Linden Lab Fellowship

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Is anyone else excited about this opportunity? I mean, I am not going to apply for it, beacuse in all reality I am not qualified for such a fellowship. However, the fact that Linden Labs is going to do something like this is pretty exciting, as it is showing a shift from looking at Second Life as a game and moving more towards a media form or platform.

In short, cool beans!

--BL

Very cool! I look forward to seeing what comes from it.

Yeah I wanna see who gets this! I've always had a thing for original works of art in SL that weren't derived or taken from textures of offline works previously composed by other creators. Some sort of mad cyber-Picasso schtuff! In THREE-DEE.

this is the type of stuff i've always wanted to do in SL, but never got around to. like Brian, i won't be submitting myself for this, but i wish luck to all those that do.

Torley, i love your thought patterns on this.. and the inferred eventualities it could produce. maybe someday i'll actually do something more artistic than my partial builds i never seem to finish in Miramare, but that will require that i actually go in-world and get off of these forums! lol..

(ok, i admit.. i've done artistic stuff right from the beginning, starting with the first thing i made which were these little mushrooms with some sort of funky particle effect.. or was it odd lighting effects? hmm.. either way, i forgot to save it to inventory due to my youth and weak SL-fu at the time. then there was my Burning Life 2004 build, "Looking Forward with Hope".. *shrug* ..i gues i just need to get back to it more than starting to do it. but i digress..)

i agree that this program should help to hail a brighter, more productive, future for SL and look forward to what springs forth from this fountain.

I, too, am very glad to see this sort of thing happening. It encourages the use of the grid for more intellectual things. As I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, I can't help but wonder if we could see something like this for other college majors. IE: I am an international business major and have used SL on occasion to test out theories, get feedback on my ideas and in general, a testing grounds for how I might do in life after graduation.

I am also glad to see that so many residents support this. Makes me wonder: if we all donate a few L$, trade it in for $US... what kind of collective scholarship fund could we start?? I've seen the generosity of residents when I was involved in a hurricane relief fundraiser. A scholarship seems well within our scope! (*nudges* how 'bout it?)

Very cool. I can think of several people off the top of my head who I'm going to bully into applying for this.

This is a marvelous idea. If you organize something you can count me in as a supporter.

I think it's a great thing! I've already sent the application off to my nephew, who is in film/video study.
I think I'll send it off to my oldest nephew too.
I'd like to have my son apply, but he's only 17...won't be 18 til October...ah heck I'll have him apply too.

Oh! Did I say that I too am excited about this? ...you could tell huh?

I did art school for 6 years, i have a reputation as a portret drawer (sorry if i use the wrong naming, english isnt my native) and also sold many oil and acryl paintings.
My creativity expanded to the computer as soon as the first Photoshop came out. Gaming is also a part of my life (i own two gaming shops with my ex husband) and therefor i made lots of textures and skins for other games, most of em floating on the net for free somewhere.
The first person in sl i became friends with *waves to Eos* had an art gallery and my husband proposed i should upload pictures of my rl paintings and portrets in SL to sell them. But i didn't fall for that because every painting is made unique and sold for quit some money, in my opnion i would feel like cheating on my customers if i made more money on their painting or portret.
I love Second Life and the continues temptation it provides me to make new things in this virtual world. I love the idea of the fellowship. But i'm also incredibly dissapointed in how SL and his customer service works.
This 'platform' isnt ready to attract real developers and artists (just look at a post here about the hacking tool to copy textures and builds), if i spend 3 weeks on making a build and textures for someone and they dont pay me, i can shove my build where my mouth is, no regulations.
No texture or build is safe from copy by others. Not even your 'businessname' is safe. Any noob can waltz in and start a business with your name and your stuff and believe me LL dont do sh*t about it.
Everything i upload in SL i considered given for free. I make quit some money of SL and i do love it. But i will NEVER upload my most precious stuff, simply because i know SL ain't ready for that!

Yeah I wish my 11 yr old artist daughter could apply too. Wouldn't it be great to see an "SL: Second Generation" for the 6-12 yr old group? I'd bet their building/scripting/designing stuff would be incredibly original and wonderful.

What exactly does this mean?

Does the winner get $4,000 USD to build art in SL ?

Is this the replacement for the DI awards?

Just posted this over on the Core77 design forum. It'd be nice if LL would get the rest of the info posted. There will probably be plenty of questions.

It means that someone with a good idea to apply art in SL gets $4000, nominally to help pay for college in that subject.

And if this is the DI replacement, AWESOME FRIGGIN IDEA Scholarships would be a great way to put the money to use. Good PR too.

Most definetely.

I think this is great! What a fantastic opportunity for someone. WTG LL you nailed it this time! I would really love to see what the intern come up with after a semester. I don't know if we will even know the end results but I for one am already jealous Wow just wow what a great idea LL! Kudos gotta go out to Robin too!

Brilliant!

MarCat

This is cool in so many ways.

The Fellowship of the Bling!

I think it means you get $4000 so you can take the summer OFF from college (or another semester) in order to devote time to work in SL.

When I got fellowships, it was so I could spend the semester in school without having to worry about supporting myself. Thus, a fellowship to SL would mean the same thing - that individual can then devote a summer or a semester to "studying" in SL, i.e., applying him/herself to work in SL.

coco

You're right, I read it when I was drinking my morning tea.

Regardless, a good opportunity for someone.

Thanks everyone for all the enthusiasm! I've got high hopes for this project, and it's wonderful to see it be well received. Please feel free to spread the word to students you know (undergraduate or graduate) who might be interested in a grant to explore SL as a creative medium.

The idea, as Cocoanut explains, is that the fellowship will allow them to support themselves while they focus on their project. It isn't meant to cover tuition. So perhaps it could support work toward a senior thesis, or dissertation. Or just allow someone to try something entirely new that hasn't been possible before.

As much as normally tend to criticize LL, this one I wholeheartedly agree with.


- Newfie

Having already earned an MFA (approaching 2 decades ago) I won't be applying for this, but applaud LL for having the foresight to see that having the right "Poster Child" for SL as an artistic platform could do wonders for their image and the perception in the public at large.

I was more excited when I initially saw the post, because I thought maybe they had figured out a decent replacement for DI. Unfortunately, no matter how brilliant the recipient is, they are only one person, and will be unlikely to "raise the level of the ocean" and make a real impact on overall life in SL.

I'd really love to see LL retool the DI as something of a scaled down, monthly version of this. Smaller awards to more than one person. Possibly in the form of tier cost reduction rather than cash payments. (Possibly even making this transferrable, so a land-less AV could donate tier cost to a benefactor).

As someone who's primary objective in this world is performing (I also do some "products" I'm still quite concerned that the death of DI may well dry up the supply of good venus (especially those willing to pay performing artists) and this sort of approach might at least keep some of the better ones from disappearing.

Would other people be interested in making an attempt at a scholarship fund? I've never done such a thing myself, but I think it would be a fabulous idea, especially if we could have LL involved somehow, even if only for moral backing.

So as not to overshadow this wonderful step that LL has made, I'll start a new thread later tonight in regards to this idea.

I'd be down for it, but then I'd be one of the annoying college kids gunning for it.

No, it won't. It's completely unrelated to DI. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad idea. I think it's outstanding.

I never said it was a bad thing. I am thrilled that they're doing this. I also know that it's unrelated to DI, but wanted to mention that the announcement triggered some thoughts about DI.