This half-day symposium, conducted simultaneously and via streamed media from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and in the immersive virtual world of Second Life™, and viewable onsite at ASU, in Second Life, and on the web, will convene scholars of technology and law; experts in enterprise virtual world applications and online community, public diplomacy, game development and other disciplines to discuss controversial issues stemming from enterprise and government use of virtual world environments for business, public outreach, education and entertainment, among them:

• To quote Lawrence Lessig, in online terrain, 'Code is Law' -- the affordances and protocols built into a virtual world, a gamespace, a social network are not casually mutable by users (even government and enterprise users), and may conflict, grossly or in subtle ways, with real-world convention, law in any particular jurisdiction, or enterprise policy. But to use these platforms, enterprises need to adapt, work around, or learn to usefully leverage these externalities. How may this be done?
• Beyond the code, how is activity in virtual places best governed? Do traditional legal and policy concepts apply literally, or do we need new laws for new spaces? Are the trappings of place-based governance the best model for virtual worlds?
• User experience on the internet at large, in gamespaces and virtual worlds prove the powerful ability of individuals to coalesce, and groups to self-organize around shared interests and common missions. What characteristics need to be present to promote self-organization? How can institutions with conventional codes coexist with, respect and collaborate productivity with emergent forms of order?
• Can virtual worlds create community across regional and national boundaries?

The complete agenda for Governance in Virtual Worlds is at: http://www.world2worlds.com/asuvgive/home.html

Partial Speaker Roster:

• Gary Marchant - Lincoln Professor of Emerging Techologies, Law and Ethics, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
• Chris Collins - Second Life Project Manager, University of Cincinnatti
• Dr. Craig Cunningham - Educational Philosopher and Technologist, National-Louis University, Chicago
• Joshua Fairfield - Associate Professor of Law; Director, Frances Lewis Law Center, Washington and Lee School of Law
• Joshua Fouts - Chief Global Strategist, Dancing Ink Productions
• Ian Hughes - Director, Feeding Edge Ltd.
• John Jainschigg - Executive Director, Internet & Community Lab, Ziff Davis Enterprise
• Rita J. King - CEO, Dancing Ink Productions
• Gregory Lastowka - Professor, Rutgers School of Law
• John Carter McKnight - Adjunct Professor of Law, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
• Jamie Palisades - Former Chancellor, Confederation of Democratic Simulators, Second Life
• Ren Reynolds - Consultant, ren-reynolds.com
• Joseph I. Rosenbaum - Partner, Reed Smith LLP
• Rose Springvale - Attorney, former Sultana, Al Andalus Sims in Second Life
• Dorette Steenkamp - Executive Director of Advocacy and Community, Uthango Social Investments

REGISTER TODAY

Attendance at ASU: Governance in Virtual Worlds is free of charge for all modes and media. Attendees are requested to register here ( http://www.world2worlds.com/asuvgive/registration.html ) to insure admission. Registrants are required to provide a working, unique email address - an email sent to this address contains a link that the registrant must click to finish the registration process. Attendees local to ASU may wish to attend in person at The Great Hall, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University.

WEB OR SECOND LIFE

Once registered and confirmed, online attendees may log in at (http://www.world2worlds.com/asuvgive/registration.html ) to access a multimedia interface offering several options:

Web-Only: Those wishing to attend entirely on the web can click a button to enter our multimedia environment, which carries live video of keynotes, panels and presenters along with realtime chat from connected venues.

Second Life: Attending in the immersive virtual world of Second Life is advisable only for remote registrants with high-end/current PCs or laptops (Windows, Mac, Linux) and high-quality, wired broadband service. If you're already a Second Life user and have the Second Life client installed on your , simply enter your avatar name where requested, and click the button to teleport directly to the inworld venue. If you are not currently registered with Second Life, the multimedia interface will help you create an avatar/account, download the Second Life client and Apple QuickTime software (both free, required, about three minutes for download/install on a typical broadband connection). Launching the newly-installed SL client and logging in will cause your new avatar to appear immediately at the venue.