USC Network Culture Project announces Second Life Community Challenge Today
Our partners at the USC Network Culture Project are opening today a Community Challenge entitled Second Life and the Public Good, slated to begin Tuesday, May 6th from International Island (teleport slurl). A special opening session will be held on May 6, 2008 at 11AM with Cory Ondrejka, former CTO of Linden Lab and current visiting professor at USC.
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We hope you will join us Tuesday, May 6 at 11:00 am PST as we consider the potential impact of virtual worlds like Second Life to address real world issues and better the public good of commuities around the world. This conversation will launch a community challenge to create projects (and fund the top three as voted by the community) that best address critical issues.
Led by Doug Thomas, principal investigator at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, the USC Network Culture Project invites the residents of Second Life to imagine new ways that virtual worlds such as Second Life can be used to make a contribution to the public good. Infamous panelists and community judges will be in attendance to explore definitions of public good in virtual worlds. Network Culture launches a new website at http://networkculture.usc.edu where more information on this project will be made available after the luanch.
As of May 6th Network Culture will be accepting proposals from groups, organizations or individuals for projects that show how Second Life can enhance, develop, or sustain the public good. The best submissions will be selected based on how well they demonstrate the significance of virtual worlds for making an impact on society or culture. Up to three finalists will be selected by community vote to receive sizable grants for a three month development season. The Network Culture group in Second Life will help avatars track progress through the June voting cycle.
Projects may address any social need and could include conservation, human rights and international justice, global peace and security, reproductive health, digital media and learning, or juvenile justice. Finished proposals will be emailed to networkculture@gmail.com and should provide a clear description of how the project uses the abilities of Second Life to advance the project goals.
