Sweden in Second Life

First!

From the article:

"Sweden is to become the first country to establish diplomatic representation in the virtual reality world of Second Life, officials said.

"We are planning to establish a Swedish embassy in Second Life primarily as an information portal for Sweden," Swedish Institute (SI) director Olle Wastberg has told AFP.

The embassy would not provide passports or visas but would instruct visitors how to obtain such documents in the real world and act as a link to web-based information about the Scandinavian country.

"Second Life allows us to inform people about Sweden and broaden the opportunity for contact with Sweden easily and cheaply," Wastberg said."

From The Swedish Institue:

"Svenska institutet öppnar House of Sweden i Second Life

Svenska institutet har långt framskridna planer på att öppna House of Sweden, Sveriges ambassad i Washington D.C., i Second Life. Sverige blir därmed först med att öppna en ambassad i denna virtuella värld, befolkad av miljontals människor från hela världen.

- För att vi i Sverige ska nå ut i världen så krävs det att vi arbetar via såväl alternativa som mer traditionella kommunikationskanaler. Med världen som arbetsfält är det, för oss på Svenska institutet, viktigt att hitta vår målgrupp i de sammanhang där de är mest mottagliga för vårt budskap. Second Life är bara en av de många alternativa kanaler vi bör arbeta vidare med säger Olle Wästberg, generaldirektör på Svenska institutet.

The embassy, a copy of Sweden’s embassy House of Sweden, in Washington D.C., will act as a link between the real and the virtual world. Through the official portal of Sweden, www.sweden.se the embassy will provide visitors with information about Sweden.

- Reaching out internationally, to an increasingly selective crowd, calls for an inventive and progressive way of working with communication. It is of great importance that we find our target groups where they are most likely to be open to our information, in their own context. Second Life is one of many alternative channels we ought to look further into, says Olle Wästberg, Director General of the Swedish Institute."

Snarky Metafilter commentary here.