Here’s a cool concept: launch a branded virtual radio station in Second Life.
That’s an idea from WGBH in Boston, and now it has a grant to help. Second Life is an online “virtual world.” WGBH wants to be heard there and is one of several public broadcast entities to receive money for new media initiatives from CPB.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced a round of recipients of its Public Media Innovation Fund Program, which encourages experiments with emerging platforms. Grants are for up to $20,000 per. Projects embrace “Web 2.0 strategies to interact with listeners, viewers and users,” the CPB stated, and results will be shared with the public broadcasting system.
Here are the recipients in full:
- KET/The Kentucky Network. “Connectivity, Choice and Participation” will test Web 2.0 strategies to increase secondary school student proficiency and engagement in the study of German.
- Oregon Public Broadcasting. “Invasive Species Online Hotline” will employ user-generated content and social networking tools to connect the public with invasive species experts to help stop the spread of invasive plants and animals in Oregon.
- WGBH/Boston. “Virtual Radio” will launch the branded virtual radio station in Second Life in the form of a concert hall/music café.
- WFUV/New York. “WFUV Online Local Music Network” will create an online social network for musicians and music lovers to access independent, emerging music.
- Penn State Public Broadcasting. “Back from Iraq: The Veterans’ Stories Project” will use a course-based model and Web 2.0 strategies to empower and train Iraq veterans to complete in-depth audio and text portraits of fellow Iraq veterans.
- Northwest Public Broadcasting. “Our Northwest News” 2008 will test the use of online game-playing, blogs, wikis and other strategies to engage the audience with regional news stories in Washington state.
