O Brave New World That Has Such Avatars in It!

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Virtual Government

Local officials in Arlington have set up offices in Second Life, a virtual world where users can walk or fly themselves through the obsessions and passions of people everywhere by clicking on screen arrows. Across the virtual Potomac, organizers are putting together a white-tie inaugural ball on Jan. 20th at a replica of the Capitol. The Washington Post's Michael Laris explored these places.

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Virtual worlds are populated with users who, after donning new skins, walk or fly themselves through the obsessions and passions of people everywhere by clicking on screen arrows. Characters meet, gesture, text, talk, lie, kiss, marry and sometimes fight.

Feather's Internet double is Theatre Magic, a younger, chiseled version of the real thing. "I never had a swimmer's build. Second Life is an opportunity to be what you always wanted to be. And it's cool to look really hot at the office," Feather said.

One recent evening, Theatre was shepherding a reporter toward the county's online office space for a tour when he sent a text message suggesting a detour. "Want to go swimming?" he wrote. He then teleported to a lake surrounded by Japanese maples and did a summersault from a cliff with an animated Buddha nearby. It was a long way from the Arlington office, but what better place to ponder the future of government?

Politicians at all levels have sought to use technology to make government more responsive. President-elect Barack Obama's promise to continue putting his weekly addresses on YouTube is just one example. Many local government sites tend to focus on the basics: paying taxes, checking home values and providing streaming video of public meetings.

Virtual worlds promote collaborations that could eventually change the way local governments manage touchy issues such as development. One idea turns on its head the old architectural gibe about a building looking like it was designed by committee. So-called "wikitecture" is meant to do just that. Designers around the world can each contribute their own flourishes to an architectural sketch. For instance, far-flung hands drew an award-winning blueprint for a health center in Nepal, Steve Nelson said.

Those who promote the idea of offering government services in digital worlds say the benefits aren't always obvious until people discover that virtual settings can stimulate the imagination.

When Linden Lab, which started Second Life, needed online conference rooms, Nelson's firm made them look like national parks, including Denali in Alaska and Mesa Verde in Colorado.

Suddenly a mundane interaction becomes memorable: "Remember when we were at that beach in Kitty Hawk?" Nelson said.

Or taking a swim with that Arlington official? Theatre Magic eventually made it to Arlington's conference space, but the side trip showed how easy it can be to shake up expectations. With toes wet, Arlington officials have started to broaden their thinking.

What could the county do with its space? One idea is hosting a job fair in the virtual world for defense workers who don't want to move from Arlington as part of a massive realignment of Defense Department jobs. The anonymity of avatars could be very useful for those who wish to job hunt discreetly.

For Feather, helping nudge the county into Second Life has opened a creative spigot.

In November, he started working on a 3D map of Arlington's major buildings. Touching images on the map calls up Web pages about them, and he and his colleagues want to add real-time rent data and detailed visuals from architects and developers so that "when you click on that building, you go in the door."

Such technology will eclipse standard Web sites, including the county's, Feather said. "You'll start to walk around places instead of going to flat pages."

Arlington officials working in Second Life are spending their own money and working on their own time, mostly at night. Whether setting up office suites in cyberspace will produce anything tangible for the county is an open question. But for Feather, at least, Second Life has had an impact. Now he performs in an opera group and meets with a global crowd to talk jazz. And he's building the 3D county map from a virtual perch 800 meters in the sky.

"I don't like heights," Feather said. "The first couple weeks I was here . . . I would get to the edge of some of these things, and my stomach would turn. Now I jump off . . . just because I can. You crash land, get up off our stomach and dust yourself off."