New World Notes

When the widespread protest over Iran's heavily-disputed presidential election erupted last weekend, I went searching Second Life for Residents who lived in that country. According to Linden demographic stats published last year (as above), there were over a hundred of them then, logging into Second Life on a regular basis, and likely more this year. There are numerous Second Life groups devoted to Iran and Persia (as below), the two largest totaling over 500 members, and I joined both, sending out several futile "Hello?" messages in the group IM channel, getting mostly silence in reply. (One Iranian member finally responded, but he was living abroad.)

During the previous few days, Linden spokesman Peter Linden confirmed to me last night, "[W]e've not seen any log-ins from Iran." I had been hoping that the Iranian government, far more focused on blocking Twitter and other Internet social networks that have become crucial communication channels for the uprising, may have forgotten to block virtual worlds like Second Life, which connect to the Internet via different protocols than web applications. However, the utter lack of Iranian log-ins in the last few days suggests that Second Life is being blocked, or that Internet connectivity has become so degraded in that country, it's shut down by default.

In any case, I'll keep looking for Persians to return to Second Life, and ask my readers to do the same. For the moment, however, it is probably better that Iranians' Internet activity center on Twitter and other such tools. As I told Roland LeGrand, who's been wondering the same thing, virtual worlds like Second Life are more powerful social change agents on an interpersonal level, for the small percent of Internet users able to meaningfully use them. A great tool for a tech-savvy Iranian woman who wants to safely explore her sexuality or spirituality in ways that would be extremely dangerous to do in her country now, for example -- but when she wants to rally a thousand students on Tehran's Valiasr Street in the next 30 minutes, not so much.

NWN seems to be on an inadvertant robotics kick this week (as here, and here), and this machinima that just came across my news stream will continue that trend: the geek shogunate at IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or more colloquially, "eye-triple-ee") has opened a two-sim island in Second Life.  To judge by this machinima, it's a cross between a simulated real world corporate campus with workshop spaces that look like Italian villas, and a metaverse center with "information pods" and meetings spaces for enterprise use.  The first branch of IEEE to put down roots is the Robotics and Automation Society, who according to IEEE's official Second Life site, will "Provide tutorials on how to create and program robots in Second Life."  Though I have a feeling the already active robotics community in SL can teach them just as much.  Visit for yourself: direct SLURL to IEEE islands at this link.

Sprawling across several regions, boasting multiple levels and entertainment areas, the SS Galaxy luxury cruise ship is by far one of Second Life's largest builds, a popular social hangout with private cabins for renting by the week or day.  (When Residents plan a virtual marriage ceremony, many of them schedule their honeymoon there.) 

As of last Monday, it's also one of the most unlikely victims of the ongoing global recession.  "With the effect of the world economic downturn," ship builder Bill Stirling announced on the vessel's website, "the Galaxy project is unable to sustain itself.  After two years to the date of this project's start and large amount of resources spent with no recovery in sight, the financier of the Galaxy has decided to call it quits."

This is far from the only indication of real world economic turmoil rippling through the metaverse; in an unscientific survey of New World Notes readers, 46% said that the recession had directly affected their Second Life activity.  Many are scaling back their expenses and their discretionary income, virtual though they may be. 

All this happens as American politicians debate a massive stimulus package to help save a global economy on the verge of collapse due to the sudden devaluation of derivatives tied to US housing mortgages.  (And some say virtual economies are bizarre.) The consequences of that chain reaction of fail have been worldwide, with housing defaults in California eventually leading to the bankruptcy of Iceland.  (Which again is an outcome that's even stranger than the loss of a virtual cruise ship.)

Considering all this, it's fair to say the Second Life economy also needs a stimulus package, to encourage spending and investment.  And unlike the US government, Linden Lab is highly profitable at the moment, and can better afford to assist the Residents and entrepreneurs that have done so much to make it successful. 

What should the stimulus package contain?  Three ideas immediately come to mind:

Review your activity over the last few months, choose an answer above, and discuss in Comments!

Protesters continue convening in SL Israel today

In Second Life there is a new Israel, appropriately called SL Israel, which recreates in virtual form aspects of the country, from religious landmarks of Jerusalem such as the Temple Mount, to tourist sites of Tel Aviv.  Last week when Israel began launching guided missiles at Hamas targets in Palestine, however, SL Israel became a flashpoint of another kind.  As the airstrikes pounded Gaza, so did protesters, teleporting into SL Israel, waving flags.

"Lots of people yelling," Beth Odets tells me. "They were going on and on with slurring obscenities about murderous Israeli forces, etc."  She gives me a screenshot taken during the incursion, festooned with anti-war or pro-Palestinian signs, some depicting dead Arab children.

Ms. Odets helped create SL Israel, so she maintains land permissions to the region.  She began ejecting the most obstreperous protesters. "I had to be careful not to boot people who didn't actually do anything wrong," as she puts it.  But the protesters kept coming, and eventually she felt forced to close all of SL Israel to outsiders.  "Just shut it down for a little while.  Just to make it stop. 'Cause people weren't wanting to be logical, or talk."

The protesters keep arriving, however.  On a brief visit to SL Israel late last night, for example, I found a half-dozen members of something called "Second Life International Socialists", brandishing placards and chattering in front of a lone avatar wearing a yarmaluke.

In SL Israel, this was not the full extent of the reaction to the ongoing war in Gaza, however.  "Later came people who were wanting to really talk," Beth adds, "like the ones here."  She teleports me over, so I can see for myself. 

Which is how I found myself on the shoreline of SL Israel, amid an impromptu colloquium between a pro-Palestinian Muslim in a kaffiyeh, and avatar dressed as an IDF soldier, three Jewish women, and, of course, a talking rabbit.

Along with the Arab headscarf, Clip Chau wears a "Free Palestine" T-Shirt, and when I arrive, he is talking on the boardwalk with a brunette named TamaraEden Zinnemann.

"... and I was the only Muslim in the class and she was the only Jew so whenever Israel and Palestine came up, you know what happened," Chau tells her. "She was a great teacher.  Never biased, and she understood Palestinian pain.  I think she was a huge reason behind me starting to even consider talking to Jewish people.  Before that it was a no go area for me, it was a birth hatred, I guess."

As it turns out,  Ms. Zinnemann is also a teacher in real life:

"I am very cautious when my kids ask me 'Jewish' or Political questions," she tells Chau. "I like to tell them when they want my opinion that my job, as their teacher, is to help them make up their own minds."

I mostly listen from the sidelines, but TamaraEden Zinnemann looks up.

"Hamlet, please write that I'm an American Jew. Clip is a Canadian Muslim, and we are having a great time sharing our commonalities. I'm serious."

I tell her that I will.  Someone small at our feet pipes up.

"Write that I'm a bunny, OK?" Shmoo Snook demands.   I assent to that as well. 

"And cute, too!"  he adds. 

That duly noted, the bunny proceeds to talk about the photos he saw of IDF rescuing Palestinians from a collapsed tunnel, and complain about the Bush Adminstration.

Yesterday was Veteran's Day in the US (with similar memorials marking the calendar of many other countries), and that reminded me of an encounter I recently had.  The large Disabled American Veterans non-profit has an official site in Second Life (direct SLURL teleport at this link), but while talking with the woman who helped run it, I kept noticing a man named Gwill Brickworks in a full dress Marine uniform, standing by the entrance.  He wasn't with the DAV staff, he told me, but belonged to a large group already thriving in Second Life: "U.S. Military Veteran", which now has over 500 members.  Their own headquarters, the US Military Veterans Center, is located in Asha-- direct SLURL teleport at this link.

A veteran of the first Gulf War, still suffering from neurogical disorders incurred during the conflict, Gwill doesn't always wear virtual Marine blues, he told me, just when he's on "official" business, greeting veterans at sites like this.

"Second Life has a lot to offer vets," he explained.  "It's a great way for folks with post-traumatic stress disorder to interact on their own terms and have control over their surroundings.  It also allows for those of us with disabilities to do things that we may not be able to do in real life."

As part of their outreach, Gwill and his fellow vets have created a space customized to serve their unique requirements-- which means isolating it from content you might typically see in SL or other virtual worlds.

If you're at the Virtual Worlds Conference in London this week, take a look at the "Immersive Workspaces" just announced by Linden Lab in conjunction with UK studio Rivers Run Red.  The official site is here, and judging from the videos, it's essentially a version of Second Life re-tooled for enterprise use-- avatar-driven business meetings, document sharing, and so on.  (It was actually shown off and announced at the LA Virtual Worlds Conference last month.)  At the moment, the site is rather vague on details, so without a first-hand demo, it's difficult to determine if it's a good idea. 

From what I can see, however, there's not much being offered that you could accomplish for free with Google Docs and Skype.  Though it's Second Life, I see nothing about dynamic 3D content creation, merely the importation of existing 2D content like Powerpoint files.  Of course, the power of a shared immersive space is a unique advantage, but then, that's already being offered by Sun's Project Wonderland and Qwak, among others.  For that matter, there are third party Second Life developers already offering similar services in-world, so this seems to put Linden Lab in direct competition with some of its own customers.

A larger question looms: with general adoption rates still so low as yet, is there even an untapped market for enterprise use of Second Life?

When Eladrienne Laval reported that the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer sponsored by a meeting of steampunks, Harry Potter roleplayers, space navy wargamers, and post-apocalyptic survivors, I was skeptical.  But that seems to be the case, with Nokia researching how "their unique cultures interact with the diverse overall community of Second Life, and their ability to function in a mobile society."  If you were among the members of Wastelands, Steelhead City/ Europa, The Ordo Imperialis, New Caledon, or the Harry Potter gang who attended, what do you think Nokia was trying to learn?  And did they take away? 

Back in May, I wrote about an innovative Loyalist College program that used Second Life to teach students preparing to train with the Canadian Border Services Agency.  The college's Virtual World Design Centre created a simulation of the US/Canadian border in SL, then used VOIP so students could roleplay as guards interviewing drivers coming across.  The students, program director Ken Hudson (Kenny Hubble in SL) told me then, "gained confidence from the experience, and that they had a competitive advantage for job placement over others who did not have the experience."  I was curious if that confidence translated to real metrics, and recently followed up with Hudson.

"Yes, we have some metrics," he told me, "and they are quite positive."  For these students, 15% of their final grade in the class is determined by demonstrating their border interview skills.  In 2007, before the SL simulation was added, he said, the students' average grade was 58%.  This year, with the simulation in place, Hudson told me, "student interview skills average grade [is] 86%."  So overall, a 28% improvement-- too significant to ignore.

Ken will formally present his findings at the Second Life® Education Community Conference next week, so if you're going to Tampa, Florida, watch for it.