I usually don’t cover vendor-related news, but BlackBoard has really done a nice job using YouTube to promote an upcoming conference to a specific audience while surfing on a very popular phenomenon, i.e. the growing popularity of Second Life in academic technology circles.
I came across this video titled “Adventures in First Life Redux” on Educate/Innovate, Blackboard blog.
At 2 minutes 30, it might be a bit long. However, Adrian Alleyne, its creator did capture the gist of what can make the whole SecondLife experience a bit awkward (avatars typing in the air when they exchange instant messages, bumping in each others or pieces of furniture, sitting on tables, etc — would have love to see some avatars flying but the BB team probably didn’t get the budget for it ;-).
This video (301 views at the time of this writing) could go viral – at least in the circles it targets – and generates some buzz (hey, it got a post here). The only catch is that you really need to have tried SecondLife to understand the whole video.
A very interesting example. What do you think?
