Job Accommodation Network Office Grand Opening!

Cool news and exciting grand opening!!!

The Job Accommodation Network will be hosting a grand opening event at our office on Health Commons on Monday, July 27 for the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

JAN will offer two scheduled tours of the office with a 10 minute overview of who JAN is, what JAN does, and what technical assistance JAN can provide related to the ADA. After the tours, a representative will be available to answer questions and provide follow-up materials.

Tours will be held at 7:30am and 11:30am SLT at the JAN office. If you can’t make one of our presentations, slides and transcripts will be made available to you.

Stop on by, find out who we are and what we do, and learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If you have any questions, please IM JAN Xomotron or JANLyssa Serenity, or send an email to secondlife@jan.wvu.edu.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

Holding Corporate Meetings in Second Life

While impromptu meetings can be held in a public park or amphitheater in Second Life, Corporate meetings require a lot more planning and of course, the right venue.

The Second Life community blogs recently published a great post on conducting corporate meetings called Corporate Events and Meetings in Second Life which not only breaks down the process for organizing a meeting but also gives some folks who can help you pull it together.

Planning a meeting in SL may seem daunting, but with time, planning and a little expertise, your in-world meeting will be the talk of the water cooler.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

New Group for Alumni Who Want to Help Nonprofits Virtually

From Donna Johnson ’94 UIUC (aka Tuty Inkpen):

I am the founder of “Alumni in NPSL” which is a group for Second Life members who are now or plan to plug into the rich Nonprofit community of Second Life.

Second Life, and other virtual worlds, truly takes networking to a deeper level because it provides real-time chat and interactions.
Examples of those who are taking advantage of the wealth of opportunity afforded by SL include:

*major universities, including the UI’s Global Campus

*billion-dollar nonprofits like the MacArthur Foundation of Chicago

*major American and global government institutions

This group’s purpose is also to help those curious about 2nd Life to get a proper introduction and training in-world, because we understand that it can be intimidating at first.

Here is more information about this group “Alumni In NPSL”:

Facebook Group
Google Group

Please join us and learn how 3D networking can change, not just your life or business/nonprofit, but how it is already changing thousands of people’s lives for the better.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

Beth Noveck talks about Wiki Government in Second Life on July 20th!

Please join a Second Life simulcast, from the Markle Foundation, of Beth Simone Noveck, now the deputy Chief Technology Officer at the White House responsible for Open Government, presenting her new book, WIKI GOVERNMENT: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A, in which participants from both Second Life and in person can ask questions of the author.

In the digital age our lives are constantly being transformed by the way in which we connect and collaborate with one another, affecting the way we make decisions – on a personal level, an institutional level, and a national level. Drawing on her expertise, and more directly her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government’s first social networking initiative, Ms. Noveck’s Wiki Government insightfully demonstrates how technology, along with citizen participation, can help the government become more open and effective at solving the complex social and economic problems we face today.

The event will begin at 12:00pm EST/9:00am PST on Monday, July 20, 2009 and will take place in Second Life on MacArthur Island (click here to teleport http://slurl.com/secondlife/Foundations/109/231/34).

Further information

WIKI GOVERNMENT: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful

In the digital age our lives are constantly being transformed by the way in which we connect and collaborate with one another, affecting the way we make decisions – on a personal level, an institutional level, and a national level.

Beth Simone Noveck’s book provides a coherent and compelling “new vision of governance in the digital age – collaborative democracy – government with the people.”

Drawing on her expertise, and more directly her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government’s first social networking initiative, Ms. Noveck’s Wiki Government insightfully demonstrates how technology, along with citizen participation, can help the government become more open and effective at solving the complex social and economic problems we face today.

About the Author:
Beth Simone Noveck is the United States deputy chief technology officer for open government and leads President Obama’s Open Government Initiative. Based at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, she is an expert on technology and institutional innovation. Previously, Noveck directed the Institute for Information Law & Policy and the Democracy Design Workshop at New York Law School. She is founder of the “Do Tank,” and the State of Play Conferences, and launched the first of its kind Peer-to-Patent Community Patent Review project in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trade Office. As a professor of Law at New York Law School, she has taught in the areas of intellectual property, innovation, and constitutional law, as well as courses on electronic democracy and electronic government.

To read more, please go to http://www.nyls.edu/faculty/faculty_profiles/beth_simone_noveck.

Written by: rikomatic

Facelift on the NPSL

Last night I completed an upgrade to the NPSL site. We hope that it will make our collective mission clearer (there is now a static home page) and the site a bit more readable (the contrast is a little better for viewing). On the left, you’ll see a short list of the most recent posts. In the top menu, there is an item called “The Blogs”. “The Blogs” will take you to the “river of news” that is all bloggers posts in a single place.

I hope you like the changes. Please let me know at matthew [at] dogstar [dot] org if you see any problems, broken links, and so forth.

Thanks!
Creech Antwerp (Matthew Saunders)

Written by: Creech

Design Software to Help Your Oraganization’s Work in Second Life

Once you get started with Second Life, you often find that having design software is really helpful when it comes to creating designs and textures in-world. And you may not be aware that TechSoup has some offerings that can help you out. If you use a Mac for design work, TechSoup has a Special Donation of Adobe products that you can take advantage of. These are available to the following types of organizations:

  • Schools and other educational
  • Health services
  • Cultural and historical
  • Community and inner city development
  • Youth and sports
  • Business and farming
  • Civil rights and legal aid

Products like CS Design Premium and Standard 3.3 for Mac and Photoshop CS 3.0 for Mac are among the listings available to more organizations than our regular Adobe donation program. So, even if you haven’t been eligible to receive Adobe donations from TechSoup in the past, your organization may be eligible for the special donation program. Quantities and titles are limited so get ’em while they’re hot!

Written by: penguin kuhn

NPC – Script Starter HUD

The “Script Starter HUD” is a new NPC Tool to bring the scripter in you to life.

Attach the “Script Starter HUD” to your screen and search the NPC webbased script collection with over 200 free Second Life scripts (full mod). From TipJar scripts, Teleport, Sliding Door, 3D book scripts,… to tv and radio scripts.

Done with searching for hours in you inventory or teleporting from one shop to another. Just click a HUD button and search the database, or enter your keywords.

The “Script Starter HUD” can be purchased for free – yes 0 L$
at https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=…

Have fun!

Ada(love)lace Jewell
Nonprofit Commons tenant

June 2009

http://www.freeSLscripts.com

Written by: Adalace