SPP Phase 3-Bliki

This page provides information about Phase 3 of the Schome Park Project.

• Phase 1 (Oct 2006-May 2007). More information in the Phase 1 bliki
• Phase 2 (16 May 07 - 16 Dec 07). More information in the SPii bliki
• Phase 3 ( - 31 May 08). Information on this page.
• Current research and development phase More information in the current bliki
• See also the Schome Park timeline
• Information about the Schome Park Project available on the Schome Park index page

Baso visited the Open University and got to grips with some meteorites

Visit to the Open University and Surrey Satellite

Baso got to grips with a meteorite

Kali in the Planetary Sciences department

Gaea's real-life desk

Decimus and Spiral

Topper with 'Gibeon', the iron meteorite

One of the Open University labs

11 June 2008

A picture of Schome Park appeared in Wagner James Au's Second Life blog,New World Notes in a report on Kathy's use of shadows in Second Life.

31st May 2008 - summary of the final week of the project

• With the closure of the island imminent, less and less members were on the forum
• The spARTans held their tea party and game of chess
• There was a record number of people on the forum this week - 961 - which sparked a discussion on the new servers and search engines
• Fox organised a final archaeology session yesterday, but due to Second Life being closed it was later on in the evening when we got on. Then it turned into more of a discussion on various things, like the end of the project.
• Today is the final day of the programme
• Pictures of the closing ceremony

Forum stats:

2236 topics, 47024 posts, 2769138 page views and 639 members - and this week 961 people/search engines were on the forum!

This week last year: nothing; Schome Park was closed still!

24th May 2008 - summary of the second-to-last week

• Time Explorers continued their bid for the learners' 'Y' Factor
• Archaeology (as part of Time Explorers) held the "penultimate" meeting, on the Caves of Lascaux. After taking a virtual tour we ended up talking about Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter!
• Topper had his final day in-world
• More schomers shared their views on:
  • how the project has gone
  • bullying
  • IGGY
  • their final days of school
• Peter began tidying the wiki

...so again, this week has been a quiet week. Let's make the most of next week, the final days of the Schome Park Programme!

Forum stats:

2229 topics, 46900 posts, 2741676 page views and 637 members

This week last year: nothing; Schome Park was closed!

17th May 2008 - summary of past week

• The Time Explorers continued their bid for the Learners' 'Y' Factor
• Peter came one step closer to making a decision on whether or not the wiki and forum will remain open to students during the break
• Several more staff joined
• The underground club returned
• Pigment started a discussion on CrazyTalk
• A discusion on whether or not it was worth starting a new government was started
• Animus started a thread to talk about "the weird plot" - where the schome park events page made up the sky and ground; however nobody else was experiencing the same problem
• Vibia asked for some help with using The GIMP

Forum stats:

2210 topics, 46633 posts, 2703610 page views and 635 members

This week last year: Schome Park closed to become SPii!

Marriage of Silvermist and Quin

Qwin: From the moment I met you I knew you were the one.
Qwin: You are a beautiful avatar
Qwin: with the best skin, personality, and you always get me
Qwin: Together, we have gathered our closest friends in Second Life
Qwin: and created a wedding that even Mary Fiore, aka Jennifer Lopez in "The Wedding Planner", would be proud of.

Silvermist: From the day I met you I knew that I had found my other half
Silvermist: You have the most amazing eyes that I just fall into every time i see you
Silvermist: without you don't know what my life would be like
Silvermist: I love you so much and I am proud to finally call you my husband
(chatlog quoted with permission)

The wedding venue	Mid ceremony	Exchanging commitments
The happy couple	Guests celebrate with a dance	Post-ceremony interview

History Session 12th May

Fox takes a well earned break at the history session

Fox taking a well earned break

Opening of the diner

The Lion's Diner was officially opened by Zzzzz and ClowninDenial. It looked great - but a problem with prims meant some of it had been wiped at the last moment. Nevertheless, we were all impressed.

Noel and Jethro at the opening of the diner

The jukebox

Owners and architects, Zzzzz and ClownInDenial

Some of the first diner patrons

10th May 2008 - summary of past week

An absorbing archaeology discussion. Little did we know as we discussed Vesuvius what was around the corner...	Two of us rigid with terror as the rocks approach!
everything rumbled	The volcanic eruption engulfed many staff - some people tried to dash out of the way

• Archaeology had an interesting session, with lots of people turning up we had a volcano eruption!
• The spARTans held the first of several events
• The Time Explorer's Learners' X factor bid began
• schomeTECH continued
• A discussion on another builders' meeting began
• Preparations for the Space competition are underway
• Achilles proposed a "schome park scrapbook"

Overall, a quiet week in Schome Park!

Forum stats:

2182 topics, 46175 posts, 2638166 page views and 614 members

This week last year: Video

Techically this week last year nothing was recorded from the chess game, but 1 year ago tomorrow Achilles' video was published - you can view it here

Fly me to the moooon

Johny and Babybrecker91 organised an afternoon flight to the moooon. None of us was sure to expect when we sat in the booth and were shot off into the air. What would the moooon be like? It was certainly a surprise!

Setting up the space flight	I'm sure I've seen that green café stool somewhere before!
The first ever orderly queue is formed on Schome	Gremlin interviews the organisers

3rd May 2008 - summary of past week

• A dispute between several members of the community was resolved
• The profiles tool went down temporarily
• Archaeology continued, with several new faces at the session
• The newsletter was published
• Spiral re-started schometech
• Doctor released another Cognitex newsletter
• Vibia let us know about her GCSE result
• Several views about the project were shared
• Stonehenge was completed, and the aquaduct continues...

Forum stats:

2163 topics, 45734 posts, 2580160 page views and 608 members

This week last year: Checkmate - the first game of chess

The first game of chess using Decimus' chessboard has just been played in Schome Park. Unfortunately, the game was abandoned at 'half-time' due to people having to go or losing interest, but the teams of Professor, Hapno and Trix against Decimus, Daisy and Elsa had fun using the board (Well, I did, anyway :P) and putting each other into check... Here are some pictures.

The teams have just been chosen - Prof, Hapno and Trix for the blacks; Dec, Daisy and Elsa for the whites

26th April 2008 - summary of past week

• There was discussion about building a Gothic Temple. After a long discussion Tsuyoshikentsu decided to build a chess tourney.
• Staff decided not to go for more bidding to be able to reflect on what is done so far.
• A third group of participants are created. SPomers: folk who are over 18, but not staff.
• Problems for prim usage were solved by plot allocation
• Space Experiment Phase B: visit to SSTL date now agreed: Wednesday 25th June
• Baso Schomer is back!
• New folk signed up in April so far: ringara, redhead, lfc, mrbing, Riverdance, Tiggerkitty, AllBiz, BoxCutter, peachez12, Julianna, Twilight, angel, Flash

19th April 2008 - summary of past week

• Lots of discussions sparkled after Noel's Team's proposals
• Planning for the Space Experiment Project continued
• Time Travellers had a meeting for Gothic Murder Mystery Machinima and prepared a draft story script
• Prim count on Beta caused worries
• There was no German session this week
• Terraforming continued
• Archeology had their 10th seesion
• The release of the newsletter was postponed
• Doctor released the latest Cognitext newsletter
• A discussion on whether or not the forum and wiki should remain open after may began
• Baso and Spiral returned
• Several new members joined the staff list

Forum stats:

2132 topics, 45203 posts, 2519339 page views and 603 members.

This week last year:

As I speak...um, type, the murderer has not been convicted, but a fun and rather enthusiastic murder mystery has been taking place this evening in Schome Park. The murderer will be named in here for the moment, but as it goes, I'll just put up a few pics, and say thanks to Hapno for organising this. - Trixxiee

topper here i think the murderer is hapno!!!

Well, we tried to have a court case, accusing Hapno of being the murderer, but unfortunately not many people turned up, so this has been rescheduled and the date will be put on the events page when it is decided. - Trixxiee

All of us in the arena trying to work out who the murderer is... ! And here we are from another angle...	...And suddenly the arena disappeared		It seems Mark managed to return it to the owner...well done Mark, shows those shirts aren't good for you!

12th April 2008 - summary of past week

• Noel's group came up with plans for events
• The newsletter began to (slowly) come together. There is still time to get an article in, but be quick!
• Savvie avvies and Archaeology continued
• Clownindenial and Zzzzz Schomer started a discussion on a diner. There was also a discussion of a new meeting place
• The plot system continued, with a table of plot allocation on the wiki
• The terrafirmer group began terraforming under Scholympia
• The history group terraformed a flat piece of land in the Time Explorers parcel for their chosen Roman build
• A gothic muder mystery was planned by the Time Travellers
• The prim count on Alpha dropped (due to the plot system?) whereas the Beta count continues to rise
• Languages continued, with plans for more sessions
• Several schomers began moderating the wiki along with Alice
• The Grand Prix was organised and will be taking place tonight
• More schomers joined us

Forum statistics by 12 April 2008:
2093 topics, 44273 posts and 2,435,866 page views. The forum currently has 581 members.

This week last year:
The wedding! (- memories!)

Well Trixxiee and Wintermute got hitched today. Check out the unofficial video ...

This event brought everyone together - the amount of effort that went into preparing for it was phenomenal and it seemed like the whole community was helping out. More pics to follow I have no doubt ...

5th April 2008 - summary of past week

• Participants of the Schome in space project began to think about which day(s) they might be able to visit Surrey Satellite
• Savvy Avvies, the new fashion strand, had their first meeting in world
• Some of the Americans decided to begin a terraforming project, and the community had their input on how to begin
• PeterT began to give out plots to some of the inworld groups
• Scholympia was cleared for the terraforming project
• It was decided that with the system of plots, there was no longer a requirement for planning permission. P and P is now up to individual plot owners
• Archaeology, History and Classics became the "Time Explorers"
• Some more foreign languages began to emerge, we now have German, Spanish and French.
• Work continued on making the overall schome website easier to navigate
• Staff continued the search for further funding

Forum statistics by 5 April 2008:
2069 topics, 43331 posts and 2,396,116 page views. The forum currently has 581 members.

This week last year:
Views of the island

Here are some views of the island from each corner. Also check out the buildings in the sky.

Schome Park from 0,0,122	Schome Park from 0,256,122
Schome Park from 256,0,122	Schome Park from 256,256,122

29th March 2008 - summary of past week

• Important in-world meeting about the future of Schome. Minutes and agreed actions are here.
• Archaeology session was postponed to monday - sign up
• Archaeology also merged with a new topic - history - to form the SPP Time Explorers
• Savvie Avvies was created - the fashion group
• New American students joined the community
• The island was split into plots - the first step to redesigning Alpha
• The big issue this week was the meeting that took place, covering everything important from Dan's new job to what happens in no funding is found by May
• The newsletter deadline is now the 15th - a lot of Sparkers and Schomers were asked to write an article
• Ethics and Philosophy plan to look at medical ethics
• Explo revived the Physics strand
• A new promotional video was planned
• Wiki moderation changed:
  • Page moderation from Becca/Gaea to Alice Sparker
  • Categorising from Fox to KitKatKid Schomer
  • The weekly summary from Fox to Mars
  • Forum mpderation from Fox to Alice
• Sail session scheduled for next week
• SCHOME - Spectroscopy, Climate and Habitability from Orbital Measurement of Earthshine - got through to the finals of the space competition!

Forum statistics by 25 March 2008:
2028 topics, 43161 posts and 2,336,963 page views. The forum currently has 581 members.

This week last year:
Tornado!

Looks like Soldier Schomer is practicing building tornados in SchomePark - hold on to your hats everyone! So far it just looks pretty, and moves really well with a script provided by Baso... but will our weather wizards cause havoc as they work out how to pick up people?! Yet more mad science being tested in the ever-active Physics area...

Maybe that tornado is responsible for all the stuff in the sky

22nd March 2008 - summary of past week

• On 22 March we had 156 people online at once
• Steam became an Hawaiian Shirt
• KitKatKid introduced an Easter egg challenge in world
• Schome Park was a major focus of the 'Massively Multilearner' event in Cambridge at Anglia Ruskin University on 18 March.
• Schome Grand Prix fixed for 11 and 12 April
• Proposal for a new SEFGfL building provoked controversy
• It was suggested we build an in-world L$ dispenser
• With Kathy's help, an alphabetical index link was created on the wiki
• There was more progress on making the Schome web presence easier to navigate
• Archaeology sessions are still going strong
• A new machinima competition was launched
• The Photo Contest organised by Clownindenial continued
• Newsletter deadline is approaching
• Progress was made on the J8 competition entry
• PeterT reiterated that the community may have to close if no funding is found by the end of May.
  

Forum statistics by 25 March 2008:
80 new topics, 1138 new posts and 141,307 page views. The forum currently has 570 members.

Just thought I'd add - today it reached 157! KitKatKid Schomer 18:39, 25 March 2008 (GMT)

20th March - Happy Easter

Staff meeting on SchomeBase. That mischievous Elsa was feeling festive.

15th March 2008 - summary of past week

• Bright SParker and Zoee SParker joined the forum
• A bid for funding was submitted to Eduserv
• Work continued on the proposal for the J8 summit
• There was some progress on making the Schome web presence easier to navigate
• Archaeology sessions continued
• The Photo Contest organised by Clownindenial continued
• Newsletter deadline is 25 March
• Topper and Gaea will be attending the UK Space conference on 29 March
• Animus set up the popgun arena and associated wiki pages
• Vibia organised a German session
• Steam applied for planning permission for a steam engine museum
• Fox accidentally deleted Primbot - which supplies prim counts to the wiki
• PeterT suggested the community may have to close if no funding is found by the end of May
  

Forum statistics so far in March 2008:
59 new topics, 818 new posts and 96,691 page views. The forum currently has 561 members.

12th March 2008 - 1 year on

Can you believe it's been exactly one year since the Schome NAGTY Teen Second Life Pilot first began? Together, over the year we've lost and gained several new folk. We've overcome challenges and made friends - but most of all we've all had a great opportunity, to meet other talented teens, and also to be a part of a unique project.

Here's the bliki post from a year ago... how time flies.....

12th March 07 - the SParkers have landed

After some problems with the bulk registration of the students on the schome-NAGTY Teen Second Life Pilot (which I have promised to document elsewhere in the wiki) - the first SParkers started arriving on Schome Park at around 8pm tonight (this is not quite true cos George Schomer was able to get in on the 10th March - poor soul was all alone on the island!)

Here are some snapshots to give you a feel for the sorts of things we were getting up to ...

Decimus just hanging out	Faji goes shopping?	Peanut123
Staff hard at work ...	Mark exhausted after 3 hours in-world!
This building lark is dangerous!	The sandbox

8th March 2008 - summary of past week

• Work continued on the proposal for the J8 summit
• A fourth Schome Regatta was arranged
• Mars held a wiki masterclass
• German session is scheduled for next week
• Proposal to move weekly meetings to Wednesdays
• PeterT suggested a redesign of the website
• PeterT suggested a redesign of the website
• Yankee and others are working on screencast tutorials for forum and wiki
• Archaeology sessions continued
• Newsletter deadline is 25 March
• We should hear about our Space Experiment bid on 29 March
• The prim count on Schome Alpha crept up near the max again.
  

Forum statistics so far in March 2008:
26 new topics, 375 new posts and 46,098 page views. The forum currently has 557 members.

4th March 2008 - staff meeting

A group of staff met in the Tree House on Schome Base. I've not met other staff on the Main Grid for ages, so I took some pictures to update the staff page. I was struck by how much our avatars have developed - the last lot of pictures, which were about a year old, showed some very bland, un-detailed avatars (except Woop - who always looks cool). Schome Base is looking very different, as well - though this picture doesn't do it justice.

We discussed a range of issues, including upcoming bids for funding. I enjoyed having the opportunity to meet fellow staff members from across the UK, and the US. I did find it rather strange, though, that though who we know everyone is in Schome Park and the forum, we had to ask who everyone was at the beginning of the meeting, because some Main Grid avatars are very unlike their Teen Grid counterparts.

1st March 2008 - summary of past week

• The Space Experiment bid was submitted
• The space party was postponed
• The J8 entry began, with each section having a leader
• Discussion on the organisation of the government continued
• Kit13cat Schome joined the community
• Weekly meetings began again
• Archaeology decided to ask Dr Alan Greaves to return, and to explore a virtual shipwreck
• The popgun arena was extended
• German sessions started again
• Jokester reappeared asking how he could become a Hawaiian Shirt

Forum statistics so far in March 2008: 1930 topics, 41710 posts and 2172926 page views.
The forum currently has 555 members.

23rd February 2008 - summary of past week

On the forum in the past week 17 February 2008 - Saturday 23 February:

• Tsuyoshikentsu Schomer and two others signed up on the forum.
• Work on the Eduserv bid did not progress :(
• The Space Experiment bid progressed very well :)
• Elections were organised for Planning Permission, Community Liaison, Education and Events.
• Elsa started to organise a bid for the J8 on pressing global issues.
• There was a lively discussion on chat logging and ethics.
• Several people tried out terraforming on Alpha.
• KitKatKid suggested adding migratory birds to Schome Park
• Newsletter articles to be submitted by the end of March
• Yankee is leading a project on creating wiki and forum tutorials
• Ethics strand discussed 'Does science still need philosophy?'
• Vibia organised a German session.
• A second popgun game was arranged.
• Topper continued to try to schedule the trial at a time to suit everyone.
• Tara asked people to consider what Schome is for.
• Doctor Schomer published the latest Cognitex Lab update.
  

Forum statistics so far in February 2008: 88 new topics, 2115 new posts and 126,987 page views.
The forum currently has 555 members.

16th February 2008 - summary of past week

On the forum in the past week 10 February 2008 - Saturday 16 February:

• Fire, Wise and meatwad Schomer signed up on the forum.
• Staff got nowhere fast on their Eduserv funding bid.
• Great progress was made on the space experiment competition.
• Weekly meetings were revived.
• There was discussion of how to make the wiki more user friendly.
• Work started on building and scripting the marine wildlife.
• An invitation to take part in the Eye4You Alliance poetry competition provoked controversy.
• Lots of interest in Language learning, with offers to teach Nepalese, Chinese and German.
• The archaeology strand discussed underwater archaeology.
• The newsletter team discussed whether to send newsletters by snail mail.
• Interesting discussion on the ethics of logging chat.
• Animus started a discussion of in-world staffing levels.
• After two weeks of discussion, the racetrack name is still not decided!
• Amba gave an in-world presentation of Schome Park, accompanied by a new machinima.
• Topper created a brief machinima tour of Schome Alpha.

Forum statistics so far in February 2008:
67 new topics, 1586 new posts and 94,207 page views. The forum currently has 551 members.

9th February 2008 - summary of past week

On the forum in the past week 3 February 2008 - Saturday 9 February:

• The community welcomed Federal Schomer.
• Staff started work on a big funding bid to Eduserv. The bid has to relate to identity.
• Staff also began to discuss other sources of funding. All suggestions welcome  :)
• Achilles started to plan a First Anniversary celebration on 12 March, including Schommunity awards
• Work continued on the space experiment competition. The deadline is approaching fast.
• PeterT asked whether we can relate teaching in Second Life to Gilly Salmon's five-step moderation model.
• Doctor Schomer put in a planning permission bid for a lab in which to test bots. This proved controversial.
• Spiral reported that a build he had been working on had been deleted in the sandbox sweep without being returned to his lost and found folder  :(
• Animus and Mars are working on a new version of the Scho-op
• Archaeology sessions continued with a session on the preservation of archaeology.
• The trial of Liony for murder was postponed. It was proposed that Liony be 'tagged' as a condition of bail.
• Quanah gave a presentation to the National Arts Learning Network conference, which included a visit to Schome Beta. Fox and Euphloozie turned up to chat and do handstands.
• Woop produced a detailed write-up of the development of Schome Beta.
• Amba and Elsa attended a seminar on Second Life at the London Knowledge Lab.
  

Forum statistics so far in February 2008: 42 new topics, 904 new posts and 53,922 page views. The forum currently has 548 members.

2nd February 2008 - summary of past week

On the forum in the past week 26 January 2008 - Saturday 2 February:

• A bug in Second Life, which is now fixed, provoked a revision of our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) by the community.
• Giri2nepal introduced himself. He is trying to bring a group of Nepalese students into Schome.
• Questions were raised about the induction of new members, both staff and students.
• Topper and Mars vied to have the largest number of buddies. :-P
• Schome Alpha reached its prim limit (bar 10). Sparkers took immediate action and removed around 5000 prims.
• Strong feelings were expressed regarding the use of text speak in world.
• Concern was expressed about difficulties with access to Schome Beta.
• The archaeology sessions started up again, ethics and philosophy ran a murder trial, machinima continued work on the Schitanic, physics (?) continued to plan their space satellite experiment, literature ran a discussion on books.
• Clownindenial started a photo contest for a picture of real life and a picture of Second Life resembling each other as much as possible.
• Preparation of a karaoke evening and the Schome Grand Prix began.
• Rambo joined the Hawaiian Shirts.
• New members asked for clarification about using guns in world. You can own and use guns, but only with the agreement of everyone involved - and you are asked to bear in mind that many people find guns, even virtual guns, intimidating.
  

Forum statistics for January 2008:
166 new topics, 5274 new posts and 200,805 page views. The forum currently has 540 members.

30th January 2008 - preliminary hearing of the trial of Liony Schomer

Liony Schomer stands accused of the murder of Badperson Schomer. The preliminary hearing was supposed to happen today (in secret apparently because it was not publicised on the Schome Park Events page). However, the judge never showed up (or at least hadn't by the time this reporter had to leave). For more details check TheSchome Ranger's microBlog by going to http://profiles.spii.co.uk/profiles/TheSchome_Ranger/blog/.

26th January 2008 - summary of past week

On the forum in the past week – Sun 20-Sat 26 January 2008:

• Big event of the week was the opening of Schome Park. The official opening of Schome Park Beta took place on 26 January.
• Several Schomers reported that they were experiencing extreme lag on Schome Park and suggested reasons for this.
• A bug in Second Life led PeterT to propose amending the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).
• The Hawaiian Shirts welcomed Kathy and darkwolf to their ranks.
• More introductions were posted, including Rumaki Heron and Chocoholic Schomer, Jethro and Straad.
• Some discussion of language which people find offensive and what should and should not be allowed on the forum.
• Introduction to Schome of a profiles tool developed by Kathy was announced. PeterT provided a link to his use of the micro blogging feature.
• Kathy also set up an automated prim-count system which feeds information directly to the wiki. This highlighted that prim counts on Schome Alpha are currently very high.
• Discussion of the Second Life day brought forth the interesting information that, according to Linden Labs, the Second Life sun is infinitely large, infinitely distant, and orbits the grid.
• Music from Dudefish's band was uploaded, to general acclaim. (In the wiki, it's well worth going to look at the artwork uploaded by AeroDragonX, which is also very good.)
• There was discussion of the possibility of government elections.
• Proposals for planning permission for Liony's castle and Achilles' improved sumo arena.
• Decimus launched a new forum game: 'Misquote the person above you'.
• Staff discussed writing an article for a special issue of the academic journal ALT-J.
  

So far this month there have been 140 new topics, 4587 new posts, 166,988 page views and 47 new members on the forum.

26th January 2008 - The official opening of Schome Park beta

The official opening started off quietly - with a handful of folk meeting in the new Lyceum area in Schome Park beta. Emodalek officially opened Schome Park beta - a few words of admiration and thanks were said re Woop, Faji and Elsa (particularly Woop who designed SP beta and led the implementation team).

Then we went off to watch the fireworks display that Baso had prepared - it was stunning - for more pics check out the following people's microBlogs:

• Vibia's
• KitKatKids's
• TheSchome Ranger's

After the fireworks there was the inevitable dancing. Tara soon got the hang of it ...

21st January 2008 - summary of the past week

Forum summary Saturday 12 January to Saturday 19 January

• The big event of the week was the release of the first teaser pics of Schome Beta.
• Zzzz started a major debate when he asked the community for help with his Schome homework.
• Lots of new Sparkers introduced themselves, including Alice, Ava, Clownindenial, Silvermist and Yati.
• There was complex discussion of government reform.
• The Hawaiian Shirts discussed their purpose and membership criteria.
• Discussion of the redevelopment of Schome Alpha provoked controversy and upset.
• Darkwolf proposed the introduction of turtles, whales and sharks.
• Sparkers once again asked to be allowed to visit other educational sims on the Teen Grid.
• Vibia and Topper issued a joint statement against the arranged marriage proposed for them.
• Faz's moderating powers vanished once again. Why is this happening?
• Faz experimented with new names, including Animus.
  

20th January 2008

Something old something new

Woop and Faji enjoying a stunning afternoon in the crater

Two more screenshots of the new island. Just little teasers, providing a glimpse of the interior without giving too much away ;-)

The crater interior remains far from 'full', as such offering plenty of room in which the community can collectively evolve the space.

As highlighted by PeterT in the forum we've intentionally moved in the direction of developing something bigger and bolder for this phase of the project, to challenge all our ideas and attitudes towards the ground we've covered together so far, and hopefully to inspire us all to greater achievements over the coming months.

As such moving into phase 3, with Schome Park doubling in size and most probably diversity, I think we're all in for a very exciting time.

19th January 2008

Schome Park Beta

Approaching the main entrance

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the first official preview screenshots of Schome Park Beta. The new island build places a grand concept at the heart of its design, with the new island set in an ancient crater. WIth the wider world decaying under the forces of rapid ecological change the crater was adopted as a new home, a safe haven from the harsh world outside. Upon founding the crater colony the residents sealed their new home with a huge roof, created by mining the natural resources contained within the crater. Thus the ancient landscape became the home for a new, vibrant and tranquil (most of the time) community. Entrance to the crater interior is now achieved only through a number of airlocks, today's screenshots showing the main entrance on the south side of the island.

Tomorrow, we head inside... --Woop

(Minor disclaimer - screenshots taken using the Windlight client, your experience may vary)

13th January 2008 - summary of the past week

On the forum in the past week – Sun 6-Sat 12 January 2008:

• Peter T reorganised the forum categories to make the forum easier to access.
• Several new Sparkers posted introductions: including Darcy, Estella, Jethro, Johnny, Silvermist and Zzzz Sparker.
• PeterT suggested ways of making the introductory threads more welcoming.
• Woop asked staff to send him a picture and related information for use on the new island.
• There was some progress on machinima proposals, although we missed the deadline for grant applications.
• Opening of the new island was delayed for a further week.
• Staff discussed when regular meetings should be held and what form they should take.
• PeterT encouraged staff to think about organising regular subject-based strands when the islands open.
• Topper continued to organise the in-world role play of a trial.
• Dante adopted a new alias (Doctor Schomer) and announced that he had started his own company.
• There was detailed discussion of the value of the Safety Department, and of the safety aspects of Sparkers contacting each other by email and PM.
• There were proposals for a members-only base for the Hawaiian Shirts, for more waterways on Schome Beta and for weekly regattas.
  

So far this month, 59 new topics have been started on the forum, there have been 2390 new posts, 7616 page views and 25 new members

18th January 2008: Someone to watch over me?

Is it just me, or is this view of spBeta slightly scary! (If you're new to the project that's The Schome Ranger aka PeterT, staring down on me from the heavens.)

11th January 2008 - update

Development of the new island (SPbeta) is progressing well now - we will start to post taster info about the new SPbeta starting on Thursday 17th Jan ...

3rd December 2007

The new island is causing havoc - teleports, logging out or crashing over the new sim are all locking people out of SPii and, in an extreme case, sending Baso and Topper to Metaverse - a german sim. In the meantime, DO NOT USE TELEPORTS IN SCHOME PARK!!!

23rd November 2007

News was announced that SPii will close on the 16th December, and reopen early January '08, as SPiii, twice the size of the current island. This period of no one in world allows us to look at current b/p regulations and the buddying system, and hopefully a way for us to take over even more, allowing us more scope for shaping the island how we want it. More on this can be found here

17th May 07 to 16th December 07

See the SPii bliki for all postings between the 17th May 07 and 16th December 07.

October 2006 to May 2007

See the The Schome Park Project Phase 1 bliki for all postings between the 17th May 07 and 16th December 07.