blog #8

Reflection
In Second Life I went to Democracy Island. Democracy Island is a really interesting place, because users can go there and set a booth. In these booths people can talk or present about any topic they so choose. This island was created so people could express their thoughts about the present day issues or topics. The island was not created to persuade avatars, but on the contrary it was created to inform viewers about any certain topic. Democracy Island is set up like a town hall where avatars can meet and socialize with other avatars.
On the island there were many different pages that consumers could click on. One of the things I quickly clicked on a screen that said “info” and it was a fundraiser requesting money for cancer patients. The fundraiser was through the American Cancer Society and the organization gave some basic information about how much money they raised although the statistics where from 2005. After the fundraiser webpage I went to the future salon. The future salon is where a lot of the discussion takes place about any topic that is posted. When I went there was really nobody on the island so there was not a topic posted to discuss. The “info box explained how the future salon is for monthly discussion and topics can vary from new technology to political debate.
Some interesting facts about the island include the architecture. One building of the island was built to be a court house. The court room in the court house was set up exactly like how a court would look like in the real world. Something strange that happened, however was a lot of these spiny things started spawning from the ground. At first they started spawning in one area then it moved all around. There were so many of them that I had to move from that area of the island.