BlogHer's Second Life component gets mixed reviews

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:34:16 -0700

The annual BlogHer conference was held this past weekend in San Francisco, and for the second year, the conference leveraged Second Life as an alternative for those who are unable to attend the real-world conference. This year's conference featured more Second-Life specific content along with some streaming content from keynotes.

The additional option of attending the virtual conference attracted some women who were completely new to Second Life, but became residents in order to attend the conference. I got to speak with two of them: Nichole Smith and Ayse E. about the experience. Nichole felt that the Second Life conference was an eye-opening and valuable experience, but Ayse wasn't as enamored with the virtual conference:

Cyndy: So tell me a little bit about why you decided to attend BlogHer in SL.

Nichole: I'm in Ohio and San Francisco is a little too far for me. I knew that I did have the resources to get here this way [via Second Life], and until a friend told me about SL I didn't even know what it was.

Ayse: I'd been to the first two BlogHers, but I was not able to attend last year or this year. I thought BlogHer in SL would be an opportunity to experience some of the conversations for which BlogHer is known, meet some new folks, see what the buzz was at BlogHer and with bloggers.

How long did it take you to get acclimated in-world?

N: About a week or two - I met a very nice woman by chance and she kind of took me in and helped me out: gave me a walk, some tips, clothes, helped me get a skin so I didn't look "new;" helped my confidence as far as SL.

A: It took about a day to get acclimated, and I credit a great amount of that to Ruby (@ruby, Ruby Glitter in SL), who is a friend with significantly more SL experience. I don't think I understood the SL ethos at the start. I used my own name to register my avatar, and I was surprised that I couldn't use my last name--that I had to pick a name. I'm not very fantasy-oriented so at first the choices seemed silly to me, but after "meeting" some of the folks "attending" the BlogHer SL programs and seeing the creativity of their names and avatars, I understood the value of it. I'm pleased to have had the experience; now it seems intriguing and worthwhile to explore other worlds or other parts of ourselves, and I wonder if I wouldn't mind having a crazy, wildly different avatar for my next foray. (I don't know how/when I'll find the time though. Cue: recurring theme.)

Where do you blog?

N: I blog at Chaos in the Country. It's a very unread blog but has really took off this year... this is my 2nd year of blogging.

A: I *used to* blog at Arse Poetica, but Twitter pretty much killed my blog (ha), so now I'm on Twitter/FriendFeed, etc., and instead regularly update my Tumblr.

How have you found the experience of attending the in-world conference?

N: What i was able to attend I was completely blown away. It was actually more than I expected. I really just thought i would go and listen to speakers online... I never expected to walk away with so much understanding of how to make SL and real life (RL) work together, and that doesn't even begin to describe all the ways I see that SL impacts RL and vice versa.

A: "Attending the conference in SL" was a little misleading--not negatively so; I just misunderstood what it meant. I thought that we would have many more opportunities to live-link (or whatever it's called) to the actual conference, rather than having a SL portion sponsored by BlogHer. I'm more interested in BlogHer than I am SL, though I appreciated being able to learn what I did about SL. I wouldn't have otherwise. I should add that I was not "misled" by BlogHer. This is an especially busy time, so I was skimming the surface of SL-related posts and doing what I had to do to get in and get a seat. Had I pored over the posts, I'm sure I would have known exactly what I was in for. Again, it was an interesting, intriguing, odd, fun experience, and I might visit SL again. I do wish still that BlogHer could link to at least a few actual BlogHer conference sessions. Even if SLers couldn't communicate with the live session it would be valuable to discuss the session at hand with fellow SLers.

How as the experience been with meeting people at the virtual conference?

N: That's harder to answer because this year I have only just begun to familiarize myself with the BlogHer network. I feel like even though I am in SL I have still "met" people so I would say it holds the same value to me as meeting in RL.

A: I don't think the experience of BlogHer in SL compares at all to being at the real conference, but there is definitely thoughtful discussion and camaraderie in SL, and it was easy to meet folks and a pleasure to chat with new people. So much of this sort of thing is what you make it, and I only regret that I was very busy and could not relax and "hang out" more. I would've enjoyed meeting more people. It's a very welcoming community--at least the portion related to BlogHer.

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