More notes from RootsCampDC...

 

Second Life

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Andrew and Ruby Sinnreich

- growing 30% a month

 

- IBM is having virtual teams interact with 2nd life, Harvard teaching in 2nd life, Edelman has big public presence, car companies, Nat'l Atmospheric Administration has tsunami training guide there, etc.

 

- Andrew and Ruby met at a few conferences but have never worked together

 

- Info about using Second Life for campaigning

 

- Second life is organized by islands that can be rented out by individuals or groups

 

- Setting up RootsCamp SL:

 

- They ended up working with Better World Island

 

- Got an amphitheater at the Better World Island a week after the mid-term elections.

 

- People who stopped by would blog about it and they would get more and more people.

 

- Do it for two hours over seven days. Set up a wiki and asked people to fill in their sessions.

 

- A lot of support from existing groups in Second Life. Groups can own property and users are updated about their business.

 

- Just like any organizing, just by doing something they met kindred spirits. The momentum built up over the week.

 

- Taking notes is easier in Second Life because all communication is through typing, so just save and copy the chat log. Also take pictures.

 

- Election debriefs with people who maybe couldn't physically make it to a conference

 

- Aldon from Lamont campaign filmed actions on Second Life and uploaded it to blip.tv

 

- Code Pink women gave a presentation

 

- One thing that was different was that other users of Second Life would be wandering around and join in or teleport to Better World Island

 

- Wanted people in Second Life to think about how to use for organizing and action

 

- Had tons of support from the people who's island they were using, but had less control

 

- Camp Darfur and Peace and Justice Center were also at Better World Island, so some progressive folks

 

- One man thinks that it's very intuitive and easy to get into.

 

- Another comment: there's a steeper learning curve, but that may be a draw for many people who like to learn how to use new software.

 

- Camp Darfur: virtual refugee camp, set up to call attention to situation in Darfur. Linked to real-world "camps" that are meant to educate the public.

 

- People really appreciated the connection and want to keep meeting. There are weekly meetings Wednesdays at 4pm EST.

 

- Question: why are people going to Second Life?

 

- How to use for a campaign? One thing is that Lieberman has always been critical of video gaming

 

- Why would people use Second Life as opposed to already existing technologies? Another, more intuitive way to connect with people

 

- Race and second life? Maybe if more people chose to have avatars of color it would signal acceptance of diversity.

 

- There is a lot of messed up stuff on SL too -- people play out ugly fantasies

 

- It's an opportunity to think about it as a safe place where people can experiment -- safely -- with difficult or antisocial tendencies.

 

- Most of your experience of the web you are alone. This is one of the few experiences on the web where you actually see other people. It's not asynchronous like blogging or discussion boards. And that's what politics is all about -- interacting and being social with other people.

 

- This is one of the few places where we can conduct global politics -- no running across borders. If you're doing US political activism, you must be conscious of who other people are. They may or may not be interested in US politics.

 

- The most approached avatars in SL are black women.

 

- It seems like there's a basic capitalist nature to SL. Things are more collaborative, but how does the capitalist nature of SL impede that? Much of the activity is free or costs very little.

 

- Real world relevance for political work: Meetups for groups that aren't in the same physical area. For example, Doctors for Clark doesn't exist just in one city, but they can have a meetup in SL.

 

- The ability to collaborate for real-world work (IBM does this), as if users are sitting in the same office.

 

- Community-building just like the Dean blogs. Building a whole community with social ties.

 

- Also an incredible social tool. Identify people that might be interested and pull them. Dance parties, etc.


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