Virtual Worlds Forum

Although he was talking more about games, Lord Puttnam's comments at last week's Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference about projects only getting state aid if they had educational features may give virtual worlds providers food for thought. One example in the US is Zora, a technology driven by Tufts University assistant professor Marina Bers, who's aiming to harness virtual worlds for child development and education. In case you're wondering, it's named after a city in Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' book (it's well worth a read). Anyway, Bers' Zora is currently involved in two separate pilots. One is for the Children's Hospital Boston, allowing teenage transplant patients to create a virtual community, creating avatars, decorating their virtual houses, and building common spaces like the town hall, pharmacy and school. The second pilot is called Computer Clubhouse, and involves 110 after-school schemes around the world. It certainly sounds like a technology to watch, and there's bags of information, screenshots and videos at the official Zora site, via the link below. Zora website (via Times Argus Online)