Photo by Jeska Linden in flickr
Jeska Linden (Jeska Dzwigalski) is the Community Manager for Linden Lab, the creators of the virtual world Second Life, where she has worked since the summer of 2004. I met Jeska during the TechSoup planning meetings for the upcoming “Mixed Reality Event” on July 18th and subsequently had a chance to interview her at her fabulous virtual office in Second Life.
1. How did you end up working in a virtual world?
I grew up just outside of Detroit Michigan, daughter of a police officer and nurse. I went to the University of Detroit-Mercy where I got a dual BA in English and Communications. During that time, I discovered this group of English majors who had started their own Internet Company. I fell into the wonderful world of web site creation. We created and ran the web site for the Liberal Arts College in an atmosphere which, upon reflection is a lot like Linden Lab.
We were hired by a startup outside of Detroit, a build-your-own computer company, sort of like Gateway. Unfortunately, that company went under pretty quickly and when I graduated I joined Borders Online. That's what led me on the next phase of my adventure. In 2001, I started at the Digital Media Studies Masters program at the University of Denver. When I graduated in 2003, I moved out here to California and worked with the San Jose Museum of Art before getting a job with Linden Labs.
2. How did you explain your job to your parents or other family members or people are not immersed in Second Life culture?
I remember when I first started, my parents had no idea what it was I did. My mom would tell people "It's something with computers.” But after I'd shown them a few times what Second Life was all about and after we started getting some more mainstream press, especially the Business Week article, my parents seemed to understand it a bit more.
I signed my brother up for an account and let him play around a little. He's a few years younger than me, so very much part of the video game generation. He immediately "got it" and started flying around.
3. You have worked with nonprofit organizations too …?
While I was in grad school at U-Denver, I worked with C-SPAN, the non-profit cable channel, in a very cool long-distance education program. I also worked closely with a non-profit rape abuse hotline in Denver, as part of a class I had, where we would work closely with a non-profit and build them a technology plan. It was one of the first times I'd worked so closely with a non-profit and I realized how much one person who understood technology could do to really help.
4. What did you learn from working with nonprofits/technology?
I learned a lot from San Jose Art Museum. There wasn't much of a budget for technology and many of my co-workers weren't especially tech-savvy. I remember being shocked when I got slides of artwork in the mail to scan. I hadn't realized they were still using non-digital methods to transfer information in that world!
5. So, what is it like to work and live in two worlds?
I'm a Community Manager for Linden Lab, which loosely translated means I spend a lot of time communicating with and advocating for the Residents of Second Life within Linden Lab. I think the best part of working for Linden is that I get to be a part of one of the most exciting spaces in technology today. I'm working on a project (Second Life) that is really pushing the boundaries on what is possible and I have a direct role in what happens. It's amazing.
My biggest challenge is that there isn’t enough hours in the day. There are so many cool projects to do, things to see, and people to talk to and just not enough hours to do it all. Time management becomes quite the problem when you have 2 different worlds to keep track of.
6. What are the opportunities for nonprofits?
I think the most obvious opportunities for non-profits within Second Life are to raise awareness/build advocacy within a very passionate and technologicaly adapt community and to utilize Second Life as a communication platform within their own organization.
For example, I hold many meetings in-world with Second Life volunteers from all over the world and Second Life provides a great platform that is free to access and much more immersive than plain chat or email. There really is something about physical presence and being in a room with someone that is hard to duplicate in text.
7. What pushback do you get from nonprofits?
I think, as with any other technology, non-profits should first evaluate their own needs. Second Life isn’t something for all organizations. At the netsquared conference, I spoke with someone from a small nonprofit about Second Life. There just wasn't enough hours in the day for him to participate. Second Life wasn't right, but I believe there are some organizations that could benefit from using Second Life alongside their other outreach tools.
8. But if you don’t have the capacity …
Exactly, you can't just set up a kiosk about your organization and expect the community to grow around it, you need to build advocacy in Second Life just as you would any other community.
I think it's a perfect space for recreating a museum, the whole experience of entering a gallery space and being surrounded by the artwork. Well I'm a bit biased, I think all of them should have a Second Life "outpost." It gives a whole new meaning to a travelling exhibition. It is a perfect fit though, the web is so flat compared to the real art, I remember working at the museum and dealing with slides and images for months before an exhibition and then the art would arrive... and it was like "WOAH" it's so different.
With Second Life you could get more into the art and present it in a way that is much more dimensional.
9. What is your advice for someone who might be working with a nonprofit and wants to explore the possibilities? What is the best way to start?
I think the most obvious place to start is to get an account and set aside some time to really explore the community and get connected with the other non-profits thru the SL Tech Soup group. I think that will help open up what is possible within Second Life and how it could fit into their organization.
You can also visit Help Island and get connected with one of Mentors, they're very good at pointing people in the right direction. There are also lots of helpful Resident-ran groups who specialize in helping new residents, including the Shelter, TeaZer's Island, and the New Citizen's Inc.
Of course, once you’re in-world, there are also lots of great helpful hints in the F1 Help.
Mentors in the community are great. They've got the best tips and hints and can explain things really well. The best way to learn Second Life is to jump in and ask questions.
10. What is the best resource for learning more about Second Life nonprofit/educational activities?
The Second Life educational wiki is chock-full of information.
Tech Soup has just started to bring the non-profits within Second Life together and has a mailing list and weekly meetings. I have a feeling that is going to grow organically as more non-profits get linked together.
At the end of the interview, we chatted about the best places to shoes, hair, and clothing in Second Life. I'm not sharing that here, but if you come to the TechSoup event, I'll share.
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