The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: News

SHAMP

Nothing is safe from University budget cuts - not even virtual objects.

An island purchased for $1,700 on the social experimenting Web site, Second Life, through the New Media Institute closed Wednesday due to budget cuts.

"Second Life is a 3-D virtual environment for social networking and text and voice chat," Brett Robinson, a new media graduate assistant, said. "You, as a user, use a avatar to interact with other users who also use avatars."

The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication purchased the island last year, but with the looming budget cuts, the institute was unable to renew the contract.

"The loss of the NMI Island in Second Life is less an act of God and more the act of a bookkeeper," Scott Shamp, director of the New Media Institute, wrote in a blog entry on the institute's Web site.

The island was purchased last year to "explore the potential of virtual worlds," Shamp said.

The island was used for student experimentation in virtual environments. The institute spearheaded projects in Second Life, including a virtual tailgate where students, alumni and faculty could meet to network, Robinson said.

"It was a great year of experimentation. We pushed the limits of what you can do in a virtual world and we learned what works (and what doesn't)," Shamp said.

He said there are downsides to ending the program.

"Here is one of the most unfortunate aspects of virtual worlds. Unlike a Web page that we can download and store on local hard drives, everything that we built only works in Second Life," Shamp said. "So we can't save it. Frankly, that sucks."

But, he put the closing in perspective: "As island disappearances go, this one is a subdued affair."

The institute aims to stay on top of new technology. Each year there is a shift in the focus to address promising ideas.

Students are working with Mobile TV, a service that brings television content to cell phones.

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