Carl Linnaeus is a personal hero of mine (and probably every other biologist in the world). He's responsible for developing the structures of taxonomy in biology, the thing that makes humans Homo sapiens sapiens, and the MRSA a multi-drug resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus. The Swedish Embassy in SL is expanding its presence and activities with a permanent exhibition about this famous citizen, which will be inaugurated with an event on Friday (November 2nd) with a couple of competitions (best 18th Century costume, build a plant) with cash prizes as well as information books in a variety of languages. Read more about it on their website.
Funny, I was just reading a Wired article about Estonia repelling a massive DOS attack, and now this! Apparently, Estonia's one of the most wired countries on earth. Such a technologically-savvy place seems a natural fit for SL, and indeed, they've just announced their intention to feature an embassy in-world, just like Sweden.
November 11 is the date for Estonia's opening of the embassy, which vice chancellor of the Foreign Ministry Marten Kokk will feature information about Estonia, as well as concerts, exhibitions, and press conferences.
The Maldives Virtual Embassy has the unique distinction of actually being the first RL embassy in SL, beating the upcoming Swedish Embassy by 8 days. The build itself more resembles a beachside retreat than an embassy, but it is very welcoming. Once inside the compound, though, its true nature asserts itself. There are clickable placards which disseminate information about various governmental agencies in the Maldives, as well as their thoughts on environmental policies, sustainable development, and human rights reform.
The Maldives Embassy is the product of work by the Diplo Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps countries communicate and participate with the worldwide community. Macedonia and the Philippines also have embassies coming to SL, but it's not known at this time if Diplo will be behind their construction.
As previously reported, the Swedish Institute will be opening The Second House of Sweden, a virtual embassy which will exist to promote understanding of the country to non-residents.
While the article gives information about the event itself, there is an interesting bit at the end, almost an afterthought: "In January Swedish authorities said they would clamp down on Swedes earning money through internet games such as Second Life." What form will this 'clamping' take? Will this negatively affect Swedish citizens from taking an interest in SL, possibly to emulate content creators such as Aimee Weber? Citizens of Sweden, I ask your opinions!
I recently made a trip to Sweden. I would like to attribute the trip to being lured by call of the Swedish Virtual Embassy, but it was nothing quite as interesting, just a work related trip. I was actually surprised by the fact that very few people that I spoke to, including at a game development school, had any idea what Second Life was. Much less than I expected, given Sweden's forward looking view of the virtual world.
However, interesting little references to Second Life were everywhere. For instance I took the above image in the town of Skovde. The image is of a women's clothing store called the Lindex. These seem to be pretty popular, as I saw three of them over the week I was in Sweden. Maybe Linden Lab should talk to them about an advertising deal and finally break into that elusive Swedish Market.
While the above headline would usually not attract much attention, on the Second Life Insider you can guess there is a metaversal twist. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, will attend the opening of the virtual embassy being created in Second Life. While the embassy is actually an advertisement to encourage tourism, support from the actual Foreign Minister is impressive.
While I have to take the word of 901am, as the original announcement is in Swedish, a language that confounds Babel Fish. Apparently, Bildt, made the announcement on his blog. That's right, the Foreign Minister of Sweden has a blog. What else would you expect from a country that is creating an embassy in Second Life.
Last week Sweden announced the first official virtual world embassy in Second Life. This week Yahoo! News is running a story from AFP about Sweden planning to tax people for their earnings in Second Life and other Virtual Worlds and MMOGs. While no real connection is being made between the two developments, the Swedish Government seems determined to get involved in Virtual Worlds in a big way.
Dag Hardysson, head of the Internet trade division of the Swedish Tax Authority, doesn't expect Sweden to tax Virtual World income for 2 or 3 years. If you're Swedish make sure you sell all of your stuff before sometime in 2010. If you are not Swedish, expect other countries to jump on this band wagon soon.
The Virtual Economy Research Network (VERN) is running a story about Sweden opening up an embassy in Second Life. The build is said to look like the House of Sweden in Washington, making it the first official virtual embassy.
This may at first be a bit contusing, but rest assured that this is not a place for Sweden's citizens to seek refuge on trips to the Metaverse. The virtual embassy is being built by the Swedish Institute and not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That means it falls squarely into their tourism advertising category. The rest of the article rehashes the population controversy as well as the coming backlash controversy. So, how much of an effect is this virtual embassy going to have on tourism? I'm planning a trip to Sweden right now.*
Every year around this time, Saint Lucia arrives to herald the Christmas season. This year, she made it all the way to Second Life.
The Lucia Celebration features traditional Swedish songs, with a woman, representing Saint Lucia, dressed in white robes, with a headdress of candles to simulate a halo. On December 13th, event goers were treated to a virtual Lucia, complete with entourage of singers, for 2 hours of traditional celebrations. Phreak Radio helped put this event on, where over 200 residents attended over the course of the evening, learning about travel to Sweden and listening to the lovely music.
I'd love to see more events like this: cultural rituals that many who are outside of the region may never get to experience. SL is global after all!
Carl Linnaeus is a personal hero of mine (and probably every other biologist in the world). He's responsible for developing the structures of taxonomy in biology, the thing that makes humans Homo sapiens sapiens, and the MRSA a multi-drug resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus.
