A Virtual Museum Tries out the Real World

The International Spaceflight Museum (ISM), a non-profit, volunteer-run educational facility in the virtual realm of Second Life, takes its exhibit sponsorship auctions to eBay to attract the attention of more real-world bidders. The sponsorships for full-scale models of two lunar vehicles are up for auction -- the "Apollo Lunar Module" (built by Lora Chadbourne) and the unflown Russian "Lunniy Korabl" (built by Helori Pascal). The auctions will run from October 1 to October 21, and sponsorships will begin on November 1, 2007 and end on January 31, 2008. Winning sponsors will have their names prominently displayed on the exhibit's display signage. They may also elect to have a logo displayed for an additional fee.

Kat Lemieux (SL name, Katherine W. Prawl in real life) is co-founder of the museum and CEO of the nonprofit ISM Corporation. She said, "The exhibit sponsorship auctions allow us to give individuals as well as organizations the opportunity to support the museum, and get some recognition for their contributions at the same time. We are very interested in seeing whether eBay auctions are a viable approach, since this might permit us to reach a much larger donor pool than only holding silent auctions within Second Life."

"I'm curious to see how this sponsorship auction turns out," Troy McLuhan (Troy McConaghy in real life), Vice President of the ISM, added. "Like many things we've done at the museum, it's an experiment."

The museum is the principal activity of the ISM Corporation, a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Kansas, USA. The ISM hopes to raise enough money to cover the monthly usage fees owed to Linden Labs for the maintenance of virtual land, and contribute to the corporation's operating costs.