Tuesday, June 10, 2008

ICOM Meeting in Second Life

On the International Museum Day (May 18), ICOM arranged a get-together of museum people in virtual Tech Museum in Second Life. (Second Life is a virtual 3-D world, where you create your own avatar. As an avatar, you are able to move around in different world and sites, talk to people, buy stuff, buy land and create your own business there, for example.)

It was great to meet real museum professionals virtually! I talked to several new (and old) friends, and even had a change to talk to ICOM president Alissandra Cummins, virtually.

Museums in Second Life are as in real life (IRL), they come in different shapes and modes. Some are more professional than others. The Tech is a good place to start exploring virtual museums. What you see in Tech are created by ordinary people. On the bottom floor of Tech, there is an exhibition "Introduction to Interactive Exhibit Design". I warmly recommend everyone who works with exhibitions in museums to see it, even though not working with interactive elements. There are many valuable points to consider.

And when you're online, come and meet me (or send a message)! My avatars' names are Axix Reyes and Nina Heliosense. (Yes, I have two because Heliosense was knocked out in jet dark virtual Dublin and I don't know exactly what happened to her...)