Recruiting gets a new life online

would then text a reply. "The technology for two-way voice hadn't been developed in Second Life at the time, but now if we were to do it we would run a live audio stream," said Robinson.

The virtual seminar was attended by 30 people and resulted in four new applicants, none of whom are likely to be hired. Still, the venture had a remarkable impact. Stories on the event have appeared around the globe in 20 different languages, generating a huge amount of positive press in support of the Department's recruiting drive.

"I was spokesperson for the VPD for three years, and that was one of the largest stories that I ever dealt with in terms of interest from the media. I was getting phone calls from reporters all over the world. It was huge," said Chow.

"At the end of the day, it wasn't so much about hiring people; it was about the exposure. Every story written about the virtual seminar is telling people how innovative we are and is getting the message out that we're looking for applicants," he added. "The ripple effect from that has been very beneficial for us. The seminar took place over a year ago and in just the last month I've dealt with two or three queries about it." Perhaps even more importantly, the seminar has positioned the VPD as a forward-thinking organization among today's youth.

"It was a true first. No other police agency had done this," said McQuiggin. "And we believe that it's enhanced our reputation so that in the future, when young people wonder which police force to join, there's a good chance they'll choose Vancouver, because we've created the awareness that the VPD understands technology."

Not a bad tactic. When you fish around a very crowded pool, you need all the help you can get -- even if it's virtual.

TOTING UP THE COSTS

When toting up the numbers on the VPD's virtual recruiting seminar, it's amazing how little it cost.

Start-up funds, paid by McQuiggin himself, came to $120; grants for the two grad students on the project totalled $1500; props, consisting of a police dog, vehicles and a horse, came in at $10; and the production of an 'in-world' video of the seminar cost $500. The only additional cost was a moderate amount of staff time, amounting to about four person-weeks.

"We had little niceties that were quite inexpensive. For example we were able to buy a police dog for only about three dollars. He was a German shepherd, which was great," said McQuiggin. "You can put scripting behind objects in Second Life, so we were able to make him do things like sit and roll over. We even put a little police jacket on him." Best of all, no need to pick up after him.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

CIOs thinking of putting Second Life to work for their own organization should be aware that there are many pros and cons to doing business in the virtual world. Just ask virtual real estate millionaire Anshe Chung, who was subjected to a cyber assault of flying penises by "griefers", Second Life baddies who like to attack their targets with "griefspawn", a program code that generates self-replicating objects.

"It's a developing technology on the hacker's side, but there are reasonable steps you can take to protect your organization against the vast majority of people who want to do bad things," said VPD's Inspector Kevin McQuiggin.

"You can certainly restrict access if you own land and secondly, you can turn off scripting for unknown users on your parcel of land." Much of the time, organizations targeted by griefers are those that are perceived as unwelcome by the community, noted Joanna Robinson of the Masters of Digital Media program.

"But businesses that want to go onto Second Life shouldn't be concerned," she noted. "If they learn enough about how to control their land they can be completely safe from people they