Nu Vibez and Roleplay Guide Magazine - June 2014 | Page 31

The University of Western Australia in Second Life - p2

The University of
Western
Australia in
Second Life
Wri en by Umberto Giano
People, businesses, and educa onal
ins tu ons come to Second Life (SL)
t h r o u g h m a n y d i ffe r e n t r o u t e s .
Some mes these forays into our virtual
world are short-lived. For the University
of Western Australia (UWA), the
experiment has become an established
and highly respected venue for ar s c
expression and development.
UWA's first venture in 2007, establishing
a virtual presence on the university's
server, won the Google Earth Build Your
Campus in 3D Compe on. Jay Jay
Jegathesan, UWA's Manager of the
School of Physics, remembers, "this
carried na onal press coverage," which
allowed successful fundraising for "the
next, most important step...the journey
into Second Life."
While Jegathesan, known in SL as JayJay
Zifanwe, is, to many, the unofficial face of
the UWA in SL, he is part of a brilliant
team, including Professor Ted Snell,

Director of the Cultural Precinct at UWA;
John Stubbs, Director of Student Services
at UWA; Professor Ian McArthur, Head of
School, Physics; UWA former ViceChancellor, Professor Alan Robson; and
FreeWee Ling, UWA Curator of virtual
arts.
In June 2009, UWA took its first steps into
Second Life. Originally, the plan was
simply to recreate por ons of its campus,
complete with its peacocks, rainbow
lorikeets, ducklings in the reflec ng
pond, and amazing foliage in the UWA
Sunken gardens and Tropical Grove. "But
then," Jegathesan says, "through a series
of amazing coincidences and unexpected
collabora ons, it grew beyond just a
campus in SL to a presence that supports
teaching, research, art, architecture and
machinima.”
At first the UWA was completely
unknown and inexperienced in the
virtual art and machinima world of SL,
but that didn’t last long. The virtual UWA
team hit the ground running with art and
film challenges, which s rred excitement
in the virtual art and film community.
“The first year of the major art & film
challenges changed that, and we started
to build a name, and I guess we started to
build trust between ar sts and
filmmakers,” Zifanwe states.

Nu Vibez Magazine - June, 2014 - 31