A farewell

By the start of 2013 the Second House of Sweden project has officially been closed down.

The project was by all standards a success. We managed to make a definite mark in the virtual world of Second Life as well as creating a lot of publicity in the first [life]. This blog shows some of the events that took place, and perhaps more importantly tells the story of why a government agency such as the Swedish Institute decided to embark on the journey of creating the world’s first virtual embassy.

What you can’t read about in this blog, but could only experience, was all the interesting meetings that took place between different individuals (virtual or not) from all over the world. From the opening ceremony hosted by Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt, and the Virtu-Real project which enabled meetings between visitors of the real world House of Sweden and it’s virtual “twin” Second House of Sweden – to everyone that just stopped by to see what the fuzz was about.

Although it is always a bit sad to leave a dear friend, at the Swedish Institute we constantly look for new ways of communicating our belief in openness and innovation, and no project (should) last forever. You could say that Curators of Sweden was in 2012 what Second House of Sweden was in 2007. What 2013 holds in store remains to be seen.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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Midsummer celebration at SHoS

In the words of the organizers:

In modern Sweden, Midsummer’s Eve is celebrated on the second to last Friday and in June. It is arguably the most important holiday of the year, and one of the most uniquely Swedish in the way it is celebrated. The main celebrations take place on the Friday, and the traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole. One typical dance is the so called “frog dance”. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover the entire pole.

Sounds a bit odd huh? Well it is very odd indeed and now you got the chance to celebrate this in Second Life. Right now, in front of the SecondHouse of Sweden you will find a traditional Swedish outdoor dance floor, a maypole, market booths and much more.

Tina (PetGirl) Bergman, Ewa Aska and Jesper Printz are organizing this event for everyone in Second Life.

The celebration starts at 01.00 PM SLT and continues through the whole magical Swedish Midsummer Eve night, a night when the sun doesn’t set.

Ikaros String (DJ ) starts the party incl ring dances at 1 PM (22.00 CET) – 2 PM (23.00 CET)
Bara Johnson – a fantastic Swedish live artist recongnised from both RL and SL will play at 2 PM (23.00 CET) – 2.30 PM (23.30 CET
Noma Falta is a musician playing blues and soulful rock in virtual worlds and In-person around the globe. 2.30 PM (23.30 CET) – 3 PM (24.00 CET)
Jesper will live dj right after Noma 3 PM (24.00 CET) ’til late.

Hearty Welcome to Midsummer’s Eve in Second Life!

Tina, Ewa & Jesper

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Swedish%20Institute/71/212/30

Where did we go? Where are we going?

I thought it appropriate to comment on the fact that the blog hasn’t been updated in a while. Stefan Geens, a.k.a. Belmeloro DiPrima, who used to run this blog has moved on to work on a Chinese version of www.sweden.se. He is still present in Second Life and at the SHoS though, just not responsible for organizing events and other activities.

Coinciding with Stefan’s focus on other tasks, we also had to decrease our presence in the form of SHoS guides. And as you all know, people brings more people (in RL as well as SL), and consequently, less people brings less people.

As the Second Life hype has subsided, we have worked harder to find Swedish partners interested in doing SL events, and also to achieve the level of public (and media) attention that we require in most of our activities on and off the web. Looking back the past year, we feel that the Virtu-Real installations, the US election event, the RL/SL E-learning seminar, the Pride festival and the Swedish national day celebrations – to mention a few – where all good examples of such collaborations.

Stay tuned for news about an event that will take place soon at the Second House of Sweden.

From Sweden with love

Ms. Tina Dahl has made sure that Valentine’s day on Saturday doesn’t pass unnoticed in Second Life. Even the Second House of Sweden is now covered in hearts of different sizes. Romantic, beautiful, or even a little creepy. :) You be the judge.

The making of Virtu-real goes Tokyo

Studio unreal have posted a video of the making of their installation at the Embassy of Tokyo. You can watch it here.

Season’s greetings from us

eLearning 2.0: Live all day Friday

Just a quick reminder: We’ll be live streaming the eLearning 2.0 Conference on Friday September 5 from Stockholm into the Second House of Sweden auditorium. The sessions start at 9am and will finish around 6pm, Stockholm time (midnight to 9am, Second Life time).

eLearning 2.0 is being organized by the Swedish Association for Information Specialists (SFIS) and will be conducted in English.

Here’s what the schedule looks like:

Friday, September 5
8:30am: Registration. Coffee and sandwich.
9:00am: Introduction to eLearning 2.0
9:15am: Conference tool kit: Second life, Jaiku, Facebook
9:45am: Web Conferencing Tools – overview for education and effective meetings (Mats Brenner, NSHU)
10:00am: The Best of Both Worlds! Moodle + Second Life = Sloodle (D.I. von Briesen)
12:00pm: lunch
1:00pm: Let’s Web Conference! (Part 1) Angele GIULIANO. Tips and tricks for successful web conferencing
2:00pm: Adobe Connect (Dan Lidholm, WeZupport)
2:20pm: DimDim (Sundar Subramanian, Co-Founder of DimDim and Director of Business Development)
2:40pm: WiZiQ – A free virtual classroom tool that needs no downloads! (Marc Cruthers)
3:00pm: Coffee & Visit to Kista Science Tower
3:30pm: Let’s Web Conference! (Part 2) Tips and tricks for successful web conferencing
4:30pm: Conclusions / end discussion / evaluation

I’ll be moderating in Second Life, if the need arises, making sure that participants in Second Life can take part by asking questions to the real-life moderator. It will be a laid-back affair, and take place all day long, so drop in and take a look or spend a longer time on those sessions you’re interested in. Alas, the only food and drinks you’ll get during breaks at the Second House of Sweden will be virtual:-)

Second Life Pride

Every year, the Stockholm Pride festival celebrates the queer lifestyle, showcasing the tolerant and open society that Sweden is famous for. This year, the festivities are from July 25 – Aug 3, and will be augmented by EuroPride 2008, a Europe-wide initiative;festival speakers will include Cecilia Malmström, Sweden’s minister for EU Affairs.

Second Life too has been holding Pride events, and to mark the occasion both in real life and in Second Life, the Second House of Sweden has now been draped in Pride colors, thanks to an initiative by Tina Dahl (aka Petgirl Bergman). Here’s what it looks like, but go visit yourself:

Come celebrate Sweden’s National Day in Second Life (June 6)

On June 6 Swedes celebrate their national day. This year the celebrations in Second Life are going to be extra special — three days of shows and activities by some of Second Life’s most talented artists.

The celebrations start on Friday, June 6 at 8 p.m. Stockholm time (GMT+1 or 11 a.m. SL time) on the roof of Second House of Sweden, Sweden’s virtual embassy in Second Life.

Friday evening will be filled with performances by talented Swedish artists and DJs. Visitors will also have the opportunity to enjoy circus performances, clowns, fire eaters and more.

The Swedish Institute’s General Director Olle Wästberg will kick off the celebration at 8 p.m. After his introduction, there will be a sing-along to the Swedish national anthem. After that, the performance artists and DJs take over until late.

In the week running up to June 6, visit the lawn in front of the Second House of Sweden to see a special piece of scripted installation art. This NPIRL (not possible in real life) installation will materialize piece by piece to become a giant Swedish flag by June 6. The installation was conceived by Tina (PetGirl) Bergman and built and scripted by Deirdre Boyer.

Saturday and Sunday, June 7–8, you can explore the beautiful archipelago, take a swim, sit in the sauna, and visit the country fair — with juggling clowns and fire eaters, camping tents, popcorn, ice cream and model airplanes. At 11pm Stockholm time Saturday evening, the well-known vaudeville performance group “The Show Must Go On”, directed by Osprey Therain, makes a special appearance.

There will be plenty of freebie hand-outs, from red clown noses to the Swedish national dress and Swedish flag, just for starters.

All are welcome, Swedes and non-Swedes alike. If you are a Swede, try to bring a foreign friend, so they too can partake in Sweden’s national day.

See you soon!

Swedes in Second Life and the Swedish Institute.

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Responsible for the production of this National Day celebration:
Ika Cioc – Art director and hostess during the celebration
Vira Broome – Virus manager
Belze Fraker – Bob the builder
Cur Waydelich – Clown on duty
Kay Uggla

Tina (PetGirl) Bergman – Producer and organizer
(misstinadahl@gmail.com)

On stage we will have the elite of Swedish music in Second Life:
Natalie Moody
Ernst Edman
Bara Jonson
Junivers Stockholm

Two DJs will be responsible for the music during the evening and will make sure you feel like dancing.
Balp Allen – DJ
Freddie Lancaster – DJ

Special thanks to “The Show Must Go On” — Second Life’s best known vaudeville theater/circus.

From the Swedish Institute:
Olle Wästberg / Olle Ivory
Stefan Geens / Belmeloro DiPrima
Karl Peterson/ Nex Canning
Visit http://www.secondhouseofsweden.com for contact information

Many thanks to these designers, who donated some wonderful objects to the group working on the celebration of Sweden’s national day in Second Life:
Lilith Hearth — plants
Alexa Lioncourt — disco equipment
Paul Ge — music instruments
Paul Ge — riot fences
Jesper Prinz — luxurious textures
Yoshinori Shirakawa — television equipment
Taco Rubio — therapist
Junivers Stockholm — a football field
Dinky Deschanel — circus equipment

For more information or to receive images for articles, contact:
misstinadahl@gmail.com

World Book Day — 23 April

LiteraTour announces:

In cooperation with the Swedish Institute: The LiteraTour 2.0 project, together with the Public Libraries of Stockholm, welcome you to celebrate World Book Day with us – in Second life!

When: Wednesday, 23 April 3pm-5pm Swedish time (Central European Time)
Where: Second House of Sweden (Sweden’s virtual embassy in Second Life).

The event is a celebration of books, languages and intercultural dialogue. It’s one of a number of regular events that we call Literary Language Cafés.

It’s all about sharing literature and languages across the borders – both in First Life and in Second life! Apart from learning about our exciting project you will receive a free T-shirt for your avatar… And we also have a musical surprise for you!

If you are in the Stockholm area and you can’t join the event from your own computer, you are welcome to visit one of the following libraries where the event will be broadcast live on big screens:

* Stadsbiblioteket
* Kista bibliotek
* Brommaplans bibliotek
* Östermalms bibliotek

The event will be held in Swedish and English. Everyone is invited!

Read more about the project LiteraTour in Library 2.0