For the past few weeks my friends Kelly and Jessica have been holding lifestreamer meetups in Second Life every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The meetings have been a great way to interact with other lifestreamers, share ideas about the lifestreaming process and explore how lifestreaming can improve our lives.
Kelly and Jessica are two of only a handful of people I’ve gotten to know who are as enthusiastic about lifestreaming as I am and it has been a joy to learn their thoughts about technical aspects of ‘streaming and lifestreaming as a lifestyle. There’s no one I know who has done more experimenting with the lifestreaming lifestyle than those two.
1. Many of us are self-employed or want to be self-employed. We want to have profitable online businesses. But without a boss or a workplace to go to, it can be hard to get motivated to get out of bed in the morning. By scheduling meetings in SL, we can keep each other accountable for “showing up” to work.
2. We chose SL because logistically, it seemed less complicated than a multi-person video chat. I would prefer video but using SL actually lowers the barrier to entry–you don’t have to put your makeup on to meet, just roll out of bed and log on. That’s all most of us need–just a tiny push, a small group of people who will care if we don’t show up.
3. We are all working on various technical aspects of our lifestreams, and it is very helpful to talk to each other about CMSs, workflows, etc.
4. We are scattered around the globe and having SL for a meeting place means no travel or expensive phone bills of course :]
5. Keeping meeting minutes is easy with local chat.
6. Lastly, I really want to build a community of lifestreamers who feel like they know each other. SL is a great place to do that because of the embodied communication. You really feel like you’re in a space with other people, instead of looking at each other on a screen. Having avatars present together creates a feeling of spatial connectedness.
~Jessica Mullen, “Why hold lifestreamers’ meetings in Second Life?“
The lifestreaming meetings have gained attention from New World Notes, which published the article “Lifestreamers Forming Community in Second Life” about the group.
If you’re a lifestreamer and want to join in, why not meet us at Educators Coop 2 (109, 216, 24) at 9 am EST. In Second Life I can be found as Apollo Glass.