Academic staff from the School of Engineering and Digital Arts were delighted to welcome members of the East Kent Federation of the Women’s Institute to two School events involving online participation in virtual worlds. Eighteen WI members participated in the events which took place at the Bulb, Canterbury Innovation Centre on 5th and 13th September. Following an overview of the School’s Digital Media research and teaching activities, all participants went ‘in-world’ into Second Life, an online virtual environment with over one million users. Whilst ‘in-world’, participants created their own avatars, danced on the dance floor to the sound of Glen Miller music and visited the School’s virtual gallery of research projects. One of the featured projects was SEEDS: An Approach to Virtual Participatory Design, which explored the motivations and obstacles faced by older people when engaging with technology. The project was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Both events were funded by the Time Out grant from the EPSRC which aims to promote dissemination of findings from research projects. There will be two similar events involving members of the Women’s Institute taking place on 13th and 20th September at the Bulb, Canterbury Innovation Centre.
For further enquiries contact Ania Bobrowicz on an@kent.ac.uk.
Both events were funded by the Time Out grant from the EPSRC which aims to promote dissemination of findings from research projects. There will be two similar events involving members of the Women’s Institute taking place on 13th and 20th September at the Bulb, Canterbury Innovation Centre.
For further enquiries contact Ania Bobrowicz on an@kent.ac.uk.