Global Kids, Inc.
(http://www.globalkids.org) and (http://www.holymeatballs.org)
The Global Kids Essay Experience engaged kids in the Second Life® world's Teen grid, and encouraged them to work together to solve a 3D-interactive adventure, including a quiz about teens and digital media, ultimately leading them to enter Global Kids' Digital Millennium Essay Competition (funded by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation). This experience included talking animals and inanimate objects, secret decoder rings, a "Magic Envelope" that sent
contest entries to Global Kids staff, and a diverse landscape, including a smoking volcano with flowing lava, and a cave full of crystals, stalagmites and stalactites, and bats. This "Fire Mountain" remains the centerpiece of Global Kids Island, and the other features have also been converted to post-contest use, including distribution of copies of the winning essays. The Magicians built event areas in both the Teen Second Life® world and the main grid for the inworld component of the mixed-reality awards ceremony, which was streamed live from New York.
For Global Kids, the Magicians also created a custom avatar, based on photos.
Currently, The Magicians are developing more tools and educational interactive experiences for Global Kids' summer program, Camp Global Kids, including ways to facilitate group participation in discussions and decision making.
