Join us on Thursday, March 10th at 12pm PST as graduate students in the Communications Media Department and their professor speak with us about bringing the American civil rights movement to life in Second Life, an online, virtual world. Dr. Allen Partridge, a faculty member in the department, developed the project with students in his Simulation of Games doctoral class. Dr. Partridge and several of his students will join us to discuss the project and share their experiences.

The simulation allows participants to experience the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1963 March on Washington, the 1964 Mississippi Freedom School Movement, and the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. An overview of the project is available on YouTube.

Coverage of the course from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania website quotes: “I was a small child when the events depicted in the video and game occurred,” Evelyn Mocek, of Indiana, said. “The process of researching the events and recreating the environment via a virtual reality media brought home the significance of the times and the dignity of those who made civil rights a reality.” Malaika Turner, of Indiana, said the project “brought to life” the civil rights movement and increased her appreciation for virtual world technology. “The integration of African-American history and Second Life produced a fantastic project that will impact not only the field of education, but anyone who has an opportunity to view this video,” she said.

Please join us, on Thursday March 3rd at 12pm PST at the Metanomics Studio. You can join us in Second life for this event or watch it on our web site:www.Metanomics.net where it will be streamed live from the Studio. SLurl: http://bit.ly/MCForum

Video from the March 7th Metanomics broadcast, At the Intersections – Spirituality in the Age of the Machine is now available at: www.Metanomics.net

Questions: Jennette Forager, Metanomics Community Manager jennfor@gmail.com PLEASE NOTE – MIXED TEXT AND VOICE SESSION: The Metanomics Community Forum is a mixed voice / text discussion session. Please feel free to participate in voice or in text, to your preference. The facilitator and some participants will be using voice, so you may wish to enable voice in your viewer so that you can hear the voice portions of the session. Thanks for joining us!

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