INFLUENCE

Looking at a painting or sculpture on the Internet doesn't inspire the same awe as seeing the real thing in a museum. But standing INSIDE a painting in virtual reality is a mind-blowing experience you can enjoy from home, and socially with others online.

Alli and Lindsey talk with Robin Stethem, the founder and CEO of The Museum of Other Realities, a VR space that contains a rotating collection of exhibits from artists working in 3D virtual space. These range from sculptures you can shrink down and walk inside of, infinite paintings you can fly into, art that's activated by sound and body languages, and other experiences that are only possible with emerging tech.

Learn more about the Museum and how to visit it on the VR platform of your choice: https://www.museumor.com/

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In keeping with our recent coverage of VR communities, we're sharing this encore episode about deaf users of VRchat and the volunteer translators making a big impact in social VR. Enjoy!

-- Original Show Notes // February 3, 2020 --

Deaf users of immersive social platforms like VRchat can face a tough time communicating. Unlike other social media, VR spaces rely on verbal and physical communication rather than text. And sign language with current-gen VR controllers is limiting and clunky at best.

But groups of volunteer interpreters inside VR worlds are hard at work making sure these spaces are more welcoming and accessible for deaf users. The result is an empowering community of "Helping Hands."

This week, Alli and Jen speak with Quentin, a 19-year-old volunteer translator and VR enthusiast, who is bridging the communications gap between deaf and hearing people in VRchat. Quentin (a hearing person) shares how and why he learned American Sign Language, the tech limitations of signing in VR, and how sign language is evolving in VR to accommodate differences between headsets and motion tracking.

A transcript of this episode was provided by @Zazzy_chan! You can read it here: http://bit.ly/2UJ1Qcz

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Alli's on her way to Burning Man and Lindsey is enroute to the East Coast, so we catch up on life, world events, learn about Alli's guided tour of VR Kmart!

Get tickets for Alli's show in LA, "Love Isn't Blind": https://www.loveisntblind.co/

And get tickets for Lindsey's show in NYC, "Letters to the Boys I've Never Kissed" https://www.frigid.nyc/event/6897:209/

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VR is used to create immersive video games, fantastical social worlds, and surreal art. Or you can make a Kmart from 1992.

An enterprising community of VRChat players have built just that, and manage it every day, complete with employees, managers, cash registers, and products on the shelves, like Surge soda and Super Nintendo. It's one part role-play, one part time machine — a way to virtually visit what '90s American big box stores were like. And people from all over the virtual world are flocking to it.

Carbon Blossom, the communications manager for this virtual store, explains its origins, global appeal, and take Alli and Lindsey on a whirlwind tour through the history of retail.

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When filmmaker Jonathan Stack started to burn out on making documentaries about prisons and drug addiction, he decided to turn his attention toward building a positive movement. He noted that misconceptions about family planning are rampant, especially in developing countries and of course, on the Internet. So he co-founded World Vasectomy Day, a global movement for public health and destigmatizing family planning. And when he began interviewing men all over the world about why they had gotten their vasectomies, the overwhelming answer was: "Love."

Jonathan shares how the organization got started, and the online community of activists and doctors working to evolve the narrative around vasectomies.

Visit World Vasectomy Day: https://wvd.org/

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Online grifters who peddle misinformation for influence and profit are a tale as old as the Web itself. But the more recent phenomenon of credentialed medical doctors decrying Covid a hoax and spreading anti-vax rhetoric has more serious ramifications. So who holds doctors (and other medical professionals) accountable when they spread misinformation online? The medical boards that license them should be investigating, but shocker: They're not.

That's where Dr. Nick Sawyer comes in. By day, he's an ER doctor, but in his limited spare time, he's the executive director of "No License for Disinformation," a non-profit coalition of doctors who created a way to report and de-license bad actors. Dr. Nick explains the difference between disinfo grift and the alarmingly coordinated political efforts to discredit science and damage public health. He also discusses the early momentum of this online medical community, and why it can be hard for them to organize (even on the Internet) amid backlash from corporate medical institutions.

Learn more (and support the cause) here: https://www.nolicensefordisinformation.org/

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Ever buy breadmaking ingredients, crochet hooks, or a papier-mâché kit, only to spend a bunch of money and then get bored with your new hobby? You're not alone, especially during the pandemic. And those with neurodiversity, especially ADHD, can become hyper fixated on something, only to completely abandon it later.

The ADHD Hobby Swap Facebook group is a place where best intentions can be re-sold to like-minded hobbyists. It saves people money, reduces waste, and helps folks discover new projects they never dreamed of. Alli and Lindsey talk with the group's creator, Sarah Henley, about its explosion in popularity over the last few years.

Check out the Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/446133216790646

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When the Web was created, it was open, inter-operable, and structured for everyone to participate. Today, most people consume online content through 5 mega-corps that make billions from our data and warp our social discourse. This has had profound effects on privacy and security. But how did we get here? And can we ever get back?

Alli and Lindsey talk with Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Since 1990, the non-profit EFF has been working to protect the civil liberties of Internet users. This ranges from government surveillance to corporate abuse of privacy. As a civil rights attorney, Cindy has fought and won numerous legal battles that protect online speech, privacy, and access.

She discusses the origins of the EFF, why law enforcement didn't understand the Internet at first, and the battles ahead regarding decentralization, tech anti-trust, and even abortion access.

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We are afk this week, but re-sharing an amazing episode about the virtual cemetery in the space MMO EVE Online, which started as a memorial to dead characters and quickly became a shrine to IRL friends, family, pets, and lost loved ones who have died.

-- Original Show Notes, Episode 143 | August 17, 2020 --

Alli and Jen speak with Jason Marshall, a veteran player of the MMO 'EVE Online' about the game's 15-year-old player-run space graveyard.

The Molea cemetery has been operating since 2004, and not only contains the frozen corpses of killed space pilots, but graves that mark the deaths of lost loved ones in real life — friends, family members, pets, and other players.

In June of this year, the developers of 'EVE' formally recognized this player accomplishment by adding a massive, permanent memorial to the system. Marshall explains how the cemetery got started, why players care so much about transporting their clone corpses to virtual graves, how the team fended off attacks from the notorious Goonswarm Alliance, and the first time a player requested a grave for a real person.

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Mushrooms, psychedelics, micro-dosing and more have recently come into fashion, but online communities and scientists have been studying their effects on mental health for decades. The social stigma on mind-altering substances still prevents many people from safely exploring them. That's where Plant Parenthood comes in. It's an online community that connects and educates parents on how psychedelics can reduce the stress of raising kids, and tap into the playful and creative mindsets that make families joyful.

Alli and Lindsey talk with Rebecca Kronman and Andrew Rose from Plant Parenthood, who explain the intersection of family and psychedelics, and how this community allows people to talk about things they can't address with IRL friends and family.

Check out Plant Parenthood: https://www.plantph.com/

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