An earlier post about Studio Wikitecture discussed how non-architects could help design virtual buildings – like a health clinic in Nepal – in Second Life. But in addition to dispensing with geographical obstacles, the virtual world can also help overcome cultural and religious barriers.

Rita J. King and Joshua S. Fouts, both senior fellows at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, spent a year studying what people – represented by their avatars – were already doing to learn about Islam in Second Life.  (In addition to their virtual world explorations they also traveled in the real world to four continents.) King and Fouts are also CEO and creative director as well as chief global strategist of Dancing Ink Productions, “a full-service creative company that develops business strategy, policy, immersive narrative and mixed-media, mixed-reality content including games, conferences and cultural intelligence for a new global culture and economy in the Imagination Age.”

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