Betterverse: Nonprofits in the Virtual World

Ball State U Acquires Blue Mars Virtual World ... or Does It?

I was catching up on my feed reading when I saw this news story about Ball State University acquiring the platform and assets of the virtual world Blue Mars. According to the release, BSU would continue to "fully operate Blue Mars for noncommercial purposes, expand upon the source code, increase its research and academic initiatives, and enhance the community of Blue Mars."  BSU will also provide original content for Blue Mars, building upon its extensive use of the platform in the past.

Sounds really great, except....

When I went to the links for the press release today, sent out on February 24 , I find that the pages no longer exist. Perhaps the deal went sour? We'll keep you apprised as news of this possible partnership unfolds.

For now here is the original press release, from a Google web cache...

IRS Career Island in Second Life: More than Just Jobs at the IRS

For all of you job-seekers out there, IRS Careers Island in Second Life is a venue where job seekers and students can chat with an IRS mentor about their education and career choices. Their goal is to be a positive member of the SL community and to be of assistance to those who need the advice of experienced public servants.

Beyond just helping people find jobs at the IRS, they "recognize the potential of SL in support of education goals and as an enabling environment for persons with disabilities. To that end we encourage schools, colleges, universities and non-profits to contact us to discuss how we can support each other in SL." Good to know!

And IRS Careers Island is not just about the IRS. Their mentors are available to help with your job search across all federal agencies.

For more info, visit the IRS Career Center in Second Life at this teleport link. 

Celebrate International Women's Day on March 4 in Second Life

 

Minerva invites you to a musical celebration of International Women's Day during an all-day concert series on their Second Life island. Among the featured performers:

 

• Naftali Torok- European folk  & Gypsy fiddling (pictured)
• AM Forte – Rock and Blues
• SonyaJevette Charisma - blues
• TerryLynn Melody - folk
• The Choo Choo Chicks - Jazz

Minerva is the virtual research and teaching space for the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University.  You can teleport there at this link.

For more information, see http://www.elliebrewster.com.  Read below for the complete schedule...

Restore Center for Healthy Living Providing Chronic Illness Peer Support and Health Info

The newly opened Restore Center for Healthy Living is a peer support and information center with self guiding displays on various health topics. They will be holding a Chronic Illness peer support group every Wednesday at 10 am PT at the Health Commons location and on Mondays at 5 pm at their main office at the Chicago Sim.

They are also planning 101 classes for health issues through out the year in their  virtual offices. You will find displays with HIV/AIDS and cancer information  and an education area that will rotate with different health information. You can also visit a memorial garden in the lobby of center of the Chicago sim to remember those who have gone before due to health issues. 

Visit them by following these links: Health Commons and Chicago sim.

SL Relay for Life 2012 Team Registration is Open

We just got the news at the team registrations for the 2012 Second Life Relay for Life is now open.  For those that don't know, SLRFL is the largest fundraising effort in the virtual world, raising to date over $1 million for the American Cancer Society.  People typically participate as part of teams, but of course individual fundraisers and racers are also welcome.

Go here and click the first button to sign up your team to register in Second Life. This video explains the sign-up process for teams.

 
So get your team together and get signed up!

 

uStream Most Popular Video Streaming Service for Second Life?

Earlier this month, I created a survey on what online service people use to bring a live video stream into Second Life.  I have produced a number of live video events in Second Life, so knowing what other people use is of personal interest, and hopefully of use to others interested in doing live streaming.  

While I didn't get a huge response rate ( 20 total ), the clear winner appears to be the web-based streaming service uStream.  A couple noted that "uStream Producer" gave them a high level of control over the video stream, while others liked that the basic service was free.  

Here is the breakdown of the responses:

• uStream: 8 votes
• Livestream: 4 votes
• Quicktime: 2 votes
• Adobe Connect 1 vote
• Elluminate: 1 vote
• Justin.tv : 1 vote
• Wirecast: 1 vote

I recommend trying out different systems to see which one works best for our particular event and audience. But with embedded media being supported by all the major SL clients, the ease-of-use of most web-based streaming services, and the increased audience of streaming to the web, a web-based solution seems far superior to the older Quicktime broadcaster model.

Students in Indonesia Learning Biology through Virtual Fish Dissection (video)

 

Educator Ines Ogura has been doing some really innovative educational projects in Second Life with her young students in Indonesia.  Here's her latest machinima video showing how she has integrated Second Life, web-based interactive activities, and real life science activities to teach her students about fish biology.  Virtual dissection looks much more appealing to me than the real thing!

Check out more of her videos on Ines' Youtube Channel and her website for more information about her teaching.

Help Save the International Spaceflight Museum in Second Life [UPDATED]

The International Spaceflight Museum in Second Life was one of the first places to really ignite my passion for virtual worlds, as places where real education and public engagement can occur.  A gigantic rocket park, your avatar can fly around getting an in-depth and otherwise impossible view of dozens of current and historic spacecraft.  Basically it's a virtual Disneyland for space nerds.

Sadly, the Spaceflight Museum vanished from SL sometime in January because they didn't have the funds to continue to pay the virtual land costs that Linden Lab charges.  But good news! On the ISM official blog, they recently reported that they are going to be able to re-open their sims in SL very soon because of a very generous anonymous donor.  However they aren't out of the woods yet.

If you would like to support this historic and still very relevant museum in Second Life, consider going to their website to donate, contributing via PayPal to ismuseum@gmail.com, or by “paying” L$ in SecondLife to AyeEss Emms, the avatar that is used to manage ISM’s land owning account.  I'm going to do just that myself.

---

UPDATE Feb 27 2012:  According to New World Notes, the ISM has been saved from the wrecking block by an anonymous donor!

 

Univ of North Carolina Sponsors "African American Read Out" Today at Noon in Second Life

Aurora Tutti, the University of North Carolina Second Life Librarian, sends out the invitation to a Book Club Series African American Read Out today February 16 at 12 pm PT.  The Mary Livermore Library in Second Life will present stories and poems by and about African Americans in SL voice. In addition, all virtual attendees are invited to read short stories or poetry by or about African Americans as well. 

The Book Club event will be held in the library reading room at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dotoorak/220/207/401/. 

It's good to hear about virtual events to commemorate Black History Month! 

 

 

Tell Your Nonprofit's Digital Story, Impress Your Friends, Win Prizes!

 

Does your nonprofit organization have an inspiring, funny, or heart-wrenching story to tell?  Are there digital tools that can help you tell your story better?  If you answered "yes" (and you should!), then TechSoup challenges your group to come up with a short digital story for the TechSoup Digital Storytelling Challenge.

TechSoup’s annual Digital Storytelling Challenge (also known as TSDigs), powered by Lights. Camera. Help., has launched for 2012. The Digital Storytelling Challenge combines professional instruction and friendly competition into a hands-on media-making project. Organizations participate in a series of short, interactive online trainings, apply that knowledge to create their digital story, then submit a one-minute video or five-picture slideshow to the TSDigs Challenge by February 29.

A panel of expert judges selects the very best entries to win terrific prizes consisting of tools and resources to take their digital storytelling to the next level. Organizations also keep and can use their digital story as a vital resource for promoting their work and connecting to constituents.

For nonprofits active in virtual worlds, 3D immersive worlds are such a compelling storytelling medium with rich images, video, and characters.  So get cracking on telling the digital story of your organization today!  Remember the deadline is February 29.

Then mark your calendars for March 28, 7 pm PT when TechSoup will be throwing an Awards Screening Party at TechSoup HQ in San Francisco and Live-Streaming in Nonprofit Commons in Second Life.

For all the juicy details, head to TSDigs.org.