ERFA Group established!

After a successfully seminar on Tuesday with our supervisor Stine and Kim and Thomas from CBS, who are writing their Master’s Thesis about a related subject, we have decided to meet on a regular basis in order to discuss our progression with the Thesis. One of the most interesting discussions from our meeting Tuesday concerned whether Second Life can be defined as a game or as a more advanced form of community. We do not see Second Life as a game for several reasons amongst others because:
- the virtual world is user-created
- the content depend of the residents
- interaction with others is evident
However, there are many gaming related activities in Second Life, which were some of the motives for the other Thesis group to define Second Life as a game.

Problem statment redefined

Okey, as you might have noticed, we have changed our title and problem statement of our Thesis. With a month of explorative research, we have discussed several different angles we could take, but we have chosen what we find most interesting.

Our problem statement is now:

How can real-life companies use 3D virtual worlds as a part of their brand building process?

Get inspired at http://del.icio.us/oursecondlife

We have made a del.icio.us account in order to collect and systemize our research links. We have posted the URL in the sidebar. Feel free to have a look and get inspired!

http://del.icio.us/oursecondlife

On the right track!

One would probably think that being at the end of our Masters we would defiantly know what to research – so did we believe However, the last week has been quite frustrating as we have realised that defining our problem statement has been more challenging than expected. The challenges seems to be even greater because our field is still so new and therefore, every focus we have come across seems irresistible interesting and relevant.

However, one thing is certain – we are on the right track if you ask Peter Søndergaard who is the Danish research director of the American analysis research company Gartner. At the International summit at CeBIT this Wednesday he stated that the future lies in wikies, blogs and environments like Second Life.

Read the article here (sorry the article is in Danish):

CeBIT

What is your opinion about Second Life?

Grith and I, have been telling our readers a lot about what we have experienced and how we feel about SL. Now we want the same input from our readers So, please, if you have any comments or meanings about SL, feel free to write in to us.

Have you tried Second Life? Did you like it? Why or why not?
What do YOU think Second Life can be used as, and what kind of acitivities do you think we will see in the future?

Or anything else that you have on your mind

Torunn & Grith

Concert with Carpark North today

“House of Horizons” opened today (a Danish cooperation between IMB, Innovation Lab og Copterworld), and I was one of the lucky few, who got to watch the show. The house was restricted to around 50 avartars, which led some people being disappointed because they could not attend. The music was streamed, Carpark North had recorded it the day before the show. The 30 minute show was great, and the sound was better then expected. The concert was great appreciated by those who were so lucky to get into the house up in the clouds.

If there are going to be more concerts in SL, I think they have several things to think about, and at least: Not announce it to everybody and then just have the capacity of 50 avartars being there ! It seemed that many people was disappointetd, because they did not come in, and had waited long for this happening. For those who couldn’t get in, here are some photoes:) :

At the first picture we are waiting for “House of Horizons” to open, I was there in good time…

Then we got a “teleport” and could go up to the “House of Horizons”, where Carpark North held a consert. Even the guys from Carpark North thought it was interessting and they had a experience, and it was nice to meet the guys at the afterparty

You can read more about it:

Computerwold about the concert.

Sneak peek at “House of Horizons”

It is good to know so many people in Second Life, because this evening we were invited to a little sneak peek of the “House of Horizons”. It opens tomorrw (March 2), in Second Life. It’s a danish intiative from IBM, Computerworld and Innovation Lab in Denmark.

Offcourse, we took some pictures for you to see.

First look:

Aimee Weber (well-known designer and speaker at Webchamp 2007), in progress with making, what we think will be the stage for Carpark North, which will be performing at the opening tomorrow.

You can read more about it in Computerworld (in Danish):

House of Horizons

We will be back with more tomorrow!

Networking in SL!

This week we have started our empirical data collection, which has included e-mails and interviews taking place in Second Life. We have been in contact with many interesting companies, which have or are about to start activities in SL. It has been a great experience, and we have met some really cooperative peope. Thank you to everybody willing to answer our questions

We have learned much about how Second Life can give opportunities and room for different kind of activities, like cooperation and learning. In one day we have talked with people from five different counties representing different business fields. We have seen office facilities in many different shapes and colours and have had many interesting conversations.

The 3D environment gives a meeting a very special and different atmosphere, which takes an online conversation to another level.

Some news

Just wanted to keep you updated on the lastest news. There has been a couple of big events regarding Scandinavian entry in Second Life today.

NRK (the Norwegian state-owned radio and television public broadcasting company) has decided to make their entry in Second Life. This is the first big Norwegian company who wants to give Second Life a try. Read more about it: (you should be aware that the article i s in Norwegian )

NRK in Second Life

On a more different view, The Church of Denmark (Den Danske Folkekirke) also has bought some land, and wants to build a chuch (?) in Second Life. Visited their place today, but they still have some work to do before it’s finished. Read more:

Church of Denmark in Second Life

It’s all interesting news

And yes, the rumors are true (or so we have seen), TV2 Denmark are opening next to Red Cross in Second Life on March 1.!

Have a nice weekend!

Pointers from Webchamp

Our participation in Webchamp 2007 was defiantly a success.

We got a first hand view of the future web experience, and it was a great inspiration for our further Master’s Thesis work. We also managed to network and got a few valuable contacts (IBM and Innovation Lab) which we can use for interviews etc.. We even got an opportunity to put a question in the Q&A round which was a victory in its self .

We actually also nearly managed to be on TV2, however; the journalist from TV2 changed her mind when she found out that we were not representing a company. The down side of our participation in Webchamp is that we have realized that we need to change our problem statement. However, this is what happens in the explorative face and we must admit that we rather want to change it now than in two months.

John Lester aka. Pathfinder Linden (Community Developer, Linden Lab) held an interessting talk about the development of Second Life. In the picture he is explaining about the mapping and grids in Second Life.

Claus Lønborg (Marketing Manager, IBM), held another interesting talk, this time about the webexperience of tomorrow. In the picture he is explaining about Web 1.0, and what is 3D-Internet? Is 3D Internet the next step after Web 2.0, or a parallel?

Click on the images, to make them larger.