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| Europe |
| EU considers going virtual |
| 2007-03-06 |
| The European Union is looking into entering the virtual world and opening up an office in Second Life - an increasingly popular internet-based virtual world - which the Swedish government and the French presidential candidates have already entered. ! "It is certainly an idea we are looking into," commission spokesman Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told EUobserver. "But we do not have enough people dealing with the internet - we could but they are bogged down with other work such as for the EU's 50th birthday," he said, adding that the EU executive might look further into it at a later stage. Second Life is a virtual world in 3D-format built and owned by its virtual residents - called 'avatars' - where they can explore, meet other avatars, socialise, participate in individual and group activities, and buy virtual items and services from one another. It was launched by the Linden Lab company in 2003 and resident number 4 million moved in last week. Several real-world companies have already created virtual shops in Second Life while Reuters has a correspondent there. Europeans make up the largest block of Second Life residents with more than 54 percent of active users in January ahead of North America's 34.5 percent, according to Linden Lab data. Mr Dowgielewicz, spokeman for EU communication commissioner Margot Wallstrom, explained that an EU office in the virtual world would be part of the commission's effort to get closer to the EU citizens and communicate better with them, adding that the EU institutions are still quite weak on communication in some areas. "We're looking at communicating through untraditional channels such as the internet and it is a very serious consideration in the reflection of our future internet strategy," he pointed out. "Second Life is just one of them but an interesting one," he said. "We're open to new ideas." No details have been suggested on how the commission could involve itself in Second Life but Mr Dowgielewicz said it was more likely to be a project of the commission's communication department rather than of the entire EU executive. The European commission is responsible for the 27-member union's EU embassies around the world. Sebastian Kurpas from European think tank CEPS told EUobserver that it is necessary for any governmental body to look into alternative ways of transmitting its message. He explained that the commission has lately changed its communication strategy from communication through mainly mainstream channels such as print media and television to a more diversified approach including the internet. Mr Kurpas said the commission could "reach a different public that may not normally be interested" in its work. "But the important thing is how you do it," he pointed out. "whether it's tailor-made or just general information." In the meantime, Sweden has announced that it is - as the first country in the world - going to open an embassy named House of Sweden in Second Life. It will be run by the Swedish Institute, a promotional body which works alongside the foreign ministry. "In order for Sweden to reach out in the world we need to work with alternative as well as traditional ways of communication," said Olle Wästberg, head of the Swedish institute. The embassy's ambition is to attract and provide a conscious and selective young target group with information about Sweden, the institute said in a statement recently. "Well, it's usually the foreign minister's responsibility to open or close embassies, but in this case I give Olle the green light," Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt wrote in his blog, adding that he hoped he would get an invitation to the grand opening. French presidential hopefuls - the socialist Segolene Royal, centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy and far-right Jean-Marie Le Pen - have all opened election headquarters in Second Life sharing out free pizza slices and t-shirts while promoting their campaign. However, the presence of Le Pen's anti-immigration, ultra-nationalist National Front has proved particularly divisive among virtual users, some of whom protested outside the party's first headquarters until it moved. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #9 Meanwhile, somewhere in Second Life: "So you think you're special Mr. Anderson. You think the laws of the EU don't apply to you." |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-03-06 22:49 |
| #8 1957 was when the Treaty of Rome was signed, which created the European Communities. Officially, that's the 50th anniversary the EU is celebrating. May 9 is a rather arbitrary date, though, seeing as the European Coal and Steel Community and Euratom were already in existence. May 9 was also chosen to mark the Schumann declaration, which set out the vision of a politically and economically united Europe, made on May 9, 1950. The other important May 9 anniversary is Victory Day -- May 9, 1945, marking the Soviet victory over Germany. Infer from that what you will. |
| Posted by: exJAG 2007-03-06 22:25 |
| #7 50th Birthday of the EU? I was under the impression that they had not ratified their Constitution yet and thus could not "officially" have such a birthday as the organization does not "officially" exist as such yet. I know, details, details... |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-03-06 19:05 |
| #6 Does this mean virtual extinction as well as actual extinction? |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-03-06 17:41 |
| #5 Will their virtual Muslims burn their virtual cars? Will there be virtual girlfriends? Virtual strikes? So many virtual questions... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-06 13:58 |
| #4 ... and in related news, europeans found to be less productive for some mysterious reason... |
| Posted by: flash91 2007-03-06 13:06 |
| #3 Next on the EU agenda will the European Commission on Virtual Reality Life to ensure that all avatars are equal, although, of course, some may be more equal than others. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2007-03-06 10:38 |
| #2 Maybe Europeans are flocking to Second Life because it's the only way to get away from the smothering, all-pervasive state. Instead of "reaching out" to citizens, perhaps the EU could try leaving them the hell alone. |
| Posted by: exJAG 2007-03-06 04:21 |
| #1 ...entering the virtual world and opening up an office in Second Life... So they could virtually suck as well as being sucky for real? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-03-06 01:59 |