Google to Shut Down Its Virtual World

11/20/2008 - The Chronicle's Wired Campus Newsletter



A service of The Chronicle of Higher Education

Thursday, November 20
Chronicles of Higher Education - Wired Campus Newsletter

Some colleges and professors have been enthusiastic early adopters of virtual worlds, 3-D online environments that attempt to simulate some of the visual social cues of face-to-face interaction. They'll soon have one fewer online playground to experiment with. Today Google announced that it will pull the plug on its virtual world, which it called Lively. Thousands of Arizona State University students had served as the early testers of the online environment before it was publicly unveiled in July. But some scholars studying virtual worlds had been critical of Google's strategy, especially its decision not to let average users freely create new online spaces in the world, as another popular system, Second Life, does. --Jeffrey R. Young

Web 2.0

Using the Web 2.0 write up in Wikipedia this video is to help teach educators about Web 2.0 tools.

Centre for the Study of Communications and Culture

website
Communicatios Research Trends

The Social Communications and Theology Project

Paul Soukup SJ is on the steering committee for the Social Communications and Theology Project. It looks like its a offshoot of the Cavilletti series in Rome which brings folks together to discuss the intersection of communications and theology. Check out their website to see when upcoming conferences are scheduled.

Communicating Congregational Identity

Lynne M Baab has published a new book, along with articles, related to communications and congregational life. These look like great resources for helping communities consider appropriate ways of bringing media/technology into their ecology.

* Myths about Communicating Congregational Identity (Alban, Nov 2008)
* Reaching Out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation's Heart and Soul

Communicative Theology

I learned about Communicative Theology from Mary Hess at the 2008 REA conference. Mary Ann Hinsdale and Bradford E. Hinze sponsored a Symposium on "The Gift and Challenge of Intercultural Communication" at Fordham from Feb 28-Mar 1, 2008.

RESOURCES & BOOKS:
The Practice of Communicative Theology