OpenSim

For the technically-minded amongst us, why not set up your own online world with OpenSim? By the looks of it, it is inter-operable with content created for Second Life, though I might be wrong on that. Actually, it might be a reverse-engineered version of Second Life, if the links on its main page are any guide (see for instance this)

“OpenSim is a BSD Licensed Open Source project to develop a functioning virtual worlds server platform capable of supporting multiple clients and servers in a heterogeneous grid structure. OpenSim is written in C#, and can run under Mono or the Microsoft .NET runtimes.

OpenSim is currently in the alpha development stage, with active testing of SVN trunk versions encouraged.”

For a fascinating look at what is going on in OpenSim, visit Darb Dabney’s Second Life GIS Blog. If it works for GIS, then archaeology should be a cinch…