It’s the time of year where reflection tends to come a little more to the fore. In this case of SLOz, the reflection is obviously about SL. The interest generated in SL in the past three months has been phenomenal, and recently user concurrence (number of SL users logged in at one time) has broken the twenty thousand barrier. All that said, come January 2008 will SL be any more persuasive as a social medium in the wider population than now? For me the answer is an unsatisfying maybe.

In an Australian context, our smaller population is a double-edged sword – the word-of-mouth regarding SL combined with recent media coverage will increase the aussie userbase, not that it’s possible to quantify that. On the other hand that same small poplation will limit the amount of resources Linden Labs will throw at the Australian market, unless Australia were to become the base for SE Asian marketing / support / operations etc. There certainly is no cohesive Australian community in-world that I’ve been able to nail down. A couple of groups exist that are either inactive or have a handful of members. One of the aims of this site is to increase communication between Australians – if thats one of the facets you’re seeking with SL.

As always, your suggestions and thoughts welcome. Happy New Year!

The shell of an Australian library is available and there’s a call for anyone interested in coordinating the project and bringing the library to life.

Check it out in-world.

ABC TV’s The 7.30 Report featured Second Life tonight (Friday 29th December). The focus was on an Australian user, Lythe Witte and how she took part in the SL community. The story also covered another virtual world, Entropia Universe.

The thrust of the story was how virtual worlds may play an increasing role, and the interest of big business in it all. There was also some discussion on governance and intellectual property issues. A link to the full transcript will be posted when available. We’ll also contact Lythe Witte to see if she’d like to make a comment.

The biggest shame is that the SL grid is down at the time of the publicity.