Tutorial Monday 2.30-4.30 Phil Cullens

1. Second life: An escape from
your life?
Caitlin McDonell U3033704

2. Second Life offers you,
A place to connect.
A place to work.
A place to love.
A place to explore.

3. A place to be…
Be Different.
Be Yourself.
Free Yourself.
Free Your Mind.

4. Where you can…
Change Your Mind.
Change Your Look.
Love Your Look.
Love Your Life.

5. Second life a place where
your virtual life begins and
your actual life ends?

6. Or a socially empowering state of play
where you can explore, create, socialise and
become who you want to be?

7. Facts about the social network
•Began in 2003, created
by Linden.
•More than 1 million
registered members
world wide.
•Has its own US over
$64 million annual
economy, independent
media, currency and
real estate market.
•Grows in population by
10%-15% each month.
What benefit does
this hold for the
social sector?

8.  LOCATION - 3,000-plus servers at a data center in
San Francisco.
 POPULATION - 518,524, growing by 15%.
 PERMANENT RESIDENTS - 236,562 (Residents
who logged in at least once in the last 60 days).
 AVERAGE AGE - 3.6 months (Skews young due to
high birthrate; oldest living resident: 4.5 years).
 AVERAGE TIME SPENT IN-WORLD - 40 hours per
month.
 MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS - Blingtards, Elves,
Furries, Geeks, Goreans, Goths, mechas,
Steampunks, grad students.

9. Continuing…
 MAJOR CRIME CATEGORIES - Push-gun assaults, retail fraud, cyber-
terrorism, mafia racketeering.
 TOTAL AREA - About 83 square miles, growing daily.
 LANDOWNERS - 16,908.
 LOCAL CURRENCY - Linden dollar (L$); convertible to $US at
secondlife.com/currency.
 EXCHANGE RATE - L$309 : US$1.
 TAXATION - Caste-based: Basic accounts pay no monthly fee; Premium
accounts pay US$9.95 per month and up, receive L$400 stipend per week.
 MONTHLY TRANSACTION VOLUME - L$1.93 billion.Travel Advisory: Second
Life is a rapidly expanding and mutating world. Stats true as of August 2006.

10. Huvila, I 2010, ‘Social capital in Second Life’, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Online
Information Review, Vol. 34, issue. 2pg 295 – 216, viewed 30 October, 2010, <
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1853078&show=abstract>
Lamb, P 2009, Second Life and the Social Sector, Social Edge, viewed 1 November 2010,
http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/social-entrepreneurship/second-life-and-the-social-
sector
OECD. (2008). The Seoul Declaration for the Future of the Internet Economy. Available online at
<http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/49/28/40839436.pdf>
Paparachissi, Z. (2009) The virtual geographies of social networks: a comparative analysis of
Facebook, LinkedIn and ASmallWorld. New Media and Society, 11, 199-218.
Second life Facts for the Visitor 2006, Wired, viewed 2 November 2010,
<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/slfacts.html>
Second Life Improves Real-Life Social Skills 2008, Science Daily, viewed 30 October 2010,
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717210838.htm>
Terry Flew (2008). New Media: An Introduction. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press (3rd
Ed)
What is Second Life 2009, ABC services, viewed 30 October 2010,