We had a really live and stimulating Nonprofit Commons meeting last Friday, December 2, featuring Kevin Feenan, CEO of Rockcliffe University Consortium. Please see below for the full chatlog transcript of the meeting.
Thanks everyone for your presence and participation, and especially Kevin for his insights and ideas.
NONPROFIT COMMONS MEETING
December 2, 2011
at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater
AGENDA
8:30am Introductions
8:40am TechSoup Announcements
8:45am Mentors Corner
8:55am Kevin Feenan, CEO of Rockcliffe University Consortium
9:30am OpenMic/ Announcements
INTRODUCTIONS
[08:31] Glitteractica Cookie: Welcome Evverybody! Could you please say your RL name, nonprfit org affiliation, location in the physical world, URL and twitter handle, if you tweet?
[08:31] HB Eternal: Harold W Becker, The Love Foundation, Florida, http://www.thelovefoundation.com , @lovefoundation
[08:31] DJ Earnshaw: Don Singleton, Tulsa, OK (DJ Earnshaw, Professor Viper) HelpingTulsa and APCUG, http://snipurl.com/tk41d @donsingleton
[08:31] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko
[08:31] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. www.virtualability.org
[08:31] Astra Toki: Daria Ng, Global Kids, New York City, http://www.globalkids.org, @wocildocil
[08:31] Buffy Beale: Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women, Victoria BC Canada, http://www.bridgesforwomen.ca @buffyb
[08:31] In Kenzo: Awesome. Good morning! Introductions time. I am Evonne Heyning @amoration – I work with @TechSoup as Interactive Producer for live, streaming, presentations and other multimedia fun, currently in Los Angeles
[08:31] Nany Kayo: Nancy McDonald, Virtual Native Lands
[08:32] JANLyssa Serenity: Lyssa Rowan, Job Accommodation Network, Morgantown WV http://AskJAN.org @JANatJAN
[08:32] Buffy Beale: welcome Astra!
[08:32] Bathsheba Darkfold: Bathsheba Darkfold Researcher and American Foundation for the Blind
[08:32] Chad Mikado: Chad Gobert, National Service Inclusion Project, UMASS Boston; www.serviceandinclusion.org
[08:32] Astra Toki: thank you
[08:32] Brena Benoir: Brenda Bryan, Preferred Family Healthcare, Kirksville, Missouri, www.pfh.org, @brenabenoir
[08:32] Panny Bakerly: Jeanne Booth, Freeport Historical Society, Freeport, NY www.freeporthistorymuseum.org
[08:32] carlicann: Carl Icann, Guest Faculty, Humane Educator, Rockcliffe U, http://carlicann.wordpress.com
[08:33] In Kenzo: Welcome Carl – glad you can join us here today
[08:34] In Kenzo: Other introductions here?
[08:34] Glitteractica Cookie: If you haven’t done so already, please introduce yourslef to the commuity
[08:34] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett, Elder Voices, Health Care and Human Rights
[08:35] SLOODLE WebIntercom: Sorry Gentle Heron. You do not have permission to control this object.
[08:35] Glitteractica Cookie: Any more introductions?
[08:36] In Kenzo: It’s great to see you all again, and glad we all made it here today to talk virtual education!
[08:36] Glitteractica Cookie: Last call for introductions
[08:37] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, well, I guess we are ready to hear the TechSoup Announcements… Bulaklak, are you here?
[08:37] Glitteractica Cookie: Michael ..?
[08:37] Glitteractica Cookie: oh, there he is!
[08:38] In Kenzo: Hi Bukalak!
[08:38] Glitteractica Cookie: Bulaklak… I was just announcing that you are ready to give the techsoup announcements
[08:38] Glitteractica Cookie: SO, i hope you are
[08:38] In Kenzo: (sorry my spelling is terrible today – come on up here)
[08:38] CarynTopia Silvercloud: Caryn Heilman, Topia arts Center, Adams, MA in the Berkhsires, www.TopiaArts.org, @topiaartscenter
[08:38] Adalace Jewell: @adalace RoSa Library Brussels, Belgium www.rosadoc.be
[08:38] Francesca Barnes: Mary-Frances O’Connor, UCLA
[08:39] Glitteractica Cookie: You ready Bulaklak
[08:39] TammySM: Tammy USMWF http://www.usmwf.org KY
[08:39] talkwithmarie: Marie C.-talkwithmarie, aka Red., Greater Boston, Girls project/Girl TV/Talk!withmarie, http://youtube.com/girltvlive, http://youtube.com/talkwithmarie, @talkwithmarie
[08:39] In Kenzo: Welcome everyone – thanks for sharing your introductions
[08:39] Glitteractica Cookie: I think Bulaklak is having chat issues
MENTORS CORNER
[08:40] Glitteractica Cookie: while he is sorting this out, can the mentors do their update?
[08:40] Zinnia Zauber: We can give you and update!
[08:41] Brena Benoir: Good Morning everyone
[08:41] Brena Benoir: Zinnia and I will give a quick update on Winterfest
[08:41] Zinnia Zauber: I have the dates for our community event…
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 11 Opening and Ice Skating with Random Snowball Fights
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 13 Wharf Ratz Tuesday Night Extraordinary Dance Extravaganza – 7 PM to 9 PM SLT
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 15 Magic Wand and Wings CommonGround – 5 PM to 7 PM SLT
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 17 Snowglobe Building Contest – 10 AM SLT
[08:42] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 17 Dance with Live Music – 6 PM to 8 PM SLT
[08:42] Buffy Beale: Yay Brena and Zinnia for organizing this!
[08:43] Brena Benoir: Buffy has coordinated music for the opening social on Sunday
[08:43] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 18 Don’t Break the Ice Closing
[08:43] Buffy Beale: Avantguarde Frequency, one of SL’s finest musicians
[08:43] Brena Benoir: We will be working diligently on the books this week.
[08:43] Zinnia Zauber: Please remember that all media from the orgs needs to be emailed.
[08:44] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you everyone for your support of this grid wide event!
[08:44] jacmacaire Humby: Hi everyone
[08:44] In Kenzo: Thanks for hosting!
[08:44] Brena Benoir: I intended to send out the schedule holiday, however due to Thanksgiving holiday and a personal health issue this was delayed. We will get that sent out via listserv and sent in to TS if someone can kick it out to tenant emails please
[08:45] Brena Benoir: prior^
[08:45] In Kenzo: Brena, will ask Rik on this for you 🙂
[08:45] jacmacaire Humby: Jacques Macaire Humanbe http://www.humanbe.com ACTION TANK and Council on Sustainable Development France and International @Humanbe
[08:45] Brena Benoir: Thank you
[08:45] Zinnia Zauber: If you have any questions, please contact the Wishes Granted Team – Brena, Buffy, Par & Zinnia
[08:45] In Kenzo: beautiful – fairy godmothers of sorts!
[08:45] In Kenzo: wishes granted.
[08:45] Zinnia Zauber: That is right!
TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS
[08:45] In Kenzo: I will do Bulaklak’s update since he’s having tech issues this morning
[08:46] In Kenzo: We have OCTRIBE on Wednesday at 7PM
[08:46] In Kenzo: this week
[08:46] In Kenzo: with all of the TechSoup community team speaking!
[08:46] Glitteractica Cookie: Ok, and if anyone has the links of other ways to connect with us online, please post them in chat now
[08:46] Lloud Laffer: sorry about this rez, moving as soon as I am able…
[08:46] In Kenzo: You get to see us on the stream together – Susan, Michael, Ale, Kristy, Susan Chavez and myself will be there sharing our work from the inside out on community development – and Rik will be talking about all of you!
[08:46] In Kenzo: so you can join us here to watch along and ask questions
[08:47] Glitteractica Cookie: Wednesday 7pm SLT
[08:47] In Kenzo: http://bit.ly/sU8qMC
[08:47] In Kenzo: at this same location
[08:47] In Kenzo: Also we have webinars coming up 12/8
[08:47] Buffy Beale: glad to hear it and this time please all line up for the photo 🙂
[08:47] In Kenzo: “Training an Invisible Audience”
[08:47] In Kenzo: 12/8 http://bit.ly/sPVCRS
[08:48] Lloud Laffer takes a seat at last
[08:48] In Kenzo: We’d love for you to watch the archives of NPlive – we hosted our show this week on user generated content and will be back in January leading up to TSDigs 2012 – http://bit.ly/spYmWP for those archives
[08:48] Glitteractica Cookie: NP live is our interactive webinar talk show hosted In Kenzo
[08:49] Glitteractica Cookie: And TSDIGS, fo rthose of you who don’t know is the TechSOup Digital Storytelling Challenge, our month long event in the spring
[08:50] Glitteractica Cookie: Any more updates on the TechSoup end of things, In Kenzo?
[08:50] In Kenzo: live Q&A with amazing guests – and TSDigs will be opening again in the 1st quarter of 2012 and we’ll be talking more about video production in the coming weeks and months. That’s all, thanks!
[08:50] Buffy Beale: That is great news, I love the TSDigs contest
[08:50] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks and I hope many NPC avatars make cool digital stories and machinima for the contest
[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: great prizes, like an IPad and Video cameras
[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: And I hope you all take a moment to look at our TechSoup Slideshare channel, so you can see what we are working on
[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: we post all of our slides there
[08:52] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, can anyone post the links or drop them on me so we can share the outside ways to find us online, btw SL meetings?
[08:52] Glitteractica Cookie: I don’t have the current updated one
[08:52] Buffy Beale: looking I think I do
[08:53] Buffy Beale: [08:38] Rik Riel: Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:
Nonprofit Commons blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org
Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life
Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh
About TechSoup:
http://www.techsoup.org/tools/howtousetechsoup/
http://flavors.me/techsoup
http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons
Weekly Networking Event: Wharf Ratz, Aloft, Tuesdays, 7-9pm SLT
Aloft Nonprofit Commons (168,223,23)
Monthly Networking Event (1st Thursday):
Common Ground, Plush, 5PM-7PM SLT
Plush Nonprofit Commons (128,229,26)
NPC Promo Video http://bit.ly/draxtorNPCvid
[08:53] Buffy Beale: 🙂
[08:53] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks Buffy
[08:54] Buffy Beale: anytime
[08:54] Glitteractica Cookie: I recommend that you all really take a moment and visit those locations, since SL is one star of a constellation that is this community
KEVIN FEENAN, ROCKCLIFFE UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM
[08:54] Glitteractica Cookie: And now I’
[08:55] Glitteractica Cookie: I’d like to introduce our guest of honor today
[08:55] Glitteractica Cookie: Nonprofit Commons* welcomes Kevin Feenan, the
dean and CEO of the *Rockcliffe University Consortium* (
http://www.urockcliffe.com/), which recently celebrated five years in
Second Life. We will discuss with Kevin how his educational nonprofit has
made it this far, how they have expanded to other virtual worlds, and what the future holds.
[08:55] Glitteractica Cookie: Kevin, I’m hosting on behalf of Rik, so I wasn’t given your avatar name, but if you are here, COME ON DOWN!
[08:56] Glitteractica Cookie: Kevin, I am hoping you are here
[08:56] carlicann: PHALEN CORRIMAL
[08:57] carlicann: is the name of Kev’s avi
[08:57] Glitteractica Cookie: Is that Kevin’s avatar name?
[08:57] carlicann: not online… unless he’s using an alt today
[08:57] Glitteractica Cookie: Ok, so… Phalen, should be here
[08:57] Gentle Heron: He’s not online now.
[08:58] Buffy Beale: darn, that happens sometimes
[08:58] Glitteractica Cookie: I know Rik arranged for him to come, so I’m wondering if he was just planning to show up at 9
[08:58] Glitteractica Cookie: which is in two mins
[08:58] Buffy Beale: let’s talk about TSDigs then
[08:58] Glitteractica Cookie: Does anyonehave his contact info (skype) here?
[08:58] In Kenzo: We can take a minute to check in with everyone here – I’m working on a new video about TSDigs today and am getting very excited!
[08:59] Buffy Beale: I think it’s such a perfect way to learn something useful for our orgs
[08:59] DJ Earnshaw: no I know him from VWBPE but only contact here
[08:59] Buffy Beale: by making a quick video, what was the time limit… 90 seconds?
[09:00] Glitteractica Cookie: one minute video
[09:00] Zinnia Zauber: Welcome Phelan!
[09:00] In Kenzo: 60 seconds of organizational wonder
[09:00] Gentle Heron: YAY Phelan.
[09:00] Phelan Corrimal: hi all my apologies – I had this down on my calendar for 11:30 – I got my timezones all mixed up
[09:01] In Kenzo: Great calls to action – we encourage all of you to be thinking about great ways to tell your stories. Welcome Phelan!
[09:01] Glitteractica Cookie: Yay Phelan, we were worried you were not going to show up, but you just came in for your portion, i get it
[09:01] Phelan Corrimal: I feel like such a noob
[09:01] Lloud Laffer: W00t for timezonez
[09:01] Glitteractica Cookie: Well, we were stalling, waiting for you, so please take one of the seats at the front and go for it!
[09:01] Glitteractica Cookie: I already introduced you!
[09:02] Buffy Beale: yay Phelan!
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: oh cool – okay – 1 sec
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: Thank-you all for having me here
[09:02] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks you for coming
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: I very much appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all here today
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe University Consortium is an online non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of education and science in 3D virtual environments.
[09:02] Phelan Corrimal: Our purpose is to SERVE the education and research community. That is, our mission is to provide Service, Education, and Research into Virtual Environments
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: The idea of Rockcliffe started in the Fall of 2006 as I was working on my Doctorate with the University of Phoenix.
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: I held the first class on December 9, 2006. We experienced a lot of growth in the first 6 months resulting in our first region purchase in April 2007
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: In April 2008 we officially incorporated as a non-profit.
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: Unfortunately our application as a 501c3 was turned down last December.
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: There were several reasons for this – some of the many reasons given by the IRS (please hold onto your cookies):
[09:03] Phelan Corrimal: 1. We provide services to other educational organizations (501c3s and the like) to support their education and awareness of virtual environments
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 2. We provide commerical activities (such as FREE open-source/open-access based education, forums, conference, and workshops)
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 3. We collect sponsorships in support of FREE conferences for education providers
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 4. The papers our faculty have researched, written, and had published in formal peer review academic literature apparently do not quality as “scientific research”
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 5. Since more than 70% of our service offerings are currently run out of Second Life we were deemed to be set-up for the purposes of promotion and marketing of Linden Lab
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 6. Second Life is a for-profit business, not a community
[09:04] Phelan Corrimal: 7. Educators, as a generic social group, are apparently not a recognized “charitable class” and are therefore not entitled to exemption
[09:05] Phelan Corrimal: We took the process as far as we could over the course of 2 1/2 years short of a legal challenge before the courts which was our next step.
[09:05] Gentle Heron: That makes me upset to hear these “reasons” Phelan. I think you simply got a bad IRS reviewer.
[09:05] DJ Earnshaw: IRS is stupid
[09:05] Adalace Jewell: Pfffff
[09:05] Phelan Corrimal: yep – I’m pretty sure they didn’t understand the business model and therefore just rejected us out of hand
[09:05] Lloud Laffer: so sorry to hear this
[09:05] Phelan Corrimal: Unfortunately, a formal legal challenge to a was going to be far too costly for us to absorb and it was already apparent the IRS was going to use every and any reason not to approve us.
[09:06] Glitteractica Cookie: I wonder if your affiliation with the Nonprofit Commons would help (since TechSoup is the organization behind this community)
[09:06] Phelan Corrimal: Despite this we are continuing to be organized and run as a non-profit.
[09:06] Phelan Corrimal: Glitter – I’m not sure it would – we made the mistake of being completely open and transparent about EVERYTHING we were doing
[09:06] Gentle Heron: Kevin, if it makes you feel better, they turned down the SL Bar Association’s 501(c) application as well, I understand.
[09:06] Calliope Lexington: good evening all
[09:06] Phelan Corrimal: Including the fact that I’m from Canada and we have BOD members based in euripe
[09:07] Glitteractica Cookie: Well, TechSoup still serves the social benefit sector, regardless of tax status. Only the software doantion program is restricted to 501C3s
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: europe
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: lol
[09:07] Gentle Heron: They said to the SL Bar Association that their function was purely social. Another stupid and inaccurate reason.
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: yep – lots of stupidity in government 🙂
[09:07] DJ Earnshaw: How about a new non rofit that avoids some of the others, and hav it transition later
[09:07] Phelan Corrimal: Currently Rockcliffe has 9 regions in Second Life and is preparing to establish campuses using OpenSim, SpotOn3D, and Unity3D
[09:07] In Kenzo: excelent
[09:08] Phelan Corrimal: To some extent – this may be a blessing in disguise
[09:08] Zinnia Zauber: I wonder if you could be a 501 C 6.
[09:08] Phelan Corrimal: As part of Rockcliffe I want to develop a hybrid organizational model and a 501c3 would probably have been too restrictive in the long term if we had gotten it
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: ppotentially – we are looking at other options for later once we get out of diapers 🙂
[09:09] In Kenzo: more like a social benefit corp, depending on the state. good luck!
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: hehe – yep
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: We have regions in Reaction Grid and SpotOn currently for testing purposes right now
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: We also have guilds set-up in World of Warcraft in support of our World of Teachcraft program.
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe supports a number of other groups in Second Life including Dreams and NCI.
[09:09] Gentle Heron: love the name!
[09:09] Zinnia Zauber: We are thankful you shared what you went through and pushing forward on awesomeness!
[09:09] Phelan Corrimal: We make our campus available for in-world events and conferences upon request
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: We manage the coordination function of the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference (March 15-18, 2012 www.vwbpe.org)
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: In 2012 we are planning on doing more integration work between cloud-based technologies and virtual worlds including introduction of Rockcliffe TV and Rockcliffe FM
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: Financially, we have managed to accomplish this through the services side of our overall offerings to the education community
[09:10] Phelan Corrimal: We have done projects with a number of different universities helping them to establish pilot and research projects in second life.
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe is not supported by any federal, state, or municipal government nor are we financailly supported by any higher-educational institutions.
[09:11] Glitteractica Cookie: Can you speak a little more to the integration piece you mentioned?
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Where we have had shortfalls in financing I’ve been personally coving the difference out of pocket
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Yep –
[09:11] Glitteractica Cookie: Sorry, not meaning to interrupt yr preso
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: hehe – is okay – I pre-wrote some items 🙂
[09:11] Phelan Corrimal: Gentle will be shocked at that one 😛
[09:11] Glitteractica Cookie: pre-written is key to success in presenting inworld
[09:12] Gentle Heron: Gentle is so proud of you Phelan!
[09:12] In Kenzo: 🙂
[09:12] Phelan Corrimal: One of the things that we know is that integration of technologies is key to being virtual
[09:12] Phelan Corrimal: So second life / opensim / unity – these are just simply tools in a toolkit
[09:12] Phelan Corrimal: what mattters is the connection people have to the technology and their ease of use
[09:13] Glitteractica Cookie: How do you do that cloud based integration? Are you taalking about saving assets externally (wouldn’t that be amazing, but I think it’s impossible)
[09:13] Phelan Corrimal: VW hasn’t really taken off because everyone is focused on mobile right now – that is where ease of use is focused
[09:14] Phelan Corrimal: well – that is the thing – there are new technologies coming on-stream over the next four years which are designed to move content from the desktop to “the cloud”
[09:14] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, so you are talking more specifically about using VW as a piece of the pie of your org’s communications. That is what you meant by integration in that context?
[09:14] Phelan Corrimal: GoogleChrome pads – iPads – etc..
[09:14] Phelan Corrimal: yep – VW is an extremely dynamic component but the back-end tools are mature enough yet to overcome the ease of use issue
[09:15] Phelan Corrimal: So things like mobile apps – and cloud computing need to sort of come first
[09:15] Glitteractica Cookie: So, can you tell us a little more about your programming, and why you think you have remained a viable community over the years?
[09:15] Phelan Corrimal: but LL has gotten out of the integration game which is what made it such a success originally
[09:15] Glitteractica Cookie: agree
[09:16] Phelan Corrimal: One word on that one Glitter – Stability – We are still here despite a million reasons why we shouldn’t be
[09:16] Phelan Corrimal: When I made the formal committment to Rockcliffe I had reached an understanding in my life that all the things that people are well know for have taken years of work
[09:16] Phelan Corrimal: They didn’t receive their success overnight
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: they picked one thing and choose to work at it until they got it right
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: The accolades for, in some cases, decades of work came later
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: You have to pick those things in life that you love to do – and then just go do them
[09:17] Francesca Barnes: so true…
[09:17] Phelan Corrimal: And not worry about what everyone else is doing
[09:18] Buffy Beale: that’s a great thing to say Phelan
[09:18] Gentle Heron: Stability and Passion, Phelan.
[09:18] Lloud Laffer: very true!
[09:18] Calliope Lexington: i agrre
[09:18] Calliope Lexington: agree
[09:18] Phelan Corrimal: SL has been a really good example of this – there have been lots of educational groups come and go in SL
[09:18] Nany Kayo: inspring presentation
[09:18] Phelan Corrimal: But the ones that inspire others are the ones that have staying power becasue they love what they do
[09:18] Buffy Beale: nods
[09:18] Glitteractica Cookie: Are you familiar with Pierre Khawand’s in-world courses, People on the Go?
[09:18] Bathsheba Darkfold: yes, great presentation. Thanks!
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: Rockcliffe – Dreams – NCI – Virtual Abilities – All of you folks here at NPC
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: Not withstanding – for our 2011 year end we expecting to break even on costs for the first time since we started in 2006.
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: Breaking even and being sustainable however are two different things
[09:19] Gentle Heron: BIG sigh!
[09:19] Phelan Corrimal: We are planning on introducing new revenue streams for Rockcliffe to get us to a point of sustainablility by the end of 2012.
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: One of my personal goals for the next 5 years is to be able to have a team of 15-20 people working full time at Rockcliffe
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: We are not planning on giving up on the open-access models which are part of Rockcliffe’s roots
[09:20] Buffy Beale: cheering for that!
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: We still believe that education should be open and accessible and will carry those principle forward
[09:20] Glitteractica Cookie: Is the programming free?
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: If that means we remain as a principly volunteer run organization for some time to come then so be it
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: Yep
[09:20] Glitteractica Cookie: and can you talk to the programming
[09:20] Phelan Corrimal: It is part of the ethic and morals we bring to both the educational and business fronts in trying to develop a hybrid organizational model
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: Hopefully this may serve as a blueprint for other virtual organizations to follow in the future.
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: yes –
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: Instructors come to Rockcliffe because they need a supportive environment to teach classes in
[09:21] Phelan Corrimal: In general we provide some limited guidiance on that – mostly through mentoring
[09:21] Nany Kayo: don’t people expect to pay for some kinds of training?
[09:22] Nany Kayo: I do
[09:22] Phelan Corrimal: The reason is that we want people to experiment with different learning models rather than always doing tried and true
[09:22] Glitteractica Cookie: What are the courses taught?
[09:22] Phelan Corrimal: Some do – but where we have put a price tag on things sometimes the classes have been empty
[09:23] Phelan Corrimal: Most of the classes and forums we have – have centered around law, business, project management, and building
[09:23] Phelan Corrimal: we’ve had some other classes taught as one-offs but they come and go
[09:23] Glitteractica Cookie: so, you offer a free project management course?
[09:23] Nany Kayo: I’m spending $900 per quater for a class in SL right now.
[09:23] Phelan Corrimal: In general it depends on which volunteers are available and what their interests are at the time
[09:23] Glitteractica Cookie: $900 USD or Lindens?
[09:24] Nany Kayo: USD
[09:24] Phelan Corrimal: we have forums on project management and agile training
[09:24] Glitteractica Cookie: JEEZ!
[09:24] Glitteractica Cookie: Where can we find more information on the upcoming classes?
[09:24] Glitteractica Cookie: can you post links?
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: This is one of the challenges in SL – pricing – people think nothing of spending $20USD for a 1 hour class at their local community center – Ask for $4000L thou and people think you are trying to rob them blind
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: yep – one sec – let me grab the URL
[09:25] carlicann: http://www.urockcliffe.com/events/calendar-of-events/
[09:25] Glitteractica Cookie: and twitter handle?
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: lol –
[09:25] Glitteractica Cookie: So we can tweet from the NPSL account
[09:25] Bevan Whitfield: URockcliffe
[09:25] Bevan Whitfield: @
[09:25] Phelan Corrimal: Carl beat me to it –
[09:25] Buffy Beale: true enough about the L$ Phelan
[09:26] Phelan Corrimal: Value propositions in SL are skewed – so rather than trying to fight that battle we are eventually going to take it outside of SL once we are ready to introduce tuition based classes
[09:26] Phelan Corrimal: Everything offered in-world thou is free for anyone to take and come and go as the need
[09:27] Zinnia Zauber: It is wonderful that you are looking at all worlds.
[09:27] In Kenzo: wow
[09:27] Phelan Corrimal: Somewhere there is a hybrid that will allow for a combiniation of both open access and sustainability – we think we have the formula for it but we are in the process of developing that currently with plans to announce later in 2012
[09:28] Beta Test UDP HUD 1.0a whispers: Warning! Transfer permissions are set on dialog!
[09:28] Beta Test UDP HUD 1.0a whispers: Warning! Modify permissions are set on dialog!
[09:28] Phelan Corrimal: you have to look beyond just SL I think to survive
[09:28] Zinnia Zauber: Regardless of media, your content and substance remains the same. Inspired.
[09:28] Glitteractica Cookie: Pierre Khwand and you have a similar model, inworld education. We should have an event here, featuring the few education sims that are successful
[09:28] Phelan Corrimal: opensim has some interesting options but then so does venuegen, IMUV, WOW,
[09:28] Glitteractica Cookie: including NMC, we could see the differences in approach
[09:29] Bevan Whitfield: that’s a wonderful idea Glitteractica
[09:29] Mcalice123: oi tem algum gtainho querendo ser meu namorado ai?
[09:29] Phelan Corrimal: There are a lot of folks in SL who are dedicated to education and the community for very unselfish reasons – quite often they go along quitely in the background
[09:29] Bathsheba Darkfold: I wonder if WOW could be a useful place to do some teambuilding and leadership work? A giuld could focus on discussing those kinds of issues and actually practice them?
[09:30] Phelan Corrimal: So every so often its good to see them get a boost so they know they are apprecaited
[09:30] In Kenzo: there’s quite a bit of research on that Bathsheba, yes.
[09:30] Glitteractica Cookie: Bevan– I will connect with Rik, after this meeting, and tell him to investigate this
[09:30] Phelan Corrimal: That is what we were using it for – Psychology, Leadership, Teambuilding
[09:30] Buffy Beale: yay Bevy!
[09:30] Bevan Whitfield: great!
[09:30] Bevan Whitfield: hi BB!
[09:30] Buffy Beale: 🙂
[09:30] Phelan Corrimal: A few were using it for Financial analysis – the Auction house there works very similar to a standard stock market exchange
[09:30] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, so we are nearing the time when we open it up to open mic announcemetns. So, if you have any closing remarks, Phelan, you should get there soon
[09:31] Glitteractica Cookie: or now, really..
[09:31] Phelan Corrimal: That was about all I had – I think the major thing really is to position your organization at that point where you know you can sustain it and don’t try to grow yourself fast than your finances will allow
[09:32] Gentle Heron: Amen to that!
[09:32] Phelan Corrimal: that is how we’re managed to stay afloat all this time – growth with financial accountability
[09:32] Bevan Whitfield: I hope you can join us for our Dec 10 Open House – I’ll be blogging and pinging the schedule later ….
[09:32] Glitteractica Cookie: Bevan, you are with Phelan at the University?
[09:32] Bevan Whitfield: yes 🙂
[09:32] Glitteractica Cookie: Sorry, I missed that
[09:32] Phelan Corrimal: Thank-you all very much for having me here today
[09:33] Nany Kayo: Thank you!
[09:33] Bathsheba Darkfold: Thank you!
[09:33] Phelan Corrimal: Bevan is on our board of directors
[09:33] Zinnia Zauber: Rah Phelan! Thank you so much for sharing with us!
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks to you and Bevan, and please post the information about your open house to our google group too
[09:33] Gentle Heron: Thanks Phelan. So glad you shared your philosophy of action with us.
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: Great job! And thanks for the great work you do
[09:33] Buffy Beale: Cheering, great persentation Phelan! and a great organization too
[09:33] Bevan Whitfield: oh wonderful, I certainly will and thank you !
[09:33] carlicann: Applause! Well Done Phelan!
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks again
OPEN MIC/ ANNOUNCEMENTS
[09:33] Glitteractica Cookie: And now, we are at the point of open mic announcements.
[09:34] Buffy Beale: hand up
[09:34] Phelan Corrimal: I most appreciate the invite and I do apologize about the timezone mixup
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: I have an announcement
[09:34] Lloud Laffer: Claps Very Loudly!!!!
[09:34] Lloud Laffer: clap
[09:34] Phelan Corrimal: I had 11:30 on the brain for some reason and then mixed up PST and EST
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: And then I will get Buffy and whomever else puts their hand up
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: No worries, phelan. it happens
[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: SO, my announcement was that I went to the Linden Lab offices in SF this week
[09:35] Buffy Beale: oooo
[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: And it’s a whole new group there, most of the old team has left the company
[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: and they didn’t really get NPC as much as I’d hoped
[09:35] Gentle Heron: They are advertising a LOT of open positions now too.
[09:35] Phelan Corrimal: 🙁
[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: But Viale Linden (who mentioned you Gentle, and how great you are) and the senior marketing team was in the room with me
[09:36] Phelan Corrimal: There is a new mindset at LL – We are all going to need to adapt I think
[09:36] Gentle Heron raises an eyebrow!
[09:36] Zinnia Zauber: Interesting.
[09:36] Glitteractica Cookie: And the bottom line is, that they are much more about monetization of the productthan the old crew (which is sensible, right? We need to keep the product afloat)
[09:37] Glitteractica Cookie: So, in order for them to amplify what we are doing, they requested that we do more big scale events
[09:37] Glitteractica Cookie: with Guests that they can write about that will draw.
[09:37] Buffy Beale: does WInterfest that we’re doing count?
[09:37] Glitteractica Cookie: So, I’m fine with that, and I think having a VW education panel, is a good start in that direction
[09:38] Glitteractica Cookie: And they were also interested in Nonprofit Gaming as a focus, but it would be better for us, if we focused on producing one larger scale event than several small ones
[09:38] Glitteractica Cookie: (if we want them to point to us in their communications)
[09:39] Glitteractica Cookie: So, that’s all I want to say on it now, b/c of the time, but I wanted to let you all know that
[09:39] Buffy Beale: the fact we connect nonprofits from around the world and meet every week isn’t enough?
[09:39] Glitteractica Cookie: Nope, sadly not anymore
[09:39] Glitteractica Cookie: In fact one person in the room actually told me that almost verbatim
[09:40] Namaara MacMoragh: seems to me that moves us away from a community-based model or am I missing something?
[09:40] Glitteractica Cookie: so there you have it. I’m deflated a bit, but I’m no stranger to heartache or rejection. 🙂
[09:40] Buffy Beale: what they forget is the education and nonprofit sectors bring in a lot of people
[09:40] Glitteractica Cookie: Namara, not so much…
[09:40] Bevan Whitfield: and Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education is coming up in March – good to start up some forums between now and then …
[09:40] Buffy Beale: good idea Bevan
[09:40] Glitteractica Cookie: But we can get them excited about us, if we give them something innovative to talk about
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: Perfect idea Bevan
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: Can you follow up with an email to nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org
[09:41] carlicann: Question: How will LL help us create “big events”?
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: and is someone grabbing today’s chat, so I can send it to Rik?
[09:41] Glitteractica Cookie: and email it to nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org
[09:41] Bathsheba Darkfold: What do they mean by non profit gaming?
[09:42] Buffy Beale: I can do that Glitter
[09:42] Glitteractica Cookie: Carl, as I said, they want us to come up with the idea and then if they think it’s big enough, they will point to it
[09:42] CarynTopia Silvercloud: let me know if having high profile artists perform here would help
[09:42] Glitteractica Cookie: Bathsheba, I can go more into that but you can learn more at nonprofitgames.org
[09:42] Melchizedek Blauvelt: great example of nonprofit gaming http://fold.it/portal/
[09:43] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, Buffy you are up (and sorry my announcement was so long. I just wanted to update you all)
[09:43] Buffy Beale: hey Mel! thanks
[09:43] Bevan Whitfield: thanks Mel –
[09:43] Buffy Beale: thanks Glitter
[09:43] Bathsheba Darkfold: ok sure no problem…I will just look there…I think I understand
[09:43] Melchizedek Blauvelt: waves
[09:43] Bevan Whitfield: waves back!
[09:43] Buffy Beale: As always the mentors meet following a short break, so
[09:43] Buffy Beale: if you have any questions or need any help or just want to hang out please do join us
[09:43] Bathsheba Darkfold: THanks Melchizedek
[09:44] Glitteractica Cookie: Can you explain a bit about the mentors (in one sentence?)
[09:44] Buffy Beale: and thanks to Brena and Zinnia for taking the corner today
[09:44] Buffy Beale: sure
[09:44] Buffy Beale: welcome new folks to the NPC
[09:44] Buffy Beale: the mentors are volunteers who are here to help anyone who needs it
[09:44] Buffy Beale: we have 10 min at the beginning of each meeting and try
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: Cool, thanks Buffy.
[09:45] Buffy Beale: to talk about interesting things or how-to sorts of activities
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: Other announcements?
[09:45] Buffy Beale: and we help organize events
[09:45] carlicann: i have one
[09:45] Buffy Beale: over to you Glitter 🙂
[09:45] In Kenzo: Come for OCTRIBE this Wednesday 7PM here!
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: sorry . i thought you were done. ;-P
[09:45] In Kenzo: I can’t wait to see you from the stream 🙂
[09:45] Buffy Beale: lol I was
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: ok, lol
[09:45] Glitteractica Cookie: any more announcement s for the larger community?
[09:45] carlicann: i have one
[09:46] Buffy Beale: this time Glitter will you please gather everyone in front of the screen for the group pic of RL and SL
[09:46] In Kenzo: Buffy, you will get us on screen for the whole hour
[09:46] Buffy Beale: ooooo
[09:46] Buffy Beale: I’ll be sure to get your best side then Ink
[09:46] Glitteractica Cookie: OCTRIBE, fo rthose of you who don’t know our internal acronyms is the online community meetup, and things about social media, so that may make you want to go more than the name OCTRIBE
[09:46] Glitteractica Cookie: Go ahead Carl
[09:46] carlicann: Info Request to NPCers –
Have you heard of “Humane Education”?
Do you teach it?
RU interested?
If so, p[lease IM me
and watch this introductory video… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5HEV96dIuY Thank You!
[09:47] carlicann: that’s it! thx!
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks
[09:47] In Kenzo: http://meetup.com/octribe has more info on this regular meetup if you are in the SF/Bay area and want to join us in person.
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: Anyone else?
[09:47] Buffy Beale: hey carlicann welcome!
[09:47] Buffy Beale: one more thing Glitter
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: yes?
[09:47] Buffy Beale: had a thought today
[09:47] Buffy Beale: when we intro ourselves, would it be ok to add our facebook link?
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: of course
[09:47] Buffy Beale: or does that make it too long
[09:47] Buffy Beale: oh
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: it makes sense
[09:47] Buffy Beale: ok great
[09:47] Glitteractica Cookie: great idea
[09:48] Buffy Beale: so at the end after our twitter then
[09:48] Glitteractica Cookie: Yes, include any URLS you want. last call for announcements..
[09:48] Buffy Beale: kk ty
[09:48] Buffy Beale: out
[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: Me!
[09:48] Glitteractica Cookie: OK, you’re up Z
[09:48] Buffy Beale: oooooo snuck it in Z!
[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is not the first Thursday this month.
[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: It will be during our Wishes Granted instead.
[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!
[09:49] Buffy Beale: thanks Z
[09:49] Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks! And tahnks to all of you for your creativity and volunteerism
[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Dec 15, sorry laggy.
[09:49] Lloud Laffer: adios everybody – RL calls.
[09:49] Glitteractica Cookie: We’ve also been around for many years now, and it’s because of you
[09:49] Buffy Beale: bye Lloud 🙂
[09:49] Glitteractica Cookie: SO, see you all next week, and thanks for helping us grow
[09:50] Glitteractica Cookie: And stick around for the mentor’s meeting if you have time
[09:50] Buffy Beale: thanks to you and Ink and Bulaklak and Rik and Techsoup too
[09:50] Sarvana Haalan: Hello I am here… Sally Cherry, Http://Facebook.com/CherryNetwork
[09:50] Sarvana Haalan: better late than never
[09:50] Bevan Whitfield: Thanks everyone and I hope to come next week but must hop now – must herd cats and blog and ping for Dec 10
[09:50] Buffy Beale: take care Bevy, warm hugs
[09:50] In Kenzo: 🙂 thanks
[09:50] Brena Benoir: bye Bevan
[09:50] Bathsheba Darkfold: Thanks for the great meeting!
[09:50] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you Bevan!
[09:50] Glitteractica Cookie: Bye all, and thanks again to buffy for posting chat and sending it to us
[09:51] In Kenzo: Appreciate your input and contributions here!
[09:51] Buffy Beale: ok Mentors, see you in about 5 minutes
[09:51] Glitteractica Cookie: bye!
[09:51] In Kenzo: keep the good tweets and FB posts coming too
Written by: rikomatic