The Triangle

Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Pete Croteau

Imagine a technology that would allow people to market a product through a virtual world, and even earn a living by accumulating virtual money. Such scenarios are no longer science fiction, thanks to the emergence of new online worlds like Second Life.

A Second Life workshop was held on campus Feb. 5 by Tim Siftar and Josh Roberts, reference librarians at the W. W. Hagerty Library, along with Jean-Claude Bradley, a professor of chemistry at Drexel. The tutorial dealt with the basics of Second Life and how it can be used in a variety of fields, such as marketing, research and education.

Siftar led the presentation during the workshop, which was held in order to bring increased attention to the concept of Second Life.

Linden Lab, a company based in San Francisco, developed Second Life. The program currently has about 3.3 million accounts registered worldwide. At the time Siftar accessed the Second Life during the interview, there were approximately 25,000 users logged onto the expansive program.

In this virtual world, referred to as the grid, a user chooses a character and name, and then traverses through the realistic interface. People can interact with one another as well with items in the world.

In addition to social interactions, Roberts and Siftar mentioned that some people are making a living through this virtual world. In some cases, Linden dollars, as Second Life's money is called, can be exchanged for actual dollars. Additionally, intellectual property rights exist in Second Life, so an idea can be marketed through the game. This is one feature that separates Second Life from similar programs.

Education plays a significant role in Second Life as well. Roberts mentioned that there is a Harvard Law School class being run in an online recreation of a Harvard classroom. He explained that aspects of Second Life could, among other things, be used as a product similar to WebCT, an online learning tool used by many Drexel professors. In this scenario, a virtual three-dimensional classroom equipped with handouts, readings and other assignments would replace the WebCT's list of icons and links.

According to Siftar and Roberts, Drexel, as well as other colleges, is looking into how it can use Second Life. Prospective students could one day visit a virtual recreation of the Drexel campus. In this scenario, instead of traveling to Drexel, students could meet in Second Life to tour the school.

Research experiments in fields such as social science, communication and physics could also be conducted in the virtual world.

Siftar explained that electricity was once considered a luxury, but is now commonplace. The Internet is increasingly going through a similar conversion into an entity that many people take for granted. One day soon, Siftar believes, Second Life or a similar program will begin to undergo the same transformation.

"This doesn't seem like a technology that's going away," said Roberts.

Siftar, or Jack LaPointe, as his Second Life character is called, first got interested in the game through reading about it in education technology literature.

Siftar admitted that there are alternatives to Second Life, but argued that this particular game has separated itself from the pack.

"It's all user-generated," he said. "I don't know of any game that gives that type of control."

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