As previously reported, on Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending the event "Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds" at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The gathering featured Rita King and Joshua Fouts
discussing their project to research how Muslims have been using
virtual worlds as a medium to express their
faith, find community with each other, and connect with people of
different faiths.
Rita and Josh have since uploaded to their website the complete report, a graphic novel presentation of their findings, and a fine machinima video. My buddies at the Ill Clan co-produced the piece that you see above. The YouTube version doesn't really do the video justice, which features some great camera work, filters and audio mixing. You can download the high rez version here.
Several people at the event remarked that before they saw the machinima, they were a bit unclear on the point of the project, but afterwards they got it. Which to me demonstrates that different forms of media can be used to convey messages that hit people in different ways. Virtual worlds can be very difficult for people -- even tech-savvy people -- to grok. Video is often the best form of media to bridge that understanding gap.
