Veteran-Civilian Dialogue Program Conducts Session in Second Life

The Veteran - Civilian Dialogue is a comprehensive and replicable program that works to empower veterans to fully re-integrate into civilian society and educate civilians to the unique needs and strengths of returning military personnel. These conversations explore the ways that war impacts us all, veterans and civilians alike.

Intersections is dedicated to building respectful relationships among diverse individuals and communities to forge common ground and develop strategies that promote justice, reconciliation, and peace. We are a multi-cultural, multi-faith, global initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York, the oldest corporation in North America dating back to 1628.


Using arts immersion, social marketing, intentional dialogue and other innovative methods, Intersections' work includes projects that promote pluralism in emerging democracies, eradicate ignorance regarding Islam, nurture global peacemakers, dismantle systemic discrimination against the LGBT community and initiate conversation among disparate groups to develop new ways of problem solving for some of society's most intractable issues. Intersections' work lies in three programmatic areas: amplifying marginalized voices, interfaith dialogue and cooperation and addressing the consequences of conflict.

Veteran-Civilian Dialogue | Intersections International http://bit.ly/gbT0nu

Night Flower Finds Herself

This woman had created several very insightful blog posts about her virtual experiences, including an emotional leave-taking of Second Life since she came to the conclusion that it was distracting her from her responsibilities in Real Life, as it is frequently referred to in-world. (SL vs. RL or Second Life vs. First or Physical Life.)

New World Notes is a central information blog for the virtual environments, and when they ran "Losing Night: The Woman Who Abandoned Her Avatar to Save Herself, Only to Have Her Avatar Save Her" it got noticed. It was quite a surprise that she would return and a delight that she could be so articulate about it. Formal research from Dr. Richard Gilbert at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, among others bears witness to the truth of what she says.


The original post appears here: http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/01/avatar-abadonment.html

RailLA.org Proposal Demonstration Created and Filmed in Second Life

This is Avatrian's proposal for RailLA.org's call for design ideas to revitalize downtown Los Angeles. The goal is to integrate the neighborhoods around Union station with the arrival of the high speed train in LA. The machinima showcases various concepts, real world implementations and original designs. We used a virtual world platform in order to implement our ideas in a manner wherein it can be communicated effectively. 3D content were designed and built as needed in the specific scenes presented. This work has been possible due to the diligence of Avatrian's creative team of 3D modelers, graphic artists, digital film makers and project managers. We also sought out specific advise from professional city planners, style editors and audio specialists. The work has been happily collaborative.