A while back, I started talking about how we Second Lifers need to move from the Second Life communication systems to the straight internet systems that really work. 

• Outworld tools for promoting for inworld events
• Out of the Box for Collaboration Networks in SL

And more recently, I described how Google Wave is changing the way I do things in Second Life blogging.

• Informational Networking
• Google Wave and the Ecosystem of Second Life

The outworld network

A notecard sent out by the University of Western Australia tells the story of how second life pros are now turning to outworld promotion channels.  These are the links in that notecard.

Ecosystem?
Ecosystem = parts working together to the benefit of each.

A while back I offered some comments about the ecology of Second Life:

• Future of SL is beyond e-tech. Now on to s-tech
• Future of SL Beyond e-tech (continued)
• How durable is that network effect?

Summary:  the ecology of Second Life is about S-tech, the social sciences: economics, sociology.  The story is about the interaction of people in community networks.  Here I will point out a couple of ways that Google Wave will fit into the story.    

Another business concept:  Goal-oriented:  You have a long-term goal.  You have a plan for getting there.  Not limited to business.  Applies to educators, performers, writers, actors -- to anybody working on a long-term goal.   The reason I bring it up is that I have been writing a lot about things that relate to the concept.  Now it is time to tie some of these things together. 

"How do you play this game?"

That's what newcomers to Second Life often ask.  My friends and I look at each other askance.  Sure.  We can't actually see each other.  But we know what we are all thinking.  I put the thinking into a notecard to give to people who ask that question:

Second Life is not a game in the usual sense.  It is a virtual reality environment.  Like the web, it is what people make it to be.  There are games here.  And you can make games yourself, if you develop enough skills in building, scripting, and writing.  But let's treat getting started as a game:  Exploring.

This report is short and simple.  The standard Skype install now lets you share your screen -- all or part -- with someone you are talking to.  They can see the window you are working on and the entries you are making.    And you see what they are entering.  If you are helping them, you can immediately tell them what they are doing wrong. 

If you already use Skype, all you have to do to start sharing screens is to be sure your version is up to date. The version I am using: 4.1.0.141.  My impression is that someone who is already using Skype will take only a few minutes to get used to working with the screen sharing feature.

S-tech is the social sciences: Economics, Sociology:  Electronics don't buy things.  People buy things.  Start with 2 key concepts:

Community:  "The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and social cohesion within a shared geographical location."    Or, we might add, shared virtual location.

Network effect:  "In economics and business, a network effect (also called network externality) is the effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other people.

The classic example is the telephone. The more people own telephones, the more valuable the telephone is to each owner."

And the more people on a given network, the harder it is for a competitor to survive.  Here, the phone system is not a great example anymore, because there are now legal requirements to support interconnection across networks.