Hub of the online universe: City plans a virtual Boston in 2nd Life

[Ian David]

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | July 21, 2007

Close your eyes and imagine this dream of the future: a place where you can stand in line to pay parking tickets, visit an auditorium where the mayor is giving a speech, or drop in on a meeting where planning officials are wrestling with development plans.

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But Boston officials aren't talking about the real City Hall. They want to build a new, virtual one in the animated online world of Second Life, where users create digital images of themselves and live alternate lives, working virtual jobs, attending virtual nightclubs, and chatting with other virtual people.

Captivated by the promotional possibilities and the potential for providing services in Second Life's cyberscape of some 8 million digital people, Boston's technological gurus are laying plans to reconstruct parts of the city online. They hope the Second Life city will eventually include features such as the Hatch Shell, where online concerts could take place, and an online subway that would transport people to all the familiar stops. A version of the Freedom Trail could be made to look as it did during historical events such as the Boston Massacre of 1770.

At the virtual City Hall, they envision, digital images of city councilors would hold office hours, and neighborhood meetings would take place in virtual conference rooms.


Emerson College faculty and staff have created an area in the animated online world of Second Life that resembles Boston Common, featuring instructors Eric Gordon (left) and Gene Koo. At right, Koo has rendered a version of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.

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Many questions remain about details of Boston's Second Life project, officials said, but at least one crucial matter has been decided. "There would not be an avatar of the mayor," said Nigel Jacob, a special assistant to Menino who has been working on the project.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/07/21/hub_of_the_online_universe_city_plans_a_virtual_boston/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+City%2FRegion+News

[bluestateguy]

1. You could start with a fully functional Big Dig

nt

[Ian David]

2. Or one that terminates in a huge waterfall. n/t