 |
Posted June 22, 2007 |
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced it will award $550,000 to the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, a Center jointly run by the USC Annenberg School and the USC College, to begin a year-long exploration of the role of philanthropy in virtual worlds. The Center's Joshua Fouts and Doug Thomas were named co-Principal Investigators on the MacArthur Foundation grant.
Virtual worlds such as Second Life and There.com are becoming increasingly popular. Millions of users interact with each other in three-dimensional worlds that have their own currency, newspapers, universities, stores and homes.
Specific activities associated with the grant will include:
- Conversations in virtual worlds about pressing issues and how a foundation can help address community needs;
- Virtual world simulcasts of face-to-face conversations on issues that impact real and virtual worlds, such as migration, human rights, education, and global and civic engagement; and
- Over time, MacArthur funding for philanthropy-related projects in virtual worlds, awarded on a competitive basis.
“This is not just some fad or something new and interesting that we’ve grabbed onto,” MacArthur president Jonathan Fanton told the New York Times in a June 22 article. “Serious conversations take place (in the virtual world), people are deeply engaged, and that led us to think that maybe a major foundation ought to have a presence in the virtual world as well.”
Read the announcement
New York Times article
More on the USC Center on Public Diplomacy
More on Joshua Fouts
More on Doug Thomas
Enter USC Annenberg News Archive »back to top