BOWLING GREEN -- On Friday, music students at Bowling Green State University will accompany the grand opening of the college's virtual campus with the live jazzy sounds of the flute, saxophone and piano.

The Ohio college is one of about 60 universities and colleges worldwide with virtual campuses in Second Life. While the island has been open since April, BGSU art teacher Anthony Fontana is reaching out to the general public to offer a demonstration of how this 20,000-student college uses its island in Second Life.

Bowling Green State, regarded as a leading teacher preparation institution, received grants from Ohio Learning Network and the college's Chief Information Officer in April, which it used to buy an island. The island includes a public sandbox.

Fontana, who is organizing Friday's events, teaches comic strip drawing and digital arts and design at the college. He is author of a graphic novel called the Dogs, a story about four vigilante cops who inadvertently get into a gang war with a group of furries. His fellow Digital Arts instructor, Bonnie Mitchell, uses the island to show art exhibits and animations.

Others on the university's faculty have been using Second Life to communicate with students, hold virtual office hours, or do research on ethics and culture.

"Radhika Gajjalla, Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator of Communication Studies, has students investigating Embodiment in the virtual world; what it means to represent yourself through a virtual avatar or body," Fontana says.

Terry Herman, Assistant Professor in the Visual Communication and Technology Education program at Bowling Green State University uses the campus to host student project presentations.

The campus will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. SL time. Student DJ Psysix will play trance, while DJ What the Bleep will play drum & bass. The campus art galleries will feature works by digital arts students, and Fontana's in-world movie, Machinima Paradiso .

For more information, see the BGSU Second Life Web site .