Barry Joseph and I just finished a couple of, we think, fairly successful presentations to staff at the International Criminal Court on our plans to launch the International Justice Center in Second Life next month. The ICC is a huge institution, occupying two gleaming towers that were formerly the headquarters of a major Dutch television network. We were lucky enough to have the chance to present to the different branches of the ICC, and have some useful conversations about the ICC and virtual worlds.
I think Barry and I did a good job representing the project and the larger context — using images and machinima to punctuate our points. A number of important questions that got raised by the audience. But at the end, I would typify their reaction as guarded enthusiasm. Which for a large bureaucracy like the ICC is a huge
win.
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By chance, a local Dutch paper featured a story about the "dangers" of virtual worlds today. The article apparently reported in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner that the CIA was looking at Second Life as a possible venue for the transfer of funds anonymously to terrorist groups. I like that the story features a picture of some World of Warcraft avatars with the caption "Who is the terrorist?". Not the best timing, but didn’t seem to affect our presentation in any way.
Now Barry and I are off to Amsterdam to meet up with my friend Maria and Frans Charming for some much deserved downtime. Can’t wait to get some Indonesian food. Mmmm, lekker!
You guys are doing some impressive bridge-building. Really exciting stuff…
Rik,
As you might imagine, I have a few comments on this.
Can you say more about your plans for the International Justice Center, link to a machinima, etc.?
Will it be the mirror of/affiliated with/the extension of the project to be funded with Kofi Annan as its head?
Will it take up only real-world issues or will it be taking up any Second Life intrinsic issues or the issues of virtual worlds?
Will it in fact de facto take up certain tech agendas like “net neutrality” or promotion of open source” *anyway* while in fact not claiming to take up internal virtual world issues?
And frankly — and I’ll be quite blunt here: Will it do the usual leftoid justice non-profit thing, obsessing about the United States and Israel, ignoring Zimbabwe, Sudan, China, etc.? What kind of profile/footprint will it have?
Will the Second Life version have a board, or be answerable to the board of any non-profit? (I take it this is a project of Global Kids?)
Do you see it as more of a generalist organization that merely promotes the general goals of the ICC online in an augmentation in a VW, i.e. encouraging countries to sign and ratify, etc. something like your old organization? (which, BTW, isn’t merely as simple as it sounds).
Or are you going to take up any sort of specific causes?
Over the years, my own guarded enthusiasm for the real-world project of “international justice” hasn’t diminished (only someone with such enthusiasm could sit and file 1503s on Uzbekistan and get a resolution on Belarus passed at the Sub-Commission — the Sub-Commission!!!), but I’ve been given pause now and then seeing the amazingly expensive cost of this enterprise, as well as the emergence of an international justice jet-set, to which you now have been admitted with the usual back-patting and self-congratulation.
There is already so much that is virtual about international justice that I suppose Second Life is *just* the place for it!
Have you ever visited a mass grave? I have.