Basque culture in Second Life
With the aim of exploring new means of mediation and in order to reach out to new audiences, the Basque Cultural Institute has on an experimental basis entered the virtual universe of the internet by creating a space dedicated to Basque culture on the Basque Country island in Second Life. The "Artean" cultural centre is now open to the public ...
Second Life, created in 2003, is a series of virtual 3D universes on the internet enabling cybernauts to "live" a second, "virtual" life.
Despite appearances (visitors to these universes look like video game characters), Second Life is more than just a game. It is a space for remote exchanges using the different communication tools available (chat, voice, video, sound, text, etc).
These virtual universes, created by their users, are complementary to classic websites and are, for example, already being used by artists looking to promote their work as well as for e-learning purposes.
Within the framework of the Digital Basque Country initiative and with the support of ANTIC Pays Basque (Agency for New Information & Communication Technologies), the Basque Cultural Institute has created the "Artean" cultural centre in Second Life where visitors can search for general information about the Basque Country.
Sound and video extracts from the "Batekmila - Basque Worlds" exhibition can, for example, be consulted there in conjunction with the websites www.eke.org and www.batekmila.com.
This virtual centre is located on the Basque Country island in Second Life created by ANTIC which is also home to ESTIA Engineering School in Bidart. For the Basque Cultural Institute this is more than just about Second Life. Above all it is an experiment using new means of remote mediation with more targeted audiences (schools working on the Basque culture, Basque language students, etc). The long-term aim is to envisage virtual visits of the "Batekmila - Basque Worlds" exhibition led by a moderator in Ustaritz for pupils online whether in Paris or San Francisco ...
The "Artean" centre has been inaugurated in Second Life on 1 October 2008.
