09/29/08 01:47 pm ET
Missouri's chief information officer recently hired a tiny cat with a red bow tie.
Well, OK, not really. He really hired a recent computer engineering grad for the Department of Natural Resources, according to Government Technology News. But the guy first inquired about the position at the state's job fair in the virtual world Second Life. And his 3D representation in that world, or avatar, is a tiny cat in a tie.
Missouri CIO Dan Ross likely will lose more than 10 percent of his tech corps to retirement in the next decade, so he's recruiting aggressively in the real world too. But he figures his synthetic world ROI is pretty good. "Last year I was reporting about $100 spent. This year we've doubled that to $214. So the ROI is pretty quick," he says.
Given the low cost of entry, Ross advises other government agencies to take the plunge. He's not the only one. In March I wrote here and on my blog about an advertising agency's effort to get federal agencies to join a job fair for people with disabilities to be held in Second Life.
Seeking technologists and trolling for employees with disabilities in virtual worlds makes sense. Techies are well represented there due to their curiosity about new computer frontiers. And the disabled, especially those with physical handicaps, often are attracted to worlds where those problems no longer hinder them.
Not only are agencies fishing in Second Life liable to get bites, but, as Ross says, they can easily unhook if they don't. "If it turns out not to have any value, you just disappear and that's the end of it," he counsels.
Hat tip: Kitty Wooley
COMMENTS
Bruce, It's an interesting question--whether the successful Second Life applicant was a person with disabilities. I don't know the answer, but I suspect Ross would have mentioned it.
And yes, it's important to note that virtual worlds are not a panacea for all disabilities by a long shot. Nevertheless, they can be mightily freeing for some folks and that is a great thing.
Anne Laurent 10/01/08 01:02 pm ET
Hi Anne. Do you know of the tiny cat with the red bow tie turned out to be a PWD? I find no such implication in Ross's article.
SL is good for some PWD -- and totally inaccessible for others.
Bruce Bailey 10/01/08 11:33 am ET