Second Life News & Events & Guides

Machinima blogger Draxtor Despres (aka Bernhard Drax) has been awarded the “Every Human Has Rights” media award for his report on the “Virtual Gitmo” build in Second Life . He was invited to Paris by news agency internews  to spend a week (December 5th to 11th) taking part in a ceremony with 30 international print, TV and online journalists – including special appearances by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Archbishop Desmond Tutu on December 6th – celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Deeply aware of the historical significance of the award, Despres has this to say:

“Winning this award signals to me that established news organizations such as(Secondlife linden) French internews are beginning to grasp the power and reach of virtual worlds as a means to collaborate and communicate ideas irrespective of physical proximity. More specifically, I’m impressed by the recognition of machinima as a powerful tool to communicate to the uninitiated public. This still very very abstract platform has gained legitimacy through this award.
But praise really goes to Nonny Writer and Ping Rau, who created Virtual Gitmo. They showed that SL has more to offer than furry sex and dance clubs.
Human rights and the pressing social issues of the day can be addressed perfectly in SL.”

Nonny dela Penahe, co-creator of the “Gone Gitmo” installation in SL, will travel to the ACE Conference in Yokohama, Japan, December  – International Conference on Advances for Computer Entertainment Technology (Second life linden) – to talk about her work in Second Life. Dela Pena (Nonny Writer in SL) recently presented the Gitmo project at the AFI Digifest on in Hollywood, where the machinima report was shown at the historic Mann’s Chinese Theatre.