Stretching Virtual Horizons
by Jasmyn Zanzibar
In an unprecedented event, Beth Noveck, the Duputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House, and the person responsible for Open government, held a mixed-reality event co-sponsored by the Markle Foundation and Global Kids, to discuss her new book WIKI GOVERNMENT: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and the Citizens More Powerful. Noveck presented in a physical conference room in New York with roughly 50 people in the audience. Meanwhile, over 100 people congregated at the MacArthur Island conference amphitheater in Second Life. After being introduced, Noveck began her 30 minute discussion on using emerging technologies and social media to help our government institutions make better decisions and solve problems more effectively. This ‘click heard ‘round the world’ event marked the first time that the US Government used a virtual reality platform to reach a broader and more responsive audience.
Social networking, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkdin, to name only a few, has changed how communication occurs across the gamut of political and social arenas. Virtual reality platforms, such as the foremost, Second Life®, have taken this social networking to the next level, offering participants an immersive environment that propels them from being the mere observers of the television age, to active partakers in social and economic arenas that would not be available to most people any other way.
The US Government is a late-comer, actually. Other groups and organizations that have recognized the value of virtual reality in reaching their objectives include universities, non-profit organizations, and public action groups (among which Loyalist College reported a surge in test scores after implementing a Second Life® training program for border guards, the University of Texas announced a roll-out of 8 new regions boasting a presence of all the University of Texas campuses, and the American Cancer Society which broke all records for fund-raising in a virtual platform, as they raised well over $274,000 USD in their 2009 Relay for Life in Second LIfe®).
