Tameside Withdraw Funding to Second Life Presence

July 21, 2010;

In March 2010 Tameside Council withdrew the funding for their presence in Second Life which was built and maintained by Second Places.  During the year previous over 7,000 people had visited the presence, gaining information about Tameside and the services hosted by the council.  

Like many public sector bodies they are tasked with using technology to help their clients gain information, report problems and overall enhance their clients life experience while at the same time limited by public funding and the on-going nature of having to prove the investment was worth it.   

As was stated by Mr John Bell (The Telegraph, 21/07.2010), the council do have a web site and some of the effects in the virtual world were duplicates from the web site.  However not all people who have internet access are able to fill out forms and this virtual world platform allowed them to report problems and speak to relevant people for free and quickly.  It is thought 10% of the UK population suffer from dyslexia, where the idea of finding information through a web page is a daunting if not impossible challenge.   580,000 people in UK suffer from Autism and Virtual Worlds have been proven to be a fantastic medium between suffers of Autism and other mental problems and those that don't.   The price of phone calls and the dreaded automated phone reception put many people off actually phoning councils.   Virtual Worlds was another way to help these people and the many, many more who wish to communicate with their council but are unable due to cost or time restrictions.

Virtual Worlds allow people from all over the world to meet and communicate.  Think of the savings undertaken by a council if meetings could be held virtually without the need of travel and the expenses.  The ability for the public to be present without adding to the carbon footprint.   Letting the public listen to the debates and even allowing them to interact in these debates. 

Virtual Worlds are growing stronger than ever.  Second Life, for example, has increased in size by 65% in 2009, with $567 MILLION US dollars changing hands, with over 70,000 people logged in at any one time.  Now its even possible to have your own "private" virtual world for internal meetings, planning and management.

Companies are now looking beyond the "marketing" aspect of Virtual Worlds, they are looking at the education, simulation and training that is dangerous or expensive in the real world. Allowing Children to Virtually visit museums and speak to curators without the need to leave the class room, or even visit places that no longer exist.  Experience the feelings and thoughts of those who wrote poetry in the trenches of World War I.  All of these are possible with virtual worlds and Second Places.

For more information please contact Mark Duffy (managing director) or email info@secondplaces.net