This Friday, January 18th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Chris Collins (Fleep Tuque). An ardent supporter of the Second Life platform for many years, she now encourages educators, non-profits, and healthcare providers to explore the emerging metaverse outside Second Life’s walls. Fleep will discuss her own experiences running not-for-profit projects in Second Life, and what led her to explore alternative platforms like Opensimulator and Unity3D for her research at the University of Cincinnati and for personal projects like FleepGrid, an Opensim hypergrid enabled research grid. She’ll also discuss why she believes this broader approach helped AvaCon, Inc. receive 501(c)(3) status, and what this might mean for grant-based and other funding initiatives that public sector organizations rely upon.
Bio: Chris M. Collins (Fleep Tuque) is an IT Analyst at the University of Cincinnati. Her research focuses on the use of virtual worlds, social media, and augmented reality in higher education and for remote workforce collaboration. She founded and currently manages the Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research in the UC Office for Information Technology (UCIT), Instructional & Research Computing department.
In her free time, she serves on the board of AvaCon, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the growth, enhancement, and development of the metaverse, virtual worlds, augmented reality, and 3D immersive and virtual spaces. AvaCon’s primary goal is to connect and support the diverse communities and practitioners involved in co-creating and using virtual worlds, and to educate the public and our constituents about the emerging ecosystem of technologies broadly known as the metaverse.
Her other projects include running FleepGrid, a small hyperlinked research grid on the OpenSim platform, serving as Executive Director for the Chilbo Community in Second Life, and she blogs informally about the impact of technology on education, politics, and economics at Fleep’s Deep Thoughts.
Join us in Second Life!
Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting
Friday, January 18th, 8:30 AM SLT / PST
Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater
AGENDA
- 8:30 am Introductions
- 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
- 8:45 am Mentors Central
- 8:55 am Main Speaker: Chris Collins (Fleep Tuque)
- 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements
http://nonprofitcommons.org
The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.
Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir