Second Life, and Gwyneth Llewelyn

One of my deepest regrets in writing my Wired article on crowdsourcing was that I wasn't able to delve more deeply into the ways in which Linden Lab, the company that operates the metaverse Second Life (don't call it a video game please), has employed crowdsourcing. Simply put, without the crowd, Second Life couldn't exist. If evidence of the crowd's ingenuity and limitless imagination were lacking (and I'd argue it's not), a quick tour through the fantastical world of Second Life would provides it in spades. Now a prominent Second Life citizen by the name of Gwyneth Llewelyn (that's her SL handle) has begun a compelling analysis of how crowdsourcing is being employed in the field of software development in general and by Linden Lab in particular. While there may be some overlap between people following the crowdsourcing phenom and those interested in Second Life, I'd like to do what I can to promote more of it. I consider Gwyneth's blog required reading for anyone interested in the subject. I've got a bone to pick with certain elements of her analysis, but I'll have to wait to articulate those in another post.