Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds
Last Thursday I attended the launch of the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project by my friends Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts (see picture below). As I twittered shortly after the event, this was the best presentation re the usefulness of virtual worlds, and the clearest demonstration of the role VWs can play in positive global development, that I have seen. And I have seen a lot of virtual world presentations in the last couple of years!
See Dispatches from the Imagination Age for a complete write up.
As Rita pointed out in her presentation to the audience at the Carnegie Council, Virtual Worlds are not only good for the kind of sensitive cross cultural dialogue the Understanding Islam project explores, virtual worlds are ideal. In fact they may be one of the only places people feel emotionally and physically safe enough to explore potentially incendiary topics in.
Three products have come out of the, "Understanding Islam Through Virtual Worlds," project: policy recommendations, a mini-documentary video filmed inside virtual worlds and a graphic book that chronicled the project.
The policy recommendations, "Digital Diplomacy: Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds" which will be submitted to the Obama Administration can be downloaded here.
Joshua and Rita are THE great explorers of new possibilities/media for public diplomacy.
For the graphic book click here to download the pdf.
For the short documentary machinima produced by Dancing Ink Productions and ILL Clan Animation Studios see here.
Click here for high resolution (warning: 1gb file) (see photo of Frank Dellario, ILL Clan and Rik Panganiban, Global Kids below).
This machinima is really a standout. At the Carnegie Council event last week there were many people who had never heard of a virtual world before, let alone tried the experience out. Again and again people said that after seeing the machinima they really, "Got it!"
Thursday night's presentation concluded with an awesome performance from Yas (photo below), Iran's Hip-Hop Sensation. Also see Yas in "LIVE FROM DOHA," (produced by Dancing Ink Productions with the Brookings Institution from the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar last February). I attended Live From Doha virtually in Second Life. It was an amazing experience.
Thursday night was also a Metaverse Meetup and both the founders, Jerry Paffendorf, Wello Horld and Annie Ok, were there. I got a chance to chat a bit with Jerry whose start up Wello Horld is still on stealth but getting close to beta. I am really looking forward to the launch - Wello Horld is very, very cool (I was in the early alpha). Now they have a power house team putting the polish on the experience.
There is a photo below of Jerry talking with Bruce Wallace (the father of Wello Horld's co-founder, Mark Wallace). I also snapped some pictures of the Brooklyn is Watching team. I think they will get me to make one of my much too infrequent trips to Brooklyn, some day soon!
