Assignment #9 -- Second Life (Nzingha)

Professor McLeod’s lecture showed an interesting peek at Second Life. Second Life is a unique space which manages to keep important elements of FtF interaction despite the fact that it is a CMC environment. It also allows users the freedom to be whatever they want to be and to do whatever they want to do to. There are advantages and disadvantages to these affordances.

One major advantage is that it allows for the simulation of FtF interaction. In theory, this should make for richer, more dynamic collaborations. The fact that collocation is not necessary to meet in Second Life is also a boon. Meeting up is as simple as deciding on a mutually convenient time and teleporting to a set meeting point. It is almost instantaneous and, most importantly, free. From Professor McLeod’s lecture, we saw that it is relatively easy for even beginners to create basic objects in this environment. I believe Second Life would be an interesting environment for architects and engineers to work in, as it would create a more tangible representation than a blueprint.

There are also some affordances which are disadvantageous. If this space is being used as a collaboration medium for an important meeting or to construct an important model, for example, there is the issue of security. In the demonstration, it didn’t seem that there was any way to keep unwanted people out of a place. Also, as evidenced by IBM Second Life protests, these security measures are easily bypassed and an important meeting can quickly become impossible to conduct. There is also evanescence and editablity to consider. If a team of engineers or architects is working to create a model, who is to say that it will be there, and in the state that they left it the next day when they come back? Additionally, the fact that there is such a wide range of what avatars can look like may raise problems. Trying to concentrate on something important and being distracted because you’re working with someone who looks nothing like how they look in real life – or doesn’t even look human – can create distractions from the goal.

Overall, I think Second Life is an intriguing concept for online collaboration, but I think there are many features which would need to be modified, added or removed for it to become a successful professional medium as opposed to a game.