Second Life: Exploring a Virtual World

By Vanessa Hagicostas, Lindsay Cover, John Lashnits

Second Life and Individuality

Second Life acts as a communication medium much like our real lives

Unlike other online networking platforms (AOL, Skype, Facebook, Myspace), Second Life provides us with a better sense of being in the same ‘room’

The ability to customize and modify Avatars allows a better depiction of individual personalities than screen names alone

Communicating in the Workplace

Companies such as Cisco, IBM and Dell are using SL to host meetings. This allows the employees from all parts of the world to meet in one common place. It is also a costless way to bridge employee communications.

Second Life Effect on Commerce The entertainment

and media industry is even utilizing SL. MTV recently used SL to host a fashion show

Existing business, such as Dell, can even sell their products via SL.

Second Life is still in its early stages. It will be exciting to see what types of new interactions will be explored in the future!

What Was It Like To Work On A Cyber Team?

Working on a Cyber Team via Second Life had both its advantages and disadvantages

Because no one on the team had met and had a different level of familiarity with Second Life, it was difficult to coordinate our expectations of the project as well as a time when we could all discuss what needed to be done and explore Second Life together

However, because this presentation could be done through limited communication and email, it was convenient that everyone could work on their share of the project in their own time and at his or her own pace.

Because working on a Cyber Team had its challenges, it was important to find a variety of ways to communicate with teammates about the project and Second Life itself

What Did You Learn About This?

Email was the simplest form of communication, but Second Life offers a list of capabilities to communicate with other avatars, making it easier to work in a group of people we have never met.

Second Life could be used to aid communication between partners through the creation of groups as well as the capability to communicate with other avatars through the use of instant messages and by being able to tag places if there was something that you wanted to share with a team mate

Creating groups allowed the members to create notes and place them in the group inventory for other members to see. Members of the group could also make notices is for that could include places to visit and teleportation capabilities

Effective SL Sims: Presidential Campaign 2008

Some candidates have established campaign headquarters in SL. They raise awareness, name recognition and they facilitate grass roots campaign efforts.

Interactive Campaigning

SL residents can take t-shirts, flags and lawn signs to put on their property and show support for their candidate.

Residents can also donate Linden dollars to help maintain the costs of having a campaign HQ in second life.

Delivering Their Message

Candidates use integrated multimedia platforms such as YouTube to deliver their ideas about how they would lead America.

Delivering Their Message

Here, John Edwards uses a series of images to construct a narrative about his qualities as a leader.

Showing Your Support

Some organizations are actively involved in promoting certain candidates. The Liberty Bar supports Ron Paul, and an SL resident can make donations to his campaign here.

Showing Your Support

Stores such as this one sell items that second life residents can use to show support. Also, they have a leader board so residents can see which candidates are the most popular.