Today I attended the public launch of Manchester Business School’s Second Life island.

We’ve been working in close partnership with the Second Life Stakeholder Group at the School developing the island and its associated web microsite and until now the island has been closed to public access and the microsite, which allows you to register an MBS avatar and book a virtual meeting room, has been sat on our development servers. Now, 18 months after we first began working with the School, the island is open for all to see.

At the launch Professor Linda Macaulay gave an overview of the island and its uses whilst Dr Kathleen Keeling described some of the international research projects MBS are undertaking in Second Life. Dr Cliff Mitchell outlined the very successful virtual graduation ceremony we delivered for BP Project Managers and Andrew Wilson, e-learning support officer, demonstrated how the microsite works.

For me it was a proud moment and felt a bit like sending your first born out in to the big wide world. We’ve really enjoyed working with the business school and guiding them through the in and outs of creating content and managing virtual real estate. Now they have all the tools and knowledge in place to move the island forward themselves and use it across all departments in the business school. Like anxious parents we’re here if they need us but we’re proud to see them take control of the future of the island.