Welcome to Betterverse.org, a chronicle of the evolving and innovative efforts to use virtual worlds to promote various real world causes and improve the lives of people all around the globe.
I keep forgetting post a pic of this great "I Fight for the User" tee-shirt created by my friend Rhiannon Chatnoir in Second Life. It says "Fight Internet Censorship" on the back.
You can get a free copy of this tee by teleporting to the Nonprofit Commons main amphitheater. There's a blue box near the stage. Click it to "buy" the tee-shirt for 0 linden dollars.
And if you think you won't be needing it because SOPA is dead, don't worry because I'm sure there will be many more occasions to spread this message again and again in the near future. Sad, but true.
The newly opened African American Museum of Philadelphia in Second Life has just created a modest but informative exhibit about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr for MLK Day. It features some select images of Dr. King with quotes, plus several notecards with many more quotes from Dr. King on peace, social justice and faith. You can visit it by going to this teleport link.
If you are inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s words and would like to continue his dream, there are many ways to help the causes of peace, social justice and equality.Today is the MLK Day of Service in the United States. Head here for info on how you can be of service to your community today.
Next Sunday, December 4, as part of the "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence" , feminist activist Alexjo Magic will speak about how overt and institutional violence affects the lives of Palestinian and Israeli women, from her perspective as a Jewish Israeli lesbian feminist human rights activist.
From the notice, Alexjo Magic is a member of the Coalition of Women for Peace, an organization that brings together independent women and feminist peace organizations who work relentlessly for peace and justice.
Come listen and participate on Sunday December 4 at 11am PT at Minerva in Second Life (teleport link.)
Ellie Brewster shares the news that today is the first day of the annual "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence" an international campaign started by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. There are a wide range of activities being planned, from a march in Yerevan, Armenia, focusing on violence against women; a quilt exhibition in Alice Springs, Australia; student trainings and dialogues with media outlets in Lagos, Nigeria; and a military fashion show at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA.
Meanwhile, the 16 Days campaign in Second Life kicks off, as these sorts of things often do, with a virtual concert on November 27, starting at 11am PT. The performers line up at publication time includes:
Looks like a really fun and eclectic mix of music to begin the virtual campaign.
But Second Life is not the only virtual space where actions will be taking place.
This year, the Center for Women's Global Leadership is partnering with the teen-oriented social network site Stardoll to bring the 16 Days Campaign to the site's 130 million teenage users. Stardoll users can create their own 16 Days designs, learn about the Campaign and participating organizations, and post questions to activists including economist Radhika Balakrishnan, human rights lawyer Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda and media activist Sharon Bhagwan Rolls.
For more information about the SL concert and other events planned during the 16 Days, see their website and calendar. And see the Stardoll site for details on 16 Days activities there.
As promised here are the links, teleport SLURLs, slides and (grainy) video of my keynote presentation at the 2011 Second Life Community Convention last Saturday, August 13. Thanks , everyone, for all of your interest in my talk and in the projects mentioned. And of course thanks especially to the amazing organizers, builders, and educators responsible for these remarkable projects below.
[UPDATE 8/22/11: SLCC has just uploaded a better quality version of the video here. My talk starts at the 4:50 mark]
On Friday August 12, at the Nonprofit Commons we had a really interesting discussion on “Anonymity, Psuedonyms and Online Spaces” with about 25 avatars. Please find below a slightly edited transcript of our conversation. I have selected a few choice quotes to highlight, but really I hope you will read the whole interchange which was really rich and wide ranging, discussing activism, transgender persons, youth development and much more.
Thanks for all of you who came and contributed your experiences, opinions and insights to this important issue area.
On Saturday, June 11, from 4 pm to 6 pm SLT, there will be a gala fund raising ball for the non profit Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). Enjoy the big band music and ballads spun by DJ Albert "Underdog" Gainsbourg. Military uniforms, formal, or semi-formal attire is requested. It will take place at the Admiralty Ballroom on Sanssouci sim in Second Life (teleport link).
According to their website, RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan since 1977. For more info, see their official website. You can also visit their Afghanistan Women's Museum in Second Life here.
Wandering around Second Life yesterday, I ran into the "State of Mind" installation by virtual artist Misa Susanowa in Four Bridges (teleport location.) A year-old exhibit, it's still relevant and timely unfortunately. Here's how Susanowa describes it:
"State of Mind" is an installation about the politics of information. "State" covers the topics of government propaganda, the internet and the struggle for free communications. Materials presented include the topics of rumor- and fear-mongering using altered or skewed statistics on child abuse, the war in Iraq, politics, RFID radio tags, net "piracy," spycams and disinformation, and images and captions designed to evoke irrational and emotional responses for the purpose of manipulation by the principles of "psyops," a military use of advertising techniques.
To enter the exhibit, the avatar is warned that he has to wear an RFID band or he will be ejected. He also is subject to a security scan at the entrance to the installation. Surveillance cameras and mics are everywhere, peeking from walls, floating from balloons, even hiding behind flowers. (Supposedly you can switch your perspective to see what each of the cameras' sees, but I couldn't get it to work for me.)
The walls are chock-a-block with propaganda posters, satirical images, and historic prints from WWII. There's a "Charleton Heston Memorial Shooting Gallery," a virtual waterboarding ride, and lots of creepy audio coming out of the stream. The whole thing is designed to make you slightly uneasy and paranoid, which it succeeds at quite effectively.
It's simplistic and broad-stroked in its critiques of government surveillance. But in virtual worlds, you don't have to go for subtle. Definitely provocative, thought-provoking and worth a visit.
Check out "State of Mind" yourself here. The rest of my pics are on Flickr.
So for those that weren't able to make the Nonprofit Commons Meeting in Second Life last Friday, we had a really great session, with excellent speakers talking about a project to pair IT experts with local nonprofits and the relationship of Islam to the virtual world.
Our first speaker was Chris Koenig of Microsoft, who logged in to tell us about Givecamp.org, a project he has been spearheading that seeks to matchmake between local techies and local nonprofits that have technical needs. There was a lot of interest from our audience in how we might translate his real world meetups into a virtual space, since many nonprofits are not necessarily near city centers where IT companies and experts are located.
Rita J. King of Dancing Ink Productions was our next speaker, the author of a ground-breaking report on Islam and the virtual world. Her talk coincided with remarkable events in Egypt as Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president, following 18 days of protest that were documented and supported through social media and networking. In solidarity, several avatars waved Egyptian flags during Rita's talk.
The two talks and the entire Nonprofit Commons meeting, as always, took place exclusively in text chat. While this does make the meetings often run long, since most people type slower than they talk, it also makes it much easier for people to follow along even if English is not their first language or they have some form of disability. And it makes it super easy to share the transcript of the meeting with others who aren't able to attend.
After the jump, you can read the full transcript / text chat of the meeting....
The Egypt sim, which just yesterday was the gathering point for lots of angry anti-Mubarak avatars, is now playing Arabic party music and hosting a huge spontaneous party as folks from all over the world converge there to celebrate Hosni Mubarak stepping down as president of Egypt, after decades of dictatorial rule. In the few minutes I was there, I witnessed people talking in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and "woot" over both text chat and voice chat. I counted about 80 avatars gathered at one point. It was a joyous celebratory atmosphere that I imagine will last all through the day as more people hear about it.
Head over the Egypt sim in Second Life and party like an Egyptian! Hurray for peaceful change, and prayers for more justice and democracy in Egypt and beyond.
By coincidence, the Nonprofit Commons invited Rita J. King to talk about the pro-democracy movement in Egypt, the role of virtual worlds in the Islamic World, and how these tools can be used for cross-cultural dialogue and understanding. Rita gave us a lot of insight into how Muslims are using social media, networks and virtual worlds to connect with each other , express themselves, and organize. We couldn't have a better example today.
