Second Life thread on the RCAAM listserv

"I've just been told that our historic house museum is now on the Second life website. We did not authorize this. Someone just did it and is now asking us if we want to use it?
Has anyone out had their institution posted onto second life? did you charge any type of rights fee with this use? how about security issues? Was both the interior or exterior used or just the exterior? I've never been to the Second life website. How can I get access to this virtual world to see whats been done with our site? What are my options?"

"First off, is this person trying to sell you this virtual representation, or are they giving it to you free of charge? Real money is part of the economy of Second Life, and if they're asking for cash for their work, I'd ignore the offer.

The most direct way to see what this person has done would be to create a Second Life account at https://secure-web3.secondlife.com/join/ . Basic accounts are free and this will allow you to tour this virtual building. When you get started, you'll receive a tutorial about how to interact with the world, making navigation easier. You'll need to know what community, or island, the building was built on in order to reach it though.

I would reserve any judgement until you were able to view the actual work done. There may be a lot of good intentions here, but the virtual building itself may barely resemble your institution. Having used Second Life's building client myself, I can tell you that while it may be easy to use, it leaves a lot to be desired in the detail department. Before talking fees, see if it's even worth bothering over if it turns out to be a blocky, poorly rendered representation. If, however, the building and detailing is impressive, you may want to work out a donation setup with whoever built this. Several large charities now have virtual locations that accept real money, and I've included a link from the Nonprofit Times about this:
http://www.nptimes.com/07Sep/npt-070915-1.html

What are your security concerns, exactly? Even the most nicely rendered copy of a building in SL isn't blueprint perfect, so it wouldn't be a help to burglars"

Note: the response (the second quote) is from a Museology grad student at the University of Washington