Betterverse: Nonprofits in the Virtual World

Four nonprofits talk about using virtual worlds for astronomy, youth literacy, criminal justice reform & community development

Yesterday, representatives of four very different nonprofits spoke in Second Life about the public good applications of virtual worlds based on a four-week training conducted by Global Kids. Entitled the "MacArthur Grantee Virtual Roundtable," the event featured:

• Katie Peterson (SL avatar: Katy Wetherby) of the Adler Planetarium of Chicago
• Joyce Fernandes (SL: Joyce Firehawk) of Archi-treasures 
• Christina Cantrill (SL: See Haiku) of The National Writing Project
• Tina Chiu (SL: Jin cyberschreiber) of the Vera Institute of Justice
  

We had a tremendous turnout, with nearly 100 avatars cramming the MacArthur Island amphitheater.  Lots of representatives of nonprofits that are already active in virtual worlds were present, as well as several complete newbies to Second Life.

I moderated the event with my colleague Amira Fouad (SL: Ludz Zapedski), who was the co-organizer of the trainings.  More about the event after the jump....

Blog Watch: "Pixels & Policy" explores how virtual worlds change politics

Politico and virtual world explorer Max Burns contacted me the tell that he has launched a new blog "Pixels and Policy" that will examine how real world politics and policy is impacted by virtual worlds like Second Life.  Sounds like concerns very near and dear to my heart.

Max comes out the gate very strong with a detailed examination of the virtual protests in solidarity with the reform movement in Iran, and what this might foretell for future civic actions and the government response.  A version of this post will be published in Georgetown University's Foreign Policy in Focus.

I'll be curious to see how Max deals with skeptics like Prokofy Neva and Ethan Zuckerman, who in the past have criticized these virtual protests as pale imitations of the real thing that don't further any serious political change or movement building.

That said, Pixels and Policy looks like a site to keep an eye on if you are interested in how virtual spaces can be leveraged for political change. I'm adding it to my RSS feed right now.

A first look at Kidscom.com: a kids-oriented world with learning and civic applications

Yesterday I got some time to explore the kid-oriented virtual world Kidscom.com, one of the oldest virtual worlds first opened in 1995.  At first glance, it appears to share a lot in common with the tween-focused world Whyville.  Both are web-based, youth-oriented worlds with a focus on short game activities, forums, and a newsletter.  Whyville is more explicitly education-focused, while Kidscom has more of a mixture of fun, social and educational activities.

The two educational experiences I ran into during my first visit focused on Climate Change and Animal Habitats. 

MacArthur Grantee Virtual Roundtable this Thursday August 27 in Second Life

For the past four weeks, representatives of five nonprofits supported by the MacArthur Foundation have been going through the "Virtual World Capacity Building Program" an intensive training on nonprofit applications of virtual worlds.  These organizations have explored several major virtual platforms, examined some of the leading examples of nonprofit actions in the metaverse, and thought about how they might best use these tools to further their respective missions.

This Thursday, August 27, four groups will be presenting on MacArthur Island in Second Life their initial impressions of virtual worlds, outstanding questions, and possible next steps.  It's a very diverse group of nonprofits, including:

• The Adler Planetarium of Chicago
• Archi-treasures
• The National Writing Project
• and the Vera Institute of Justice

Come hear what they have to say on Thursday, from 12-1:30pm PST on MacArthur Island in Second Life (teleport link). Afterwards, there will be an open discussion about the applications of virtual worlds for various public good purposes.  And we'll close the event with a casual mixer / dance party!

The Virtual World Capacity Building Program is a project of Global Kids, supported by a generous grant from the Catherine T. and John D. MacArthur Foundation.

About Global Kids

Founded in 1989, Global Kids’ mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Global Kids' Online Leadership Program exposes our youth to global issues through digital filmmaking, serious video game creation, and virtual events and dialogues. We provide professional services for a range of institutions, including the MacArthur Foundation, UNICEF, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Youth Venture, and the International Criminal Court. Find more information on the Global Kids’ website.

Navy R&D center looks to Qwaq virtual environment for simulation and training

A recent press release from Qwaq, Inc describes a new initiative by the United States Navy to experiment with the Qwaq virtual environment to test out their combat systems virtually. Spearheaded by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a research and development arm of the US Navy, the "virtual Combat Systems Center" will allow the Navy to train personnel around the world in a simulated submarine environment.

If you are like me, you have not heard much about the Qwaq virtual platform. Among the advantages cited in the press release of this environment:

• Can run within a secure server, firewalled environment
• Can run the actual software applications that may be deployed on naval vessels
• Can integrate live and simulated data sources
• Can import 3D models of existing equipment
• Supports voice, video and text chat communications
• Supports multi-application and document sharing

That sounds quite impressive.  Obviously, Qwaq is focused on the business collaboration market, given their feature set.  I haven't spent much time there myself, so I can't speak to the user experience personally.

Apparently, the NUWC is exploring a range of virtual technologies, because they already have developed some Second Life applications for the US Navy that you can visit here.

The Second Life Spaceflight Museum needs help!

My buddy Hamlet at New World Notes reported recently that the International Spaceflight Museum in Second Life is in danger of closing one of its sims, Spaceport Bravo, unless they can raise some quick cash to pay their tier costs. The Spaceflight Museum was the first place in the virtual world that really opened my eyes to the potential for these spaces for education more than three years ago.  The museum is an inspiring combination of real world content and experiences that are beyond real, enabling you to fly into outerspace, zoom around distant planets, get up close to historic and current space vehicles, and connect with other space nerds and scientists.

You can donate inworld by teleporting here, or just contribute via Paypal at this link.  I just did!

Check out this awesome machinima video about the Museum if you have never visited.

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UPDATE 8/25/09: President of the ISM, Paradox Olbers clarifies the status of the fundraiser and the "matching donor" in a blog post on the ISM website.

Postscript: FCC Workshop on Education & Broadband in Second Life a success!

Thanks to the nearly 80 folks who turned out for the Second Life simulcast of the FCC Workshop on Education and Broadband Access! Special thanks to Hamlet Au, Pathfinder Linden, Ricken Flow, and others who helped promote the workshop to their networks. And congratulations to the FCC for taking a chance on these new forms of public engagement.

There were lots of interesting comments by the panelists about the importance of broadband access for education, from the government, broadcast media, publishing, academic and education sectors.  For those that were not able to attend, you can watch the archived video accessible on Broadband.gov as well as continue to provide your written input at their Ideascale site.

During the event, there was an equally interesting backchannel conversation happening within Second Life, discussing everything from games-based learning to the high cost of textbooks. One of the advantages of virtual events is the multi-modal nature of communications, where you can have a video stream playing that everyone is watching, an ongoing public text chat providing commentary, private IM messages, notecards, and various non-verbal communications going on, all at the same time. That said, two hours is a very long time for someone to be in Second Life, so we had significant drop-off in attendance after the first hour.

More screenshots from the workshop simulcast here.

Ten reasons you should come to the FCC Workshop on Education & Broadband in Second Life

Today, from 1-3pm EST on the MacArthur Island amphitheater (click here to teleport), the FCC is holding in Washington DC a workshop on the importance of broadband internet for education in America.  Global Kids is bringing the workshop in-world to Second Life where avatars from around the world can watch a live video stream of the event in DC and submit questions to the panelists!  Here are ten reasons why you should be there:

1. This is your chance to tell the federal government how you believe schools should be preparing America's youth to be 21st century citizens.


2. When your boss catches you in Second Life during work, you can tell him that the FCC is consulting you on broadband internet policy.


3. The FCC is going to amazing efforts to bring in public input into their policy-making proceedings, incorporating Twitter, web forums, webinars, and Second Life.  Show the FCC that you appreciate these new forms of digital democracy.


4. Trust me, you don't want to be in DC in August.


5. The FCC knows very little about the educational benefits of virtual worlds.  Help them to understand how these rich, immersive environments can benefit America's young people.


6. Second Life residents from outside of the United States should come to share best practices for how their country's youth benefit from access to broadband internet.


7. Teachers, librarians, museum curators and other educators can explain the unique challenges of integrating broadband internet into their learning environments, and how the federal government can make the digital transition easier and faster.


8. Young people who grew up with the internet as part of their daily lives should tell the FCC why it's essential that all American youth should have access.


9. The panelists will include heavy-hitters in education like Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation at the Department of Education; Susan Zelman, Vice President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and David Johnson, organizer of the State of Play Academy.


10. I hear that Philip Linden will be there in his "formal" chaps.

See at 1pm EST on the MacArthur Island amphitheater (click here to teleport)! We'll save a seat for you.

The Metaplace Hospital: medical e-learning comes to the virtual world

I ran across a new Hospital world in Metaplace recently, which piqued my interest.  The owner Relay was there, so we chatted about what the point of the Hospital was.  In real life, Relay goes by Dr Neil  Hamilton, Director of an e-learning center at the University of Aberdeen Medical School in Scotland.  Dr Hamilton is exploring the use of Metaplace as a learning environment for his medical students in the UK. His first prototype is "Jim" an "interactive patient Metabuddy" that you can query about his symptoms and make a diagnosis of what disorder he suffers from.

Right now Jim is pretty basic, only following a fairly simple chain of text questions and answers. But Dr Hamilton wrote "if the students and clinical staff are receptive, I would hope to include digital images, video and sound as part of the medical history taking and the differential diagnosis."

Further down the road, Dr. Hamilton is interested in adding a "health bar" so you can track the status of your patient based on your decisions, and more advanced AI. He also wants to experiment with integrating the Moodle learning platform into Metaplace, which should be fairly easy since it already has been modified to work in Second Life via Sloodle. 

That is all well and good, but I hope that Relay thinks about how others beyond his own medical students might use the Metaplace Hospital to learn about important medical issues, to chat with medical professionals, and, oh yeah, to have fun.  The virtual world should not just mimic existing web and desktop app based applications, but add value and richer engagement.

"I am also hoping that The Hospital will help people see how virtual worlds can genuinely help in the real world," wrote Dr Hamilton.  Sounds like the Betterverse mantra!  He is looking for funding to keep developing the space. For more info, email him at n.m.hamilton@abdn.ac.uk .

FCC Workshop on Education & Broadband simulcast in Second Life August 20

I'm excited to announce that Global Kids will be producing in Second Life a simulcast of the upcoming FCC Workshop on education and broadband access next Thursday, August 20 at 1pm EST.  The simulcast event will take place on MacArthur Island amphitheater (click here to teleport ).  For those that can't make the virtual event, there will also be an opportunity to provide input via Twitter and Ideascale.

The topic is obviously very near and dear to us at GK, so we are excited to be involved. I hope that all of the communities of educators, students, nonprofits, and others who understand the value of broadband access for education turn out and participate.

More after the jump...