Faces of Faith in Second Life

Panelists 

(1) SL: DonLattin Writer,
RL: Don Lattin, Moderator

Don Lattin is one of the nation's leading journalists covering alternative and mainstream religious movements and figures in America. He is the author of the upcoming book "Jesus Freaks - A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge"

His work has appeared in dozens of U.S. magazines and newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, where Don covered the religion beat for nearly two decades. He has also worked as a consultant and commentator for Dateline NBC; PrimeTime Live and Good Morning America on ABC Television; American Morning on CNN and Religion and Ethics News Weekly on PBS.

For more information, go to www.donlattin.com /www.donlattin.com>

(2) Avatar: KaraAndrade Writer,
Online journalist and producer

Kara graduated from the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism. She received her B.A. in Literature from New College of Florida and has six years of experience in nonprofit development, public health and community organizing. She worked as a staff writer, photojournalist and translator for the Alameda Journal of the Contra Costa Times, the Oakland Tribune, Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, and many local publications such as El Tecolote, the SF Bay Guardian, Colorlines and Code 3 magazines. She was a program coordinator and community organizer for a youth policy group called Environmental Prevention In Communities (EPIC) based in Berkeley and has won numerous fellowships and awards. She currently works for the Maynard Institute as a content producer and freelances. For her portfolio go to: http://www.karaandrade.com/portfolio.

(3) Avatar: Muhammedyussif Wikinger

Lives in Sweden, 63 years old, embraced Islam 20 years ago and went on a pilgrimage to Mecca 3 years ago. MuhammedYussif is now board member of the Chebi mosque support group and works as psychiatrist in real life.

(4) Avatar Name : Franko Corleone
RL Name: Frank Scott

Franko Corleone started in second life as a private resident with little knowledge of the virtual world.

Over the months it became apparent that there was a lack of resources within SL for religious groups. In particular my focus was on the Hare Krishna community. In January 2007 I decided to create a virtual temple for those interested in or devotees of the faith and along with my partner, Violet Stringfellow, created what is now the "Hare Krishna community welcome area". The area opened on 13 March 2007 on the mainland Grimes Sim. and since then has grown to include audio lectures, video broadcasts, art gallery and historical exhibitions and educational areas. There is average traffic of 3000 per day with an average of 250 visitors per day

Franko in the real world is Frank Scott, a respected technology futurist in Australia.
He has been a Hare Krishna devotee for many years and follows Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja as his spiritual master. Having worked in both government and private industry for over 35 years within the media and technology areas he is well placed to develop and design multi media exhibitions and areas within Second Life. He has a B.A from the University of Sydney and lives in New South Wales. He is 48 Years of age.

(5) Avatar name: Otenth Paderborn
RL: Kenneth Sutton

Managing editor of UU World and uuworld.org. http://www.uuworld.org/life/articles/16206.shtml

Otenth Paderborn founded the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) group in SL in January 2007, and the resulting First Friends Church of
Second Life, which has been meeting weekly for worship since February.

There have also been three meetings for business and an incipient committee structure, as well as plans to move to a new meetinghouse on donated land in a private sim. Otenth also attends worship occasionally at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Second Life.

Otenth's typist, Kenneth Sutton, is the managing editor of UU World and uuworld.org, the quarterly denominational magazine and companion
weekly webzine of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in Boston. Previously he was senior editor of Friends
Journal: Quaker Thought and Life Today, an independent monthly based in Philadelphia. He has written about the First UU Church of Second
Life for UU World, as well as describing his own experience as a Quaker in SL for 2Life magazine. He is currently "unchurched" as the result of a persistent spiritual dry spell, but previously held leadership positions in Philadelphia and New England Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends and traveled widely in the
ministry. He pays the bills for the sim "Wyre," which his avatars manage and enjoy.

(6) Avatar name: Beth Odets
ttp://kafkaschnabel.wordpress.com/2007/02/14/the-second-life-synagogue-an-interview-with-beth-odets/

Founded the Second Life Synagogue (SLS) or the Temple Beth Israel in September 2006. It has since grown from a "representation" of a synagogue, to a Jewish neighborhood in Second life that covers most of the Sim. Activities include lighting candles five times on Fridays to celebrate the coming of Shabbat for different time zone, host a "Torah Talk" on Thursdays, We had a Sukkah last year, Purim Carnival, 6 mini Passover Seders, all the activities presented in a fun and respectful way. The neighborhood is a group effort, hosting a representation of the Western Wall (built by GruvenReuven Greenberg), 2-Life the Jewish magazine in Second life (Run by Kafka Schnabel), neighboring the Jewish Quarter Budapest (run by Sofar Shepherd), along with The Synagogue itself, a meditation station, the ark (live music venue), the Mikveh (ritual bath), a Sandbox, and lots and lots of places to just "hang out", meet, play, and even drink (at a *speak easy run by Jieux Shepherd), a Jewish Store, and an Aquarium at 600 m (donated by Taras Boulderdash).

In addition, she is part of the Live Music scene in SL, and tends to spontaneously have live Violin shows. mixing requests with traditional Jewish folk music, a little classical here and there, and tons of Broadway show tunes.

(7) SL: Tom Bukowski
RL: name is Tom Boellstorff.

Tom Boellstorff is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is also currently Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association. His research projects have focused on questions of sexuality, globalization, nationalism, HIV/AIDS, and cyber sociality. He is the author of The Gay Archipelago: Sexuality and Nation in Indonesia (Princeton University Press, 2005), winner of the 2005 Ruth Benedict Award from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists, A Coincidence of Desires: Anthropology, Queer Studies, Indonesia (Duke University Press, 2007), and Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human (Princeton University Press, 2008). He is also co-editor of Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language (University of Illinois Press, 2004), and author of a number of articles, including publications in American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology, Annual Review of Anthropology, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Games and Culture, Ethnos, and GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies.

The Technical Team:

(1) SL: Britney Mason, inworld consultant
RL: David Peck, new media strategist

They have been active in new media and social working since 2005. They are both active in virtual world platforms such as Second Life & Active Worlds. They have worked on projects for Coca Cola, PodShow.com, & Personallifemedia.com /Personallifemedia.com> . Britney currently produces several podcasts and is active in numerous social networking sites. While David does virtual world consulting for Wells Fargo Bank.

Subscribe to The PopCast @ http://www.podshow.com/feeds/thepopcast.xml or in Itunes

Website: www.britneymason.com /www.britneymason.com>
Flicker:http://flickr.com/photos/72568213@N00/
Find me on twitter.com /twitter.com>
href=" http://www.myspace.com/britneymasonshow /www.myspace.com/britneymasonshow> ">

(2) Madison Carnot is known in real life as Jennifer Flanigan. She is co-owner of Nowhereville Productions and half of the popular podcast, BUCKET (http://bucketpodcast.com), which is part of the Podshow network. She also owns and operates the Nowhereville sim in Second Life. During the day, Jennifer works in IT for a large government agency but after hours she is a child of new media and a budding project manager in virtual worlds.

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