Eastern European nation Estonia has opened an official embassy in Second Life.
Estonia for those not aware of the country is a former Soviet Republic that this year is celebrating 90th anniversary of its initial independence, before it was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. It’s bordered by Russia to its East and Latvia to the South, and became a member of the European Union in 2004, the same year it became an American ally by joining NATO.
Estonia established an embassy in Second Life on the basis that Second Life was as progressive as its own society. The goals of the embassy are to promote Estonia among small groups of professional individuals by hosting discussions and lectures with people who not be able to travel to Estonia, and perhaps more interestingly, to act as a conduit for information to countries where Estonia has no representation (literally a virtual embassy).
The embassy itself is an interesting build that’s hard to describe in words. The post-modernist architecture hosts a variety of levels that includes art work and meeting spaces. During my time at the embassy I was impressed to note that it was manned by a “Estonia Republic” representative. I didn’t ask for a visa or particular information about Estonia, but I’m sure that I could have.
The embassy can be visited here (SLURL).
In related news, those keen on the environment can participate in a virtual Bali conference, the current major conference being held to discuss the post Kyoto environmental treaty. The space is hosted by the Nature Publishing Group and includes speakers such as Tara LaForce of Imperial College in London, Simon Buckle of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and George Monbiot, British enviro-nazi and enemy of Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame. Those interested can TP directly to the NPG island here (SLURL)
The news zone, where a traditional Estonian “Eesti hagija” dog welcomes you to the Embassy
The architecture is hard to place
Estonian Artwork
Sweden’s second life embassy – the Second House of Sweden – is also impressive:
http://www.swed...e____16345.aspx
(with lot’s of pics of the place)
It’s good to see some of the smaller countries getting a presence in virtual worlds. I’m guessing it’s a few years before Australia catches up in that regard….
Lowell
and the ALP will roll out fibre to node broadband everywhere next year (not)
Can I apply for VISA via this embassy
Would love to put info on that on visamanagementysystem.com
I’ll just add that Estonia just opened an office in Silicon Valley under the name Enterprise Estonia to provide estonian IT entrepreneurs necessary business contacts in the States.
A progressive country indeed.
this country went through very interesting and unfortunate periods during WW2.
http://en.wikip...rg/wiki/Estonia
first soviets occupied it in 1940, then Nazi Germany in 1941 and then again soviets occupied country in 1944. Though US and UK never recognized existence of Estonian SSR untill 1991 when USSR collapsed Republic of Estonia was formed.
here where I just learned all that
sure, they did, Estonia’s internet penetration has been 100% for years.
Hi,
If you are USA citizen you do not need a visa to enter Estonia
So welcome
Wow, that’s fugly. I’ve seen Second Life screenshots that looked quite good – if the perspective wasn’t *too* close to the scenery, and the focus wasn’t on the blocky characters – but you can’t tell me that building doesn’t look absolutely hideous, while the art gallery looks like one of those early experiments in 3D from 1995.
Estonia is very progressive but this is a progression that doesn’t do them any favours, apart from the dubious recognition of geeks, furries and outright loonies who probably couldn’t find Estonia on a map. If I was an Estonian taxpayer I would be livid that government programmers were playing what is essentially a building-blocks computer game at my expense. Well, maybe not that livid, as the Estonian tax burden is relatively light, but if my own government did this I’d be livid, and the “embassy” would probably look even worse than that to boot. (Millennium Dome 2.0 anyone?)
Is that officially owned by Estonia Government?
Yes.
Read more from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs – http://www.vm.e...t_138/9087.html
Wow, very cool move. Good PR
Estonia? This is actually better than Estonia!
I travel every year to Estonia, this country IS progressive. Especially according to IT and internet. They have developed skype, invented ekool and a lot of e-banking security standards. Great news!
The idea that a country\countries should open embassy\ embassies in Second Life sucks.
IMHO
Duncan:
I wonder if Estonia is hoping to attract only “virtual” visits to their country/embassy? Check out E.M. Forster’s dystopian sci-fi short story “The Machine Stops” for what could be the eventual outcome of Second Life’s virtual society.
Anthony Kuhn
why a virtual world, people have problems in real life lets fix that, now we gotta go virtual. people got to much time.
Go, Go Estonia! Go, Go Nazi! Please visit our little museum of fascism with 2 streets and odious & greedy people – welcome to Estonia!
That’s one ugly house imo.
And EnergyBar. You’re an idiot or a commie…
If you visit that place, you will see that it is really beautiful, especially in the evening light. But to people who are worried about the virtual- that is already part of your real life, you can not escape it. And the reality will always remain there too, they are just intertwined.
Um I visited. Going to try to get my passport on-line. And Energybar that’s slander. This machine kills fascists. Neggimist
EnergyBar, I think that what you may really need is a reality pill.
You will find that to the overwhelming majority of Estonians, Nazism is odious and always has been. Granted, Communism is even more odious, because it killed and enslaved more of them, occupied their country for far longer and did vastly more damage. But, contrary to Russia’s highly offensive propaganda, this does not mean that Estonia has any love of Nazism.
You wanted to visit Estonia’s museum of fascism? Estonia is a small country, so it saved resources by joining it with the museum of Communism. You can visit it at http://www.okup...glish/index.htm .
More information on NPG’s climate change series can be found here: http://network....change-speakers
oh my god EnergyBar do you hawe any idea of history. Germans were fascists not estonians. Before you say someth, you should really check over.
Cmon people! EnergyBar belives only kremlins propaganda… zobied person you know.
Welcome to Estonia!
WOW THIS IS ALL REDY COOL
peter, you can’t change the truth, calling it a slander. Go to live Estonia, work babysitter with old nazis and support the fascism. they really need people like you.
First of all, The USSR wasn’t Communist. They only try’d to attempt at Communism. The real Communist ideology is from Karl Marx & Engels, people! Though, prior them, during Plato’s time is when the ideology of Communism came to thought. How ’bout ya take a Philosophy class in College & Gov’t to learn real things, not news crap bias bull! Jus’ as much as China isn’t Communist, they’re Socialist. Their “Party” is Communist, but as long as Capitalism exists & thrives, Communism isn’t gonna bear fruit. I know. I’m an Amer. living in China, as a company boss. Also, Nazi Germany was facist. For those who aren’t in the military &/or have been in the military, ya aught to join. You’ll learn history a lot better, pals. If you’re gonna learn TRUTH, quit be’n bias.
13 Bravo, Lt. Tzuo.
Awesome i wish more countries would embrace the new online culture and not harass it like the US has been doing to SL, restricting gambling wdf?!
well next time im on SL imma have to swing by and chat up a rep ^^
wanna come to estonia .
THANKS
You may be interested in attend the upcoming Gov 2.0 Symposium on Sept 19, attend in person or virtually
INFORMATION LEADER SYMPOSIA SERIES
Hosted by the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Networks and Information Integration)/DOD Chief Information Officer and The Information Resources Management College, National Defense University
YOU ARE INVITED TO A SYMPOSIUM ON:
“Government 2.0 and Beyond…
Harnessing Collective Intelligence”
DATE: 19 September 2008
TIME: 8:00 – 1200 (registration opens at 7:30)
VENUE: National Defense University campus
Ft. Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
Marshall Hall, Room 155
Attendees at this half-day event will explore the social implications and the impact of globalization of the web as a platform rather than an application. This paradigm shift, referred to as “Web 2.0,” enables us to leverage customer self-service and data management to access the entire web. It is about building communities and the “wisdom of crowds” where participation among users adds value by harnessing collective intelligence. Through a variety of presentations and perspectives on how Web 2.0 is growing in importance as a service-oriented, cost-effective model, we will explore the environments in which the next generations of the web can operate and change government.
Featured Speaker: Mr. David Weinberger. Mr. Weinberger is a U.S. technologist, writer, and Web 2.0 guru. He is the co-author of the “Cluetrain Manifesto”, a website about the transformational impact of the internet on business. He has written two major books on the Internet, Small Pieces Loosely Joined and Everything is Miscellaneous. Mr. Weinberger currently serves as a fellow at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society of Harvard Law School. He was Senior Internet Advisor to Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.
Panelists Include:
* David Wennergren, Deputy DOD Chief Information Officer
* Bruce Klein, Director of Public Sector Group, Cisco
* Anthony Williams, VP, nGenera and co-author of Wikinomics
* Mike Bradshaw, Director, Enterprise Federal, Google
Registration
Registration is FREE for all attendees, but all must register to ensure a seat. Please go to the following website to register: http://www.ndu....v_reg_gov2.html.
Please indicate on the registration form if you will attend in residence or be a virtual attendee.
The Venue
The National Defense University is located on Ft Lesley J. McNair near the Washington, D.C. waterfront. This event will be live video streamed to a website and the IRM College Government Center in Second Life. Instructions for access to the stream will be posted to the Live Broadcast section of the 20th Anniversary homepage at http://www.ndu....irmc/anniv.html no later than 15 September 2008.
Media Coverage: Invited members of the media include Government Executive, Wall Street Journal, Signal, Federal Computer Week, Federal Times, The Washington Post, and others.
Questions
If you have questions about this event, please contact Dr. Paulette Robinson at (202) 685-3891 or robinsonp@ndu.edu, Doris McGuire at (703) 604-1489 x 153 or Doris.McGuire.ctr@osd.mil, or Sandy Smith at (703) 604-1489 x 176 or Sandra.Smith@osd.mil.
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Like to know if I need visa to visit your country, and what are the documentation need to if I do need tourist visa.