Second Life offers me a second life

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I have learnt a lot of new things about the internet from this week's lessons on internet communications. My lecturer showed a few videos of how Second Life (SL) works and truth be told, I'm amazed and fascinated at the huge potential of SL! This alternate universe truly has a promising future.

At first when I heard about SL I wrote it off as yet another social media whose fad would die down in a couple of years but since its launch by Linden Lab on june 23rd 2003, I have only witnessed its meteoric rise to internet superstardom - its fall (if there is ever one) has yet to come. Besides, the fact that users could create every detail of their avatar's looks and personality set off warning bells in my head about the danger of meeting internet prowlers on SL.

However, when I found out how Harvard set up a school portal on SL to provide its students with an avenue to interact and share ideas through independent learning, or that even its professors use that portal as a forum to discuss difficult questions students might have regarding the lessons, my impression of SL started to change.

Second Life truly can become the alternate universe - a parallel portal to our real world. I learnt that it enables me to be aware of my sense of self; to establish an unique identity in the form of an avatar. It kills the principle of distance because it brings people from every nook and cranny of the globe together in the form of conversation exchange between avatars. I think that this in turn is one of the numerous ways that web 2.0 condenses the world into a global village.

In my opinion, there is a lot of advantages we can glean from this condensation. When A meets B who hails from halfway around the world, there will be a cultural exchange of lifestyle, philosophies and beliefs as both avatars communicate. Each would be influenced by the other and it means one can look at the world from a different perspective than whatever one sees outside one's window.

I am also amazed at SL's capability to co-create, meaning that users are allowed to construct anything in that portal. They can build grids, set up separate worlds within that big virtual world and establish connections or social groups amongst the millions of personalities dotting the map of Second Life. For example, architecture students can apply knowledge gained from their lessons to practice constructing building structures in SL.

The power of Second Life. It truly offers me a second life.

Web 2.0 = Privacy in Peril?

My friend just sent me a link to this particular Asiaone forum, discussing the incident where a couple from Tampines Junior College were caught on camera indulging in heavy petting at the back of a bus.




Apparently a passenger photographed them and posted the pictures on Stomp, The Straits Times online forum, describing how the girl was even heard moaning while her boyfriend hugged and kissed her.




When I saw this, the first thought that popped into my head was: so much for internet privacy.
Sooner or later, Web 2.0 might just become synonymous with the intrusion of privacy, with this issue overriding the other virtues of the internet.

Of course, this is not something we want to have. Such postings are already spawning the beginnings of a world of voyeuristic web leeches that feed on the public furore that ensues when they pass off incidents such as these as news-worthy material on the internet.




Comments on this forum and on Stomp questioned the wisdom of the passenger who posted the pictures and the sense of decency of the couple - or rather the lack of one.




However, I think many are missing the larger picture here. Rather, they should consider the danger of the lack of privacy the internet can bring.




Nowadays, it does not have to take a rocket scientist to know how to make videos or post pictures on the internet. Besides, the world wide web spins a huge intricate tapestry of many networks, creating easy access to just about anything that is posted.

Snap a picture, upload it through the numerous mediums provided for that purpose such as photobucket.com and voila, you have scored a sensational hit on the web, spawning a variety of subsequent comments and opinions on forums.




How alarming to think there is a risk of your behaviour being deemed unsightly by another person, recorded on a mobile device and easily uploaded online.




Congratulations, your life has become entertainment fodder for countless of unknown faces living in the virtual universe.




The "world wide web" is no longer merely an alternative adjective to refer to the internet, but has also attained an uncomfortable intrusive connotation - a far-reaching (literally spanning the globe) tangle that threatens to obliterate your privacy with the click of a mouse.