Exploration is still happening and continues, everyone who enters and
actively participates helps SL develop. Higher Education is one of the
areas that jumped on the virtual world band-wagon early on. Once you
have created your account do a couple of searches for places you may
want to explore from Santa Clara University to our own campus USD
campus in SL.
SL is being explored for educational purposes, in higher education from identity exploration (you can change color, sex, age, height, species, etc.) to learning styles to sharing ideas on the pedagogical implications of teaching in a virtual world.
Areas:
Sociology - cultures and subcultures abound in Second Life (cyberpunks, griefers, furries, elven role players, gorean, star wars, steampunks, Star Trek, Fashionistas, Satanists, Wiccans, Vampires, Fetish Groups, etc)
Gender Studies - gender exploration
Art - museology students can create installations at fraction of the cost
Music - performances in SL at clubs for a fee or free of charge
Business - to launch products experimentally at a fraction of the cost or do product placement (L'Oreal, Coca-Cola), as well try different marketing techniques and to cash in on the money to be made
Biology, Physics, Oceanography, etc - exploring science in an alternate universe or to teach introductory courses through a series of exercises
Other active groups:
Activists, Artists, Builders and Scripters, Educators, Politicians, Religions: Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, etc.
Universities exploring SecondLife:
Virtual Campuses
Science and Health
From http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Top_20_Educational_Locations_in_Second_Life
SL in Business
Visionary international corporations – Michelin, IBM, Xerox, Saint-Gobain Glass -- have established and grown significant presences on the Second Life Grid. These organizations have built spaces in Second Life Grid in some of these ways:
Facing the challenges of managing and encouraging communications and collaboration within and among global operations, they recognized that the Second Life Grid offers improved organizational performance and reduced operating costs.
from http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/corporations-use-virtual-world
Companies in SL:
