Interesting article, below, from GvtExec.com. Could be a very productive outpost for federal government outreach.
What's Brewin': Feds Lead a Second Life By Bob Brewin
A Big Federal Second Life?
That's the goal of key staffers at the Information Resources Management College at the National Defense University, which has a formed a multiagency consortium to establish a sizeable federal presence in the Second Life virtual world run by Linden Labs.
Paulette Robinson, assistant dean for teaching, learning and technology at the IRM College, said she has signed up almost 20 agencies for the ad hoc Second Life federal group since an initial organizational meeting in July, with more expressing interest every day.
Robinson said the consortium plans a major push to establish a federal presence in Second Life and other virtual environments, and along the way create processes and procedures to make it simpler for agencies to get a life in Second Life.
The Air Force and Navy already have signed up with the consortium,Robinson said, as well as multiple civilian agencies, including the State and Transportation departments, National Institutes of Health, Library of Congress, and two early federal Second Life pioneers: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The federal consortium will probably initially follow the lead of NASA and NOAA and use virtual "islands" in Second Life for educational outreach to the public, Robinson said. NOAA uses its island to house, among other things, an interactive weather map that's better and more interesting than anything served up on its static Web pages.
NASA has set up an island to network with space professionals. It's located next door to the Second Life International Space Flight Museum.
The consortium also is eyeing establishing federal outposts in more secure virtual environments, such as those built by Forterra Systems,which would allow agencies to conduct virtual business in an environment more controlled than the anything-goes atmosphere of Second Life, Robinson said.
Since real estate -- even virtual real estate -- is all about location,Robinson said the federal consortium is looking to co-locate Second Life islands for economies of scale in a new federal neighborhood.
A combined federal effort in Second Life, Robinson said, would allow various agencies to share a virtual conference center and other resources.
She said the consortium is planning a one day real-world meeting about Second Life in November and anyone interested in attending or learning more can contact Patty Coopersmith, educational initiative project manager for the IRM College, at coppersmith@ndu.edu.
If this gets going, will agencies count personnel in terms of real and virtual world FTEs?
