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David D'Angelo
says:
Hi Ann,
There are some very valid recruiting uses for Second Life. I have seen police department's that are seeking to fight cyber crime recruit in SL. Technology organizations that are looking for examples of skill and work product recruit in SL. Teachers and those who will need to use technology to reach their students are recruited in SL. Manpower and Kelly Services, both leaders in the staffing industry have a presence in SL. Recruiting in a virtual is really about screening for real world followup. The advantage is you can interact where in Facebook and Twitter you are texting without a simulated interaction in the screening process.
David
Effie Emmons
says:
Perhaps businesses that recruit in Second Life have the forethought to concentrate on talent rather than discriminating against looks, and consider the use of Second Life a demonstration of someone's ability to use technology.
Has the author even spent any considerable amount of time in SL around the business community? Or, is this a prejudice that comes without exploration?
Karen Keeter
says:
I loved the cat story! Someone above mentioned IBM's "Sametime 3D". As part of the research team that created "Sametime 3D", I can tell you that we have really tried to focus on making a virtual world application that is interesting and compelling for business users. But for business enterprises, it is about more than just what happens in the virtual environment. They want to be able to do something in the virtual environment that they can't do with a webcast, teleconference or other "2D" tool- which is why we built the brainstorming function as an example. But they are also looking for secure environments, ways to authenticate user identity (so you are sure you know who you are talking to!), tools for bring content into and out of the virtual space; and ways to manage the spaces they acquire (and create). So we tried to address these less visible needs in addition to building tools that help them perform real collaborative work 'in world. Many people told us during the research process that this was the first application that they had seen that made them understand why they needed to go "in world". http://tinyurl.com/loftuf
Layla
says:
lol
Well, I do think it's funny 'a developer for its Department of Natural Resources' was found online!! 
confess it, all!!
one would think people like that would be found in natural parks or such?
I do find the online world interesting, & have gotten a few invitations for co-operation online (no money involved though.yet )
Not sure what I think about 2nd Life or such though, wasn't there enough time, it seemed fairly complicated & not really worth my while.. I prefer 'just writing'
Also, on such sites you can easily pretend to be someone you're not, so it's good employers are still cautious with those..
& lol about the police - what if criminals find this out & hang around & get to be 'hired'? OoO
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IBM just released its Sametime 3D virtual meeting product, based on the OpenSim platform (an open source virtual worlds server).
And there seems to be an escalating migration of schools to OpenSim, due to lack of age restrictions, and the ability to limit access and content. After all, it's your own virtual world, you can have anything and anyone you want -- and only those things.
For example, you can set a dress code, thus avoiding the cat-with-a-bow-tie scenario.
My company has its own grid, grid.tromblyltd.com:9100, which can be accessed by hypergrid teleport from any other OpenSim world that's hypergrid enabled, including most of the big grids (OSGrid, ReactionGrid, Cyberlandia, FrancoGrid, etc...). I use this virtual office to meet with staff, and to train new hires in company policies.
It's been working well. The IBM product is a little more advanced than the basic free OpenSim download. For example, they offer directional voice -- you can hear what people say, and, with stereo headphones, where the sound is coming from. Handy for meetings with mutliple people.
But the folks working on OpenSim are busy developing their voice tools as well, so I expect to see that happen within the next few months.
-- Maria Korolov, editor, Hypergrid Business