Estonian SL Embassy News

The identity of Estonia in pictures and words

The opening of the exhibition "Estonia in Pictures" took place in the virtual embassy on the 19th of February. Photographers Annika Haas, Ingmar Muusikus, Birgit Püve and Gabriela Järvet have captured people and landscapes characteristic of Estonia. Parallel to the event, a panel discussion on Estonian identity took place at Tallinn University and was broadcasted on the embassy's screen. Foreign Ministry Secretary General Marten Kokk, historian Marek Tamm, advertising expert Joel Volkov, cultural geographer Helen Sooväli and photographer Annika Haas discussed how Estonia is seen or should be seen. There were around twenty people in the audience and about ten in the virtual embassy.

The exhibition will be up until the end of March.

The audience from left around the table: Jyrgen Miklos, Edwin Broek, Asteroid Indigo, Alain Delpiaz, Mammu Muliaina, Angely Larsson, on the bench: Helen Woodford, on screen: Marten Kokk, Marek Tamm and Helen Sooväli

Exhibitions, live broadcast and Club Estonia

Autumn has arrived, along with fresh thoughts on how to make better use of the embassy island and capture theinterest of more virtual citizens.

A photography exhibition by Johannes Pääsuke was put up in October with help from the Estonian National Museum (ENM). Everyone who for some reason hadn't made it to Tartu and the museum had a chance to take a look at scenes and people from the beginning of the last century, captured by a talented photographer. A grand anniversary is coming up for the ENM and a number of events and exhibitions are planned for the celebration. We will try to take part in these events and bring fragments of the nation's history to the virtual space.

(Photo: Pärtel Ribin, a fisherman from Muumasaare, smoking a pipe) 

In mid-November we tested live broadcasting of audio and video in Second Life. Since we had no prior experience in live streaming, we were a bit uncertain until the very last minute whether we could pull it off. But we did. On 19 November  at 4 pm, visitors of our virtual embassy could partake in the opening of the exhibition "Capture Culture" at the Gallery of Architecture and Design in Tallinn, arranged by the Tallinn 2011 Foundation.

There weren't so many people but the feedback was positive and gave us courage to try out new ideas in the future. The best works of the exhibition were up at the embassy until the end of November.

(Photo: 2nd Prize: "Graphik" by Eduard Zentsik)

   

(Photo: Exhibition in the embassy)  

 

Another project we are currently working on is called Club Estonia. Apparently there is no meeting place for the Estonians in Second Life, so we decided to spare some land on the embassy island for the Club Estonia group. Hopefully we will soon have a nice venue on the island for events, music and socialising. It will surely be of help to new Second Life users who could do with some advice and tips from the more experienced Secondlifers.

Virtual Embassy At the Marketing Conference In Pärnu

The story of the embassy was told by the Marten Kokk, vice chancellor of the Foreign Ministry at the annual top event of Estonian marketers. As the main coordinator of the project, he talked openly about wins, lessons learned, experiences. It all makes up a fascinating narrative. The slides are in Estonian.

Apply For Visas

Now you can start your visa application procedures straight from the virtual embassy. Welcome!

Notes From New York Of the Nineties

An Estonian diplomat Maris Tippo remembered working in New York, when Estonia's newly gained independence was just some years old. She  also talked about Ernst Jaakson, Estonian diplomatic legend whom she had the chance to work with.

What's in EU For Estonia?

On April 08, at 15.00 Estonian time (GMT+2) there will be another lecture at the virtual embassy. This time we will hear interesting insider views from Kaja Tael who is the vice chancellor for the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in EU issues. The main part of the lecture will be in Estonian, but questions in both languages are welcome and if you want to have translation of the lecture, please contact Estonia Republic in Second life.

Concrete Building 2007, Readers Prize!

Apparently our virtual embassy was voted the best concrete building in 2007 by the readers of Eesti Päevaleht (a major Estonian daily newspaper). The main prize was given by the professional jury to a bridge at Puurmanni (picture below).

The Estonian language newsstory is here. (The embassy picture below by Harper Beresford).

Catching the Virtual Wind

Wind turbines have popped up in many places around Estonia. While most of Estonia's energy comes from oil shale and some are talking about going nuclear, wind energy projects are definitely taking off. The latest one of these happens to be virtual and located next to virtual Estonian Embassy. On the picture below you can also spot the volunteer Edwin Broek who built it.

Foreign Policy Discussion

Following the annual address of the foreign minister Urmas Paet at the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu), Estonia Republic, the official avatar of the Estonian embassy gave a short overview of the minister's speech. A discussion also followed. The Estonian language overview of the event is here.

The Competition is On!

Estonian daily newspaper Eesti Päevaleht has published all 25 entrants to the Estonian Concrete Building 2007 contest. Readers can also vote for their favorites.

Remembering the Future at the Estonian Embassy

Estonian ambassador to United Kingdom, Margus Laidre aka Margus Dreamscape lectured at the virtual embassy today. He spoke of history, future and the role of the small countries in it. Taking the listeners to an intellectual walk through the fast changing world of globalization and virtuality, he said:

"We should also acknowledge that in many situations people suffer not from a deficit of history but from too much of it. Most notably the „memory” of allegedly ancient conflicts often feeds into and intensifies violent conflict in the present"

and concluded by formulating a moral for modern diplomacy:

"It is easy to remember the past – it has already happened and you cannot change it. We can, however, change the present and the future."

You can find the whole transcript of the event here: Download marguslaidrelecture.rtf .

Some pictures by a visitor Ozzy Wozniak (Thank you, Ozzy!):

Coverage In Washington Post

Today's Washington Post has a nice review story by Daniel Greenberg on Second Life (in arts and living-> travel). What I especially liked is that there is not much over-hype, but some sensible observations about challenges as well. This helps to create normal expectations for future Second Life users and avoid their disappointment if things are not up to the hype. (The link is here, free registration may be needed).

The Estonian Embassy has a nice mentioning too:

Estonia is the latest nation to build a Second Life embassy, opening last month. Its ultramodern building represents the high-tech aspirations of a nation trying to make rapid technological progress. Daniel Vaarik, managing director of Hill & Knowlton Estonia, which designed the building, said the virtual embassy was a "logical step," adding that the intention is "to reach outside of Estonia and find people who are interested in . . . e-technology and e-governance, to create a discussion ground for e-services, communication in virtual environments."

To be exact, I would also like to give most of the designers credit to Scope Cleaver, the architect, Miko Omegamu, who did a lot of fine interior design and Seifert Surface, who made several really nice sculptures, also Waghorne Truss and Edwin Broek for their contributions.

I also liked the conclusion by Daniel Greenberg:

"When it comes to Second Life, it isn't the buildings I'll remember as much as the residents. You can meet interesting people with different worldviews, share a laugh and discover things you never knew before. Just like traveling in the real world."

He is very much right. As our own experience shows, SL is a people to people medium, buildings are just an infrastructure that needs to encourage communication, just as in reality. 

Go Gerd!

First ever official discussion in virtual Estonian Embassy is successfully over. We had an interesting session with Estonia's best sportsman of the year, Gerd Kanter and his coach about their training philosophy and aspirations for Olympics. Read the transcript of the event here. More sessions to follow in January. Stay tuned!

Meeting with Gerd Kanter and his trainer

Estonia's Best Sportsman of the Year, Gerd Kanter and his trainer Vésteinn Hafsteinsson (Estonia's Best Trainer of the Year) will have a discussion in the Estonian Embassy about achieving great results in sports and their unique training philosophy.

Time:
December 27, 10:00 AM (Estonian time) and 12:00 AM (PST).
Place: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Estonia/140/111/57.
More about Gerd and his team.

 

Doing Well on The Traffic And Voting Front

Today we have an all time record traffic number which is 9077. Given that we even have not had official events yet, it is impressive.

The Hotspots voting stand is also doing well, we have 140 votes by users marking the site as a favourite.

The Griefers Have Arrived

It is only natural that at some point you will get griefers at any popular building. We had two recently. The last one was an Estonian guy nicknamed Zac. His hunger for attention is as big as his desire to jump on the tables and wear women's clothes. Since I have promised that we will document negative issues too, he gets a bit of attention here.

Griefers are an interesting phenomenon. According to Wikipedia, a griefer is a slang term used to describe a player in an multiplayer video game who plays the game simply to cause grief to other players through harassment.  Although there are not many of them, they can spoil the experience of using the internet environments. But do not get it wrong, most people online are still talented and nice!

By Estonian Embassy rules, griefers can be muted, voted out by residents or if in violation with Second Life Community rules, they can be removed by the moderator.

In WindLight

Some very beautiful images taken by Harper Beresford who also acts as a reporter to SLNN.
She used Second Life WindLight viewer while taking the pictures.

Christmas Tree Opening

Yesterday the christmas tree was brought in by Raine Carver and me. There was a small celebration after that. Estonian Embassy also got Second Life Hotspots voting system, so if you want to vote for the place, you can do it now by visiting the island and clicking on the vote box!

Minister's Avatar "Person of the Week"

It appears that a Russian language news site novosti.etv24.ee has awarded the avatar of the foreign minister Urmas Paet with the "person of the week" title.

Estonian Users Creating Cool Identities

To my knowledge, Nuuna Nitely was the first to create Estonian national costumes in Second Life. And it looks really beautiful! More costumes are in the making by several users, so expect more. And here she is!

 

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures of the embassy. If you need any print quality files, please let me know!

Please Meet Mr. Head!

Mr. Head lives on the fourth floor of the embassy, in the so called technology room. Made by Seifert Surface and inspired by Skype, since this little program has something to do with Estonia. The head acts as a modern oracle, telling you five fictional reports from the future of technology. This statue is significant also because they say that Seifert has never done any figurative sculptures before. Usually he is the man of pure abstract forms.

So, you are welcome to touch different parts of the head and read the stories it gives you! And while you are at it, you can also interact with the e-voting box and be scared by the cyber war sculpture!

Notes From the Opening

So we had the opening of the embassy on two fronts. First the real life press conference for several Estonian journalists at the press room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This turned into Second Life opening that mainly consisted of two speeches, one by the minister Urmas Paet (Urmas Alter) and the second by the chancellor Matti Maasikas (Matti Renard). Scope Cleaver also said his welcome words as an architect and thus the embassy was open and everyone could drink champagne.

The place got immediately crowded after the opening and was so still in the next morning. The coverage is coming in, here are three first blog entries at SLNN, TechCrunch and the blog of Aleister Kronos. We also expect to get some more photos of the embassy that we will put up here.

Last evening before the opening 25 or so people from local SL Estonian community arrived to have a look around the embassy. A long guided tour ended with everyone sitting at the meeting room table. Raadio 2 was playing some groovy tunes and the mood was good.

Listening to the speech of the minister. Matti Renard is standing far left.

The minister's avatar some hours before the opening. Many thanks to Edwin Broek who created this appearance!

And also - stay tuned for more information about forthcoming events!

It Is Open!

From the press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Estonia Opens Embassy in Virtual World Second Life

Estonia opened an embassy in the internet-based virtual world Second Life on Tuesday, 4 December. Estonia is the third country to open an embassy in Second Life.

According to Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, more and more of communication goes on internet, and Estonia must keep up with the trend. “Second Life’s popularity as an alternative environment for interaction has grown rapidly, which is why we decided to establish an embassy there,” Paet added.

Art exhibits, concerts, lectures and other events will be organised in the embassy. The first lecture, entitled “Back to the future,” will be given in January by Estonian Ambassador to Great Britain Margus Laidre.

According to Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Matti Maasikas, several other countries are planning to open virtual embassies in Second Life, which means that the prominence of Second Life is growing in diplomatic circles. “We expect people interested in Estonia, as well as people interested in foreign relations and foreign policy, to participate in events at the embassy,” said Maasikas.

The virtual embassy has a conference room, exhibition room, reception hall and a technology room, where Estonia as an e-nation is introduced. Visitors to the Estonian embassy will hear current news read by an Estonian hound.

In honour of the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, the embassy will display the exhibit “Blue-black-white in Estonian painting”. There will also be other materials dedicated to the anniversary on display.

The virtual representation was born under the leadership of the Foreign Ministry. The State Chancellery and the Estonian Informatics Centre made significant contributions, and there were many volunteer helpers as well. The project is being implemented by consultation firm Hill & Knowlton.

The embassy can be reached at:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Estonia/140/111/57.

Opening on Tuesday

Hello, all of you! Finally we have a set date for the official opening, which is 4th of December. The opening event starts at 15.00 Estonian time. The embassy will not be publicly open during the event but will be so just after it! So, if you are interested in participating the event, you should contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press department and ask for registration at centre@mfa.ee.

The Opening Will Be in December

As we had our meeting last week, it occurred that the official opening may be postponed for as long as until the beginning of December. The reason is that the schedule of the foreign minister and his team is too tight before that as the diplomatic season is busy. So, some more patience!

The Opening is Getting Close

Today we have an important meeting in order to discuss the opening details. A lot of things needs to be fixed still, starting from all the different design details and ending with the list of people going to give lectures at the embassy.

Meet the Newsbeagle!

Well, here he is. A news-reading hound! If you are lucky, he will wag his tail to you on the Virtual Estonia island and tell you what is going on in Estonia.

Our first idea was to have some  Estonian bred animal walking around in the embassy and talking to the visitors. The walking part turned out to be rather tricky because of all the animations and potential annoyance to visitors. So we decided to create an animal that greets people in front of the building and spreads Estonian news.

The first news anchor candidates were the Tori Horse and the Estonian Hound. We chose the hound.

One  great thing about this  project is that I have to visit so many user created universes that are like works of art. For example, once I met Waghorne Truss, a cool animal designer in the underground of a magnificent gothic city that he was creating with his friend Vryl Valkyrie at the time (the scene on the screenshot below). Nightwish was playing on the background and the mood was ominously vampirish.

So, Waghorne created us a virtual dog based on the real Estonian Hound. Well, yes, its moves are a little robotic at times, but he is cute. You will see.

Conversation With the Architect

Here is a small interview with Scope Cleaver, the architect of the building. This conversation took place  between me and him after the exterior look of the building was finalized.

Distant Signals: So, what inspired you to create this building?
Scope Cleaver: I wanted a building that reflected the patterns, angles and spikes of the original Estonian material that was provided to me. Something isometric with a very accentuated perspective.

Distant Signals: Why did you choose concrete and glass as building materials?
Scope Cleaver: Well the answer is boring I fear. I use those materials in most of my builds. It's typical of modern architecture. I like the white concrete because of the effect of light at night on it, slightly bluish.

Distant Signals: Was the building process harder than the others you have done, or easier?
Scope Cleaver: Definitely harder.

Distant Signals: Why?
Scope Cleaver: The technique differs a lot. It was a building designed by subtraction. I carved the shape and space out of the geometry.

Distant Signals: Was there any particular detail you have never used before?
Scope Cleaver: Well the shape itself is really novel to me in Second Life, the combination of pyramids and glass, the way I shaped the railing window that cuts the light throughout the building at all levels.

Distant Signals: I noticed that the building really is very different from every angle, it is playing with the viewer. But do you believe this building could exist in reality?
Scope Cleaver: With some very angry engineers maybe :)... Well because they'd scratch their heads at so many points, because it is an unusual structure and weight distribution.

Distant Signals:  Well, it is not necessary of course, I actually like the idea that Second Life architecture can differ from physical architecture since this environment has its own rules.
Scope Cleaver:  Still, yes I think with some minor modifications we could certainly translate that dynamic and shape into First Life.

Distant Signals: Actually in Estonia we have a contest "the concrete building of the year", would you mind, if we try to present this building to that competition?
Scope Cleaver: I would be more than happy, feel free to enter it in the contest.

A Front View