Today I posted a message to the MuniGov mailing list announcing the development of our latest MuniGov collaboration project. During our last few regular group meetings, the group has finalized the scope our next venture. We are going to immediately begin a build out of a "town" within the virtual world of Second Life. This town is going to include several simulations and resources that will be focused on establishing a resources kit for all local governments.
The concept is simple: we want to build a series of training simulators and tools that can be used, free of charge, by any member of the organization. We intend to include the basic tools (conference room, auditorium/lecture hall, etc.) But we also are working on some very basic customizable tools such as a polling center, a paramedic training simulator and the like. We even intend to build a forum for use in public meetings. This is only the beginning of what we hope will become a centralized hub of virtual world resources for all of us to share and "check out" for specific purposes within a locality.
It might sound far-fetched to consider virtual worlds as a tool for real life government business, but believe me, it isn't new. Many of the agencies at the federal level are using SL or other virtual worlds as a cost-effective means to conduct simulations, meetings, interviews and collaborative strategy sessions. And just this week I read an insightful article about how major corporations, like IBM, Dell and Intel are now giving virtual worlds the second look that typically indicates a technology's staying power.
So the MuniGov organization is trying to capitalize on the richness of these virtual worlds in order to achieve some real-world results. It seems kind of silly for each of us to try to establish and experiment with our own sort of virtual world presence. We determined it would be best to pool our resources, talents and interests into establishing a virtual "Town" that can be shared by all, since so many of our service needs at the local level are similar. We intend to build this without any funding, however we are also currently evaluating several grant opportunities that would enhance the town and speed the construction process.
At our next meeting, we will be focusing exclusively on this build-out. I invite you to join us in SL on Wednesday, May 12th at 7PM EST/4PM PST at our new MuniGov HQ ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Earth%204/227/30/24) so that you can be a part of this exciting new venture. If you are new to SecondLife, no problem! MuniGov also offers one-on-one tutotials.
I am very excited about the potential this new platform holds for us in government. I'll be sure to provide you with regular updates via the blog and we'll keep the info coming via our twitter stream and our Web site as well. Please leave comments if you have any questions. I hope to see you next week!
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