No Life in Second Life?

Now that the (first annual?) 2007 NMC Symposium on Creativity in Second Life has come to a close, it has left me with two questions:

1. Who are the individuals and organizations in Second Life at this time?
2. What are the instructional issues/problems being addressed in this vehicle?

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education: Colleges Are Building in Second Life, but Is Anyone Visiting? makes just this point. As well as How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life.

In fact, with the exception of planned coordinated events that are housed within an already existing social network, like the NMC Conference, there were times where I wondered if I was doing something wrong because no one was around. Yet, several higher education institutions, over 100, have set up spaces in Second Life. See this Case Western Reserve Video Tour for an example.

This new technology, SL, reminds me of Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Since I believe we are very early in this particular cycle, we are simply seeing a technology that is true to the curve. By my estimation, we are seeing only innovators or even pre-innovators in SL at this time.

Those who are
(1) venturesome, desire for the rash, the daring, and the risky,
(2) control of substantial financial resources to absorb possible loss from an unprofitable innovation.
(3) the ability to understand and apply complex technical knowledge, and
(4) the ability to cope with a high degree of uncertainty about an innovation.

Having said all this, I do think that SL has great potential as the world becomes more digitized and use becomes more intuitive.