CTV and CATA Call for Canadian Residents of Second Life to Protest at Parliament to Save Our Local TV Stations

CATA Supports Local Television; calls for “Virtual Protest”!

Ottawa, May 18, 2009 -- The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) has joined the call of Ottawa TV station CTV, to support local TV by calling for a review of how cable and satellite companies misuse content from TV stations.

“Basically, our local TV stations create the content, and the cable and satellite companies take it for nothing and get paid to do so,” said John Reid, CATA President.  “This is a disaster for local High Tech companies, which often rely on their TV station for that all-important first piece of profile.  Coverage is hugely important in establishing a reputation and product awareness.  If the local TV companies falter, we will be facing another blow against High Tech -- which is already weak because of the economic climate.  This system has to be fixed.”

CATA is calling on local High Tech companies to join the CTV petition, and to gather for a “virtual protest meeting” in Second Life.  Second Life is a virtual 3D world where people can socialize, gather, chat and explore.  CATA’s Second Life community is being championed by Helix Commerce International Inc.

 

In Second Life you can join us in front of the Parliament building at the newly opened, Helix CATA Canadian Innovation Center on Friday, May 22^nd from12 Noon – 1:00 PM

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bountiful/195/189/26   Be sure to join the CTV group to receive updates and show your support.

In the meantime, CATA is urging its High Tech members to join CTV Ottawa’s Open House at 1500 Merivale Road in Ottawa on May 23, 2009 between 10am and 1pm. This is the community’s opportunity to tour the facilities and meet the professionals who deliver local television, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. 

“If you want to continue to have access to a powerful media platform, sign the online petition,” said Mr. Reid.  He asked his members to visit www.savelocal.ctv.ca/ottawa to help keep local TV news and programming available in the community. 

Memorial University is Recognized for Excellence in Innovation for Using Second Life

Memorial University just won an award recognizing their innovative use of Second Life for teaching and learning.

Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE) recognized Memorial University for the integration of virtual world technology in a course.  The award was received at the CNIE 2009 awards banquet on Tuesday May 12th.

RMB City in Second Life

     I spent time today on the RMB City Island in Second Life.  Grand opening was on January 10th 2009.   

RMB City is Second Life art community. This project is an experiment exploring the creative relationship between real and virtual space, and is a reflection of China's urban and cultural explosion. Grand Opening was January 10, 2009.

RMB City is developed by Cao Fei (SL: China Tracy) & Vitamin Creative Space. Facilitator: Uli Sigg (SL: UliSigg Cisse). Presenter: Serpentine Gallery.

After living in both China and Indonesia, I love seeing the ox pulling the broken truck cab.

Only in Second Life can you run a marathon in high heels.  

Education in Second Life

I have toured around to many universities in Second Life, the list is long.  Business, engineering, library, science, IT,  legal, and distance learning departments are just a few who are taking advantage of the Second Life platform.  The islands are being used for recruiting, training, teaching, lecturing, testing, and I have even talked in on meetings between professor and student in a virtual office of a professor, complete with credentials and family photos framed on the office wall.  One school of business even offers retail space for students to create an SL business using information they have learned in their courses.

Loyalist College in Ontario Canada is reporting that their testing scores have increased by 28% because of training and testing they are doing in SL for a border crossing patrol program they have.

Today an article was posted on the SL Blog by George Linden about yet another University entering Second Life.  The National Autonomous University of Mexico is the largest university in Latin America, with the Engineering School alone having 11 K students.  UNAM is currently building their campus in SL for Engineering School Distance Education Programs and also connecting with companies in the Real World to help take engineering design and training to the next level.

The island opens May 1st  SLURL (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ingenieria%20UNAM/212/128/23) 

Helix Virtual Worlds Canadian Second Life Developer

Helix Virtual Worlds is a division of Helix Commerce.  We specialize in developing and building island experiences in Second Life, we are a full service consultancy with several web 2.0 experts on board.  We have a full team of designers and developers in Second Life to build, script and create your virtual world experience.

We have just finished our innovation center for hosting conference and will be opening it soon to the public.  You can search in Second Life under Helix or Innovation.

Helix is located in Toronto, Ontario Canada

Kaline Hax - Second Life Avatar

Kathryn Gibson

647 477 6254

Parliament Building

Several months ago we created the parliament building.  Today we placed the building on the lower part of the Helix Commerce Island.  The parliament building will be an Ottawa landmark for our Innovation as a Nation Island.  Our building can be seen on Bountiful, Helix's Innovation Island.

CN Tower in Second Life

We have created the CN tower in Second Life.  This is the first Canadian landmark that we are building.  The Real Life Canadian Icon is located on Front Street in Toronto, Ontario and had maintained the title as the tallest free standing structure for 31 years.  The tower is still the largest building in the Americas.

You can visit the CN tower on the Helix Commerce Island named Bountiful.