The Nebraska Dilemma (Second Life Behind the Firewall)
[Dusan has a much more interesting thread going on this topic. Emotions are running high on this one for everyone and for good reason, this is history in the making for the 3d Internet. Make sure you give them a read, and try to keep civil.]
Here is the longer-than-planned comment I left on the Second Life blog post about Nebraska’s release, the behind-the-firewall option coming from Linden Labs. I replied specifically to a joking comment from Brenda Connolly:
Is that Nebraska ..like in “Steve Nebraska”?
It is nice to see the Corporates will be behind a wall. It can keep them in and away from Real SL residents. The few that escape shouldn’t be hard to hunt down.
Pfffhaha. A lot more truth in that assessment than you might realize. Been busting my hump to help people flocking onto internal Nebraska grids for business conferences and such to even know there is an external grid. Sorta gave up on helping the internal Neb-born newbies. Too much swimming upstream:
- no NCI to send them too
- no freebie stores to take them shopping
- no live, quality entertainment
- no amazing, artistic, educational sims to show them
- no friends to introduce them too from communities of their personal interest
- no dancing (usually to un-stuffy for corporates to allow)
- no way to shop
- no way to invite guest speakers
- no way to help these first-timers really care about their experience at all
These folk come to Nebraska mostly ‘because they have to’ and never see anything else. Corporate newbies won’t be bothering SL residents because they won’t know it exists or won’t care that it does. Therein lies the quiet, tragetic dilemma of Nebraska.
Tom Hale said those who stay in SL are those that
- make a friend
- buy something
The first is possible, but less likely than someone they might personally care about more in a social setting other than work.
The second is just not possible at all on Neb grids unless there is some plan to open SL exchange to internal Neb deployments, which technically is very problematic. Then again, why? As long as the big, immediate money is coming from big companies LL might not really care about the long-term longevity of the people being introduced to Second Life for the first time through closed Neb grids.
For the record, I really tried for about a month to help translate corporate interest to SL general interest only to discover the hard way that it is easier helping people on the main grid find what they need and really care about professionally and personally before they hide behind a firewall. Otherwise they largely miss the point. They don’t know of the main grid, often aren’t told, and if they do know generally are not encouraged to use the public SL grid. Those ambitious enough to attempt it face the quiet concern about bringing their customized internal avatar (if they in fact spent any time on it at all) into the main grid.
People get a bad taste in their mouth from an internal only first virtual world experience. All too often the best any internal corporate grid has to offer is a 3d space to watch boring PowerPoint slides or a place to put on a really, really good virtual office party, which people only attend in physical form for the food and beer anyway, right? Well, depending on where you work.
One thing is for sure, big companies and educational enterprises want this, without considering all the ramifications for isolating and insulating their people. They are more concerned about their own risks and interests above those of the individuals they are introducing to this technology. In many cases these are legitimate security and IP concerns, in others, over-blown FUD mongering. Everyone is watching as specifically corporate external presences, even good ones with community interaction and strong ties, fold up, close shop, or languish unattended while resources are heavily deployed toward making and marketing these internal options. CIOs have the big stick of ‘you will do this internally or no where’ and are using it to effectively control introduction of all their workforce to the first virtual world experience the company wants for them. This isn’t all bad. I would never have given SL a second look, having dismissed it in 2006, without the CEO of our company at the time on our main homepage standing in Second Life. I owe those who made that happen so much for opening my eyes. I don’t know if I would have made the internal-to-main transition beginners are now facing. Let’s hope they make it, but I suspect too many won’t.
It will be interesting to watch the digital generation now required to learn SL as early as high school, but always by college, overwhelm the corporate workplace. These guys don’t need an initial introduction to virtual worlds. Will they accept the closed tool being presented? Or shun it quietly for other options. That is when the dynamics will get really interesting.
/me pops some popcorn, opens a root beer, sits back, watches this one unfold
[DISCLOSURE: I work for IBM but do not represent them in any way. I founded the IBM SL Mentors group and co-chaired it for six months before stepping down last week. Much of this time was during the transitional time from external to internal grid at IBM. I have personally spoken to many IBMers who are long-time SLers internally that share this sentiment in different forms and levels. I sell services and goods in Second Life main grid as a hobby. I have made hundreds of acquaintances and several deeply close friends on Second Life main grid, some IBMers most not. ]
October 29, 2009 at 3:46 pm
The most forward-thinking approach I have run across to addressing this gap between internal and main grids is the idea of a fair or showcase where established SLers bring their creations and stories into the internal grid to show those internal beginners. This idea has promise but is an uphill battle. First there is the technical challenge of bringing any content worth showing off over into the internal grid. Creators use textures and items from a variety of sources. IP issues aside, the technical challenge of working with Meerkat or SI just isn’t worth the trouble. For what? So they can spend more of their personal time trying to influence a few corporate newbies that SL is worth their time? That’s a hostile audience to begin with. There is no incentive for any SLer to do so and many, indeed, want nothing connecting their SL lives with their corporate lives. Some go to great pains to trademark and distinguish their personal SL activities from anything remotely related to the company they work for.
/me gets a sandwich, wraps up his day job coding, enters SL for some real fun creating and helping people who care
October 29, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Interestingly (well, to me anyway) I was just thinking this over last night after sharing the Nebraska release announcement with upper management (they, knowing I’m an avid SL’r, asked me to keep an “eye” on interesting news coming from that front, though I don’t believe for a moment they will ever use Second Life for anything).
Anyway, the first thing that came to my mind was the “yeah, but what about shopping?!” question anyone who is acclimatized to The Grid would ask. Not knowing how the Enterprise/Grid interface works, or even if there is one, I ass-umed that it was possible to either open or block access to the Main Grid from behind the firewall. If that was the case, I reasoned, then it would be necessary to have supervised exploration meetings (or something) so that people could avail themselves of SL goods, develop a wardrobe, and customize their avatars.
Never occurred to me that the inventories would not be connected and that goods would not be able to move back and forth (it is still Second Life, after all). However, if that is so then yes the Nebraska issue is a bleak one and certainly will not garner future residents. It will just be a silly chore with limited choices and not very appealing. It would bore the hell out of me; I’d be just as eager to get away from a meeting as I am in person.
October 29, 2009 at 5:41 pm
It is interesting how this is going. When I started in sl in 06 I remember saying to people “imagine if we had this behind the firewall” that was not so it could be sterile and corporate but more than it could unleash vibrant community and creativity within a certain concentrated group. It always felt that whilst many intranet apps are bland there are equally some great things people do when they hook with colleagues. This is not IBM specific it is anyone who has a flag to rally around. Of course many orgs will mess this up being overly controlling and sanitized. A few however will find new ideas and biz models that will spin out to the global metaverse. Still no accounting for scared control freaks but still worth metaverse shrink wrapped platfoms like this getting a chance.
October 29, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Yes, epred, and let me say that although I cannot go into details, the internal IBM grid is pretty amazing, not completely sterile at all, which is why this is so very interesting to me also. I do hope no one feels I am misrepresenting the amazing work and efforts of those involved in bringing the internal virtual spaces vision to realization. I am simply making a commentary on the immense challenges any such effort faces on the psychological and cultural front, if not the technical one involving content separation.
Let me also say that I support internal corporate grids. I support the internal Nebraska initiative. Some need it. Many will pay for it. These walled-garden options have a very real place and need as you point out. But this doesn’t remove the tragic reality that seamless integration with the wonderful, bountiful, greater Second Life community is just not there and individual first-time virtual world experiences for many will spark and die or remain. For some, remember, that safety is going to allow them to test it where they otherwise would never dare. This is why I use the word dilemma.
October 29, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Caliburn, let’s wait for the announcement to see what details are released about the offering. I may be missing something they have added to the final offering. I want to do right by IBM and Linden Labs by not guessing at this point.
October 29, 2009 at 7:50 pm
The early version of SL behind the firewall was a great vision and I applaud the efforts of the team involved as well as the solution implemented. Hundreds of users could travel from the private virtual world to the public virtual world and back again. This was a brilliant architecture and an amazing solution that showed a lot of promise.
I hope the new closed door solution where you can not traverse from intraverse to extraverse or even intraverse 1 to intraverse 2 is an early version with a long term strategy to provide full interoperability. It is imperative that employees from one organization can collaborate with employees from another organization or even the general public.
For now I will assume this is still the long term vision of Nebraska and the solution being launched next week is a stepping stone to a fully interoperable environment that at minimum will allow a user to connect to other Nebraska, Second Life and Opensim wolds. It is imperative users can share non confidential (or even confidential information under NDA) with other people.
Second life has an unique opportunity and can either become the next Google of the 3D internet or end up being another AOL / Compuserve.
Lets hope they make the right decision and announce a road map for interoperability as well as a product and not just another standalone closed door solution.
October 29, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I really resonate with your post, Mo. At a certain point I felt that VWs were going to be inevitable and inexorable in engulfing corporate distributed communication and collaboration. I realize in retrospect that there was a unique situation in those early days of IBMers coming into SL and participating deeply in all aspects of the world. I remember that I really felt like a member of the community when someone turned me on to Multigadget. Long transcontinental chats, serendipity of running into colleagues in-world. New friends and colleagues inside and outside the firm. Endless opportunities to create value and relationships. Heady stuff, a whole new world, literally.
I wonder if Nebraska supports transportable avatars? Is it possible to take grid inventory into Nebraska?
October 30, 2009 at 4:01 am
Thanks for this post – it is a very useful counter to the constant arguments I hear that ‘enterprise wants to b isolated’ and that private OpenSim and SL instances are the way forward. As part of the work we’re doing to help collaboration from the web through to Sl/OpenSim, we allow meetings to be launched either in SL or in walled-off OpenSim instances. People with no SL background are immediately drawn to the latter, so they can use their own name, and because of the media image of SL, then they start with ‘can I change how I look, what I wear’ … they won’t immediately miss the social aspect, that takes a while and for some let’s face it it might never be their cup of tea, but to not have the option at all – that’s to miss out on most of what makes the environments appealing.
October 30, 2009 at 4:55 am
I have to say it is great to see some of you all that made all this happen, eightbar’s, eightbar alumni and friends all still so passionate about this.
I know the internal grids at IBM will be great, I just hope others manage to take that onboard and open their eyes to the possibilities.
Getting past powerpoint, avatars and islands and getting greater human to human communication and changing the nature of any corporation.
October 30, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Nink, yes, so agree. My favorite comparison is the former Netscape’s Enterprise Server product that seemed every company once had and no simple user could afford. Netscape pushed B2B really hard only to be obsoleted by Apache, which appealed to simple, independent users. The grassroots desire to use the product unseated the lofty NES from its enterprise position. I will never forget the contrast of approaching two different technical leaders about putting Apache as a main web server at one company. The first time I was spurned and shunned for offering such non-enterprise, open filth. Then, about a year later, without even directly discussing it, another leader suggested I move to Apache. I just grinned.
I have said it before, if Linden Labs ignores what happened to Netscape by relying too much on B2B they will pay the ultimate price in the end. I agree they need enterprise customers. It is good for virtual worlds adoption in general, but in balance. That balance seems to be shifting, perhaps a little too much.
Doug, no grid inventory as far as I know. Thanks for your feedback.
Neil, yes, after seeing so many welcome the safer environment of the walled Neb option I completely agree it is needed. I do think it is far too expensive placing it out of reach of school districts and high schools, that are looking at OpenSim and ReactionGrid a lot more seriously now, despite its clear alpha status. Is OpenSim the Apache of virtual worlds? Is Nebraska doomed to be the NES of virtual worlds? Time will tell.
That said, many will never use SL or social media. I do think it is unfortunate, but they may not even agree with the benefits and that should be respected.
The dilemma rests in meeting the needs of all end-users without them even knowing what their needs are. They can’t know without being exposed to the full spectrum of possibilities. It is a complex, double-edge sword that can’t be easily avoided and takes more energy than the average company wants to put out to address. That is, if they even understand the issue.
The root issue is likely larger than virtual worlds and has something to do with enterprise technology selection, deployment, and adoption, tough issues enterprise customers face that we avatars luckily don’t, until the official enterprise choice doesn’t match up with the tech we are most efficient or familiar with.
November 8, 2009 at 5:02 pm
In preparation for Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe I just want to remind everyone of a few things that seem to be getting lost in references to this blog post:
I do not think it is actually ok to ‘hunt down’ corporate avatars on the main grid.
That is, unless you are looking to help them, because they need it.
Honest to God, I support the need for a Second Life Enterprise product and agree that this ‘completes the suite of offerings’ M Linden suggests. If I didn’t why would I be actively running down SLE pricing for an interested local K-12 group I have been helping on my own time (not at all connected with IBM). When helping local educators see the value of virtual worlds I frequently include this IBM case study to show how important understanding Second Life is.
It isn’t Nebaska (SLE) that I think is tragic, it is the dilemma currently facing any decision maker about when and how to introduce their people to a ‘first contact with virtual worlds’ experience. They have to either pick a closed, safer solution, or an exposed connected solution. This dilemma is the tragic part, not SLE, and would exist no matter what the product. That said, I now think a better word would be challenging since somehow we have to face it and overcome it. Tragic came first to mind because I realized so many will never even know what they are missing and initially that seems tragic to someone, like me, who finds so much value in SL. Then again, the experience of many unaccompanied first-time SLers on the main grid, with the continued wild-west nature of infohubs could equally be considered tragic. These are tough issues I do not wish to over-simplify.
I DO NOT REPRESENT IBM! My day job at IBM is as a software engineer working on the Tivoli security compliance product. I thank IBM for convincing me Second Life was worth another look in 2007. I would never be in SL without IBM and people like Craig Becker and Ian Hughes. I have found it a critical tool to making connections with IBMers and others personally and professionally. My participation in the IBM Virtual Worlds Community, and the IBM Mentors group has always been like any other IBM community member, volunteer, and never tied to anything IBM pays me to do just like IBM doesn’t pay me to be a member of the IBM triathlon and running communities.
I’m just one guy.According to public IBM figures, at least 3000 IBMers (and likely many more) are active in some form of Second Life including some most SLers would immediately recognize by their SL names. Anyone who wants a real handle on how this is going at IBM might consider talking to a wider sample of them, that is, if they can be identified. I’m just one of them. I obviously love experiencing and discussing this stuff and want to see it grow, but please, please don’t make conclusions–especially related to IBM or Linden Labs–based on my views alone.
November 9, 2009 at 4:32 am
Well said, and thanks for the props
it comes with the territory. More to the point as the corporate machines can’t quite get their processes around providing the right sort of information at the right time (as we are still in invent mode really) and it is all too scary for them we the growth of the industry will continue to depend on the explorers and communicators like yourself.
)
The passion and quest for knowledge in where this industry and movement is going is an indication of its significance.
Don’t worry about being misquoted
I think there are enough of us to help provide a good “first contact” both in enterprise and in independent space.
Just ask any of us, read any of the things we all write and share across the web. This is a metaverse tribe and crosses company boundaries.
Us all being open and sharing is what got us all here in the first place, so you are on the right path with the right balance IMHO.
(My opinion completely represents that of my Company (now)
November 9, 2009 at 9:20 am
Something that I don’t see brought out in comparisons of Enterpise ‘immerisve’ technologies that SLE is often listed against – the scope for it to be more than a place for meetings and events. The provision of 8 regions (or even 1) if properly arranged could ensure that employees get the virtual equivalent of serendipitous corridor meetings, exploiting the social elements of the platform. Part way toward the ‘Business Community’ that Beta Business Park is providing in SL. Any company that provides their employees with pinball machines or table-football in breakout areas should appreciate the value in this too, and this is a big advantage over pure ‘meeting’ solutions like Telepresence. So in a way there is a chance for SLE to be a middle ground. I also wonder what prospect there is of smaller companies potentially getting together to share an SLE installation?
November 9, 2009 at 10:42 am
Indeed the provision of serendipity through virtual worlds is immensely important. One problem I found with that though is that even if it is the most important thing many of the “business” people only really pay lip service to such things.
It is a valuable side effect that many people get without even knowing, and once it beds in they realize they need it. Telling them that up front seldom works.
Having worked in an office in Big Blue where we once had a pool table as part of the creative experience, it was certainly not regarded by many in the management chain of any use whatsoever. Likewise the evening team games of counterstrike were not seen as valuable as they were not part of the apparent normal flow of business.
In reality these were incredibly powerful bond creations for people. Learning to understand one another’s motivations and support one another.
November 9, 2009 at 11:56 am
@epred — I can validate the esprit and camaraderie of you lot, when I first got to know you, totally via Second Life. I came to feel that I shared some of that group dynamic when I had the opportunity to interact with a number of the Hursley folk over time, in SL. Then, there is always the truly glorious moment every time you meet a SL friend and colleague in RL! Unbeatable, but as you say, impossible to convey to anyone who hasn’t experienced all that.
November 9, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Added Eight Perspectives on Second Life in the Enterprise to the discussion. Thanks again for the very insightful, very civil dialog.