Contact:
Bill Lichtenstein (Phone: 617-682-3708 Email: Bill@LCMedia.com)
June Peoples (Phone: 617-682-3705 Email: June@LCMedia.com)
Beyond Broadcast:
The Infinite Mind launches in 3-D cyberspace
John Hockenberry hosts live broadcast featuring
Kurt Vonnegut, Suzanne Vega, Howard RheingoldCambridge, MA – The Infinite Mind, public radio’s most honored and most listened-to health and science show, is opening a virtual world headquarters and broadcast facility in the 3-D virtual world Second Life.
“This represents an unprecedented leap forward for broadcasting into virtual reality and 3-D on-line communities,” said Bill Lichtenstein, president of the Peabody Award-winning media company Lichtenstein Creative Media, which produces The Infinite Mind. “This first step ‘through the looking glass’ into the virtual world, will allow The Infinite Mind, through its on-line facilities located on an expansive virtual complex, the opportunity to reach a vast new global audience.” Visitors will be able to listen to audio and video, attend live mixed reality events, and participate in interactive community education and outreach.
The one-hour weekly public radio program explores the art and science of the human mind, brain and behavior. The Infinite Mind is the first regularly scheduled national media broadcast to establish an ongoing presence within 3-D web space.
Second Life is a free, immersive, interactive virtual world with more than 320,000 residents from around the globe. It first opened to the public in 2003, and has experienced explosive growth, developing a healthy economy and a land mass now larger than the City of Boston.
The Infinite Mind’s virtual broadcasting facility, situated on a 16-acre urban campus and featuring vivid, hyper-realistic modern architecture, is under construction now and will open on Aug. 3 with a series of shows and special events. Situated on the campus are listening and screening rooms; a broadcast studio with a glassed-in viewing gallery; a lecture facility and theater equipped to accommodate audio, video and PowerPoint presentations; an archive library; an amphitheater that will hold 100 and integrates a one-of-a-kind interactive kinetic sculpture; a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired meeting space and planning area; and various three-dimensional artistic installations all centered on the notion of the infinite nature of the human mind. Developing the site with LCM is Infinite Vision Media, a 3-D web and interactive marketing firm owned by New York City web developer Drew Stein (working in Second Life as “Boliver Oddfellow”).
The new facility will allow producers to originate interviews and programs from within the virtual environment. Residents will be able to participate in radio show tapings, where they can ask questions and hear live interviews; chat with producers about current shows; make suggestions for upcoming stories and programs; hear archived programs on a wide range of subjects; connect with virtual and real life support groups and other helpful information; post personal stories and comments on an interactive “virtual quilt;” tour art exhibitions and attend regularly scheduled events such as film screenings and musical performances.
Opening events for the new virtual world headquarters include a series of live tapings, hosted by acclaimed broadcast journalist and long-time contributor to The Infinite Mind John Hockenberry. Guests will include visionary singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, who will be the first major recording artist to ever perform live in Second Life avatar form; best-selling author Kurt Vonnegut; whose writing has chronicled the evolving interaction between mankind and technology; futurist Howard Rheingold; and other notable scholars, researchers and literary figures. The interviews will be broadcast nationally beginning Aug. 9 in a two-part series about virtual communities entitled “Through the Looking Glass.” Other scheduled guests include MIT scholar Sherry Turkle and Philip Rosedale, creator of Second Life and CEO of its parent company Linden Lab.
“We are thrilled at this chance to provide such a rich opportunity for dialog and interaction with our very smart, savvy and involved listeners,” said June Peoples, executive producer of The Infinite Mind. “I am also particularly interested in exploring the myriad opportunities for educational and therapeutic use of the 3-D platform in conjunction with our work.” Now in its ninth year, The Infinite Mind airs in more than 250 public radio markets with an audience of about a million people each week and has won more than 30 major broadcasting and mental health awards. The regular weekly program is hosted by best-selling author and psychiatrist Dr. Peter Kramer, assisted by guest host Dr. Fred Goodwin, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
Left to right in virtual broadcast studio: Infinite Vision Media lead architect/designer Robin Winter, Infinite Vision Media CEO Drew Stein, The Infinite Mind Executive Producer June Peoples and Lichtenstein Creative Media CEO Bill Lichtenstein, standing in front of The Infinite Mind’s virtual broadcast studio under construction.
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Preview tours available on request
Lichtenstein Creative Media, Inc. is an independent, award-winning media production company located in Cambridge, MA. LCM has extensive multimedia production, distribution and educational/community outreach experience, particularly with health, human rights and social justice issues.
Visit www.LCMedia.com (front page includes link to press photos on flickr.com)
and Infinite Vision Media at www.Infinitevisionmedia.com
