Wellyn University

Wellyn University was founded in Second Life by the legendary dulcimer musician and educator, Robert Force, also known as Wellyn Radikal in Second life. His vision is to create a place where musicians, designers and artists of all media can connect worldwide. He envisions a retreat where artists can share ideas, collaborate on projects, teach, and learn on a global scale. The University is located on a Spanish themed sim, not only for the rich festive culture and lush tropical colors, but he also recognized that more connections will be available across different time zones.
Robert also visualizes a place where artists can learn and discover the many layers of Second life and other virtual worlds. He is overseeing the development of the VR Review (a review of the 'Best of the Metaverse') on the WU SL campus.

Creativity is flourishing here. This machinima video is an example of what Wellyn University group members are doing.


Moon Void
The Mighty Dulcimatics Quintin Stephens & Eric Elliott
Written by Robert Force and Albert d'Ossche'
Recorded live at Manitou Borderlands, Second Life

Avatar Quinzet (Texas), Ironking Falconer (Texas), Dulcikate Noel (Pennsylvania), Suse Anatine (Washington), and Kittie Serendipity (Washington) collaborated to create the Moon Void machinima.

Kittie at Wellyn University

Previously a WSU cheerleader ~Go Cougs!~ Kittie has been recruited by WU 〜Woo woo!!〜 where she is furthering her studies. Inspired by the peaceful waves misting on to the warm, sandy beach, Kittie is creating art in animation. Some of the animations that will be made into machinima this month are cheerleader animations, heehee:)
Kittie has moved into on-campus housing in a quaint little Mediterranean-style studio cottage on the beach at WU, Second Life.
Kittie's cottage is one of eight Custom built by Wellyn University group member DrJohn Lane, pro builder and owner of Prim Economy and Stonehenge music venues. Each cottage has it's own teleporter to a lovely rooftop veranda. Some of the cottages are right on the beach and four are on the Market Square.
There's no place like home :)

WSU Virtual Journalism Summit

Global Kids "Consent!"

Kittie Serendipity and Rev Rexie donned orange jumpsuits stamped with "Department of Corrections" across their backs. Why? They were participating in a digital game created by kids on the Second Life Teen Grid. Global Kids brought it over to Clemson University on the main grid.

Based on Harriet A. Washington's book Medical Apartheid, this game let Kittie and Rev experience what it may have been like to be an African American man in prison from the 1940's until the present. They were offered money and parole in exchange for participating in medical experiments.

Kittie Played the game twice. The first time she played she consented to every experiment. She died with $810. The second game she played she consented to nothing. She was forced to be a part of one medical study anyway. This time she survived, but with cancer and only $210.

This game was intense and thought provoking. If you would like to participate, click here.

WSU Virtual Journalism Summit

Philip Linden (aka Philip Rosedale) was appropriately the first Presenter of the WSU Virtual Journalism Summit. He is, after all, the father of Second Life.

Forward thinking Mr. Linden spoke of the necessity of learning to navigate in virtual worlds because the technology is advancing so rapidly that this sort of media will be commonplace. With over 1,000,000 members and about 80,000 people online at a time and 250,000 people everyday, the virtual world of second life is growing exponentially. He said SL is early in it's evolution, so imagine the possibilities.
Kittie was in awe of Philip Linden's Optomism and apparent ability to see possibility when things could be dismissed as fantasy.




Hamlet Au (aka Wagner James Au) of New World Notes gave an
excellent presentation on his professional virtual world journalism career. Journalism is at a crossroads with changes imminent for traditional media and Hamlet Au gave examples of how he is using Second Life to connect with people and be there as the stories unfold.

Egyptian bloggers Eureka Dejavu and Schmilsson Nilsson of
DIP's (Dancing Ink Productions) Dispatches from the imagination Age were able to be present in Second Life and premiere their latest documentary - Virtual Journalism: Inside the Virtual Newsroom of the American University in Cairo.


Kittie felt fortunate to be able to attend without having to make the physical trek across the Cascade Mountain passes to get to the other side of the state. Imagine being able to attend from Egypt.


Erica Driver, Bernhard Drax, Lane Merrifield, and Lila King were also featured keynote speakers and participated in a roundtable discussion with Philip Rosedale and moderated by Wagner James Au.

Headliners, Helen Thomas and Bob Schieffer were the final speakers of the day. They answered questions in both Second Life and real life, and shared their thoughts on the future of journalism.



The summit was held in Pullman, WA, main campus of Washington State University in real life in CUB Auditorium, sponsored by Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. It was also simultaneously held in Second Life on the WSU Virtual Campus Sim. People attending in Second Life were able to view a live stream of the event on the internet and interact with each other and ask questions of the presenters via chat.

Those who missed the live event may view the archived stream at http://experience.wsu.edu/

Virtual Journalism Summit

WSU conducts its first live event within Second Life Monday, April 6, 2009



Helen Thomas, former White House bureau chief Bob Scheiffer, CBS News' chief Washington correspondent
Philip Rosedale, founder, Second Life
Lane Merrifield, Executive Vice President, Disney Online Studios
Lila King, senior producer, CNN Interactive Storytelling
Erica Driver, co-founder, ThinkBalm
Wagner James Au, virtual world journalist
Bernhard Drax, virtual world journalist

If you will be attending in Second Life:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/WSU
There will not be a video and/or audio stream of the live event within Second Life. Instead, Second Life participants are encouraged to use the live video access link
If you would like to view the summit Live via streaming video: http://experience.wsu.edu/
If you will be attending in person:
http://visitor.wsu.edu/

Schedule of Events

10 a.m. - OPENING PRESENTATION – Linden Lab chairman/founder Philip Rosedale

11 a.m. - THE IMMERSIVE INTERNET WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU WORK – Erica Driver, ThinkBalm

Noon - LUNCH BREAK

1-2:30 p.m. - 3D ROUNDTABLE ON VIRTUAL WORLD MEDIA – All guest speakers/presenters, This event will be moderated by prominent virtual journalist Wagner James Au.

2:30-3 p.m. - INTERACTIVE SCREENING: "The Inaugural Broadcast of the American University in Cairo's Virtual Newsroom: Eight Egyptian Political Bloggers and an American Digital Diplomat Talk Transition of Power" – Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts, Dancing Ink Productions

3 p.m. - CHILDREN AND VIRTUAL WORLDS – Lane Merrifield, Club Penguin co-founder

4 p.m. - HOW TO BECOME A VIRTUAL WORLD REPORTER (And Do Real World News) – Wagner James Au

5:30 p.m. - SPECIAL EVENT: A Virtual Q&A with Veteran Journalists Helen Thomas & Bob Schieffer

Former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas and CBS News´ Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer will appear in Second Life for an interactive Q&A session, held simultaneously on both the real and virtual campuses of Washington State University.
Avatars created by Second Life designer Haver Cole.

ALL DAY - INTERACTIVE ART EXHIBIT by WSU Graduate Student Heather Losey McGeach

A complete schedule of events can be found on the official Web site at: http://communication.wsu.edu/virtualjournalism

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education

At the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2009, Kittie explored three days of presentations at three different Second Life islands, Kennesaw, Faire and ISTE, (with overflow locations at Muse Isle, Metanomics Sage Hall, Rockcliffe University and Memorial University) which was a shining example of how educators are using virtual worlds to enhance the learning experience.
Teachers, students, researchers and journalists were some who came together from locations all over the world to share ideas and strategies for advancing education. With so my different choices in the packed schedule, Kittie thought that it would be nice to have the ability to be in more than one place at a time. Fortunately there were reporters there from SLCN.TV (Second Life Cable Network) and their new fledgling, Treet.TV, to record many of the events. Marty Snowpaw said recorded presentations will be aired after Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Kittie made many new friends over the weekend and being in such close contact with so many brilliant minds gave Kittie hope that people will overcome the thought that Second Life is only a game. As Wainbrave Bernal so eloquently quoted Pierre Tielhard de Chardin , " The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope."

Kennesaw welcomes visitors to explore their four Second Life Campus Sims

NOAA

On NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Meteora Island, Kittie found an abundance of opportunity for discovery and exploration.

A Hurricane Tour, Tsunami Demonstration, Real Time Weather Map, Science on a Sphere, Submarine Ride, Weather Balloon, and a Glacier Exhibit made kittie's visits here action packed.

On one of Kittie's early visits to NOAA, Kittie had the good
fortune to meet NOAA staff Hackshaven Harford
(Eric Hackathorn) who will be a keynote speaker at the
2009 NMC Symposium on New Media March 24-26.
The topic of Hackshaven's presentation will be Government 2.0



On NOAA's second Island, Okeanos, Kittie found the interactive map to be to be extremely interesting. When she typed in her location of Port Hadlock, WA, the map not only gave her several views of her home area, including sattelite, terrain, hybrid and normal view but also her latitude and longitude coordinates -122.795219, 48.045582. The map also features weather warnings and hurricane information.

An Algal Bloom Demonstration, an Oil Spill Demo, a Marine Sanctuary Submarine Tour, a Coastal Survey, and Predictions Survey Ship Demo are a few more reasons why Kittie has found NOAA to be one of the most educational places she has visited yet.

PADI

Kittie went to PADI Dive World (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) where she came into close contact with sharks, manta rays, octopi, sea turtles,and underwater enthusiasts from the beach to the coral reefs.

Kittie met with DiveWorld Magic of PADI. He was very helpful and informative and offered to give Kittie and the other members of the WSU Cougar Room a group tour of the island in the near future. He told Kittie that Dive World gives SL residents a sense of what it’s like to really scuba dive. Scuba gear may be purchased on the island at a of couple different nice shops and DiveWorld Magic told Kittie that having the gear makes the diving experience quite realistic. Visitors to Dive World can find links to PADI’s online training courses if they are interested in learning to dive in real life. DiveWorld Magic said future plans include a major expansion of Dive World, which has just acquired three more islands to expand and enhance the diving experience.

PADI is very environmentally conscious and a strong supporter of Project Aware, a non-profit organization founded by the parent company of PADI. Project Aware is concerned with environmental awareness and protection of marine habitat. Project Aware helped finance the build of PADI's Dive World in Second Life. They have a wonderful demonstration area on the island with displays of some of the conservation projects they are working on. They also feature an underwater viewing area where the coral bleaches as the water temperature increases.

Kittie enjoyed an underwater tour in a submersible. She then took a cruise around the island on the Reef Star where she met Ripley Quan, the boat's captain. Ripley invited Kittie to visit JD's Dive charters where he also works. Kittie is looking forward to her visit there and maybe she will get to take another boat ride.

Down at the beach, Kittie participated in a beach cleanup game. After all that rewarding hard work she went to the beach cabana, shook the sand out of her sneakers, danced a bit and enjoyed a refreshing beverage.

Kittie has visited PADI Dive world several times and hopes to sign up for scuba lessons soon.