Congressional Democrats’ agenda gets SL stage
By Adam Reuters
SECOND LIFE, Jan 2 (Reuters) - When the Democrats retake control of Congress this week they’ll have a virtual version of the U.S. Capitol to promote their agenda.
The project, created by the marketing firm Clear Ink and underwritten by Sun Microsystems, will launch on Thursday with streaming video of the opening of the 110th Congress followed by an in-world discussion with Rep. George Miller of California, who is the chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee.
It won’t be the first intersection between Second Life and the U.S. Congress: In September the U.S. Joint Congressional Committee announced that it was investigating the tax implications of virtual economies like Second Life, in a report that is due early this year. Several political parties including the UK Indendence Party have also established a presence in the virtual world.
On Thursday Jan. 4, Miller will be interviewed by Joanne Colan of the video news site Rocketboom about six Democratic Party initiatives for the 110th Congress, each of which has its own informational pavilion around a simulation of the reflecting pool at the National Mall. The two-sim build, which will be open to the public from Friday, Jan. 5, also includes a version of the Washington Monument, and in a preview on Tuesday featured flags at half-mast for the funeral of former President Gerald Ford.
Clear Ink Chief Strategy Officer Steve Nelson (Kiwini Oe in Second Life) said the space was designed to be non-partisan and that he would reach out to members of the Republican Party to see if they would like to use the venue. After the opening event, it will be available for “discussion meetings, and information exchange about the 110th Congress,” the company said in a statement.
Nelson conceded that the overtly political content of the island could result in protests or even harassment between residents with different political beliefs.
“The idea of political griefing is one that anyone entering this realm will have to deal with,” Nelson said in a Second Life interview. “We’re using the standard Linden tools for event management for this event, but are sensitive to the balance between free speech and disruption.”
Clear Ink, which previously brought the 3D software firm Autodesk to Second Life, had a budget of about US$60,000 for the project, Nelson said.
