Linden Department of Public Works
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What is it?
The Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) is a program focused on improvements related to the experience of living on, or visiting the Linden Mainland. The LDPW will organize teams of Resident builders, artists, and scripters (the Moles!) to create new content on Linden Lab's behalf and to the benefit of all. Rather than divert company resources from areas of development that contribute to important issues like stability and usability, Linden Lab is choosing to go to the experts...
It should be no surprise that when it comes to creating compelling SL content, it's the Resident population itself that serves as the best talent pool. In the beginning, in order to hit the ground running, the LDPW approached a number of content creators whose credentials were well-established, but from the start, its intentions were to make application to the program open to all residents.
Lindens in the LDPW
Patch Linden is the Vice President of Product Operations.
Derrick Linden is the Senior Manager of Product Operations in Second Life, and serves as the manager of the Land Operations team.
Guy, Izzy, Kit, Madori, Sequoia, Wendi and Whitney Linden work with the LDPW on a daily basis.
Past and Present Moles of the LDPW
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FAQ
Here are some common questions from the various blog postings and LDPW office hours, as answered by LDPW Lindens.
- Is this a volunteer position?
- No, the moles are contractors, paid an hourly rate.
- Do I have to be good at design, building, texturing, sculpting, 3D modelling AND scripting to apply?
- Fully rounded content creators are certainly encouraged to apply, but we will be asking you to indicate your core skill, assuming that most people are not Leonardo DaVinci and specialize in certain areas.
- How do I apply?
- Send a resume to Derrick Linden at derrick@lindenlab.com - please include a CV/Resume, your areas of expertise and any links, screenshots or other information you would like to have considered so we can see recent examples of your work.
- What if I can't do any of those things, but still want to help somehow?
- Contribute your ideas by emailing Derrick Linden. Suggest Region names and builds, or future LDPW projects, or even other ways for individuals to participate.
- Do the contractors keep the rights to their content?
- In order to maintain the rights to reproduce the content and to make some of it available via the Library, Linden Lab is purchasing full rights to content created by the Mole builders.
- Aren't you supposed to be fixing lag and stuff?
- The LDPW project has no impact whatsoever on engineering or development efforts to improve Second Life. You REALLY don't want the the LDPW folks mucking about in the server code. Trust me.
- So this LDPW thing is all about making new city Regions?
- Not usually, no, although a new city area (Bay City) was the first LDPW project.
- So there will be road building then?
- Yes, LDPW creates, maintains and upgrades roads and bridges on Mainland regions, along with a number of other infrastructure projects ranging from planting trees, new Welcome Islands, game experiences, Linden Homes and much more. We'll be taking all suggestions into account, so please stay tuned and join the continued discussion.
- What's all this about moles?
- The contractors use accounts with the last name Mole, which references a bit of graffiti that appeared in the original city Regions long ago ... "Beware the Mole People!"