For many in government technology, virtual worlds still equate to the games people play. Well you'd better start to adjust your thinking. Despite the fact that many are blocking Second Life (SL) and other virtual worlds, some version of the "The Matrix" is coming to a government near you, and you'll probably have an avatar in your future.
Don't believe me? Check out this 2-minute video out from Xerox on Second Life. (Oops, better check first to see if you're allowed to watch YouTube videos at work.) That's right this is the new Xerox - that copier company.
Want to learn more on virtual worlds now? There are plenty of recent articles and guidance on the web right now, and this topic was very popular at recent Spring IT conferences. Here are some good articles to become informed on this topic:
1) This is Not a Game: Virtual Worlds Coming to Your Business, Forrester Predicts.
2) Virtual (Global) Office
Here are two quotes from that Business Week article: "Cisco is among companies that recruit in Second Life. "My extended team uses Second Life primarily to recruit new talent," says Andrew Sage, a marketing vice-president at Cisco, adding that Second Life is good for finding workers under the age of 25.
"Sun Microsystems also wanted to be able to run a virtual world that could connect to its own databases and user-verification systems. "When we started experimenting with Second Life, we quickly realized it wasn't an appropriate environment for business collaboration," says Sun's Yankelovich. So Sun created Project Wonderland, freely available 3D software for creating a virtual world, as well as the avatars and animations within that world."
Missouri has received great coverage for their Second Life activities, including their education recruiting.
Government Technology ran a piece on Missouri's recruiting effort.
So what are the Security Risks? They are deep and wide ....
Gartner lists five main areas:
1. IT-Related Security Risks
2. Identity Authentication and Access Management
3. Confidentiality
4. Brand and Reputation Risk Management
5. Productivity
No, I'm not advocating a big jump to open up Second Life on your government networks, but get educated now. Virtual Worlds are coming - along with new security issues. I'll be blogging much more on this topic in the future.
What are your thoughts on Virtual Worlds in government offices anytime soon?
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I hate to be picky, but since I get paid to edit copy I feel inclined to point out that the following quotes should be enclosed in single quotes:
"My extended team uses Second Life primarily to recruit new talent,"
"When we started experimenting with Second Life, we quickly realized it wasn't an appropriate environment for business collaboration,"
Nice blog, btw.