in a virtual world

The Ontario Public

Service

Centre for Leadership and Learning, HROntario, Ministry of Government Services

Establishing the YNP Secretariat:“How do we invest now for our workforce of tomorrow?”

• Supporting strategy to the OPS HR Plan

• YNPS objectives:– Attract– Recruit– Retain

• Build on current corporate and ministry programs and outreach initiatives

Focus for Pilot

Attraction:“How do we get the right message to the right people at the right time?”

• Public service has not been in the business of marketing its ‘brand’

• Know your market and your market differentiator

• Getting the right message to the right people at the right time

The Concept

• In an increasingly connected culture, the OPS must examine the use of new channels to keep pace with the market in the war for talent to maximize the promotion of the OPS career opportunities.

• Explore the feasibility of online career fairs, as part of a multi-channel approach to outreach

– not to replace, but to enhance– Cost-effective, broader reach (audience and geography)

• Exploring online career fairs to attract youth and new professionals presents the OPS as an organization that is engaged with the advancements of technology and where our target audience prefer to interact.

• It also identifies the OPS as part of the constantly evolving outreach and marketing trends to create user experiences by engaging with and reaching out to their user community on a level that they expect to interact with organizations in the future.

– Targeting better ways to engage a user than place ads somewhere else

• Partnership with the OCCIO to participate in a pilot/proof of concept to explore the usage of online collaboration/social networking tools.

• OCCIO has the mandate to explore the use of online collaboration tools/technologies through sponsoring of pilots/proof of concepts with ministry partners in order to provide recommendations on the application of various tools/technologies within the OPS

The Partnership

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Virtual Worlds

What is Second Life:• Second Life is an internet-based virtual world

launched in 2003 by Linden Research • Second Life is free, and allows to interact

online in a contained virtual environment and has a variety of uses, including

– providing an online space for collaboration, training, distance learning,

– new media studies and marketing. – allows online users to interact with

products/services (eg. OPS career information) • To date, there are approximately 12 million

users worldwide using Second Life. Users come from over 100 countries with concentrations in North America and the UK.

• Demographically, 60% are men, 40% are women and they span in age from 18 - 85.

– Average age of user on Second Life is 38

Virtual Worlds

• Second Life is increasingly being utilized by companies/organizations for commercial purposes –

• Organizations in Second Life:– US Federal Government, Sweden, Australia,

World Bank, City of Vancouver Police Department, Canada Post

– IBM, Accenture, Microsoft, Telus, , etc.– GE, Sears, Circuit City, etc.– UofIT, Harvard, Vassar, Pepperdine, Drexel,

Rice, University College Dublin, University, Ohio University, Ball State, New York University, University of Houston, Stanford University, Delft University of Technology, etc.

Why Virtual Worlds and Second Life?

1 - Rapidly growing market: – Estimate that 80% of active Internet users will participate in an online world by 2011– Primarily driven by the young/new professionals, who define and shape future Net usage

2 - Most successful: – Currently with some 550,000 active monthly users, SL has grown rapidly and with general consistency

since 2004 – Others exist and are larger, but none of them are user-created and as popular – Economically viable: Content and experience transferable in and out of the global economy

3 - Embodied: – A 3D space navigated by user-controlled avatars makes their owners feel a personal and social

investment in the simulated world they’re in – Communicating information in simulated 3D enhances learning and insight for that very reason

4 – Personally transformative: – Allows us to leverage and tap into human capital into the larger economy– Users span across all demographics and audiences – tap into people who’ve been otherwise kept out of

the mainstream job market through real-world barriers that become irrelevant – Has become a universally accessible mirror world

Conceptual Overview

• Create a “journey” experience, targeting all potential OPS job applicants that exist in Second Life virtual world.

• Provide an informational “day-in-the-life” type interaction for “career tourists” exploring available job opportunities.

• The OPS will have its own presence as a virtual province on Second Life. Users, also called “career tourists”, will learn and discover career opportunities in the OPS and showcase a variety of ways to educate, demonstrate and promote the important and innovative work we do in the OPS.

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Pilot Overview

Proposed career streams include:1. Fighting a forest fire

Career Stream Focus: Lands and Resources, Safety and Enforcement

2. Traffic Media Centre• Career Stream Focus: Transportation,

Communications, Engineering, Information Technology

3. Test water samples in a science lab• Career Stream Focus: Science and Technology,

Environment, Natural Resources, Policy

Pilot OverviewProposed career streams include:

4. Calculating numbers, balancing a sheet• Career Stream Focus: Finance and Economics,

Business Planning and Administration, Accounting

5. Social service/Health Care workers training for CPR certification

• Career Stream Focus: Health and Social Sciences, Safety, Community and Social Sciences

Measuring Results

The purpose of the pilot was to: Measure the effectiveness of online channels, as part

of a multi-channel approach to outreach to the public (as part of the YNPS outreach strategy) including: # of unique visitors including audience breakdowns (e.g.

youth, new professionals, new Canadians, etc.) user experience (via user survey), with a focus on online

collaboration using specific collaboration technology. creation of mailing list for future outreach of OPS careers Measure online direct marketing techniques to the public

(as part of the YNPS outreach strategy) # of users invited to participate and # of participants effectiveness of online marketing methodologies used

Test out emerging technologies for application in the Ontario Public Service (as part of OCCIO mandate)

Pilot Considerations

• Was not fully accessible or bilingual

• Marketed and available only to Second Life users

• Be up and running for 12 weeks

• Facebook vs. Second Life• Content ownership

ResultsVisitor Statistics:• # of visitors – approximately 8800 unique visitors over the duration of the pilot• Average length of time on island approximately 20 minutes per visit

User demographics:• Approx 80% of users under age of 35• Approx 70% of users have at least college/university degree• Users visited from around the world, Germany, Australia, Asia, North America,

Canada, Ontario, BC (to name a few)

Feedback:• 80% of users rated experience from good-excellent

”Very progressive of the provincial government to set up shop on second life...I'm very impressed””I learned a lot, was informative and interesting”

“VERY cool! Glad you've got a presence here in SL.. we Canadians need to represent more here, whether nationally or provincally :) Great job on the island”

Media hits:• Highlights -- picked up by Cnn.com, Second Life Communities, Added to Wikipedia• Over 200 Google hits since launch

Unique Partnerships:• MIT, Canadian Defense Academy, Canada Post, Centre for Digital Media, World

Bank• Member, Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds• Focus on upcoming Case Study

Lessons Learned• If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on.

– Risk-aversion kills innovation and does not yield any returns• Nobody cares, until everyone else does.

– Legitimacy is based on someone else already having done it or saying it’s okay to do it.

• Never sell what you don’t own. – Don’t make it bigger than it needs to

• Spouses at the table are better than exes in court! – Don’t underestimate IT, Legal, Security, Vendors, Communications, program

areas• If the glove does not fit, then you must acquit! – (or quit!).

– 12 weeks and out!• One person’s garbage is another person’s gold.

– Success is how you define it• If you build it, they will not come.

– Marketing will be key• Don’t jump into the lake unless you have swimming trunks!

– Second Life is just like “real” life, you must wear clothes!

Digital Ontario Island • Adjacent Digital Ontario Island

Builds on the existing OPS Careers Second Life successful presence

• Part of Digital Divide and Access Strategic Research initiative championed by IITDC

• Objectives:–Further Digital Strategy policy development & planning–Inform e-consultation best practices in context of Web 2.0–Promote the use and uptake of broadband internet

Digital Ontario IslandShowcases Ontario’s digital leadership by highlighting examples of the following:

• Online Ontario government services & information (e.g. Service Ontario, Investment Centre; e-learning; telehealth)

• Recent investments in broadband and digital economy (e.g. Rural Connections program; ORION; Next generation jobs fund)

• Innovative uses of broadband to develop digital economy, improved quality of life, e.g.

– Successful use of e-business tools by Ontario small businesses (SBCS toolkit)

– Northern Ontario Medical school – e-learning and e-research

– nGen – regional digital media incubator

– Keewaytinook Internet High School

Digital Ontario Island Components1) An OPS Conference Centre:

• Capable of simultaneously accommodating 100 Second Life Avatars

• Will feature audio and video streaming• Will be customizable and re-useable for

almost any future initiative

2) Six Pavilions - Research Focus Areas: Feature what Ontario is already doing in

the given priority area Feature an interactive content illustrating

the challenges and potential of each priority area

Feedback opportunities

3) Digital Divide & Access Research & Policy Development Conference and Forums in Second Life Conference Centre (TBD)

4) Investment and Trade Centre (MITI) independent presence (interest from other ministries, e.g. Tourism to expand their presence)

Next Steps

Discussions underway: • Next Steps

– Pilot only?• Considerations

– OPS employee access to Second Life, Social Media sites– OPS Island Ownership

• Other Opportunities:– Distance Learning and Development– Virtual Conference(s)– Policy Consultations– Staff/Employee Collaboration

• Continue marketing OPS careers using Social Media Channels

– OPS Employment Brand going ‘fully’ Web 2.0

Don’t be left behind.– Organizations need to ensure they have strategies and

capabilities in place to rethink their current ways of working.• All about relationships

– The Digital Generation changes the meaning of work• The Internet Superhighway to Web 3.0• Social Media, just like phone, television, email and the

internet, is prevailing

– Homegrown phenomena: • 2007 report indicates that Canadians devote more time online

than any other nation, averaging 39.3 hours per month

– 4 of the top 10 most-frequented sites on the internet are social media sites

– Supports Attraction and Retention

Points to Ponder

Appendix 1

Digital Ontario Island Contributing Partners:

1. Ministry of Government Services

2. Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

3. Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services

4. Ministry of International Trade and Investment

5. Ministry of Economic Development

6. Service Ontario

7. Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network

8. Northern Ontario School of Medicine

9. Keewaytinook Okimakanak Telemedicine

10. Keewaytinook Okimakanak Internet High School

11. nGen Niagara Interactive Media Generator

12. MikroTek

13. City of Waterloo

14. Intelligent Community Forum

15. Knowledge Ontario

16. Ontario Telehealth Network