Needless to say, I’m still struggling to find time to post entries. And when I stop in to some of the other blogs I favor, I’ve noticed that they too are apparently being otherwise occupied. So rather than try to put together a coherent post (not that all my posts are coherent, but I do try), I’m going to just hit on some topics, post some links – most of which probably have a comment I made which is as much writing as I’ve done lately – and leave it at that since I have to get back to work in half an hour.

For starters I wanted to mention an entry over on NussbaumOnDesign (Link) discussing some data relevant to the whole “crowdsourcing” discussion currently making its way around the series of tubes. I do believe there is something worthwhile in the idea, but it seems more and more that it’s being overblown. Some recent comments I’ve posted on a Core77 forum thread (the most I’ve written in weeks – Link) explain why I believe future developments don’t really threaten professionals to the degree some might think. In any event, Bruce Nussbaum (who tends to be just a bit behind the leading edge, imo) does raise some interesting questions that are worth considering in addition to citing the statistics in the Guardian article he references. Maybe I’ll stop in to his blog more often (I’ve noticed he finally took notice of Second Life so now I’m wondering how long it is before he groks the potentials).

Speaking of Second Life, the Starwood hotel story I mentioned earlier (reLink) has taken off. There was a rather long article on C|Net yesterday (Link), and apparently it’s been covered by a host of other MSM players (as evidenced by a blog entry over on one of the Electric Sheep blogs – Link). There’s actually quite a lot going on in SL – 80’s supergroup Duran Duran is going virtual, “Snowcrash” will be distributed in SL (I just finished “Anna Karenina” and was thinking about re-reading something a bit lighter), and Warren Ellis has decided to take up virtual residence – but I’ve not been inworld for some time now. Hopefully that will change in the near future as there are plenty of things I want to do.

Picking up from a couple of those Second Life things (“Snowcrash” and Ellis), I read a post over on Henry Jenkins’ blog (Link) not too long ago that, in my way of thinking, ties into the potential for virtual worlds as Long Tail distribution systems. I couldn’t help but leave a comment (my second longest bit of writing in weeks). It’s not about using virtual worlds, but it is about developing properties. I’ve had an idea to do something for about a year now and the thinking is really based on what I wrote in that comment. Now I’m noticing that fragments of that idea are coming together from different corners of the media landscape. No one has gone as far as I want to take things, but I expect someone will hit on the idea sooner or later, so either I’ll do it, or someone else will. The good thing is that the project on which I’m now working has me doing things I’ve not done in some time and which remove some of the rust from old, little-used skillsets, so at least I’m doing something that moves me toward that goal.

Whoop. Time’s up. Back to work. There’s always a catch.