Via The Online Universities website comes word (Link) that The Art Institute Online has established a presence inside Second Life. No surprise here. But also no surprise is that so many other art schools have failed to establish a presence. This is especially odd considering the recruiting possibilities in a virtual space where there is so much emphasis on content creation.

I was wondering about this recently when I noticed an “Art Center” inside SL; part of the Brian Eno “77 Million Paintings” event. That Art Center is not, apparently, the Art Center with which so many Industrial Designers are familiar. Nothing wrong with that. It’s an obvious enough name. But how long before we see other people with perhaps different motivations snapping up “Center for Creative Studies“, “Royal College of Art“, “Cranbrook” and other real life art school names?

There’s a Second Life “Savannah College of Art and Design” which appears to be an extension of the real school. There’s also an “Otis College of Art and Design” group in Second Life. Maybe it’s tied to the real life entity, and maybe not.

I’m liking Center for Creative Studies, myself. Nicely generic.