Since the cyberpunk writings of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson painted immersive digital landscapes into their stories of virtual adventure, and following the dawn of VRML and QuicktimeVR some dozen years, I have been hoping to see virtual world technology really take a foothold in the ever-evolving set of Internet-based social networking tools. With the arrival of Second Life, I am seeing the beginnings of fulfillment for that hope, not just in the social networking realm, but in activism and education, creative multicultural collaboration, artistic outlets, and many other possibilities. It is with this spirit of creative innovation that I founded the Avatar Action Center (AAC) in Second Life, a stake in the ground as a model for positive application of virtual world technology.

Core to the mission of AAC is the idea that virtual reality is not a substitute for, or escape from, the "real world," but rather a tool to be used for enhancing social interaction, education, and collaboration on socially meaningful projects in virtual space that have impact in the real world. This is a challenge right now, since virtual worlds are viewed more as games than as platforms on which to build tools and content delivery systems that allow the development of materials that are engaging and fun, interactive and educational, while also having the capability to build communities around topics of interest.

In AAC's case, the topic is sustainability and all of its permutations, and we strive to remind people, through virtual educational materials, games and events, that there are problems in the real world that we must pay attention to. After all, without a real world, there would be no virtual space! Our hope is that the awareness we virtually instill in people about environmental and social sustainability issues will spur them to respond by taking action in their real lives and making choices that increase the possibility of a positive future.

Can we do this entirely inside a virtual world? We think not, which is why we have created a companion web site using a wiki for content collaboration and centralizing course and game materials, and blogs and forums for outreach and engagement opportunities beyond virtual space. One reason for this is that the current virtual space offerings do not support collaboration necessities like document sharing and threaded discussions. Also, by developing our materials together in a wiki, we will have a set of ready-to-go specifications for the next virtual world and can deploy another branch of the AAC quickly and efficiently, as well as a platform for outreach and communication that cannot yet be matched inside Second Life.

It is yet to be seen whether this sort of approach to engagement and awareness-raising will be effective, but our hybrid web/virtual space approach will, we believe, create the necessary bridge to keep volunteers and visitors travelling between both worlds and engaging creatively in the broadest number of ways. If anybody out there has experience or insight into harnessing virtual space for social innovation, please feel free to chime in and share.