Task 5: Profits and Nonprofits Set Up in Second Life

Organizations in Second Life

Several organizations have implementation within the virtual environment of Second Life (SL). After spending several hours exploring different corporate Implementations I came back to reality feeling very disappointed. Most of the corporate sites I visited seemed as if they were hastily created and were void of any avatar presence. Across that expansive void, I found a couple gems. These organizations stand out as active participants in creating a new medium for socializing, collaboration, and information sharing.


Manpower (104, 97, 27)
“Manpower’s mission is to help people, companies, and governments understand what’s coming next in the changing world of work” (Manpower, para. 1). They are using SL to help define the next stages of virtual work affecting people, companies, and governments to best support their needs with proper services.

After teleporting to Manpower’s virtual island, an actual staff member of Manpower greets you. They have personnel available nearly 24/5 and post a notice when no one is available with a date and time when someone will next be online. The Manpower Lounge is located in the building directly behind the greeter. There you can find terminals to learn about virtual work, how to find jobs in SL, and even interview tips! I had a great conversation with Horatio and Belize Decosta SL brothers and long time Manpower employees. They explained that Manpower’s virtual island not only for job seekers but a way for Manpower’s global employees to meet and interact with each other (personal communication, April 24, 2008). SL provides Manpower employees scattered across the globe a single platform for creating social bonds not easily created through less rich medium as email. According to Horatio, many employees continue to socialize in SL outside of Manpower sponsored meetings. “Extracurricular activities do more to cement a team than a passel [large amount of] of team meetings or team-building sessions” (Geber, 1995, p. 37) and Manpower also includes a beach where you can even go wind surfing. While the extracurricular activities might be virtual, employees are interacting and creating social bonds with each other.


IBM (106, 6, 23)
IBM is leading the way in virtual reality technologies for organizations. According to Brodkin (2008), IBM and Linden Lab, the creator of SL will be jointly working to create enterprise-ready virtual worlds. These worlds will be located behind the corporate firewall instead of Linden Lab’s servers providing much needed security but still allowing travel to the public spaces in SL.

When I teleported to IBM’s “front door” in SL I found a 3D representation of the different locations across IBM’s multiple islands. However, this map provides no information about what you would find at these locations. There are no staff members to assist visitors either. Actually, I was unable to find any IBM personnel and only a handful of other visitors. This surprised me since IBM uses SL for a variety of corporate functions and meetings. Ms. Kearney, IBM’s global director for 3-D Internet and virtual business says, “5,000 of I.B.M.’s 300,000 employees worldwide now participate in the company’s virtual business” (as cited in Wetzler, 2007, para.8). IBM has private locations for their employees and their public area is visually interesting, but information poor.


Alliance Library System - ALS(114, 238, 34)
American Library Association - ALA (128, 109, 28)

In 2006 several people of the Alliance Library System out of Illinois ventured in to SL and created the Library 2.0 to bring programs and services to the virtual world. Originally the ALA created their first presence in SL in the ALS’s Information Archipelago, and then at the end of 2007 purchased their own island in the archipelago. Their site consists of several islands with small and large library districts and academic organizations contributing to the innovative Library of the future.

The main library reference desk normally has someone there to greet and assist people. Many of the librarians are reference librarians in real life (RL) and are more than happy to answer any questions you might have. ALA’s island, created with assistance of San Jose State University Master of Library Information Science students, has information about the organization and a wide variety of activities to keep you occupied. Similar to Manpower and IBM there are several areas for conferences and networking for librarians and ALA members.

Oberon Octagon, known in RL as Donavan Vicha is the Web Program Officer for the ALA. Due to RL requirements, we were unable to connect in SL, but using SL’s IM feature he provided information on the ALA Island creation strategy. The vision of the ALA is to “develop and maintain a dynamic virtual space to support the goals and objectives of the organization and to facilitate the collaborative and informational needs of its diverse global membership” (Vicha, personal communication, 23 April 2008). Donovan further described that the space is intended to be different from traditional brick and mortar building by having an open air garden type feel to it. They are not “pushing SL out to members” but have created another mediated communication tool to interact with members and the public. “The effects of technological advances can take many years to come to fruition” (Miller, 2006, p. 296), observing how virtual reality changes the perception of libraries remains to be seen.



Though many of the organizations I traveled to offer little to keep my interest, these three provide promising examples on how to create a presence within a virtual environment. They all provide a way for staff or members to participate and socialize though they are separated by distance. IBM is expanding the technology behind the scenes, Manpower is porting their RL mission to the virtual and the ALS/ALA are bringing the future to libraries.



References
Brodkin, J. (2008, April 03). IBM, Second Life create business-friendly virtual worlds. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from Network World: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/040308-ibm-second-life-virtual.html

Geber, B. (1995). Virtual teams. Training, 32(4), pp. 36-40.

Manpower. (n.d.). Manpower Inc. and Second Life. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from Manpower: http://www.manpower.com/press/secondlife.cfm

Miller, K. (2006). Organizational communication: Approach and process (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

Wetzler, C. M. (2007, September 16). Exploring the vast business potential of the metaverse. The New York Times.

Task 4: Second Life vs. Facebook- a Media Characteristic Face-off

“Computers are transforming work, and in some cases, lives.” (Kiesler, Siegel,& McGuire, 1994, p. 1123) Second Life’s media characteristics have transformed the norms for social networking. While participating in Second Life’s virtual work, you can communicate in a format similar to face-to-face with others. You can do this by having normal flowing conversations and having the resources available to use nonverbal cues, such as waving, shaking your head or even blowing kisses. These attributes make Second Life high in media richness. While face-to-face interaction is at the top of the list in order of media richness, the researchers that made the media richness descriptions probably did not even imagine the new phenomenon of Second Life. “In Traditional forms of communication, head nods, smiles, eye contact, distance, tone of voice, and other nonverbal behavior give speakers and listeners information they can use to regulate, modify, and control exchanges.” (Kiesler, Siegel, &McGuire, 1995, 1125) Second Life has the capabilities that normal face-to-face communication has, including immediate responses and the use of non verbal cues, which in some cases is immediately responsive as well. For example, when you type in goodbye in Second Life, it automatically waves goodbye to the person you were communicating with.

Self-presentation also has a place within social networks. In Second Life you are creating a thought out image, which may be intended to attract a certain demographic or get a certain response to your image. The option to ‘edit’ yourself is also something that could be taken into consideration, even though your real self might not resemble your Second Life self, you have the option to choose what your Second Life self looks like, and that shows a bit about you, the user. Facebook, which is another social network which we will be comparing Second Life to, you make your own page for all of your friends to see. With this you can premeditated the responses you give, only showing a certain side of yourself that you want others to see, what you think will attract others to becoming your friend.

Comparing these to social networks, there are many differences. Second Life has become a sub-world, there are the options to travel to places, watch sporting events, purchase goods, go to libraries, and seek employment opportunities at a select number of businesses that are in the real world as well. Where Facebook is a social network more geared towards meeting people through profiles, combined groups and a common school or location.

The advantages of Second life compared to Facebook are geared more towards social aspects. Second Life lets you meet people from all over the world, you can see differences in the language being used, the groups others have joined and sometimes even with the difference of clothing being worn. Because Facebook started as a social network where the prerequisite was a college e-mail, it seems the majority of Facebook users are college-aged, who live in the United States. Second Life, as the title describes, can be a double life from your own, this means that there are things to ‘do’ on the network, the network is programmed to make the user interact with the site as well as communicate with others.

The advantages we stated can also be reviewed in a negative way. On Second Life you do not have to option to ‘browse’ for people that would be geographically close to you, you meet people from all over the world but do not have the option to just seek people that are closer by. Facebook lets you search for people, so you can find people that you go to school with, or look for people that you have things in common with. Because of this, you have a better chance of meeting someone through Facebook and continuing that relationship outside of the social network rather than you do with Second Life. Another disadvantage that comes up with second life is that you do not have privacy from other users, anyone can come up to you and start talking to you, saying whatever they please, whether it be appropriate or not, Facebook lets you have the privacy settings in your control.

While the two have very different aspects of social networking, they have joined together and there is now a Beta application available that integrates your Second Life profile into Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10242435556). This allows Second Life users to find other Second Life users based upon region and other information, combining both worlds. It also allows you to add your Second Life character to your friend list, and add your real friends Second Life characters as to it as well.

Reference

Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., & McGuire, T. (1984). Social psychological aspect of computer-mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39 (10), 1123-1134.

Task 3: Lisa M. Explores Second Life

My name in Second Life is Jacquelin Bienstock, ha ha. This is my second go-around with the program, and my first avatar's name was Lisa Frieman. I was fine with that name, but I had so many complications I just let her die and recreated myself. Some of the not so funny things that happened during my first use of SL include:

* Before the graphics had fully loaded onto my screen, and SL looked a lot like a grey planet for nude ameobas, a group of Germans began speaking to me. I was the only English speaker on the island, and I ended up turning off the sound.

* I tried on "fine hair" from my inventory, and it sat like a blonde wig over my black ponytails. I looked like a fair skinned cousin to mini-mouse.

* In trying to remove the hair by modifications, I ended up with a reverse mohawk, in other words, a friar-like balding pattern.

* In learning to walk, I stumbled into some bushes, and fell into the ocean. I had to learn to fly in order to find my way back to the center of the orientation island.

Here is a photo of me looking a lot more confident than I was feeling.



Thankfully, on my second visit, and with my new, non-balding city girl chic body, I arrived on orientation island and was greeted by a mentor named Udge. Udge was beautifully dressed in white feathers from head to toe, and as we typed to each other her feathers fluttered. I was starting to become engaged in the play of it all. With my mentor's patient assistance I gave myself green eyes, made myself taller, changed my capri tights to denim colored baggy jeans, and made my white t-shirt into an orange tank, switched my gold flats for matching orange heels, and made my skirt length longer. I guess I was trying to differentiate myself from the numerous other city girls walking around orientation island with me. After saving the changes, and reviewing myself from behind again, I noticed two teardrop shaped holes in my skirt, which went straight through to my jeans. Udge informed me that the problem was, technically speaking, my butt was too big for the skirt I had chosen. Ha ha!! Just like real life...

The biggest challenge to me in using SL, besides my obvious ineptitudes, are that I just don't value the virtual world enough to want to participate with it in an interactive medium. I get that the site is constantly changing because it is created by other users, and conceptually that's really cool, but what is the point? As a child I was also disinterested by video games, but even as the graphics improved, and the story boards expanded, even now when I see that "anything's possible", and this realm will continually be advancing, I am disinterested. I have a limited number of hours in the day, and I choose to spend the majority of those hours in endeavors that fulfill my needs and represent my values. I just don't think SL, or any other virtual world, is going to provide me with opportunities to develop myself in ways that are important to me, at least not in ways I wouldn't rather do in my own body.

Marie T.'s Second Life Experiences

4/13/08

Today I attended a celebration celebrating two years of the Alliance Library System (ALS) and the American Library Association (ALA) presence in Second Life (SL). Several speakers spoke highly of Lorelei Junot who in real life (RL) is the Director of Innovation for the ALS, credits Lorelei with getting him involved in SL back in August of 2006. He explained how she created a highly successful pirate display that prompted the ALA to team up with graduate students to purchase and create what is known today as Information Island. Today also happens to be the start of National Library Week and the first time the ALA is celebrating it in SL. They dedicated a floating gallery as the Lorelei Junot Gallery in her honor.

Of course, after all the speeches the party began. There were fireworks, a live DJ, and spectacular light show!

Task 3: Hannah J. Explores Second Life

My avatar's name in Second Live is Aurelia Aubauch. I first tried to get my real first name, but I didn't like any of the last names that were available to go with my first name. Ever since I saw the movie "Love Actually", I have loved the name Aurelia, so I decided to go with that name, and it went well with Aubauch.

When I first signed up, I went with the "City Girl" body shape/outfit. I went with this because it seemed to be the avatar preset that most resembled myself. However, when I looked at the avatar close up, I realized that it was nothing like me. So I changed pretty much everything. I changed her face shape, made the lips smaller and cheeks fuller. I took off most of the makeup, and adjusted my nose a little bit. Something that I foudn extremely frustrating was the hair creating process. I couldn't get it to look like normal hair, so I kind of gave up and just left the hair that came with the preset on.

I also changed my avatar's clothes. While I liked the clothes that I was originally wearing, I wanted to be original, and try to make something for myself. This proved to be very difficult, for reasons that I will get into later. But, I managed to create an outfit that I would wear in real life, so I was pretty proud of myself!

A huge challenge that I have been dealing with in my Second Life experience is my computer. My computer has the minimum requirements for Second Life to work properly. So I can get it to work, but sometimes, it just freezes up and lags really badly. This is frustrating because I want to try to communicate with people, and when I have to wait 15 minutes for my computer to catch up to me, people get sick of waiting.

I have been able to communicate with Marie though, which has been fun! I think that Second Life will add a very unique and interesting element to our Virtual Lab group. We are getting to talk in a synchronious fashion, which allows you to see someone's personality more, and I feel more comfortable and personal that way. Here is a picture of Marie and I talking on UWM Island. Marie is in the slick suit and I am in the white capri's with super short hair.



My first inpression of Second Life is a good one. I used to love the video game "The Sims", and this is like a super hyped up version of it. I wish tha tmy computer was better so that I would be able to explore more, but I work with what I have, and I will be able to enjoy it as is as well. I find it very fun to meet and interact with new people, so this game is a perfect platform to do so.

Task 3: Marie T. Explores Second Life

My name in SL is Eriam Mrigesh and I was born on 1/19/2008. I have not had much time to spend on SL because RL has been getting in the way. Now I have an excuse to play at least. I seemed to breeze through Orientation and Help Island and I began exploring some of the different areas in SL. At first I was slightly disorientated, because there was so much I did not quite know where to start. Then I discovered there is a SL Library! What better place to get started? So I teleported in and have joined the Library Friends group and have been coming back ever since. Here’s a picture of me (green hair) talking with some of the other library members.



Where else can you walk around with green hair without getting any stares! I like the outfit I’ve got on too. In a sim for newbies I found a lot of free outfits and this one seemed decent. Some were really wild or barely there… This one is also easy to add a little more and get a decent dancing outfit. What’s even better I can dance without tripping over my own two feet. So here I’m dancing and talking with more people at the library.



One person was nice enough to give me a fun addition to my outfit!



Now my outfit is complete…. Along with my ‘sea monkey’ friend! My only challenge I have now is making sure I don’t spend too much time in SL and not get my other class assignments done. :-)

I truly enjoy exploring new technologies and really had no difficulties in adapting to SL. As a programmer, I find the open ended creating possibilities very interesting. Once I have more time available I plan on learning LSL and creating my own prims.

Task 3: Larissa P. Explores Second Life

I named my avatar Spinderella Augenblick. The dimensions of my avatar closely resemble my actual body type. I am 5'3'' and imagining myself taller than that even in a second life seemed quite strange, therefore, Spinderella is also shorter than average. I have dark blonde hair in real life and I have never before died my hair or been very experimental with cutting it. I though it might be fun to make Spinderella a bit more funky, so I gave her red hair in a shaggy cut. I had fun with the clothes and expressed myself mostly through that element. My favorite color is green so I gave Spinderella green pants and because I can't remember a time in my life when there has not been a tie die shirt in my closet, I also hooked her up with one of those. Finally, I am not a girl who rocks high heeled shoes so to maneuver more comfortably, I gave by character a set of flats.

When first entering the Second Life world I was reminded of playing Nintendo 64 James Bond 007 with my brother when I was younger. I was terrible! I was the type of person who flailed the controller around thinking my character would follow my own movements. Video games have never been my strong suite. Getting frustrated by walking into walls and getting stuck in corners has been a problem thus far. The actual process of getting oriented with my virtual environment and struggling with what I imagined would be simple and straightforward has been difficult. For example, my computer would not respond when I tried to add Juice as a friend and teleport to the UWM island.

For someone like myself who is a bit computer illiterate, my initial reaction to Second Life is that the result is not worth the effort. That is probably because for me to achieve the same results as someone else probably takes twice as long and is at least that frustrating. I think that the concept is fascinating and I can understand how people get wrapped up in the life of their avatar through extensive time spent on the site. This task is not something that I will continue after the class is over although it is interesting to get a feel of what it is all about.

Task 3: Scott K. Explores Second Life

The name of my avatar is Religio Neuman.

I changed my appearance by making his overall body bigger and stouter. I made his arms and legs shorter as well as his neck. The thing I focused most attention on was his face. I think I played around with basically every part of his face, focusing mostly on his beard. There is just something to be said about a guy that has a nice full beard. It’s just respectable. So I turned all the facial hair options to the max and gave him a little gray. I pretty much changed these things because it was required that we change at least something and I’m just a fan of the beard. I wish there was more tweaking I could have done with the beard. I did not intend for my avatar to look anything like me. Since it is a virtual world and there would be no way for people to make a comparison I did not see the necessity.

Second Life was a little more challenging to get oriented to because everything moves really slow on my computer so there is a delay between when I type an action and when the action actually takes place. This fact makes it very hard to move and control my avatar. The interface itself is pretty straightforward and like most interfaces like this the more you use it the more comfortable you will become.

My first impression of Second Life is that it is an interesting concept. The interface is very detailed, which is pretty cool. I play RPG’s so I like the idea of being able to customize things and have control over my characters. I don’t play MMORPG’s so this whole virtual world is new to me. Having random avatars come up to me and want to talk was kind of unsettling at first because I felt that these people are totally random and I will most likely never meet them or interact with them in real life. I would probably never use Second Life outside of this class. I would much rather interact with someone face-to-face.

Task 3: Cassandra D. Explores Second Life

....help!!!
The name of my Avatar is Casey Dubienski. I have yet to change anything about my appearance because I haven't played around with this alot yet. The challenges I have faced with the SL orientation have been a little overwhelming. I have no idea what I am doing yet, and I hope that this changes the more I have a chance to play around with it. My first impression with SL has been one of intimidation. This has been my first time on anything like this and I really have no idea what I am doing. It took a turn about five minutes into my orientation though, when someone from Brazil asked me if I was nude...I hope this doesn't happen alot.:-)

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