Virtual Civics

A short clip from the discussion held in Second Life today on Virtual Worlds and Civil Liberties, hosted by the MacArthur Foundation, USC, Global Kids and avatars from leading orgs around the world.  In this clip Jack Balkin of Yale Law School discusses property, law and what is allowed in virtual space.

As many of you know parts of my job include creating new media shorts and immersion experiences for large and small audiences.  Some of my work is very much designed for a niche audience, in this case those interested in philanthropy, law and the unique community-building challenges that entangle our digital lives.  This emerging field of study has been led by USC, MacArthur and others as we try to chart a productive course through the etheric digital universe. 

While some wrestle with the relevance of these spaces I am always encouraged to see 100+ leaders gather together for honest dialogue without the cost of travel or carbon in the air.  We can do far better and we will continue to learn how to maximize these experiences for the masses.  I for one need to learn how to buy new hard drives faster to keep up with the machinima documentary flubug that keeps infecting my mouse trigger key....lost the bulk of the footage today to a full disk!