Virtual Ability Island in Second Life Wins Linden Prize May 2, 2009

I’m very happy to see the Virtual Ability island just won the Linden Prize.

After reviewing more than 230 applications from around the world, the voting committee pronounced a tie, prompting Linden Lab to proclaim Studio Wikitecture and Virtual Ability as co-winners. As a result, both projects will be awarded $10,000 USD for their efforts, marking the largest prize ever given in the virtual world industry to an individual or organization.

Here is the summary of the project:

Offering a series of courses and resources to help people with real-world disabilities get acclimated and start using Second Life, Virtual Ability helps realize the documented medical and psychological benefits offered by virtual environments. The organization has developed a unique orientation process that assesses individual skills, provides customized training and makes recommendations for assistive hardware as needed. Once users are comfortable in the virtual world, Virtual Ability offers a series of daily field trips, including everything from mountain climbs, skydiving, fishing, dancing, and countless other activities that are difficult or impossible in the real world.