Jade

Jade Goody was the poster girl of reality TV. Image by Stef

Public service content producers Preloaded have a virtual reality project in development with Channel 4 Education called Afterlife, which aims to help young people deal with issues surrounding death. The producers were inspired by the death of Big Brother’s Jade Goody, which triggered an incredible public response. They hope that Afterlife will help a generation of increasingly agnostic young people understand how to deal with death.

The project was announced by Broadcast as part of an article outlining C4 Education’s wishlist for its £2million commissioning budget. The department is looking for ideas that teach financial management and entrepreneurialism, as well as mental health, sex education, science and history.

Jade was one of the front runners in the reality television content revolution, and became a poster girl for all that is good, bad and scintillatingly honest about reality TV. Her death, of course, also took place in the media – it was a reality TV death.

So it’s interesting that she is indirectly behind what could be the next ‘reality revolution’ in TV – virtual reality. Afterlife will be the channel’s first dip into virtual worlds, and not before time.

Virtual reality is a gathering pace in the world of education, and edutainment – areas in which it fits perfectly. Virtual worlds offer a risk-free workshop in which to teach military and surgical skills without any accidental casualties (small mice and rabbits presumably have paws crossed for a virtual purfume and make-up lab), and projects like CANVAS and Heritage Key give users a immersive learning environment that can be controlled and evolved by the creators. Educators have done the groundwork, now its time for the broadcasters to launch the virtual revolution.

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