Jeska Dzwigalski, M.A.

The MIT Technology Review article Better Search in Virtual Worlds said

Second Life’s new search tool helps users find 3-D objects.
 
As Google’s stock price can attest, good search engines are what make the Internet useful and entertaining. But in virtual worlds, which are made up of not text but 3-D renderings of people, places, and objects, the search problem is harder. Residents of Linden Lab’s Second Life have long been able to perform large, general searches — for a listing of a Spanish-language event, for example, or for the location of a particular group. But while it was possible, with a little effort, to find a shoe store, there was no good way to locate a pair of red shoes. Since much of the entertainment value of virtual worlds lies in creating objects and trading them, that’s been a frustrating limitation. But Linden Lab recently released a new search tool that begins to address the problem.
 
Building on a commercially available platform from Google, the new tool gives Second Life residents search results ranked by relevance, rather than ordered alphabetically or according to how much traffic they generate, as was previously the case. Jeska Dzwigalski, who is in charge of community and product development at Linden Lab, explains that the tool also allows residents to search much more specifically. In addition to being able to search for objects, residents can now look for information — about hobbies, for example — in each other’s profiles. Dzwigalski says she expects that being able to search profile information will improve Second Life’s social features.

Jeska Dzwigalski, M.A. (aka Jeska Linden) is Community and Product Manager at Linden Lab. Jeska has worked for Linden Lab, the creators of the virtual world Second Life, since the summer of 2004. Previously she worked as the Web Integrator for Borders.com. She is interested in virtual spaces, online community, identity, gender, design, literary and cultural theory, and any space where interdisciplinary topics merge together.
 
Her work at Linden has focused on the new user experience, feature development, volunteer management, and all around Second Life Community advocacy. She earned her Masters in Digital Media from the University of Denver, where she worked with the cable news channel C-SPAN on an innovative distance learning program.
 
Jeska also previously worked at the San Jose Museum of Art, where she helped to bring more technological interaction to the exhibitions. She earned a dual BA in English and Communication from the University of Detroit-Mercy. She’s on the advisory board for the Second Life Community Convention and has presented at all of their conferences. She’s also spoken at the NetSquared Conference (2006), the Virtual Worlds Conference, Games 4 Change Festival (2007), the 2006 Make Fest during the O’Reilly eTech Conference, and the 2006 NetSquared Conference.
 

	Jeska Linden, her second life identity.

Jeska authored God hangs out in Buffalo, N.Y., The evolution of Ani, Long live mutants, It’s not so easy to be the teacher’s pet, Eye candy, Ear Candy, Something to believe in, Surreal television still all the rage, Justice dares to be blind, Stripped-down and natural, Take a walk with Tori, Origin of evil, Curling their way into your heart, and Close Encounters. Read the full list of her publications!
 
Check out her online photos. Read Logging on for Christmas cheer, Web 2.0 business cards sport photos, avatars, It’s a nice day for an “EverQuest” wedding, An Interview with Jeska Linden about Nonprofits in Second Life, Interview: Lust for Second Life, and Virtual Worlds Conference: Community Management.