Hey there GLOCAL blog-readers!

We have some more progress to report on GLOCAL’s presence in the popular virtual world known as Second Life:

1) We have received some price quotes on having the Surrey Techlab in SL. This includes both the architectural estimate and the land rental costs.

2) We have a billboard now in Canada in SL. In a few days, we should have our flash animation promo video embedded into the billboard for all to see.

3) The Surrey Art Gallery’s Curator and Coordinator have been speculating some other islands such as the possibility of setting roots on the popular artists’ community known as Odyssey Island (curated by Sugar Seville) as a place to host the entire Surrey Art Gallery.

Here are some more photos of our current situation for you:

This was where the GLOCAL billboard was initially placed.

Here is the GLOCAL Coordinator Newton Dinzeo inside someone else’s retail space in the Canada in SL Plaza (trespassing allowed, right?)..Newton took this pic to get a better ambient view of the billboard outside. This space has some nice hardwood floors!

Here is a pic of Newton zooming out via flying in order to get a better sense of Canada in SL’s overall island-shape… From this perspective, it looks like just one big box and not the conventional image of what an island should appear to be.

Here is the office space in the basement of Canada in SL that has been temporarily reserved for the (or perhaps just “one of many) Techlab(s).

Here is a pic showing Newton and Canada in SL’s Manager Raine Renard inside of this reserved space…He thinks it would be good enough for a temporary Techlab, wouldn’t you agree?

Here is a pic of Newton sitting in what might be one of the Techlab’s immediate neighbors in the conference space below the plaza.

Here is Newton posing with Canada in SL’s Decorator Pielady Smalls (who is also a member of Dancoyote Antonelli’s Skydancers) and the architect, Sam Portocarrero from a subcontracted company called Dominion Custom Homes. They are figuring out how to embed our Flash promo animation into the new billboard…as you can see, Sam is scratching his head trying to come up with a solution. We finally figured out that the GLOCAL Artist Jer Thorp will need to convert the flash anim into a Quicktime Movie (MOV). Hopefully that will be ready later this week

With regards to the company (Raine and Ramada), we got some price quotes for the space rentals and the building of the Techlab so we are moving forward.

Hello GLOCAL Blog readers!

GLOCAL is finally getting down to entering Second Life and setting down virtually local and global roots there.

We have started with the placement of a tiny ad in the Canada in SL property and will be adding a larger and flashier billboard very shortly. In the long-term, we will also likely have the Surrey Art Gallery’s Techlab reproduced in Second Life At the moment, we are beginning the first phase of promotion and property/architectural speculation…Here are some more photos of our first official ventures into this Brave Not-So-New virtual world…

Here is a portrait of Newton sitting on one the GLOCAL signs. You will notice that this particular sign is close enough to the hot dog stand. This placement is intentional since we need to ensure that people will happen to notice our ad while eating their hot dogs! The best ad-placement is always near the refreshments

This picture is not too much different from the last one except that the Coordinator is standing instead of sitting down…

Did we mention that Surrey is also in Canada? Some of you more worldly avatar travelers may have thought we were based somewhere near London but I think this picnic table will be a blatant reminder for you once you come over to visit us in-world and take a few pixel-bites off one of the available hot dogs (while quantities last, of course). One of the reasons we had picked Canada in SL was because they offer free advertising for Canadian non-profits and fortunately for GLOCAL, the project is hosted by the Surrey Art Gallery.

Here is a side view of the Coordinator sitting on the sign… In this picture, you can also get a sneak preview of our future billboard area…Do you see that turret at the top of the mall’s plaza located in the middle of this screenshot? We plan to install our first billboard right on top of there…If you still cannot find it, not to worry…We have some more photos for you.

So, here is a close-up of this new billboard location. In this photo, the Coordinator is speculating the billboard area with his palm pilot (which very likely also includes its own GPS). Speaking of close-ups, this photo is a good excuse to show another close up of the Coordinator’s official GLOCAL self-portrait-pants.

This photo is really just an excuse to show the…er… “back end” of the GLOCAL Coordinator’s own personal…er…buttressing strategy

Another reason why we are considering a move to Canada in SL is because this property appears to be virtually quite close to “Vancouver” – well, at least a photo of Vancouver anyway Photo of Vancouver courtesy of the Graham Guru Photography Gallery.

The photo-shoot took all day because before we knew it, it was night-time…Wow, time accelerates quickly in virtual worlds, eh?

Please stay tuned for more developments on the GLOCAL Project in Second Life!