Holy antiquated technological gimmickry Batman! On June 9th, Portugese head of state Aníbal Cavaco Silva became the first president in world history to deliver an official speech from within Second Life.
The speech was purposely punctuated by its choice of virtual venue (and my respective real-time repetition) in an effort to celebrate both the “Dia De Portugal” national holiday and the June 10th opening of the “Portuguese Republic Presidency’s Island” in Second Life.
Omnipresent Second Life chronicler Wagner James Au has an excellent write up on the speech (complete with the above video record of the event) and the Portugese government’s efforts to leave a sizable bootprint within the sandbox, though Au is one of the few writers who still applies wide-eyed wonder and childish glee to the subject of Linden Labs’ virtual world.
Whether this is a positive trait or a negative is certainly up to the reader, but after so many years of hearing about how Second Life would revolutionize everything, I think hearing the story of yet another politico jump into the virtual fray isn’t as impressive as it may once have been.
Then again, given that I can barely locate Portugal on a map (it’s in the Wundagore Mountains, right?) I could be totally wrong. After witnessing that event, do any of you find yourselves standing, slackjawed at the nigh-Rumsfeldian levels of shock and awe the Portugese government has cobbled together here?
