Today is a historic day for our country as we swear in Barack Obama as our President. With the arrival of change comes with fear and with excitement, but we know as a nation we will come together as one to help bring the USA back on it’s feet. It has only been 40 years since the segregation of people in our country, and within those 40 years we have evolved in many ways. We hope today is the date in which we are all able to pull together and understand that without each other we cannot survive. We hope just as everyone else in this country that Barack is a dedicated leader which will bring you and our families prosperity and hope for at least the next four years. Congrats Barack and we look forward to seeing your changes help the little guys like us.

We have added new images to our portfolio of our latest customized Second Life island. This island was completed for Camden County College in New Jersey with a futuristic/organic look and feel, and is complete with a large outdoor amphitheater, lecture hall, information building, student collaboration building, and a museum for showcasing students’ artwork. The island also features a large "sandbox" which creates an open space for students to be able to begin development of models and other materials in-world. The client hopes to use the island in the future for hosting classes and lectures, holding seminars, collaborative work between other universities and recruiting future students. Images of this project can be found at: http://www.designingdigitally.com/portfolio/index.php?imgdir=Second%20Life%20-%20Camden%20County%20College You can also view images from some of our other Second Life projects at: http://www.designingdigitally.com/secondlife.html Below is a quick video to show you a bit of the island:

We are very happy to announce that our latest Second Life island that we have been telling you about is now open to the public! You can now view Cybertec Campus through your own eyes (well I guess it’s really your avatars eyes). Come visit this beautiful online campus! Click here to visit in-world Click here to view portfolio images

As you may or may not know Andrew has been taking time each week to assist the Sycamore High School students in a class project. It started off as Andrew going to the high school (a local school in the area) and teaching two senior students the fundamentals of Second Life building and programming. Then with a good grasp of the material, the right resources and Andrews expert knowledge and assistance, the students were able to start the project right away. The students started developing a project together, pictured here:     They developed a functional science lab. Users walk up to the table and selected a specimen slide. They then click the specimen through the different chemicals clicking the bottle to add the proper amounts and chemicals need to complete the study. At the end the slide is inserted into the microscope for a closer look at what was created. The project was a complete success and we are proud of both of them for building a virtual science lab as their senior graduation project. The Miami Valley Career Technology Center has started a similar program to teach students about the possibilities in Second Life. More info on that next week!

As we reported last week Miami Valley CTC has started a Second Life class that will run through the remaining school year. The class with be taught by Andrew in collaboration with Melissa Seifman from Miami Valley CTC. Students will learn programming, building, modeling, texturing, and terraforming. Towards the end of the class the students will be broken off into teams and asked to develop a project for themselves with only minor assistance from Andrew and Melissa (similar to the students at Sycamore High School). We hope to use this experience to help newcomers learn more about Second Life and enjoy their time in this wonderful virtual world.

We are pleased to announce the completion of Barnert Companies new logo. Below are the concepts that were provided to the client: And the winner is… We look forward to helping Barnert Companies utilize their new logo to further enhance their image through several design mediums. If you are ready to create your new image, contact us today!

Another project added to the portfolio! We have finished a small project in Second Life for a single building on a the "Mainland." As reported before, the building has a large foyer area that connects two large rooms, one for presentations and one to be used as an office. Knowing all the possibilities of Second Life, Informa wanted a place to conduct small meetings within their company and with potential clients. Informa plans to use this building for exactly that, while also creating a virtual presence for the company. Click here to view the portfolio images!

Designing Digitally, Inc. is pleased to announce that ThinkBalm has chosen Designing Digitally’s Second Life island as the host location of their Un-Lecture #3 to be held on Friday, February 27, 2009 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST. We are proud and honored to be able to do so and encourage everyone to come visit! This event will be free of charge to any and all visitors so mark it down in your calendars and save the link below to get to our island on Feb. 27th! Click here for a link to our island.

We receive many requests to know if we create avatars. We indeed do build avatars however, we create avatars for professional presentation or Second Life avatars for use within that VE. Below is a preview of one of our high end avatars moving around randomly for fun (medium quality so it will fit on the web). If you would like to know more about how we can make an avatar come to life for your website or ad contact us today!

Every business’s goal is to raise capital, create large profit margins, and also to make an impact on the current moment in time. From our experience in digital media we have found that one of the prominant ways of doing this is by establishing yourself into online social networks. Online social networks allow for users to keep in touch with what is happening in your business without directly visiting your blog, or contacting you to find out what’s new. What we have found from our experience is that by integrating your organization with online social networks you have a cost effective way to market you and your company. By using these online social networks you have a stronger chance of pulling new clients, serving current clients with free communication, and even creating profits through the use of these online social networks. This trend in social connections is here to stay and is a very cost effective way to promote your organization. Some of the more popular Social networks are: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. However, you can find an entire list of social network on the Wikipedia website by clicking here. Not only can you use social networks such as the ones stated above, but using a virtual world to create a social network is being adopted by companies each and every day. By using a virtual world you can build a community around what activities and subjects your organization focuses on. You will be amazed at the amount of people that are interested in learning more about your field, company, and future ambitions. There are many different virtual worlds out there, but only a few are climbing to the top of the hill when it comes to company integration. The list includes but is not limited to: Activeworlds , Second Life , Project Wonderland , There, Twinity , and many more. So get out there and socialize as you will be surprised to see who you will run into and how they will correlate with your business in the future. Did I mention your boss will love you as you are saving  your organization money by creating free social marketing? View Us on Facebook View Us on Youtube View Us on MySpace View Us on Technorati View Us on Twitter View Us on Flickr