Ontario Public Service Careers

Gosh, it's a very long time since I posted anything about the public sector in Second Life. And almost certainly the first time for the Canadian public sector. So without further ado, I give you Ontaria Public Service Careers, on the OPS Careers sim. OK, now while the Canadian public sector is (I think) a first for Slambling, it is most definitely NOT the first time I've looked at virtual recruitment. In fact, regulars are likely to be aware that I've covered many recruitment sims in the last year or so.

For reasons which in large measure escape me, virtual worlds are proving popular as potential recruiting grounds. I am not convinced, personally. Sure, the 'received wisdom' is that Second Life is great for recruitment - but that doesn't make it so. Despite having written optimistically in the past about using SL in this way, I now think differently. I was happy to go with the 'received wisdom' because it suited my hopes and aspirations to do so. However, I'm struggling to see how this is ever going to be anything more than a gimmick. By all means give it a go, and prove me wrong. I know my own company's efforts at inworld recruitment did actually lead to at least one person taking up a position. However, I do not believe that Second Life was pivotal to recruiting for that position. I would say that it can, however, provide a canvas for promoting your organisation and the roles that may be available.

But what about this site?

Broadly this seems to be the route being taken by Ontario Public Service (OPS). There is information relating to jobs in a number of areas, such as healthcare, science and business. Each area has its own building, with viewing rooms, some form of interactive activity and interview rooms. All the buildings also have kiosks with links to the OPS careers website. At the centre of the sim is an 'airport, which provides your arrival telehub. Basically, the site employs the device that you have just flown in and are now standing in the arrival hall, wondering where to go. Teleports will transfer you to your preferred location - or you can make your own way.

Nowee.org built the OPS website and according to information on their own website: "The Ontario Public Service(OPS) simulator in Second Life, built by our partner Architecture and Associates for the SL Agency provides the SL visitors with various activities meant to inform towards a panel of jobs offered by the OPS."

In terms of the build, I suppose I'm jaded after travelling for so long. The build quality is fine, but unexceptional. The tie-in with the website is good, and there are some nice touches, but it didn't have any 'wow factor' for me. One problem I did notice (at least at the time of writing) is that the general public seem to have 'object create' rights across the sim. As far as I could see, there were just a few plywood boxes lying around, but this could lead to bigger problems if not addressed.

Here's a few snaps for your perusal:

Masters of Digital Media Move House

One of the first academic sites I visited in Second Life, back in the days before I started this blog, was Great Northern Way Campus . GNWC is a collaboration between 4 Canadian colleges: The University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. The Finning Tractor Corporation donated a chunk oif their site just east of downtown Vancouver, on Great Northern Way, and this is where the Real Life campus has taken shape.

GNWC came to Second Life in the second half of 2006. Using the services of Canadian master-builder Scope Cleaver, they erected a large, ultra-modern facility on one of the mainland sims (Erie , if memory serves). The build was tied in with their Masters of Digital Media programme.

Today, while pottering around my local neighbourhood in SL, I happened upon the island "University Project." I put 2 and 2 together, and made a calculated judgement that this was something to do with "projects" and "universities" (though perhaps, in the singular) and therefore could be interesting. An added bonus was the fact that I could actually get in.

It turns out that GNWC have de-camped from the mainland and now have a whole sim to play with. Scope's building has come over intact, but now new buildings are emerging. This is still early days, as you can see from the bottom-most photo, where the objects are still textured in "plywood", but it will be interesting to see how this develops. It must be a relief to get off the mainland!


If you've never seen around a Scope Cleaver building then can I recommend you pop along to see this one? I think it's just brilliant.


Finally, you might find this PDF interesting and entertaining.