Saturday, July 19, 2014

19th July Minutes



Attendees

Mira (miralee.munro)
Barbie (barbiedoll25)
Deefer (deefer.honi)
Sunshine(szavanna)
Lu (luumikai)
Miriam (sylvain.devin)
Zen (zen.arado)
Dolay (dolay.kytori)

Apologies from
Ash



Overview
  1. Groups: Moving from three groups to one group (PERFECT ARTIST COLONY), which will be for artists who live @ PAC and have rez rights and notices. Visitors can keep up-to-date with events using either facebook or the new blog.
  2. New blog: we are revamping the old blog to have highlights from the facebook, a gallery, minutes from meetings, a calendar of events etc.
New Roles
  • Lu: Blog design, organisation, minutes of meetings, and calendar
  • Barbie: Blog design, news feed, and gallery
  • Mira: Maintaining the facebook page



Minutes

Mira
Probably best if you ladies introduce yourselves 
and let everyone know what you will be doing here. 
And then for the others to let you know what they 
do here.
Barbie
I'm Barbie and I'm the photographer here.
Lu
I'm lu and I'm gonna take minutes
Sunshine
I am Sun and I do the Friday dances. 
Well, apart from yesterday :)
Mira
Lu is also, I hope, going to be taking on quite a 
bit of the administrative stuff here.
Lu
Yep
Mira
And Barbie is, I hope, going to revive 
"The Paradise Echo" newspaper.

Wanda
What is Perfect Paradise?
Mira
Perfect Paradise is the name of the island 
Wanda, and the community which grew here six 
years ago, and Paradise Artist Colony is the 
new group that is developing now.

Sunshine is very well known for her international 
music around Second Life, and recently set up 
her base over at InWorldz, but will retain and 
'annexe' here at Perfect Paradise, up in the sky, 
where people will be able to come and listen 
to her music streams, read info etc.
Sunshine
Yes, I am going to start working on the 
sunvibes pod :)

Mira
Messy (wizzit) is another new member. She's 
from New Zealand, so she's around my time frame. 
She's been busy organising art exhibitions. So 
many, in fact, that she's thinking of maybe having 
two a month. She's organised the statue exhibition, 
which comes to an end in just over a week.
Deefer
Mmm - that has been good and fun.
Mira
Have you seen the one in the canoe? lol

My role here is just that of general co-ordinator. 
I help out where I can.
Sunshine
So, the community is taking off :)
Mira
Yeah!

Shenn is being really active in bringing artists 
here, and Messy is also very active in finding 
new artists.
Sunshine
Great :)
Mira
The next artist to exhibit does work on BDSM, 
which could be rather controversial.
Sunshine
I will be doing bolly evenings with many artists 
there also, maybe I can find some also

Mira
Strix (strix6), who sings here twice a week, 
has organised a pianist friend to start playing 
here once a week.

Deefer
We also have Bertram
Sunshine
Ah yes, Sundays at 2pm?
Mira
Oh, yes! Bertram will continue doing Sunday 
Meditation at 2pm.
Sunshine
He has been doing it for so long.
Deefer
Part of the furniture, bless him. But it 
wouldn't be the same place without him.
Sunshine
Yes, he is great.

Mira
And Lu will be admin. Lu, do you want to 
tell folks what you've been doing?
Lu
Sure. I've been making a member list and 
also calendars of rezdays and weekly events so 
we can let people know when the are and celebrate. 
I've also collected quite a few email addresses 
and I think Mira has quite a lot of the rest of 
them, so we can update the statement.
Mira
Yeah, so what Lu is doing will make it easier 
for us to connect with one another. Group notices 
are notoriously useless as everyone just flicks 
them away, which is a great source of frustration, 
because that's the whole point of joining a group, 
so you do know what's going on with them.
Sunshine
Hmm, yes I usually get them unless too many 
notices to read

Mira
Oh, we also have our two Facebook pages - 
one for Perfect Paradise Community and one 
for Paradise Artist Colony
Deefer
How about Friends of Paradise?
Mira
That doesn't have a Facebook page, Deefer, or 
do you mean generally?
Deefer
Oh. No - I meant for recieving notices.
Mira
Oh, I send out notices to the three groups about 
social events etc. I don't think I sent them a 
message about this meeting as it was 'administrative' 
not social. What would you like to see happen 
with Friends of Perfect Paradise?
Sunshine
Best would be just one general group. Probably 
best would be to ask the "friends" group to 
join the new one.
Mira
The trouble with that, though, is that we need 
to have a group (those who actually 'live' here), 
to be able to rezz things on the island, 
but we don't particularly want great numbers 
of people to be able to do that.
Lu
Maybe we could have an administrative group 
with rez rights and no notices and a Friends 
group for notices
Sunshine
Yes, as long as it's not two.
Deefer
I reckon the historical need for setting friends 
up is maybe not so urgent, Mira.
Sunshine
Yes, I think the admin group doesn't need
 notices.
Mira
How will they know what's going on?
Sunshine
It's easiest if usually we send notices in 
one group.
Lu
They'll be in the friends group as well. So, 
they get notices and rez rights.
Mira
Yeah, I know it's annoying to get three notices 
for basically the same thing. My thought was 
that eventually, because the community group 
more or less became so inactive, that we would 
just go with the new Artist Colony group. Friends 
Of was always just going to be people who are 
'mildly' interested in what is going on here 
and just want to come to parties etc.
Sunshine
So, one group for everything then?
Mira
I'm reluctant to do that Sunshine because, 
personally, I like our focus to be on the 
people who actually 'live' here or are involved 
in what happens here, rather than people who 
just occasionally visit and only have a passing
 interest in things.

Deefer
Do you realise that "paradiseartistcolony.org" 
is currently available as a URL if you want 
your own website?
Mira
Mmm, that adds another level to our administration 
but sounds good, Deefer.
Deefer
Well, it adds another job

Mira
The thing is that we are creating these 
'entities', groups, Facebook pages, websites, 
etc. for what purpose? Keeping our members informed 
as to what we are doing? Recording our history? 
This might sound awful, but I would rather focus 
on the group which is the artist's colony (people 
who are doing things here), rather than people 
who just visit occasionally and want to be entertained. 
Do we exist to entertain others, or do we exist 
for our own creative explorations and experiences?
Lu
I think it sounds good to keep the two separate, 
because that separation also determines how many
 notices certain people want/how much they want
 to be involved.
Deefer
What do artists do if there is no one to be 
entertained by their images or sounds?
Lu
But there will be people - the friends of PAC.
Deefer
For a start, I enjoyed looking for and looking 
at the statues.
Lu
But they don't want to be as involved as the 
actual artists.
Deefer
If no one looks at the art then why else 
is it there?
Mira
Yeah. So we send out a notice and let them 
know there is an exhibition on and they come.
Lu
Sure, but people will look, but the visitors 
have different requirements to the artists, hence 
the need for a separate forum for them.
Deefer
Exactly! Is that what you wanted - a platform 
for artists and a place to exhibit?
Sunshine
Each artist invites his or her friends.
Mira
On a personal level, I just got sick of sending 
out notices and not getting a response back and 
I think that happens when you have a membership 
of say 100 people, but really only 6 or so are 
focused on what happens here. That's why I got so 
frustrated with Perfect Paradise Community. In the 
end, I was the only one living here, and we 
went from a membership of active members of say 
10 to 6 to 3 to just me. So what was the point 
of continuing the group?
Lu
I think when you are in 3 groups and you get 
repeated notices it makes you more likely to 
ignore them. We really need to make it so you're 
sending notices to one group (and that group 
can vary depending on the event) but sending 
out 3 just makes people more likely to click [x].
Mira
Yeah, I agree Lu. I don't particularly like 
sending out three separate notices, and I 
always thought that eventually Perfect Paradise 
Community would be folded because there was just 
not the interest there. So we would end up with 
Paradise Artist Colony and Friends of Perfect 
Paradise.
Lu
Exactly :)
Mira
One 'working' group and one 'just mildly 
interested' group.

**The Sunaru Incident**

Mira
So, Sunshine, you would like to see all three groups 
merged into one group?
Sunshine
Not sure, just pondering, Mira.
Mira
Well, I think there are two distinct 'groups': 
those who come here on a daily basis and 
those who visit occasionally.
Sunshine
It's usually good for a community to have only 
one but give different roles. I don't think there 
should be such a separation between those that 
don't come here often and the regulars.
Mira
Well, as far as I'm concerned, the group here is 
Paradise Artist Colony, which is for artists, 
creators, musicians, writers etc., to have a 
home base so they can focus on creating their art 
and not have to worry about having to raise 
tier for a home.
Lu
Can roles give rez rights to some and not others?
Deefer
I am still struggling to remember why we split - 
wasn't it something to do with the rez 
rights issues?
Mira
But what is the point of someone belonging to an 
Artist Colony if their only interest is in 
just visiting the pretty island that group lives on?
Lu
For the notices.
Mira
That has always been the issue: The Island 
attracts lots of people who don't have the 
vaguest interest in what happens here, they just 
want to be able to come and bring their girlfriend 
for a romantic hour or so.
Deefer
And if they are only coming to visit occasionally, 
then do they even need to know about notices? 
If they do, then point them to Facebook or website.
Mira
I think people just get into the habit of joining 
whatever group the place has. I'm happy to have 
on group, but for that group to be relevant to 
what we do here. If people want to visit, 
they don't need a group. That could be a solution, 
Deefer: if people are just mildly interested in 
the island, we can put them to our Facebook page, 
and then they have to make the effort to 
keep themselves informed, not us.
Sunshine
True.
Mira
This place is only really relevant to the people 
who choose to live and work here.
Deefer
And, I have a confession - I can't work Facebook 
very well so I can never find the PP Facebook link.
Mira
https://www.facebook.com/groups/246192208913820/
That's the direct link to the page. I'm not sure 
what happens there either: I made the group 
Open but I notice that people still have to 'apply' 
to join, so I don't know what that should be.

Deefer
Barbie - how did you become involved more with 
Paradise - beyond just a cursory first visit?
Barbie
I like it here, and Mira kind of asked me if I 
want to do more than visit and I do like to take 
photos, so it seemed just natural to be involved more.
Mira
There have always been two 'entities' here: The 
Island and The Community which lives here. The 
island attracts a lot of visitors who have 
absolutely no interest in community or art.
Deefer
So, you see Mira - sometimes it is intuition - 
sometimes you know it feels right to offer 
membership early- and sometimes you're right 
and sometimes you're wrong.
Mira
Same with Lu.
Deefer
Yeah?
Mira
And also MarianneFaithfully, but I haven't 
seen her this week.
Barbie
But it was you, Deefer, who got me interested 
by being nice when I first came here.
Deefer
Aww, thanks Barbie.
Barbie
If you weren't here, I might not have joined. 

Mira
So, basically, there are two different experiences 
here: people who are just passing through, and 
people who feel a pull to stay. So two entities: 
The Island and The Colony and two experiences: 
Staying or Passing Through.
Deefer
It's often simply down to who you first meet 
here - or don't meet.
Barbie
But you are right. Some people wouldn't stay anyway, 
and you have to have an interest in art.

Lu
Could we possibly set a time before we invite 
someone to the group? Like a week or so. Like 
Mira follows intuition but takes a while in case 
some people turn out to be the passing through kind?

Deefer
I say go with the one group, Mira.
Mira
And forget Friends?
Barbie
I think so too.
Deefer
Those who are interested might follow Facebook
Mira
It's a fine line, because someone might be 
interested in being a part of the group 
but not have any particular artistic ability, 
and then feel that they are not 'good enough' 
to join because they don't paint or draw or 
write stories or whatever. 
Deefer
Often here are those who come here who never 
go near social sites, so they will not find 
more information
Lu
The Facebook idea is a good one, although 
it perhaps excludes people who are less able 
to use it. However, if people say, "I would really 
love to know what is going on and I'm back at 
Facebook", we can make exceptions, and add 
them to the group.
Deefer
But PAC has spirit and focus and direction.
Mira 
I'm happy to keep the two groups: Paradise 
Artist Colony and Friends of Perfect Paradise, 
because basically, that is how I see how things 
are here. People who want to be active in the group, 
and people who want to keep a connection with 
the island.
Deefer
So, keep them Mira.
Mira
But I think we will phase out Perfect Paradise 
Community as that no long exists really. The land 
will either be sold to the colony, or just 
changed over in name. So, the land rights will 
be with Paradise Artist Colony and we will have 
the Artist Colony Facebook page. What do people 
think about having a website? We used to have 
one and it had all of our history on it, but 
they started charging for it, and we paid for a 
couple of years and then it lapsed and all our 
records are now lost. Six years of history, or 
rather five years. Do we have enough going on 
to warrant a web page? It could be a good forum 
for art works and music.
Lu
You sent me the link to the newspaper on Blogger. 
Blogger is never going to start charging and 
you can make pages etc. Perhaps that's a 
safer/cheaper option.
Mira
Oh, okay.
Barbie
Wouldn't the Echo be the same?
Mira
Yeah, well perhaps it could be both: newspaper 
and blog = website. So rather than calling it 
a newspaper, it just becomes our website. Can we 
just make that newspaper link our continuing 
website or should it have the name 
Paradise Artist Colony?
Barbie
Yes, it could keep history, and people 
could post their work. 
Mira
Well, that could be the way to go.
Lu
You can have multiple authors on Blogger
Mira
Use that as the repository of our 'knowledge' 
and history. Which is good because the newspaper 
did record a lot of our history so there will be 
continuity. Can the name of the blog be changed?
Lu
Yes, but whoever made it has to invite you to 
edit their blog.
Mira
http://pechonews.blogspot.com/
That would be Darcon. He set it up (darcon.xue). 
I have some abilities there, but to be honest, 
I've never added to it, or used it. So he 
would be the best person to go to about it. 
Okay, so that's an idea. So, Barbie was going 
to take on the job of doing the newspaper and
 Lu was going to be doing admin, so do you 
think the two of your could work together 
on the website/blog?
Barbie
Yes, I see no reason why not
Mira
In my experience, it's best to have clearly set out 
responsibilities and areas of 'authority'.
Lu
I can help with organising the blog and spell 
checking but with uni I don't have time to 
update another blog. But I can do design 
and layout as I know Blogger quite well.
Mira
How does that fit in with what you would 
like to do, Barbie?
Barbie
I will update it if people give me the 
information.
Mira
Okay, so we can do that through the 
Paradise Artist Colony notices and Facebook. 
Should we continue with Facebook then? 
That's immediately updateable.
Barbie
I will have to learn more about Blogger.
Lu
I can help you with that :)
Barbie
Thanks :)

Mira
Well, how about I look after Facebook and 
you two can do the blog?
Lu
That's a great idea, Mira.
Barbie
I will still post our pictures there.
Mira
Yeah! It's easy to post to Facebook so anyone 
can do it and then you use Facebook as a 
'feeder' for the blog/website. Lu doesn't use 
Facebook, Barbie, so it would be up to you 
to get stuff from there for the blog.
Barbie
That would be no problem once I know how
Mira
Great! I love collaborating!

So, where does that leave us? Communication 
seems to be under control. Now, who with? 
Do we all agree that the original 
Perfect Paradise Community is now pretty much 
redundant?
Lu
Yes
Barbie
Yes
Mira
Deefer? I'm really interested in your thoughts...
Deefer
Wondering. Probably, yes, but do you have a 
PP quorum to reach that? But I will say yes.
Mira
Well, if no one from 'the community' 
comes to meetings.

**Hatred of men tangent**

Mira
Zen, we've just decided that we will pick up 
the old website/blog that Darcon used to post 
the Paradise Echo to, and make that our 
website/blog and draw the info that people 
post to Facebook for the blog.
Zen
Sure, ok.
Lu
I'm gonna help with the design because 
I redesign my blog more than I post in it :D
Mira
But Sunshine was suggesting that we just have 
one group, instead of Perfect Paradise Community, 
Paradise Artist Colony, and Friends of Perfect 
Paradise. What are your thoughts? And yours too, 
Miriam, when you get back. 
Zen
Yeh, getting complicated.
Mira
Well, eventually, I would like to drop Perfect 
Paradise Community as that is now really not
 functioning as a community.
Zen
Druth and Aph asked me what Paradise Artist 
Colony was last week
Mira
Well, I would have thought that was rather 
self-explanatory. lol
Zen
But they didn't know what had changed
Mira
Well, since no one was really participating 
in the Community, and I was the only one 
living on the island.
Zen
They seemed interested in coming back
Mira
It occurred to me that we needed a change of 
focus. And that since I was the only one 
living here, I would make that decision myself, 
lol. And it occurred to me that one of the 
biggest joys here in SL, is being creative, 
expressing ourselves. And that we could provide
 a home here for people who wanted to be 
creative in some way: painting, singing, 
writing, decorating their bodies, even the 
art of conversation. 
Zen
Yeh, I said something like that.
Mira
So, the island can be 'the home' for all that 
to happen without people having to sing on 
street corners to earn tips to pay their tier
Zen
I told them you are always trying to build a 
community here. We agreed that you are 
very resilient.
Mira
Well, it needs people to have a community: 
a common purpose. So now, instead of 
'environmental sustainability' being our 
focus, or 'creating community', our focus 
is creativity and artistic expression. I just 
hope that Druth and I don't clash again. That 
was such an ordeal. I think the best thing is 
that each person has a particular area of 
'responsibility' that they look after to 
make them feel 'empowered'.
Zen
There's always someone we find hard to get 
on with. Mine was Girish.
Mira
Well, that was the whole point of "trying 
to create an ideal society together".

So, getting back to the three groups...
Miriam
Well, I agree it doesn't make much sense 
to keep the Perfect Paradise Community group, 
though that means all permissions need to be 
transferred to the new group.
Mira
Yeah, we will do that either by selling the 
land to the new group or just changing the 
name of the sim. Not sure which way to go 
yet. Probably the easiest is just changing 
the name of the sim. We were just about the
 go through the Community's member list to
 see who might come across but I definitely 
think that our main focus should be Paradise
 Artist Colony and keep the Friends of Perfect
 Paradise separate.
Miriam
Yeah
Mira
Eventually, it wouldn't bother me if that got
 dropped as well. I can't recall getting any 
sort of feedback at all from Friends.
Miriam
No, I don't think so either.
Mira
If people want to just come and visit the island
 occasionally, that's fine, but I really don't 
see the point in putting too much energy into
 'the visitors'. People will either be interested
 in the colony, and come and chat to use, or just
 be a 'tourist' really on the island.




Transcribed by lu

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