CBS News:
Obama Dips Gucci-Clad Toe In Second Life Waters; Clinton, Edwards Hands Off Of Their Digital HQs---Will the 2008 election cycle yield an array of fan- or antagonist-disseminated content that leaves the first-generation, Howard Dean-era "netroots" in the digital dust?
From the helicopter, Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign headquarters blended in with the other modernist structures on Silicon Island — mostly sleek wood and steel with floor-to-ceiling tinted glass walls. My tour guide and I hovered next to the two-story loft building, spying on a couple of people perusing campaign literature before we nearly crashed into a tree in attempt to avoid a man flying with a jet pack.
Seated next to me was the chopper pilot and Silicon Island designer Liam Kanno — but that's not his real name. The helicopter also was virtual, as was the jet pack — and everything else in Second Life.
Second Life is an Internet-based program with 5.2 million users — 1.6 million of whom have logged on in the past 60 days but fewer who log on regularly. Users download the program and become "residents" of the virtual world, which has its own currency and a landscape that resembles that of earth. An avatar — a user's character in Second Life — can roam, fly and teleport, as well as buy property and goods. It is part social-networking device, part business and marketing haven and part video game.
And now, real-life presidential campaigns are testing the water there.
Joining the ranks of companies like Nissan, Sony and American Apparel, the top-tier candidates for the Democratic nomination have dipped a toe in the virtual world. Last week, Barack Obama held a campaign rally and an appearance elsewhere on the grid by an avatar representing Obama himself. Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both have established headquarters in Second Life.
Adding another layer of confusion to this simulacrum, these virtual campaigns aren't campaigns at all — at least not in any official sense.
They are run by tech-savvy political junkies from across the country — people like Liam Kanno, who is known as Odin Liam Wright at home in real-world Greenwich, Conn. Most have had little or no contact with the candidates or campaigns, despite their liberal use of the candidates' names, logos and likenesses in Second Life.
"This is part of the whole MySpace and Facebook phenomenon and is an example of voter-generated content, where the campaigns aren't involved but people are taking hold and generating buzz on behalf of the candidate," said Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Forum, a conference on politics and technology and online magazine.
So far, the default model for building a campaign in Second Life has been "build first, ask for endorsement later," as Ruby Sinreich wrote in TechPresident. The default stance of campaigns toward their Second Life depiction is curious indifference.
Among the candidates, Obama's campaign is the most involved, and Edwards' seems to have turned its back on any attempt to organize a campaign there after showing initial interest. Clinton enthusiasts built her campaign space, and as of recently, were waiting — fingers crossed — for campaign endorsement.
Wright started the first seedling of a Second Life Obama campaign months ago when he built a gazebo featuring information on and links to the campaign's Web site. There, people would ask him in-depth questions about Obama, some of which he admits he couldn't answer. He'd simply refer many visitors to www.barackobama.com.
"We realized that people in Second Life were hungry for information … but we learned that some people were more comfortable staying in Second Life," Wright said over the telephone before the helicopter tour.
At the suggestion of his business partner (a voluptuous blonde named Kelly Emms in Second life who is in real life is Karen Shields, a 55-year-old mother), Wright expanded the gazebo to a full-size "Obama HQ," which includes information sheets on Obama's issue stances, video from speeches, streamed news broadcasts, a register-to-vote kiosk and a popular message board.
"Now about 50 people show up per day — people from around the world — from Iowa or New Jersey or Japan or London," Wright said. "People come and talk about politics, some people come to bash Obama; we keep it open to that as well."
Now that's something you wouldn't necessarily see in real life. Nor is the widespread sabotage, "griefing" as it is called in Second Life. And in Second Life's graphic environment, Web vandalism can get, well, graphic. The Obama headquarters has a security team, but has already been littered with large swastikas and pornographic images.
Over at Onuri on the mainland (Second Life's grid is divided into a large mainland and thousands of outlying islands, some of which are private and some of which, like Silicon Island, can be visited by any avatar), a plot of land houses John Edwards' campaign. A small gray platform and simple white open-air structure hold pictures of Edwards, logos and "Join here!" buttons.
But griefer attacks often render the plot unusable, and very nearby neighbors with elaborate constructions obscure Edwards' area. A skyscraper looms nearby and owners of an adjacent plot have erected a hulking billboard promoting John Edward (no S), a self-proclaimed "psychic medium, author and lecturer."
Volunteers built the small Edwards hangout in Second Life, which campaign spokeswoman Andrea Purse says initially had support from the campaign, but "since, it has taken on a life of its own so we're not being too involved in it."
Clinton's Second Life presence is a bit more expansive: the plot on Aisle of Intrigue 2 set up by volunteers is an elaborate garden of pink roses, marble platforms and countless flags. Nearby, a large glass building with automatic doors is floored with a wide rainbow-colored carpet and embellished with desks an iMacs.
Two black motorcade-style vehicles are parked out back along with a "SLPD" car. An outdoor podium and an indoor executive desk seem to be waiting for Clinton herself to step into Second Life, but will that ever happen? The campaign did not return phone calls.
Obama's campaign is loosely supportive of Wright's effort but hasn't fully endorsed it.
Last month, the Obama campaign cooperated with Second Life organizers to host a living-room chat with Second Life residents that mirrored a simultaneous real-life discussion Obama was hosting in an Iowa library.
Rather than chatting in text, as is typically done in Second Life, the Obama avatar gestured along with streamed audio, so the Second Life attendees could hear what was being said in Iowa. (The Obama avatar is a very good likeness of the Illinois senator, though some onlookers complained that Obama's chest was too bulky — read into that what you will — and that he was wearing a tie that was too bold.) Watch the video on YouTube.
Meanwhile, the virtual audience took on a life of its own, according to online transcripts of the chat:
Tulip Cascabel: Obama has on Gucci shoes
Justin Mikazuki: Why is he wearing a tie?
Justin Mikazuki: Everyone knows Obama doesn't wear a tie
…
Smittyguy Torok: Let's all rush the stage and see if the Secret Service can get through the lag. ...
…
Rik Riel:/being in SL could be a liability to his campaign
Rocky Torok: I wonder if he is even aware of that.
Of course, all grassroots campaigning runs the risk of straying from the official campaign's message — and this sort of campaigning is shining online. "Voter-generated content," as it is often called, seems to be on a tremendous upswing in this election cycle.
A prime example is the now-infamous YouTube dissemination of a home-spliced video featuring Clinton in Apple's 1984 ad, which got mainstream criticism, but also racked up millions of online views. Campaigns also are facilitating digital dissemination: Edwards tossed his hat into the race online and gave early campaign interviews to blogs and vlogs.
Will the 2008 election cycle yield an array of fan- or antagonist-disseminated content that leaves the first-generation, Howard Dean-era "netroots" in the digital dust?
"In previous years if someone wanted to build a Web site on behalf of the candidate, the campaign would probably say, please send it to us first. Let us approve it. That's less likely this time around, because the Internet has become such a large part of the media landscape," Rasiej said. "So any campaign that would try to control it that much would lose that much content and the momentum of that much energy that's coming their way."
Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "We're running a different kind of campaign here," which encourages supporters to go online and speak their minds.
"There are thousands of people, more, using the Internet to network and spread the campaign and people doing it on the ground, too, and we're excited about these efforts," Psaki said. The only regulation the campaign will try to put on using Obama logos or likeness would be if "anything comes across our plates that's offensive or not aligned with what our priorities are, we'll deal with that on a case-by case basis."
The Edwards campaign also is proud of its social networking opportunities online, and encourages voters to check out its MySpace and Facebook — or 21 other networking site — entries.
But as for joining Second Life?
"Not in the short-term," a spokeswoman said.
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