Government using Second Life

Once seen as a means of escapism for technology fiends the world-over; Second Life has more recently been harnessed for collaborative purposes with educational and informational goals in mind.  Government agencies from the federal level down to cities and townships are using virtual reality programs as a cost-effective approach to conducting simulations, holding meetings, and hosting strategy sessions.  

Cities across North America are using Second Life as a career center; advertising available jobs and holding online career fairs.  Jefferson City, Missouri uses Second Life in partnership with local K-12 schools to promote careers in information technology.  The Ontario Public Service agency hopes to “create a better awareness of the breadth of jobs” available by allowing users to simulate different career paths.  Through Second Life users can become virtual firefighters or experience a day in the life of a traffic engineer.  

Alameda County, California has created a polling place in their virtual courthouse to aide in training the influx of new poll workers for upcoming elections.  The program has gone so far as to plan outreach events for first-time voters, allowing them to practice voting in a virtual world.  
The reach of Second Life has naturally extended to NASA.  NASA’s CoLab is a dedicated virtual island think tank intended to promote brainstorming and generate new ideas by making educational materials available to all interested parties.  The International Space Station has adapted Second Life to function as the virtual component of a classroom course held at the virtual International Spaceflight Museum.  The virtual reality they’ve created contains accurate replicas of every component of the International Space Station.  Students work together to virtually assemble the space station, learning about space sciences and picking up technical skills along the way.  
View a Wiki touting real life examples of government using Second Life here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Real_Life_Government_in_Second_Life_Examples