I’m pretty sure Zach Wise just called me a bigger geek than him.

Although, the truth is, you don’t have to be particularly geeky to enjoy the virtual trip, the alternative world, the parallel universe that is Second Life. With Ohio University leading the nation’s universities in development and design in Second Life, it’s natural that the Soul of Athens team would want to delve deeper into the newest wave in the realm of online communities.

Student organizations, community programs and Athens residents can now engage on OU’s virtual campus, where the picturesque environment, from the gate to the bricks, has been re-imagined in a world where anyone can explore it and learn about everything that OU and Athens has to offer.

While I didn’t exactly convey the perks of Second Life to Zach or Ryan Navaroli, it didn’t matter, they were already convinced. Before I knew it Zach was pulling out a notepad and asking for my name. But he didn’t want my First Life name.

“My Second Life name is Meghan Gildea.” I proceeded to spell it out.

As Zach was writing, Ryan chimed in, “My name is Blargo Swindlehurst.” He said it with a smirk, prompting me to explain my lack of creativity.

“I didn’t realize you could pick a fun name when I chose it!”

If most of this post has sounded like complete gibberish, then clearly Second Life needs some explaining.

Simply put, it’s The Sims on crack.

It’s also a little bit of Athens: uninhibited, unpredictable, a place where there are no limits to your imagination, even if it is a tad creepy, at least at first.

Ryan sat back, relaxed, as we discussed ideas for exactly how to approach this project, in a realm almost unknown to most of Athens’ population. Yet, it’s one that would infect them soon enough, we just didn’t know how. As I left, however, I was sure Blargo would come up with an answer.

To learn more about Second Life and how to sign up for a free account go to http://secondlife.com. Just remember, once you pick a name, it’s yours forever. See you in World.

It took a chalkboard full of words for me to realize that Athens is, above all, a contradiction.

High on chalk dust and jelly beans, Michael Newman, Julia Marino, Meghan Louttit and I sat in a Scripps Hall and began writing every word about Athens that came to mind. Two themes seemed to emerge from this process: many words with sexual undertones (i.e. seduction, naughty, fertile…the list goes on) and a whole lot of contradictions.

How is it that this place can be both rural and cosmopolitan? Homogenous and diverse? Alive and brave, yet fragile? Its complexity and unpredictability make it all the more intriguing.

Conducting an interview the next day, I brought up these contradictions. Rosalie Romano, a passionate education professor, knew exactly what I meant.

“You must be able to see the beauty of a place like Athens, because it’s not physical,” she said. “The polar pairs mean everything. Nothing with meaning is without an underbelly. The human spirit doesn’t want conformity.”

I won’t try to say it any better, but I will include the complete list of words below.

Athens is: alive, alternative, beat, beatnicks, bohemian, bold, brave, bricks, cityclose-knit, coffee-addicted, controversial, cosmopolitan, creepy, dirty, diverse, edgy, feminist, fertile, fragile, free, friendly, funky, geeky, green, happening, haughty, hippies, home, homogenous, impoverished, intellectuals, liberal, loud, musical, naughty, nocturnal, nostalgic, ominous, outdoorsy, outspoken, picturesque, precarious, preppy, progressive, punk, quirky, restless, retro, rich (culture), rural, safe, skaters, studious, sub-culture, trail, uninhibited, unpredictable, urban, walking

The producer meetings are mix between chaos and organization. Our fearless leader Zach Wise sets out to make sure that each individual issue is covered, but sometimes in a project this large it is impossible to plan for everything. The people that are working on the design and technical side of the Web site sit in on corner and debate over hundreds of different color combinations that might be good for the Web site, while the content producers focus on individual contacts and how specifically each piece is going to come together.
For once we are outside enjoying the spring weather that Athens nearly forgot to give us and this week we are meeting outside. While talking about projects quotes like ‘When I approach it is like I am about to give him bad results form a VD test’ are said as the air is jovial but still poignant.
During this meeting however people are all together and Zach has promised a short meeting. Things on the site are starting the come around although there is still some dispute over what the Soul of Athens really should look like. Projects are starting to be finalized in idea if not execution. It looks like everyone is going to finish the shooting in the next couple of weeks.
Editing is the step after that but we have hardly even started to talk about that. All the producers know is that the final project is supposed to be ‘tight.’ The final pieces are going to be short and entertaining blurbs about what Athens really is.
As for me I know my favorite part about Athens is the weather and finally getting the chance to have a meeting outside is a God sent.
See another 360 image of the group here. (The group especially loves the ghost dog. It was moving too fast for these photographs.)

E-mails with the subject Soul of Athens have been filling my inbox for the last 4 weeks. To keep this project organized and focused the group has started a Basecamp project that allows members to receive e-mails whenever a new message is sent.
Needless to say I have filled my once ‘unlimited’ Gmail account to 30 percent. At first the e-mails were discussing ideas for projects and how the teams would be separated as the projects got underway and slowly turned to more practical like meeting times and more recently polling what people thing of the new design and how to increase Google ranking.
The conversation has been incessantly filling my inbox and through it I have heard some rather interesting things. For example, apparently Max, the programming guru of the group, broke his nose at some point recently. I am sure hilarity ensues and I will make sure he posts the story here.
To tease a little the sections of the Web site are going to include Creative, Spirit, Enviroment and Youth. Each section is going to have a list of ‘characters’ from the community that really describe that part of Athens. For these projects the producers are looking into using video, photography and infographics to try to explain the unique experience in the community.
Personally my favorite part of this project is that it is supposed to introduce new people to the community. Even though the people of the community will be drawn to this project, this project is supposed to get outsiders a peek into real world Athens. As someone who is leaving this very unique community I know I am going to miss this city that is ‘Precariously balanced on the tip of cosmopolitan Appalachia.’