding and teachers permitting. |
| 15:35 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | She accepted, by the way. I've left it to her and future discussion exactly the organization and topic. |
| 15:35 | Carl Metropolitan | My job (and whoever becomes Dean of Development) will be to ensure that Wordsmith has enough funds to "fill the board" should he have qualified teachers and good classes. |
| 15:36 | Carl Metropolitan | At one point, we offered 42 classes & events a week, with each slot on the board filled. |
| 15:37 | Gronk Seriman | Wow! |
| 15:37 | Larkylouz | I suggest the possibility of creating some sort of instruction on "how to create a viable class and write a lecture" |
| 15:38 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Unfortunately, this week we went in the wrong direction. Red Quixote, our very capable instructor on animations and graphics design has had to take an extended time away for health reasons. |
| 15:38 | Tali Rosca | Oh. I didn't know that. |
| 15:38 | Gronk Seriman | Oh no! |
| 15:39 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | Which means we are looking for an instructor with those skills |
| 15:39 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | It was to be expected, sort of... |
| 15:39 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I'll be putting out a letter to faculty and ISC on Oxbridge expertise needs, after checking with a couple more people. |
| 15:40 | Carl Metropolitan | Perfect. |
| 15:40 | Carl Metropolitan | Let's take some questions now? |
| 15:42 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | Oxbridge scholars shy??? |
| 15:42 | Larkylouz | I will start with one. I think perhaps the new mesh LL avis have been revised. I'm seeing newbies successfully putting on clothing with them. Last night there was a woman here who had the clothes of one and the dress of another! |
| 15:42 | Larkylouz | I wonder if anyone knows anything concrete? |
| 15:42 | Carl Metropolitan | That would be very good it is the case. |
| 15:43 | Carl Metropolitan | No. Someone will have to experiement with them. They are in everyone's Library |
| 15:43 | Tali Rosca | I would be much surprised if LL silently updated that. |
| 15:43 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | I think you might have had more advance newbiw |
| 15:43 | Tali Rosca | They do, after all, use the same bones, so it *is* possible to combine. It's just that not many combinations work out that well. |
| 15:44 | Larkylouz | Maybe. I don't know that *I* know how to dress these avis. |
| 15:44 | Larkylouz | ah, okay, Tali |
| 15:44 | Fauve Aeon | only a very few I tested will work, so I will test again, I was hoping they would further work on them |
| 15:45 | Larkylouz | my efforts to question the avatars in question was difficult, as they didn't really understand the problem, let alone the solution |
| 15:45 | Tali Rosca | The avatars are just rigged mesh, with the various clothes made specifically for "their" avatar. The problem is that the base bodies are not in any way coordinated. |
| 15:45 | Tali Rosca | But nothing prevents you from wearing clothes from one with another (or with your own avatar). |
| 15:46 | Tali Rosca | -The vampire huntress trench coat actually suits me fairly well, for example. |
| 15:46 | Carl Metropolitan | I experimented with switching clothes when they first came out and it did not work well. |
| 15:46 | Carl Metropolitan | They also didn't used the Standard Sizing convention adopted by most SL mesh clothing creators. |
| 15:47 | Fauve Aeon | I did too and shoes were pretty much a wash, I made one successful swap, though I could wear some with a classic |
| 15:48 | Fauve Aeon | clothes had embarrassing poke through unless I only wore a very low movement AO, lack of alphas for the bodies. |
| 15:49 | Carl Metropolitan | Okay. Next question? |
| 15:50 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | old question. Has anything been sauid further on sl2? |
| 15:50 | Tali Rosca | It may, in fact, be easier to wear over a "normal" avatar where you can use alphas, yes. |
| 15:50 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | any new developments? |
| 15:51 | Carl Metropolitan | Nothing. |
| 15:51 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | ty |
| 15:51 | Carl Metropolitan | I don't expect to hear much about it until it is close to an alpha release. |
| 15:51 | Tali Rosca | Nothing new to my knowledge, though Ebbe has been talking to press, repeating what has already been said before. |
| 15:52 | Gronk Seriman | The Press still cares about SL?!? |
| 15:52 | Carl Metropolitan | I'm personally skeptical it will ever materialize. At the rate LL churns through CEOs, it should be finished about the time Ebbe moves on and a new CEO will be stuck with implementing it. |
| 15:52 | Gronk Seriman | Oops! Did I say that out loud? |
| 15:52 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Time will tell |
| 15:53 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | when there is something salacious I suspect they do |
| 15:53 | Tali Rosca | Actually, Der Spiegel ran an article about it. |
| 15:53 | Tali Rosca | (Mentioning Jo Yardley and her Berlin as well) |
| 15:54 | Tali Rosca | https://joyardley.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/der-spiegel-magazine-writes-about-second-life-ebbe-and-1920s-berlin/ |
| 15:56 | Larkylouz | Going back to all the staff changes, I would find it helpful to have a synopsis of the major changes that each Dean is working to implement, particularly if it affects the staff. |
| 15:57 | Carl Metropolitan | Any final questions? We are getting close to four pm |
| 15:57 | Gronk Seriman | Seriously. Searching Google News about stories about SL is very slim pickings lately. |
| 15:57 | Larkylouz | Hi Beth |
| 15:58 | Beth Cooper-Pentewyn (beth.pentewyn) | I finally got in. |
| 15:58 | Larkylouz | He's been kinda quiet. ;^( |
| 15:58 | Meora (menchor) | hi Beth |
| 15:58 | Carl Metropolitan | Sometimes you just don't have much to say :) |
| 15:58 | Beth Cooper-Pentewyn (beth.pentewyn) | Oh, good. |
| 15:58 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | To answer larky for the Commons, my two prime tasks are to review and consolidate the bans and remove those that are too old., and to develop the criteria for the dress code and conduct code |
| 15:58 | Larkylouz | howl |
| 15:59 | Tali Rosca | I don't have anything in the works which should impact staff much. I am looking at some tracking of donations and patrons. |
| 15:59 | Tali Rosca | I'd actually like to turn that around and say that any assistant to Engines would have a good opportunity for input on the projects :-) |
| 16:00 | Carl Metropolitan | And then we dump the Oxbridge Mentors project on him :) |
| 16:00 | David Cooper-Pentewyn (deebeecooper) | I will add that my work will be slow due to my illness of the past week and I will focus on getting the draft code together |
| 16:00 | Larkylouz | To answer my own question, I am developing a ban-and-eject howto notecard, hiring new tutors and hoping to work towards more coverage time-wise and work on programs to increase help for folks who don't speak English. |
| 16:00 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | What I have that would most directly affect staff is simplying adding staff and classes to get a fuller schedule and more variation. |
| 16:01 | Carl Metropolitan | We have a lot of initiatives that are sort of interdependent. |
| 16:01 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | One completed project is to collect a histogram of age since rez date for each class in addition to total students. |
| 16:01 | Phrynne | I am working on updating and consolidating some of the notecards that go into tutors' and professors' packets to be given to students. |
| 16:02 | Carl Metropolitan | One thing that we do need is someone who can do mesh building. We need to redo a few remaining buildings and make them less primmy. Ravelli has done a wonderful job, but there is more to be done. |
| 16:02 | Tali Rosca | I did also take a look at a handful of .blend files, and may dive into that now and then just to get a break from code. No promises there, though. |
| 16:02 | Larkylouz | Phyrnne has been very helpful in my notecard development, as well. |
| 16:02 | Carl Metropolitan | I will email you on that Tali |
| 16:03 | Carl Metropolitan | Okay. It is four pm! |
| 16:03 | Carl Metropolitan | Thanks for coming! |
| 16:03 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | acuattulay I had that question. SOmne one to takeover after ravelli |
| 16:03 | MIstress of Demons and Fire (andreajonesms) | acuattulay I had that question. SOmne one to takeover after ravelli |
| 16:03 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Tough act to follow. |
| 16:03 | Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) | Yup |
| 16:04 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thank you all. |
| 16:04 | Beth Cooper-Pentewyn (beth.pentewyn) | Thank you all! |