23 of 52 - Half of a US judge, the TOS and a Sesame Street machinema

I popped into the gallery of Peoney Feld the other day. She is a well-established artist in RL, and had a lot of interesting stories to tell about her works. The Law and Art exhibit at the third floor was what we talked mostly about; I definitively recommend a visit. Do read the notecards in the box, or even better: Ask her to tell you about it.

She had a copy of her RL oil painting showing a US judge and one of those black document suitcases you often see lawyers carry around. Somehow that picture captured my attention; it was like it was filled with some mystery. But I do guess it makes an even stronger impression in RL.

Btw; Everyone has seen a picture of the Mona Lisa, one of the masterpieces of the italian multi-genius Leonardo da Vinci. But if you ever moves your real life eyes away from the computer screen and let your legs move you to the Louvre in RL Paris, you can see her eye to eye. And believe me, that makes for a so much stronger impression. You really don't understand the mystery about her until you see her on the wall. At least I did not.


As a curtisy to Peoney I won't show the inside of her gallery or the art to you since she has clearly marked her land with a message in the About Land box: "No Photography of Artwork & Studio Allowed". However, the remark does raise some interesting points. Embedded in the new TOS is the Snapshot and machinima policy that gives you some explicit rights:
DISCLAIMER: I Am Not A Lawyer, so the following is not legal advice. Contact your attorney if you need to make sure you interpret the TOS correctly

"... Linden Lab and the Residents of Second Life (collectively, “we”) grant you the following copyright licenses:

1. A License To Capture. You may take snapshots and capture machinima of the 3D content we created that is displayed in-world, and
2. A License To Use. You may use the resulting snapshot or machinima within or outside of Second Life in any current or future media."

The only exception being an explicit prohibition of snapshots in the covenant of a private sim. On the mainland, there are no exceptions.

In other words: If you display your art on the mainland, you collectively gives anyone permission to take snapshots and publish them. This is great news for bloggers like me, because it gives us fair usage rights comparable to RL bloggers and journalists alike.

Now, that does not mean that you loose copyright on your work. I guess there is a fine line between fair use, like publishing a blog post about a gallery with pictures of the art, and publishing snapshots that in practice is a full copy of the content. When I publish photos from an art event, I normally try not to shoot an artwork directly from the front, in case anyone should just cut if out and republish it.

Anyway, enough boring legal stuff! Lets do some kindergarten:

Peoney pointed me to Chantal Harvey that has made a machinima from SL as an entry to a Sesame Street animation contest. The 10 Little Aliens machinema is just so fun to watch, and a real good example of how to use virtual world technology for real life purposes. As Peoney tells me, Sesame Street wanted to ban the entry because it was filmed in SL; such a shame. I concur with Peoney when she asks everybody to vote for this animation, just to make our world more visible.

Btw, in Norway, the show was altered a little bit and presented as Sesame Station. All the colorful figures lived and worked on a small railroad station.

The sign in the background says Tickets.

Time for lunch. Where is the Cookie monster when you need him!