Resurfacing or Perhaps Resurrecting

Hello again! I know, it appeared as if I had fallen off the face of the planet. Close, but not quite.

I have completed my course requirements for my Master of Sciences in IT and Privacy Law from The John Marshall Law School and was so engrossed in legal issues surrounding Second Life that I forgot about this blog. Checking my stats, though, it seems none of you forgot about it. Thanks! The most popular post is one I wrote more than a year ago, about the pros and cons of emails v. letters. As technology continues to permeate everything we do, the post remains applicable. There may be a generation that will grow up not knowing to write a formal letter, using pen and paper.

It occurs to me that of all the businesses that exist in Second Life, and there are quite a few, none of them sell writing utensils or writing objects. I came across a couple that sell books, or digital books, that your avatar can purchase and read, or simply browse in-store. Authors have taken to publishing works in Second Life, too, along with artists, directors and screen writers.

Second Life is a pretty fascinating place. You can literally build anything, and be anything you want. The only limit is your imagination. Tim Guest has an excellent book out, called Second Lives: A Journey Through Virtual Worlds, that provides a very interesting perspective on Second Life, and other virtual worlds.

I plan to write more about Second Life, and some of the legal issues I spent the semester researching and studying, namely dispute resolution, the practice of law in virtual space and the concept of "personal use" in virtual space. It can be a little tricky to wrap your head around in the beginning; it seems rather outlandish, but it holds promise.

Given the current economic climate, and the reality that things may get much worse before they start getting better, Second Life presents an opportunity to do more than simply survive.