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The ‘UWA Virtual Universe Project’ will allow anyone, anywhere in the world to walk around the beautiful grounds of The University of Western Australia campus.

UWA School of Computer Science and Software Engineering will this month launch the UWA Virtual Universe Project to coincide with National Science Week. The project is collaboration between PhD student Chris Thorne and School Manager Jay Jay Jegathesan.

Mr Jegathesan said Chris and his friends online in Asia, North America and Europe had been planning to create a virtual world to display at a US conference in August.

‘At the same time, I had been working on a project to recreate the magnificent grounds and architecture of UWA in full three-dimensional glory on the web,’ he said.

‘We decided to merge the two ideas into one, which gave us the opportunity to apply for and win a small National Science Week Grant.

‘Once the project is complete, people will be able to log in through the web, select an avatar (or virtual person) and then be able to explore virtual space around the picturesque UWA campus, including the Sunken Gardens, Somerville Auditorium, the Tropical Grove and Winthrop Hall,’ he said.

‘Visitors will be able to interact with other avatars and objects such as buildings to obtain information by clicking on them.’

The launch and web demonstration will be held at UWA’s Computer Science Building, Seminar Room 1.24 on Friday, August 17, 2007, from 3.00pm to 4.00pm. Those interested in attending should call 08 6488 2281 to book their place. For more details visit www.csse.uwa.edu.au/virtual

Media references

Jegatheva Jegathesan (Jay Jay) 61 8 6488 2305
0417 180 564

Simone Hewett / Francesca Robb 61 8 6488 7977
(UWA Public Affairs) 0420 790 097 / 0420 790 098