That's
a question I get asked with Metamucil-inspired regularity as more and more of
our government peers take the plunge into the unknowns of virtual worlds. For those unaccustomed to the freedoms and
idiosyncrasies of virtual worlds, the initial adventure can be quite a sensory
overload. Although most virtual worlds
have major characteristics that are rooted in the real world (i.e economics,
social interaction, timespace continuum), these worlds do often reject the notion
that one needs to be restricted by such trivial things as physics, physical
appearance and other such nonsense.
For
instance, in the virtual world of SecondLife, where MuniGov has established its
Virtual World Domination HQ, your virtual self is free from the shackles of
gravity and the restrictions of conventional humanity. Sure, there are humans every where you look,
but they are not alone. Here humans
intermingle freely with dozens of various and intricate subcultures of furries,
nekos, dragons, vampires, tinies and many more.
Sounds like a video game, not work, right? Well, in a sense, you are correct. Virtual worlds, particularly SL, look and act
like a video game in many ways. You
interact with the online world through an avatar that is completely
customizable. You can get a job and get
paid with currency that can then be spent on new customizations, new clothes,
furniture, etc. This is much like
"leveling-up" after completing a particularly hairy quest in a video game. But is probably the point at which SL and
video games diverge.
In
SL there are no defined quests. There is
no beginning point and there are no end credits to strive for. SecondLife in and of itself is what you make
of it. If you are there to socialize,
you will find people who are content to do nothing but hang out, perhaps dance
a bit and talk about whatever strikes their fancy. If you are here to explore and discover new
cultures, you will be very happy in SL.
You will find authentic representations of the modern day world,
cultures out of history, literature, popular culture and the sheer imaginations
of SL's inhabitants. And if you are here
to learn, you are also very much in luck.
Dozens of universities, hospitals, scientific entities and libraries are
deeply invested in SL as a tool for education, knowledge transfer, recruitment
and research and development. They have invested time and expertise and they
are seeing the payoffs.
Our
federal government has an extensive presence in SecondLife. In your SL travels
you can find all branches of the military using Second Life for recruitment, modeling and simulation and the like. In fact, the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies recently created a new area in Second Life, known as Coming Home, designed to assist returning veterans and "ease their return to civilian life". NASA, the CDC, NOAA and
many other govt agencies have committed to exploring and investing in new
methods of delivering services and information. The state of Missouri uses
SecondLife as a recruiting tool for its Information Technology Department. Ontario,British Columbia
uses it to simulate the skills needed to be a firefighter, medical technician, civil engineer, economist, and traffic analyst. I recently attended
a detailed, comprehensive paramedic training simulator developed by St. George's University of London.
The
beauty of SecondLife is that is a participant-driven solution. When LindenLabs constructed Second Life, they
made their "grid" as wide open as possible.
Essentially, they constructed a giant sandbox, brought in a megaload of
sand, and invited us all to come over and play. They provided the tools and the
medium but the constructs were the products of their users. In many ways, the possibilities are limited
solely by the imagination. From the
smallest details - the texture of the floorboards or the shine of your bling -
to the expansive training simulations developed by the military, the
functionality offered by an easy-to-use scripting language makes nearly all
things possible. In SL, you can create complex training scenarios, attractive
and appealing recruiting stations or even functional and practical meeting
spaces. And because doing all this is
simply pushing around ones and zeros in this pixilated universe, your cost of
entry is literally zero and with a small time and financial investment you can
build a substantial, practical and user-friendly presence to meet the business
goals of your organization. Think complete customization!
And
I am here before you today and proudly admit that it is this customization that
drove me to lycanthropy. I confess that when I first got into SL, I was human
for a time. I spent much of my first few
visits exploring several different cultures.
I even managed to pick up a few lines of Elvish when I spent time with
them in their forest home. Trivial? Perhaps.
But it quickly taught me that a different appearance, while it may
appear superficial at first glance, was actually more indicative of the
existence of extensive, complex hierarchies.
SL has its own sets of rules, connections, communications and these form
a conglomeration of factors ripe for the harvesting of new avenues of two-way
communication, immersive information sharing, training simulators,
teleconferencing opportunities and much, much more.
So
after a few months in world, I made a conscious decision that I was no longer
going to be human. I decided that it was
very important to make a strong first impression on the new govt types that
came in world to see what things are all about.
I wanted to convey that you can get both
things in world. That is to say, when new
govt users speak to me, they hopefully hear and feel the conviction in my voice
and see the practical potential of SL. I
want them to see that someone who is extremely serious and committed to
exploring the real world potential of virtual worlds can appear as a wolf; call
it going for the "shock value" I suppose. If they see that if I can be a wolf,
I could just as easily wear turn out gear and learn how to fight a fire, design
a 3D tourable mock-up of a new library or sport my scrubs and learn how to
perform an appendectomy. So yes, I my friends, am an admitted canis lupus. Mind you I am not frequently prone to
scratching for fleas or howling at the moon, but there is definitely a
distinctive furriness to my face.
No
doubt my appearance will turn away some of the less visionary members of my
government peer group. But I am okay
with that. In my mind you have to start
with a certain amount of open-mindedness to consider virtual worlds or any 2.0
tools in general for that matter. So, if you are perhaps interested, I would
encourage you to try it out. Come to one
of our weekly virtual govt meet-ups in SecondLife. (Wednesdays at 7PM EST on the Public Works Island). Mingle with your govt peers
from across the globe and see what an
open mind and a blank (and free) canvas could do for your organization. And although I find mine to be a great conversation piece, the tail is completely optional!
This week 
This week also brought what most are considering to be bad news to the 2.0 realm. 
