Sorry to chime in so late... you all know I've been "Mostly Absent" lol
Ironically, I was thinking of submitting an article on the CDS to an academic journal. I have the references on a different computer, in case you're interested, but it's a special issue about governance tools on online environments. Some of the suggestions are in the area of using software to aid democratic processes and/or tools to educate people about democracy (a dire need!).
Well, I thought to be a bit more controversial and suggest that there is no "simulation" that can convey the actual feeling of a participative democracy unless people are real stakeholders in it, and not merely "role-playing", which is what most of those "educational tools about democracy" do. (Perhaps not all, but at least most of them.) The problem, of course, is how to transform a "simulation" or a "role-playing session" into something where people actually become real stakeholders.
To the best of my knowledge, the CDS fits the bill perfectly. The "stakes", in this case, are virtual property, which has real value — CDS citizens actually put real money in the CDS, and, as such, they feel it's something much more important than merely a chat group, a forum, a game, or a simulation. This thread, like so many others in these forums, show the level of commitment and of attachment to the CDS, which would be absent (so I believe) on "role-playing" communities. Granted, citizens leave for several reasons, one of which is more often than not the idea that it's pointless to continue to spend money in tier, specially if someone sadly collected an ensemble of "enemies". But the reverse is (fortunately) also true: due to good friendships, some new citizens may also "buy a stake" in the CDS, become full citizens, and engage themselves fully in the democratic processes.
The other aspect of the CDS which is often absent from many of those "democratic simulations" is the notion that the CDS is a city, in perhaps the most simple (but pure!) interpretation of the word: a place where people assemble, build things, engage in social activities, and so forth. Most "simulations" and "games" just present made-up scenarios and expect people to discuss them. In the CDS, the discussion is real. What gets decided has an impact on how funds are allocated, on what kinds of social events are put together, on how the city looks like, and so forth. We're also a high-brow society: although in population, we're little more than a hamlet, we have museums and art exhibits; we have lots of shops, for all kinds of content; we have discussion spaces; we have poetry circles; we have dance floors; but we also engage in less "serious" activities like ice skating (when the rivers are frozen) — and some used to play soccer, too 
Thus, even for a tiny village, we have a surprisingly high level of social interaction of relative complexity, and this is something that not even the best of the "democratic games/simulations" can afford, or even come close to the level of engagement. Simply put, the difference between the CDS and a real metropolis is merely one of size, not of type.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the idea of having a place to teach classes has popped up again! So the CDS — assuming the University goes ahead; I hope it does! — will fulfill a double role. Not only it's a place where people learn how a democracy works in action — they have to learn, sooner or later, even if they avoid the forums and the RA meetings; democracy in the CDS is all-pervasive — but it might become a place where aspects of democracy are taught (Beathan's suggestion of giving law classes gave me that idea). So the CDS becomes both an object of study and a place to study other objects
That's simply amazing. I have uncountable threads to catch up with, so I have no idea who came up with the University project, but I certainly welcome that! As said, it's not the first time something like that was attempted: from spontaneous, irregular classes, we had the Guild School for a while; then we had Rudy Rummel's seminars on democracy, which were rather well planned. Thus, there is a small tradition of doing classes in the CDS. It might be just the right thing to attempt to do once again.
Educators in SL were handed a serious blow when LL cut them the 50% discount on non-profit organisations. Many moved out to OpenSim grids, only to figure out that these are simply not good enough for what they had in mind. Even though they're cheaper than SL, they lack content and visitors. The more technically-minded organisations moved to their own (closed) OpenSim grids, thus saving even more on costs, but having even less access to content and visitors. So a few educators came back to SL. No, it's not a "flood", and it probably will never be, just because the costs are really way too high for large-scale projects. On the other hand, a lot of educators don't really need such "large-scale" projects at all. I'm pretty sure that most of you know about small-scale educational projects that have been going on in SL for years in spite of all the difficulties. I have in mind a project from some Portuguese university teachers who have been around for years and years, just giving classes on SL skills, but with a rigorously planned schedule. And of course we have all those groups who still do newbie classes.
On the other hand, I've heard that long-standing projects like the International Space Museum might have been gone (or are they still around? I haven't checked). While the environment matters — in SL definitely so much more than iRL! — I'm also pretty sure that some people would welcome a public space where classes, seminars, conferences, and tutorials can be regularly scheduled, and where there is no fear that things would break apart and disappear after a few months. One of our biggest assets, on top of everything, is longevity. The CDS has outlived its founders, its original builders, and even most of its projects — except for the overall project — always adapting to circumstances and the needs and wishes of the current citizens. This is no mean accomplishment! Very few communities in SL can be proud of having done the same, specially as people stopped paying tier and dropped land due to financial difficulties.
By contrast, we're still around and still financially sound. We're still democratic, too Those might be quite good arguments to bring over a few academic groups to the University.
"CDS — It's not only about tier" That should be our motto!
I'm crossing my fingers, and hoping that the University project goes ahead!
