Netroots Nation is proud to announce a concurrent Netroots gathering in the virtual world of Second Life, complete with live streaming video of key events, interactive breakout sessions, and exclusive Second Life-only sessions.

The presence in Second Life will allow up to 600 additional participants to experience the third annual Netroots gathering from a virtual convention center.

Second Life will provide an opportunity for virtual attendees from around the globe to watch key events as they happen. Virtual participants can also send questions to select panelists via a moderator, interact with other convention-goers in virtual hospitality suites and meet-up rooms, even peruse a virtual exhibit hall.

"Second Life's greatest utility, to me, is that it better mimics the experience of being offline in the same room together than any other online medium," says NNSL Director Andrew Hoppin. "I think we're seeing the early stages of a massive trend toward extensive use of immersive 3-D online environments as a primary medium for online social and professional interaction. Second Life has the potential to be to the 2008 presidential election what Meetup.com was to the 2004 campaign."

We're looking for panel moderators, Second Lifers who can help newbies, and technical staff to facilitate video and audio streaming. If you want to volunteer, email Jay Ackroyd.

Netroots Nation offers several ways for remote participants to be part of the convention through Second Life. To learn more about these opportunities, please use our contact form and select the "Sponsorship" category when you send your message.

NNSL Organizers
Andrew Hoppin (email) (Drew Frobozz)
Jay Ackroyd (Jimbo Hoyer), Principal, InWorld Studios
Jordan Bigel (Dire Lobo), Principal, InWorld Studios
Taran Rampersad (Nobody Fugazi), Progressive Island Manager and Lead Developer, Trellon LLC

What is Second Life?

Second Life is an online multi-user environment in which participants from around the globe interact with each other in a three-dimensional virtual world that they imagine, create and own. More than four million residents are currently registered with Second Life, created by San Francisco-based Linden Lab.

The avatar
Second Lifers are represented by an avatar, an SL representative of the participant. The word derives from the different aspects Hindu gods assume. The avatar is a graphical character who represents a specific person in the on-line world. Each avatar has a unique first/last name combination, owned and controlled by a single person.

Second Life is free to use by anyone in the world with a high bandwidth internet connection. Users control their avatars by using the arrow keys and mouse controls along with a few special keys which perform commonly used actions (like 'F' for fly). Moving your avatar around the "metaverse" is just like moving a character in a computer game, with the added abilities to fly like Superman and teleport like Captain Kirk.

The economy
Second Lifers can acquire real estate that they improve by modifying the topography, building structures and creating objects like automobiles or television sets. Islands (also called SIMs) are 16-acre units that are for sale. Islands are generally bought by single entities, like American Outfitters, then developed to support the entity’s real world presence.

They can create environments like bars and clubs, houses and parks purely for the purposes of creating social space with other Second Lifers. Or, they can create storefronts to sell virtual merchandise, like clothes and vehicles. The economy is run using Linden dollars, named for Linden Labs, developer of the Second Life environment. Real estate can also be bought and sold in an open auction market.

In short, Second Life is a full-fledged virtual world, as rich in content as its inhabitants make it. It creates an environment for interaction, as in a conference or a panel, which is much richer than passively watching a television broadcast or a video stream. It is also a platform that provides tremendous opportunity for the development of organizational tools for grassroots political movements.