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Center launches virtual campus
in Second Life
 June
20, 2007 - The Center on Religion &
the Professions, an affiliate of the School
of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia,
has launched a virtual campus in the online
world Second Life. The site is a virtual
campus and research facility for the University
of Missouri faculty and staff and related
organizations.
Debra L. Mason, director
of the Center on Religion & the Professions,
said it was important for MU to have a presence
on Second Life, "alongside the several
hundred other educational institutions that
use this virtual world to teach, research
and explore the meaning of reality, communication
and relationships."
The exterior of the Second
Life campus buildings are a virtual rendering
of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute,
due to open next year on the real-life Missouri-Columbia
campus. Inside are exhibits and direct links
to resources on Missouri School of Journalism
web sites and affiliated organizations.
The virtual campus also
houses The Center for Understanding Religion
in Second Life, a working group with the
purpose of promoting dialogue between the
academic community and the Second Life public
on religion and ethics topics, including
the role of religion in public life. The
Center is an affiliate of the Missouri School
of Journalism and a project of the Center
on Religion & the Professions.
After learning that an
MU virtual campus had not yet been created,
Mason realized it made sense for the Center
on Religion & the Professions to do
so, she said, because "religion has
always been an 'early adapter' of technology."
The virtual campus includes
space for public and private gatherings
and classes, displays and research. Facilities
include multimedia, a theater, conference
seating and a garden to display art. The
site will stream KBIA radio and other real-world
feeds. The campus is located on the Teaching
4 sim, a space coordinated within Second
Life by the New Media Consortium that also
hosts many other universities and colleges
in the virtual world. The Missouri campus
also has use of group conference and multimedia
facilities on the sim.
"Being housed in the
School of Journalism, we're expected to
study and learn about emerging mass communication
technologies - both their benefits and their
dangers," Mason said. "Our site
helps us do that. Second Life gives international
visibility to MU and showcases, with links
to our professional media, why the school
is so good at what it does."
Researchers will be able
to host events and explore individually
using the campus as a base. Guest lecturers
and artists also will be encouraged. With
its international audience, Second Life
presents a unique opportunity to consider
multicultural concerns, including issues
of diversity and the meaning and shape of
community in virtual worlds.
The Second Life campus
was built by Kate Fox Studio, a web editing
and consulting firm specializing in services
for educational and nonprofit organizations.
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