OK, I’ll admit that I’m not sure what to make of the news that Sweden is opening an embassy in Second Life. On the one hand, it’s cool that a nation has decided to make use of a new medium to put out information on its land, people, and culture. On the other hand, a nation has decided to open an embassy in Second Life. There are big questions here like, who owns the virtual land on which the embassy sits? Can someone go to the Second Life Swedish embassy and request political asylum? Who will be appointed the nation’s first ambassador to Second Life, and to whom will he or she present diplomatic credentials?

After last week’s Lotusphere on Second Life (for IBM software partners) and the news that Reuters has opened a bureau on (in?) Second Life, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. For all that, though, I still can’t help but feeling that there are some real-world activities that might not benefit from being converted into avatars. Given the clear need for positive diplomacy these days, an embassy might just be one of those activities.

Categories: General computing, Entertainment