RENCI@UNC is working with Bryan Byerly at the UNC Law School, as well as ITS Teaching and Learning, on an interesting project involving the Social Computing Room and virtual worlds. Bryan is testing out the environment in the SCR as a venue for conducting virtual mock trials in Second Life.

Dave Borland at RENCI recently developed a prototype of a four-channel Second Life client.  This client provides a 360-degree view of a virtual world.  Combined with the 360-degree display provided by the Social Computing Room, the software allows people in the SCR to inhabit virtual spaces.  A courtroom environment was built on the UNC Second Life Island (in the virtual Wilson Library building), including the judge’s bench, the jury box, the witness stand, consul’s table, and gallery.  Experiments are underway to combine SCR technology with this virtual courtroom venue in order to provide a unique experience for the participants.

The trials are slated to occur in the Fall semester, and there’s lots of work to be done.  Here’s a picture taken at one of the first dry runs, depicting a panoramic view of the courtroom environment as viewed in the Social Computing Room (click the image for a full-size panorama).

A panoramic view of a mock trial venue in the SCR