The Seventh Street Virtual Reality Project is a result of three years of research and development by UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and School for Architecture. I was only around for two of the years, and spent most of my time in the class interviewing Oakland residents, writing scripts for the game, and – in the past couple months – putting together this website, with the help of Jschool webmaster Scot Hacker.
The game allows users to wander in a virtual reconstruction of Oakland’s 7th Street – once a major center for the development of blues and jazz music and a locus of union organizing in the U.S. Over the years, 7th Street underwent several ill-conceived ‘development projects’ that displaced a good portion of its community, and nearly all of its thriving businesses and cultural institutions. The goal is to have young and old gamers explore the world and play the game together.