Prospects for the Design of Electronic Products in Second Life

Tom PAGE
Loughborough Design School, Loughborough University
Epinal Way, Loughborough, United Kingdom, LE11 3TU

Abstract: Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world where users can interact, explore, create and trade items. Second Life has its own virtual economy and due to open intellectual property rights all user produced content is owned by them. The virtual world attracted the attention of the Harvard Business Review and Business Week in early 2010 as well as Reuters who set up a news agency to bring virtual news to real life. This exposure has not gone unnoticed by the design community with many real life companies seeking a presence within the world including Adidas, IBM, Toyota, Philips and American Apparel. This paper explores the extent of the electronic product design activity found within the virtual world of Second Life, the reasons users and companies are embracing virtual worlds and the significance that this will have for design. By taking into account the development of the World Wide Web, views of companies and individuals, conclusions have been made about the future implications that SL could have on electronic product design.

Keywords: Second Life, design, electronic products.

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CITE THIS PAPER AS:
Tom PAGE, Prospects for the Design of Electronic Products in Second Life, Studies in Informatics and Control, ISSN 1220-1766, vol. 20 (3), pp. 293-304, 2011. https://doi.org/10.24846/v20i3y201110