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
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