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In early October, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, officially launched the presence of UWA in the acclaimed interactive 3D virtual world of Second Life.

The dream to recreate the beautiful, picturesque grounds of the University of Western Australia in virtual 3-Dimensional glory began in May 2007 and resulted in creation of the UWA Virtual Universe & UWA’s triumph in the Google Earth ‘Build your Campus in 3D’ competition. This dream moves into a new dimension, as creators of the Virtual Universe, Dr Chris Thorne (School of Physics Honorary Research Associate) and Jay Jay Jegathesan (School Manager), have teamed up with 3D visualisation guru, Paul Bourke, Senior Research Fellow with UWA’s Western Australian Supercomputer Program (WASP) to bring UWA into Second Life, a virtual world accessible via the Internet which enables its users to interact with others through avatars and they are able to socialize and participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services or travel throughout the virtual world.

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now” were the words of Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe, explained Jay Jay. “This has been the guiding principle behind all the fantastic things the team has been doing, and that is what we are about to do. The project begins now, and by September this year, UWA will for the first time have a presence in Second Life. I am thankful to our partners in this, Dr Alexandra Ludewig (Faculty of Arts), Frank Roberts (Facilities Management), Dr David Savat (Communication Studies) and also Systemic & VR Shed Pty Ltd”.

Apart from attempting to faithfully recreate the grand character of the architecture a number of UWA buildings initially (including Winthrop Hall, Physics, Arts, 7 Fairway – the building that will house the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research), this project also intends to provide an avenue for collaborative research in data visualisation, and to present both a physical and virtual art gallery of astral phenomenon. The classic juxtaposition of science and art. This art gallery which will be permanently located in the foyer of the Physics building will house 16 images of space, taken by acclaimed WA astral photographer, John Goldsmith. 8 of the images are of deep space, with the other 8 juxtaposing recognizable earth landmarks with astral phenomenon.

Paul explained, "My interest in Second Life revolves around the collaborative exploration and discussion of scientific datasets. Collaboration between remotely located researchers is fairly common place using video conferencing technologies. While they may offer shared applications and whiteboards Second Life is a platform by which researchers can collaborate in a 3D environment which also contains representations of the datasets under discussion. The purchase of Second Life land will allow this to be more fully investigated than has been possible to date."

Giving the university a presence in the world’s largest virtual on-line community will allow students, lecturers, alumni and anyone from across the globe a new dynamic way to interact. Chris said, “One of my dreams from all of this would be the creation someday of a Centre of Excellence for Visualisation and Simulation. Through this I would like to make simulation an everyday tool available to all researchers at UWA across all disciplines, be it the sciences or the arts.”

This of course is but the beginning. Where it all ends up, is truly limited only by the imagination.