With Hana Dae at the virtual Capitol
With the next US Presidential elections just a year and a half away, primary campaigning has already begun in earnest-- in the Caucus and main primary states, and in Second Life. Some 800 Residents have already joined unofficial support groups for the mainline Democratic candidates: Senator Obama, with 219 members; Senator Clinton, with 243; former Senator Edwards with the most, at 317. Last week, the leaders of these groups got together to discuss the role of SL in the election. Is Second Life another channel in Web 2.0-era campaigning, following the proven success of blogs, social networks, and video streaming sites like YouTube? Or is it a grief-riven, over-hyped distraction from more effective means of campaiging?
I couldn't attend, but Hana Dae of the Hillary Clinton 2008 group was on hand to document the fascinating conversation that followed, between a group of diverse and eminently qualified advocates for their respective candidates, moderated by an established journalist associated with public TV's highly-regarded "Frontline" program. Hana generously took the time to edit her chat log into a highly readable transcript, full of nuggets of insight-- in my opinion, it's mandatory reading for anyone even partly curious about the potential of Second Life (or online worlds in general) to become the Meet Up space of 2008.
"Political Campaigns in SL" after the break.
Panel overview and transcript on Political Campaigns in SL
Recorded April 15, 2007, 4pm SLT
1. About the Panelists and Moderator
2. Political Campaigning: From Web 2.0 to Web 3D
3. Virtual Worlds: Campaigns without the mudslinging?
4. SL Campaigns: Innovation, or more of the same?
5. Going global with national politics
6. Mainstream press coverage of SL-based campaigns
7. Second Life: Waning trend or future medium?
8. New potentials for campaigning-- and for virtual campaign scandals
9. When do the regular whistle stops begin?
10. Bringing voice to a text-based world
11. Changing minds through avatars
12. Final predictions: the near future
1. About the Panellists and Moderator
Eureka Dejavu (avatar of Rita J. King) - Award-winning investigative reporter, social commentator and adventurer. She is author of Big, Easy Money: Disaster Profiteering on the American Gulf Coast, and is currently conducting research on social evolution in SL. Her websites are www.ritajking.com and www.eurekadejavu.com.
Liam Kanno (avatar of Odin Liam Wright) - Co-Organizer of Obama for President Campaign. He currently provides design services through the V3 Group LLC. and owns and operates Silicon Island/Silicon City.
Gabriel Paci - Co-Chair of Hillary Clinton 2008 group and Community Manager for Anshe Chung Studios' Dreamland. Mr. Paci is also President of Bread and Jams, a non-profit organization promoting self-advocacy for homeless in the greater Cambridge area.
Redaktisto Noble - Co-Organizer of John Edwards 2008 SL Campaign. He also serves as an editor at SL News Network (http://slnn.com) covering among other things, politics and trends in SL.
Kiwini Oe - Co-founder and chief strategist at Clear Ink. He is co-creator and estate manager of SL’s Capitol Hill, a non-partisan region dedicated to political discussion and education.
Logfather Nap - Dutch online commentator, youth activist and journalist. He’s written extensively for major Dutch websites, including an award-winning blog. His personal blog is www.logfather.com.
About the Moderator: Miranda Tibbett (aka Meghan Laslocky) - Worked as a web editor and producer for PBS, including for FRONTLINE/World. Currently working on a PBS pilot television show and website that will focus on America's role in the world, she is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
2. Political Campaigning: From Web 2.0 to Web 3D
Miranda Tibett: [In] a recent article in the New York Times, director of the Pew Internet and American Life project, Lee Rainie, is quoted as saying that You Tube and MySpace are currently the big players with the campaigns. What are your thoughts how this might shift, and how quickly?
Eureka Dejavu: The virtual paradigm in many ways is in its infancy. You can't have the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel until someone started off with cave paintings. Clearly many are sceptical about the value of virtual campaigning, but visionaries will see the potential for using the medium to maximum benefit. When you are limited only by your imagination, you rapidly learn what you're made of. I can see how this would be intimidating to politicians!
Liam Kanno: SL has provided new opportunities for communications and community building that have only scratched the surface. A political campaign would require the same level of brand messaging and continuity as well as security of content like in any marketing campaign.
Kiwini Oe: I think the new media serve to reinforce each other: YouTube amplifies what these 50 people are doing here so that thousands more will see/hear it. I wonder if some candidates have come into Second Life and act like many others do in SL: anonymously, checking it out first.
Gabriel Pirandello: There is a sense of equality here. We are all beautiful. In these virtual worlds we have an opportunity to bring the political discussion to tens of thousands from every part of the globe. This promotes inclusion of every individual who chooses to be engaged and challenge conventional wisdom.
Redaktisto Noble: There are a lot of people, like some of us on this panel, who are trying to use Second Life for real life purposes like campaigning, education, business, and so on. SL is kind of a new category. It looks like a game, but it has a lot of non-game.
Drew Frobozz: Yes. What's different about Second Life is that SL allows you to work together effectively as if you were in the same physical place as one another. MySpace is a shotgun approach to online social networking, and where Facebook allows more focused collaboration, SL permits extremely deep relationship building and collaborative work.
3. Virtual Worlds: Campaigns without the mudslinging?
Miranda Tibett: Audience question: How might SL campaigns be different from past campaigns that focused more on character slandering?
Gabriel Pirandello: I think there is a greater sense of community here in this virtual world. We tend to overlook each other’s shortcomings and concentrate on meeting and getting to know each other.
Eureka Dejavu: In SL, each avatar has an opportunity to create a new community, and what each creates is demonstrative of his/her values. For example, [for] the Civil Rights movement, a vital part of US history as a nation and a struggle that continues today, candidates can set up museums of sorts, to their issues to inform voters on a deeper level and give them the chance to explore.
4. SL Campaigns: Innovation, or more of the same?
Miranda Tibett: Another audience question: Are SL campaigns truly taking advantage of all that SL has to offer? Or are they too much like real life?
Liam Kanno: I think the first goal is to take a look at the many technologies SL has to offer in terms of supporting business operations in a campaign, as well as technologies that help attract or inform a wider audience. From there we have to look at which content or events we can plan and implement that technology to be effective.
Gabriel Pirandello: Political campaigns [in Second Life] are fairly new and so at their infancy here. In time the creativity that exudes from SL will add significantly to better processes and even more inclusion.
Redaktisto Noble: Very few people in SL are taking advantage of all that SL has to offer. Our virtual houses have walls and roofs-- why? Our political campaigns have buttons and rallies-- why? We need to rethink the possibilities, but I think people feel most safe with approximations of real life, even though they're not necessary here.
Kiwini Oe: I think that SL-dynamic models could be better used to demonstrate more complex issues. Real life campaigns tend to oversimplify.
Liam Kanno: One of the more crucial things in SL that residents are looking for is the ability to "co-create" with companies, or campaigns, and [get] fed less content.
Redaktisto Noble: That's absolutely right, Liam. God help the candidate who tries to run a top-down campaign in SL.
Eureka Dejavu: When Howard Dean used the Internet, other candidates were taken aback.
5. Going global with national politics
Miranda Tibett: Let's talk a little about the global nature of SL. Redaktisto, how do you anticipate that the international nature of SL might influence the campaigns and elections?
Kiwini Oe: I've learned a lot more about French politics in SL.
Miranda Tibett: [H]ave you learned anything specific from the French that is useful in your own work here?
Kiwini Oe: It helps us Americans understand that as interested as we are in US politics in Second Life, it's a global discussion and having people from around the world join our discussion about our own politics infuses it with a wider variety of viewpoints.
Redaktisto Noble: I think each of the three campaigns represented here have group members from other countries. This is a great way to tap into new resources and relationship networks.
Liam Kanno: Having that international component to our SL political groups helps us look at some of our foreign agendas, which is crucial when deciding upon an ideal candidate.
Miranda Tibett: Do you think that down the line it means a dramatic shift in "nations" as we currently know them?
Kiwini Oe: I see a resurgence of the kinds of social experiments of the 19th century that were impractical in the 20th, and they can span the globe this time.
Gabriel Pirandello: As these virtual worlds grow, national lines become blurred. It's a good thing.
Liam Kanno: There will always be sub cultures and super cultures in any national environment.
Redaktisto Noble: I would not be surprised to see a shift in the definition of nation - borders mean little in a world like this where communication, money, and other resources flow freely around the world… and when people are EDUCATED about one another's plight.
Miranda Tibett: Do you think that SL can reinvigorate politics on a global level? Are you seeing this happen already?
Eureka Dejavu: YES, I do. Only positive results come from a spirit of true collaboration with the aim of greater good for more people. SL is the ultimate education tool.
Gabriel Pirandello: Yes it can. It will take our collective efforts and continuous improvement in the way we communicate.
Kiwini Oe: I also think that the work that a number of people are doing on universal translators will make a big difference in SL.
Redaktisto Noble: That's a little ambitious for now - simply due to the small number of people who use SL, and limitations, such as how many people can be in a sim at once. But Second Life is a lot different than it was when I joined a year ago, and I'm sure it will be different by fall of ‘08 as well.
Logfather Nap: It can. Redaktisto is right, I think that it CAN help with global politics and education, but it will take much longer. We've only just begun
6. Mainstream press coverage of SL-based campaigns
Gabriel Pirandello: I have a question for the press: What is the news media's responsibility to cover more positive discussions, gatherings, demonstrations of collaboration... or are the negative activities always what sells news?
Eureka Dejavu: As a journalist I can answer Gabriel's question: the major media is owned by corporations and it isn't in the best interest of corporations to have people thinking collaboratively.
Miranda Tibett: Do any envision a turning point where we'll feel like what occurs in here -- the positive things -- will get fair play in real life media?
Eureka Dejavu: Positive things in real life don't get fair play in the media.
Redaktisto Noble: I know the Edwards campaign has taken our lumps because of SL - mostly for things we couldn't control, like griefers, or parodists, or who our neighbors were on the mainland. From FOX News to the Daily Show, mainstream media has basically treated what we're doing as off-the-wall and perhaps even scandalous.
Kiwini Oe: The outrageous stories will run their course, and the useful stories will continue to be told… But YouTube is also being used to grief, so it isn't just SL.
Gabriel Pirandello: The novelty will get us publicity. We will be covered because this is such a mystery to the media.
Liam Kanno: Studies show that corporate presence in SL can have real life effects on consumer perceptions. The same can be said for politics.
Logfather Nap: In my country it already does. I've read a bunch of articles in major newspapers that candidates are campaigning in SL and over the Internet, how new it is, all really positive looks.
Eureka Dejavu: A new culture is being created and this will garner attention. Creative intellectuals are usually not a demographic politicians pursue. Virtual reality can force the tides to turn on that trend.
7. Second Life: Waning trend or future medium?
Miranda Tibett: Gabriel, if you were to figure where SL is in the curve of "novelty", where would you put it? How long will the novelty last?
Gabriel Pirandello: SL is growing exponentially and still has a way to go. We have another year or two before the interest begins to wane.
Eureka Dejavu: Why would the interest wane, if SL gets more interesting?
Gabriel Pirandello: There is the rub, Eureka, we must not let it wane.
Logfather Nap: It has to evolve faster in order to stay interesting.
Kiwini Oe: I predict that in the 2012 elections, the 3D Web will be here, with roots in SL, and that going to a web page and "jumping in" will be commonplace, so people will look back to the detractors of today as off the mark. Nancy Pelosi is very aware of Second Life, so probably knows that campaigning is happening.
Redaktisto Noble: Well, right now a big part of the value of SL to real life politicians is the media buzz, but I think there are real uses for it beyond that, too. After all, these avatars are people. We can, for less than the cost of a web page, create a highly interactive space, a network of relationships that spans the globe, and the ability to instantly communicate and collaborate in a very immersive way.
8. New potentials for campaigning-- and for virtual campaign scandals
Miranda Tibett: Someone from the audience asked how the "looser" aspects of SL -- lack of regulation -- might be tricky for campaigns, specifically campaign funding. Gabriel, have any thoughts on this?
Gabriel Pirandello: That's a real concern to politicians. We are uninhibited here to a very large extent. There is a danger, risk of embarrassment.
Liam Kanno: If a group misrepresents a campaign, or poorly presents the brand message, it will be captured by news media. Therefore it is crucial to have teams that know how to deliver core content in a professional manner.
Miranda Tibett: What is to prevent fraud? Or unqualified people from hijacking campaigns?
Logfather Nap: This is all stuff I think [that’s already] a real life problem...
Gabriel Pirandello: Do we really know who is behind these avatars? I think the campaigns will tread lightly here.
Miranda Tibett: Is that something to worry about/rejoice in?
Liam Kanno: Not really, except constant monitoring of provided content and the official backing of RL campaigns. It’s up to the real life campaigns to secure their own brand in SL, otherwise it will be compromised.
Eureka Dejavu: It seems clear that people will eventually need "anonymous" avatars for certain aspects of their virtual lives and identity-attached avatars for business and social reasons.
Gabriel Pirandello: Change has become a cliché in political discourse. The coming presidential campaign in America must address a new direction, from failed policies and repressive government to a shared sense of community and working together again for the good of all. How about global healthcare, why limit it? We have a great opportunity to be that microcosm of cooperation and collaboration across all boundaries.
Eureka Dejavu: As a nation we are hungry for a deepened experience as voters.
9. When do the regular whistle stops begin?
Miranda Tibett: Do you think that explains part of the hesitance of candidates to get directly involved in SL? That the numbers aren't as big? They get press buzz, but don't reach as many people directly?
Redaktisto Noble: I think someone earlier hit the reason -- the potential for missteps. I’d love to see SL used in this election cycle - a way to mobilize and inform, and provide a filter-free communication between candidates, their campaigns, supporters, and the public. Wouldn't it be great if a candidate logged in to SL during 15 minutes of downtime to campaign with a small group of voters? Or if supporters could build examples of their ideas for new tools?
Kiwini Oe: I think small groups is a good idea, Redaktisto. Don't see it as a limitation, but an opportunity.
Liam Kanno: I don’t think SL has proven itself an appropriate medium to deliver controlled media message.
Eureka Dejavu: They can show a new side of themselves and really surprise people, which is what we really need. All the predictability has become quite disheartening.
Gabriel Pirandello: Look at the ten most popular destinations, it's sex and gambling. If you were a politician, you’d think twice. The advantage is they can do it anytime, from anywhere, wearing even nothing at all, in [the] real world of course. It's very casual and yet can be informative.
Drew Frobozz: SL is the 3D Web. The 2D web started with sex and gambling sites too.
10. Bringing voice to a text-based world
Miranda Tibett: Let's talk more about voice in the grid. Given that rhetoric is important in politics, Kiwini, how do you see voice in SL influencing candidates' presence in SL?
Kiwini Oe: I think it will be very welcome in some places, very unwelcome in others, especially among the 14% of men who are female avatars! I think that real life politicians want to speak, and this will make that so much easier and will be good for education and support. Text chat also has precise transcripts which makes your job easier, Redaktisto!
Liam Kanno: Chat certainly provides a buffer. Considerate influence is crucial in politics, and therefore any communication medium that can help a candidate consider his/her words would be helpful.
Eureka Dejavu: I wonder how subcultures will develop as a result of voice/text. The anonymity aspect of virtual worlds will change when voice is introduced with regard to politics. I believe the platform will be taken more seriously. Of course then you'll get the blowhards dominating the discourse with long-winded speeches, whereas now everybody gets to type a bit.
Miranda Tibett: Do you think voice might in fact drive some people out of discussions?
Eureka Dejavu: Yes, some people gravitate to SL because of various disabilities. I have interviewed many. Text equalizes the playing field.
Kiwini Oe: I think so, too. It will be a very interesting social experiment. I suggest people pay attention to the "before" picture. The "before" picture - is how we all interacted before voice.
Redaktisto Noble: Depends how the discussions are conducted. I think what's missing from the discussion about access is that many people with low literacy or motor skill issues can't use a completely text-based service.
Liam Kanno: Cultures that find it rude to interrupt verbally have found it easier to discuss their opinions through chat.
11. Changing minds through avatars
Miranda Tibett: Do you see signs in this environment, people are more willing to not just educate themselves, but also change their minds?
Liam Kanno: Perhaps, but at the same time, SL provides an environment where individuals can act out their true from without repercussions. Technically someone can become a strong opinionated person since they are shielded behind an avatar. At the same time, there is much room for many opinions to be presented. SL provides an excellent environment for exploration and the same cultural and social dynamics emerge.
Redaktisto Noble: I think that people who are solidly on one side or another of a particular issue are likely to stay there - but there are a lot more people who lean one way or another but want more facts to back up their ideas. I've been in many SL discussions that became great fact exchanges, rather than the pooled ignorance we often hear on talk radio or brash talk shows.
Gabriel Pirandello: I had not begun to think about a candidate yet, but having interacted with the "politicos" here, I decided to get involved early. You can say that SL pushed me to get more involved sooner.
12. Final predictions: the near future
Miranda Tibett: I'd like to ask one final question: Three months from now, six months from now, and then in November 2008, how do you think we're going to look back on SL's role in the campaign? And how hopeful are you that in terms of politics, SL is truly revolutionary?
Kiwini Oe: I think we'll see more discussions on a one-to-one basis happening over the next few months. I see more bipartisan involvement - debates, etc. I think it's like blogs were in 2000. I think that candidates will visit under cover of other avatars.
Eureka Dejavu: It's going to be extremely exciting to have witnessed the birth of a collaborative political movement based on the greater good, and see how it introduces real heart and soul into politics.
Logfather Nap: We might not fully realize it now, but I think this is a very good step into the future, a more virtual/online orientated world where politic campaigning is just as important online as off.
Gabriel Pirandello: Second Life will be seen as having a very positive impact in development of issues through discussions, better education and knowledge of the issues because we are exposed to them here. There is relevancy here.
Liam Kanno: I try not to predict the future, but I am sure depending on which candidate wins, they may look at SL as a positive influence to the overall campaign, yet the ones that lose may see SL as a detriment.
Redaktisto Noble: Three months: most candidates will have supporter groups here. Six months: a few campaigns will hold official events for the buzz, and the supporter groups continuing to network in meaningful ways, mobilizing thousands of volunteers. In November, we will see SL (or its successor) as a key part of future cross-media campaign. SL is revolutionary, however it's just a big leap forward on the trend of growing immediacy and user-generated content.
Miranda Tibett: On those wonderful, thoughtful notes, we're going to close. Thank you to our panelists for their time and insight.
Event Screenshots by Winter Roo
Logfather Nap has written extensively for major Dutch websites? I have never heard of the man and I am a Dutch blogger. On his personal blog he calls Cho (yes... the VT killer) a 'dog eater'. Some 'young activist'.
Posted by: Laetizia Coronet | Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 05:18 AM
SECOND LIFE. I came to Second Life to get rid of First Life's problems and worries, why does the government have to spread it's corruptivity EVERYWHERE?
Leave us Alone!
Posted by: Novu Dodge | Sunday, January 06, 2008 at 07:27 AM