Betterverse: Nonprofits in the Virtual World

A Virtual Memorial to Norway's Terror Victims

Hamlet at New World Notes pointed me to the cathedral in the Norge sim in Second Life, the location of a vibrant Norwegian-based virtual community.  There you will find an impromptu memorial to the victims of the horrific terror attacks that occurred last week in Norway. 

Anyone can come, meditate or pray silently in the pews, and leave a token of their sympathy for the families of the victims.  You will find candles, flowers, Norwegian flags, and floating above most of them, short text messages of solidarity and support.  The messages come from all around the world -- Japan, Palestine, Mexico.

It's a good reminder of what technology can bring to our lives.  Not just instruments of destruction, but also the means to express empathy, kindness and love, even to people you will probably never meet.  Stop by yourself to leave something there, and I guarantee you will teleport away with something more.

[Teleport link: Norge Sim in Second Life.]

Interview with Coughran Mayo of Preferred Family Healthcare on Virtual Counseling

 

My colleague and friend Coughran Mayo ( Dick Dillon in RL) gave a great interview on "Inside the Avatar Studio" yesterday on how virtual worlds can be used to provide mental health support and other health services. Coughran is a senior vice president at Preferred Family Healthcare based in Missouri.

Coughran makes a strong case for how virtual worlds can be used for individual and group counseling for youth in rural areas.  That's a different kind of "marginalized" youth than the ones we typically think about, but a health care need nonetheless.

If you are curious about their work, you can visit the virtual office of Preferred Family Healthcare on the Aloft Nonprofit sim in Second Life (teleport link.)  And you can find Coughran every week at the "Wharf Ratz" dance party in Second Life that he hosts every Tuesday evening from 8-10pm PST on Aloft at this link.

Mixed Reality MeetUp featuring CoTweet in SF and SL This Wednesday July 27

On Wednesday, July 27, 2011, at 7:00 PM PST / SLT, come to the next Online Community MeetUp featuring Meg Clark of CoTweet. It will take place at TechSoup Headquarters in San Francisco, CA and streamed live to the Health Commons in Second Life (teleport Link).

The SF Online Community MeetUp is the free monthly gathering of online community managers, enthusiasts, and innovators to meet and discuss tools and strategies for building and managing effective communities. Our guest speaker this month will be Meg Clark of CoTweet who will be speaking about leveraging social media for better customer care, to engage with your community and humanize your brand. Learn how the folks at CoTweet manage their brand on Twitter and Facebook and learn from the success stories of brand communities including BestBuy, TurboTax and McDonalds.

Here are all the ways you can take part in the event! Feel free to participate in any and all of these ways:

• Participate virtually in the Health Commons in Second Life (teleport location in Second Life). You can see a step-by-step guide for how to participate in Second Life.
• Participate live at the TechSoup offices at 525 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA.
• Follow the action on Twitter following the hashtag: #octribe.

I'll be there and hope to see some of you there with me, virtually or in the flesh!

Disability Rights Conference Meeting in Virtual World July 23-24

The nonprofit Virtual Ability announces that they are organizing an International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference (IDRAC2011) this weekend, July 23-24, in Second Life. The purpose of the conference is to "explore legal protections around the world for persons with disabilities" including local legislation to support the rights of persons with disabilities. Speakers are planned from Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and the UK. 

This looks like a good use of virtual technologies to increase accessibility for people with disabilities to events like this.  After all, wheelchairs can fly in Second Life!

To participate, head to the Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island (teleport link).

Official press release and conference schedule.

"Deep Down (The Virtual Mine)" Nominated for Emmy!

I'm excited to pass along the news that "Deep Down (the Virtual Mine)," a documentary with a Second Life educational component, has been been nominated for an Emmy Award! In the running for the "New Approaches to News and Documentary Programming," "Deep Down" tells the story of one Appalachian town and their conflicted relationship to coal mining in their area. 

Back in 2008 at the BAVC Producers Institute, I was an educational advisor on the Second Life component of the film. "Virtual Mine" is essentially a game where you roleplay as a town member trying to find out how to control power consumption in the town using traditional mining, power conservation techniques and newer, more sustainable technologies.  It's one of the best virtual education projects I have had the honor of being involved with.  So seeing it up for an Emmy is very gratifying.

Congrats to directors Jen Gilomen and Sally Rubin, Qual Fizz and the rest of the SL development team, Draxtor for his machinima footage that is so key to the game, and the Bay Area Video Coalition to supporting this project.

Check out my earlier overview of "Virtual Mine."

Virtual Center Teaches How the Mayans Understood the Cosmos

 

The company Human Mosaic Systems recently posted a link to their Maya Astronomy Center in Second Life, a 3D immersive learning module focused on teaching about the Mayan understanding of astronomical events.  According to the video, this was "built as part of University of Washington's certification program," but demonstrates how this kind of learning method can be applied to any number of other subjects.

Designed to be a self-guided program, the visitor can teleport to the center and explore this area on her own, guided by Mayan-garbed automated characters and glowing objects that feed you information as you go along. At the end there is a quiz to see how well you learned the content. It's definitely an interesting use of a virtual space to teach about the cultural practices, understandings, and worldview of an ancient peoples.  

As the use of bots, guided tours, interactive objects and 3D models becomes more commonplace, I am curious about how quickly and easily builds like this can be created and deployed by educators.  There are certainly a number of interesting examples of 3d interactive learning spaces like that I've seen, from Stonehenge to an Appalachian coal mine to a pogrom in Germany.  These were built over 6 months to more than a year by expert virtual developers working closely and intensely with educators.  It seems to me that these sorts of exhibits will not reach widespread adoption by the education community until they can be created and deployed in a much less time, with much less resources.

To check out the Maya Astronomy Center yourself, head to this teleport link in Second Life. 

Common Grounds Nonprofit Networking Party Tonight from 5-7pm in Second Life

Zinnia sends us news about the next Common Ground Nonprofit Networking party happening tonight, July 7, from 5-7pm at the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life. This month's them is a "Roaring Twenties Lawn Party" which sounds right up my alley:

Dress up in white to dance and play games at CommonGround on July 7 from 5 to 7 PM SLT at Nonprofit Commons in Second Life! Enjoy networking and dancing among other nonprofits and supporters! Learn more about what nonprofits, educators, humanitarians, scientists, and artists accomplish in Second Life at this fun and informative event.

Click here to teleport directly to the festivities. 

 

Virtual Library of Birmingham Opens to Public in Second Life

Yesterday the new Library of Birmingham opened its doors to the public... in the virtual world of Second Life.  A 3D recreation of a planned new library to be finished in 2013, this virtual interactive model is designed to allow the public to visit and comment on the complex directly to the library staff.  Produced by the UK-based company Daden Inc , the library staff were trained in how to modify and add to the 3D model of the future library themselves.

Visitors will be able to tour the library along with a chatbot guide, leave "3D post-it" comments on specific areas of the future library, and see different possible configurations of individual rooms.  Sounds like a very interesting way to increase public engagement with a planned public space, in a way that is different than just holding a town hall meeting or inviting people to send an email to the staff.

This is not the first effort of this sort of course.  Virtual worlds have been used in the past to invite public comment and feedback on planned buildings and public areas.  Way back in 2006, a "3d wiki" was created in Second Life to invite public input on a planned park in Queens, NY.  That same year, the Aloft hotel chain opened a virtual hotel to invite public input on their newest complex. More recently, in 2010, a replica of the new business school at Rutgers University was built in Second Life and OpenSim to allow faculty and students to visit the facilities before they are completed.

For more information on the virtual Library of Birmingham see the official press release.  Or if you are already in Second Life, teleport directly there with this link.

I'm Keynoting the Second Life Community Convention 2011!

I'm excited to pass along the news that I have been asked to give the first keynote presentation at the 2011 Second Life Community Convention from August 13-14 in Oakland, California!  I plan on talking about some of the most exciting, inspiring and ground-breaking applications of Second Life for charity, social good, and education, that I have been covering here on Betterverse.org ... as well as some of the challenges and opportunities moving ahead for nonprofits in the virtual world.

For those that don't know, SLCC is a volunteer-run, community-based, real world gathering of residents of Second Life.  In truth, it's a "mixed-reality" event, with the talks and panels beamed live into the virtual world, and avatars in Second Life presenting to the real world audience.  But I think the principal value of these events is the ability to actually press the flesh with the humans behind the avatars. 

This year promises to be a very interesting one. Since it is so close to the headquarters of Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life, we can anticipate a strong showing from their officers and staff, including their new CEO Rod Humble.  And the organizers seem very open to this being a very grassroots, fun event, so I hope as many of my friends and colleagues can be there -- physically or virtually.

I'm so honored to be invited to keynote at SLCC 2011. And I look to you all for your ideas on what you would like me to highlight and address.

Head to the official website for more information and to register!  Oakland is lovely this time of year!