Federal Agencies Forum Recap and Discussion

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At Metanomics on Monday, January 21, 2008, Robert Bloomfield hosted a forum on Federal Agencies in Second Life. Our guests included:

• Dr. Paulette Robinson, Assistant Dean for Teaching at the Information Resources Management College of National Defense University.

• Erika Vick, Program Specialist in the Office of Communications Planning of NASA.

• Aimee Weber, founder of the Aimee Weber Studio

The event was held at the Arena at Muse Isle using live Second Live voice and was broadcast by SLCN to our event partners. Many thanks to the speakers and to our guests who participated in a lively discussion as the event occurred.

We welcome input from the Metanomics community in exploring these post-event discussion questions:

1. What can federal agencies gain from building a presence in Second Life and other Virtual Worlds?

2. What risks are associated with their involvement with new social media?

3. What barriers exist and must occur for agencies to build an official presence in virtual worlds?

4. What US Federal Agencies are conspicuously missing from Second Life and other virtual worlds? Why should these agencies expand their involvement with social media platforms? What can virtual worlds contribute to their mission?

5. Firewall issues are particularly important in connecting federal offices to virtual worlds such as Second Life. One of the reasons this event was held on a federal holiday was because our federal employee guests had to connect from their homes. What solutions have been attempted by other organizations to avoid connectivity problems associated with firewalls, and what degree of success have they experienced?