Project 2: Take the plunge into Second Life (First Attempt)

For our second project, we've been tasked with exploring the vast, digital world that is Second Life.  Our mission is to comb Second life for health related areas, seminars, and other resources.  Based on our experiences, we will determine whether Second Life is a viable addition to our Social Networking and Media Strategy.

There is a growing number of health care institutions that are utilizing the 3-D virtual world of Second Life to administer health care and advice.  While it is an interesting direction to take, I don’t feel that it is a viable long term investment of time, money and resources.  For my independent study on Web 2.0 Technologies in Health Care, I have been tasked with experimenting with Second Life, to see for myself how organizations are utilizing the resource.
One reason I can cite for Second life not being a viable option for spreading health care knowledge and awareness is access to adequate hardware.  The first computer that I attempted to navigate Second Life proved to be slightly inadequate.  Getting around was a slow, frustrating experience.  This is likely due to the fact that the machine I was using lacked dedicated graphics.  This is even with a dual-core processor and 3 GB RAM.  During this attempt, I visited Health Information Island.  The island itself is vast, and proved difficult to navigate.  I feel this would be especially difficult for first time users, that it might frustrate them to the point of not even bothering with Second Life altogether (especially if the hardware that they accessing Second Life with is not up to par).

A link to my first attempt: http://bit.ly/eY1w49