The Good, The Bad & The Ugly QR Code for the February 22nd NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, February 22nd, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature web pioneer Aliza Sherman (Cybergrrl Oh) who will take us on an interactive exploration of QR code marketing. QR Codes can be a compelling and effective marketing tool when used thoughtfully and integrated carefully into a campaign. Nonprofits can benefit from incorporating QR codes appropriately into marketing collateral and communications flow, especially to bridge offline with online actions. Learn some of the best tools for generating and managing your QR code efforts and see some examples of QR codes, both effective and ineffective ones. 

 

Bio:

Aliza Sherman is a Web pioneer with a mission to empower people through technology. She is a digital marketing strategist who has been online since 1987 and consulting clients about the Internet since 1992. She speaks around the world and writes about online, social media, and mobile marketing, as well as tech and business issues specific to women. 

 

In 1995, Newsweek named her one of the  “Top 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet” after she founded the first woman-owned, full-service Internet company, Cybergrrl, Inc. and the first global Internet networking organization for women, Webgrrls International. 

 

In 2009, Fast Company named her one of the “Most Powerful Women in Technology.” 

 

Aliza is the author of nine books including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Crowdsourcing, and Mom, Incorporated. Her next book will be Social Media Engagement for Dummies.

 

When not speaking in other parts of the world, she lives and works out of Tok, Alaska.

 

Join us in Second Life!

 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, February 22nd, 8:30 AM SLT / PST

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL 

 

AGENDA

  • 8:30 am Introductions
  • 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
  • 8:45 am Mentors Central
  • 8:55 am Aliza Sherman: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly QR Code
  • 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

Looking Back & Looking Forward

As we tip forward into a new year and #TSDIGS Digital Storytelling Event it’s a great time to celebrate what’s working in our virtual community, learn a few lessons and set intention for the coming year together. What were some of the highlights of our time together at NPC this past year?

1.Preferred Family Healthcare receives a grant for $865,000 for virtual addiction therapy services and PopSci features Coughran and Brena this month. Lesson learned: dream big and have metrics to back yourself up!

2.Virtual Haiti Relief teams raise thousands through virtual events in partnership with NPC and other charitable avatars. Lesson: build partnerships early, before disaster strikes, so you’re ready to leap into action together.

3.TechSoup trainings, webinars and events draw thousands of nonprofit leaders to learn about new platforms, tools and opportunities to grow. Lesson: keep providing easy opportunities to learn new tools and the community grows in appreciation.

4.NPCGames, a special working group for nonprofits interested in developing games, grew to include dozens of specialists working across sectors to grow causebuilding options for play. Lesson: Nonprofit leaders can be gamers too and we need both mindsets to develop meaningful play experiences.

5.GreenTech initiatives take hold in many organizations, reducing energy and resource costs while encouraging use of cloud and virtual platforms as an alternative to travel. Lesson: promoting efficient virtual teamwork helps reduce operation cost for some nonprofits.

6.Stories of Impact machinima videos joined our YouTube page featuring some of the best NPC leaders in action. Lesson: Telling stories through interactive media helps our community grow outside of the virtual world.

7.After four years of @techsoup weekly Friday meetings in Second Life we maxed out our sim with 99 guests to hear Lindens talk about bringing teens and adults together in the new mixed grid. Lesson: never underestimate how many people will appear when the right guest shows up!

Looking forward, how can we take our best assets and build stronger virtual communities for nonprofits?

1.Integrating youth and adults in one virtual place will allow for many new educational and volunteer opportunities along with a potential infusion of young energy

2.ReactionGrid, OSGrid and various open sims are available at low cost to nonprofits, making it accessible for organizations to own their own servers or create larger simulation experiences

3.Building bridges between worlds, hypergrid tours and cross-sector partnerships will be even more important as we connect beyond Nonprofit Commons in Second Life

4.Educational experiences, museums and nonprofits that create immersion experiences in virtual space will find participation growing, especially as user content is featured in galleries and exhibition halls around the world

5.Embracing young, saavy programmers who are excited to help their favorite causes will be the tipping point for many organizations looking to grow and try new endeavors

6.Invite more gamechangers and respected leaders from various sectors to help us open new doors, dream big and make new connections across the grids

7.Playfulness and fun storytelling elements connect people over time and grow a sticky network of engaged leaders. Be intentional about designing play that offers various ways to plug in and random people will find you and get involved!

So on this 1/11/11 it is our hope as the avatars of Nonprofit Commons that you are taking time to do something new, build a bridge and be the best you can be. Never settle for the status quo when you can be extraordinary – every avatar at NPC embodies this in some way and together we create a community that is unique in its resilience, a pillar in the ever-shifting 3D web world. Being that pillar requires all of us to live out the commitments we’ve made to our people, to volunteerism within NPC and to continually reach out beyond ourselves and represent alteratives to the rigidness of our real world. Each of us has learned to craft our own experience, choose our own adventure and share some piece of that through photos, machinima, blogs and tweets. Keep sharing and remember that we create this experience every day together and we choose how to make the most of it!

Special thanks to the leaders at Nonprofit Commons for their hard work along with Rik Riel, Rhiannon Chatnoir and Pathfinder for their amazing blog writing looking ahead to 2011 in virtual engagement.

Written by: InKenzo

2011 Land Pricing and the Nonprofit Commons

On Monday, October 4th, we were alerted to a blog post by Nelson Linden announcing that Linden Lab would be removing the discounts provided to the non-profit and education sims. There were a lot of comments flooding into the blog post, and Twitter was abuzz with Second Lifers with their speculations.

We immediately sent out the following response to the news:

“We are committed to remain a free space for nonprofits, and we hope we can help provide space to newly displaced nonprofit and social benefit orgs who will be forced to move because of the rent-hike.”

As of the writing of this post, there have been over 200 comments posted on Nelson Linden’s blog entry. It is a great sign to have this many concerned Second Life residents, and it will hopefully inspire them all to work together in finding solutions for these concerns.

John Lester, aka Pathfinder, a champion of the nonprofit and education causes in Second Life, wrote a great blog post discussing these changes. I think he summed it up best when he said:

“I’m happy the discount lasted as long as it did.  As for the reasoning behind this new decision by Linden Lab, I have no idea and I’m not interested in speculating.  What I’m interested in is the future of educators and non-profits in virtual worlds in general.”

We, at the Nonprofit Commons completely agree with his interest in looking to the future for educators and nonprofits.

We hope that you can join us at this Friday’s meeting, where we are having Terrance Linden speak about the migration of the teen grid members over to the main grid. It may be a good chance to ask your questions to a live Linden who has the inside scoop.

Also at the meeting we have social media for Nonprofits expert Amy Sample Ward , to discuss NetSquared and the FACT Social Justice Challenge

We welcome any members of the Second Life community to discuss the situation on our Google Group. Rik Panagibian , from Global Kids , started the discussion here . Feel free to join him and continue the conversation with us.

For those of you that would like to connect with us to discuss this, we can be found on the web at the following places:

Nonprofit Commons blog

Wiki

Twitter @npsl

Google Group

TechSoup

Facebook

LinkedIn

Weekly Networking Event: Wharf Ratz, Aloft every Tues., 8PM SLT

Monthly Networking Event: The first Thurs. of every month, at Common Ground , Plush, 5 -7PM SLT

Written by: Layal

NPC Opportunities: Weekly Update from Nonprofit Commons

Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons

Events this week: 8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area
Wharf Ratz happens Tuesday nights at Aloft Nonprofit Commons, northern side wharf with Brena Benoir and Coughran Mayo!

WEBINAR: Online Collaboration Tools Thursday, August 26, 11 am Pacific time at the Plush Amphitheatre
It doesn’t matter if your organization is large or small, or if you have a complex network or have no server at all. Knowing about online collaboration tools can help organizations and individuals be more effective, for less money, especially when your staff is not located in one central location.

In this free webinar, Kami Griffiths will interview Jon Warnow from 350.org to learn about the tools that they use to accomplish their mission specifically Google Apps, Skype and Salsa Labs-Democracy in Action. We’ll also hear from Jay Boren, from Google, who will provide more information about Google Apps and the ways that nonprofits and libraries can take advantage of this suite of free tools.

Last week at the NPC:
Megan at TechSoup (Penguin Kuhn inSL) announced changes to the blogging system on www.nonprofitcommons.org and invited our tenants and community members to get involved as bloggers. Talk to Megan if you would like more information on how to become a blogger!
Layal (Ninlil Xentiltat inSL) shared progress with the Community Gateway project, soon to be installed but also decommissioned as an official gateway as Linden Lab is discontinuing the focused orientation program.
Evonne (In Kenzo inSL) introduced the estate managers on each sim and opened the door for new estate managers to join our team on ECO Commons. We are working with the Anshe Chung team to place new estate managers on Plush while updating our lists for the NPCHelp Desk.
Jessica (Kali Izdiak inSL) introduced the Field Trip idea for visiting other sims with our community, a mix of good building inspiration and fun exploring new places.
Glitteractica Cookie will be away for a few more days and Kali, InK, Ninlil and Penguin can assist any tenants by emailing nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

Submit your Projects to the FACT Social Justice Challenge at NetSquared
The French American Charitable Trust (FACT) and NetSquared are pleased to announce the second annual FACT Social Justice Awards. Submissions are now open for your innovative Projects that leverage web and/or mobile technologies to foster collaboration around social justice issues. Learn more about the Challenge and how to participate here: http://netsquared.org/challenges/fact-social-justice-2010

Classes: August 26th at 1PM with Builders Brewery: 1:00 PM SLT
PUTTING IT TOGETHER WHEN BUILDING A HOUSE (or office)
Instructor: Auryn Beorn at Builders Brewery, Dockside
When we build a house, it’s common wanting to add some nice features, as doors that open/close remaining linked to the main build, having a controller that allows us to tint the windows or setting lights ON/OFF. So let’s put it all together in this class, and build a fully featured house. Class length: 90 minutes. Prerequisites: Editing and linking prims, editing scripts.

In case you missed: The Digital Catalog was released by TechSoup Global recently featuring all services and stock available to nonprofits! Visit the Digital Catalog at http://home.techsoup.org/pages/catalog.aspx

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest response.

Written by: InKenzo

Weekly Update from NPC: August 17, 2010

Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life

Events this week: 8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area!

August 19th at 11AM: WEBINAR TechSoup for Faith-Based Organizations http://bit.ly/tsfaith

Last week at the NPC: Steven Toussaint is our newest resident on Health Commons with the new Alzheimers Association of NYC: Visit their site at http://www.alz.org/nyc/ or check out their new hilltop office on Health Commons!

In Kenzo and Ninlil Xentiltat (Evonne and Layal) gave a detailed Flickr tutorial on how to use the #NPSL tag on uploaded photos along with how to create groups, sets, printed goods, badges for your website and inworld Flickr applications.

Ninlil shared progress on the Community Gateway that will be installed soon on Aloft Nonprofit Commons with the help of Parhelion Parou and Brena Benoir, thank you all for your ideas and contributions.

A special note that the new NPChelp@nonprofitcommons.org alias is now operational for SL-related mentor questions, there are also 6 mailboxes on the four NPC sims that will allow you to drop a request directly to our mentors.

Glitteractica Cookie will be away for the next two weeks but Kali, InK, Ninlil and Penguin will be around to assist any tenants by emailing nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

Classes: August 20th at 3PM with Builders Brewery: 3:00 PM SLT SCRIPTING: Reading Notecards: The Truth Game Instructor: Auryn Beorn Builders Brewery, Dockside I’m sure that, at least once in your life, you all have played “truth or dare”. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able of setting an object for playing the first part, “truth”, with our friends? Wouldn’t it be nice, too, if we could learn the basics of working with notecards at the same time?

In case you missed:
Boost your fundraising: On August 17 and 18, get GrantStation for only $99. Identify private and government grantmakers with GrantStation’s online database and use the tutorials to secure funding. Already have a GrantStation membership? Add another year during this two-day offer. http://www.techsoup.org/stock/promo/?cg=sp Have more questions about GrantStation? Post them here: http://bit.ly/gstation

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest response.

Written by: InKenzo

NEWS! Weekly update for 8/9/10 from the Nonprofit Commons

NPCommonspeak
Weekly Update from the Nonprofit Commons

Events this week:
8:30AM Friday meeting at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre
http://bit.ly/nonprofitcommons will give you a direct teleport to our main gathering area!
We will be doing special tutorials during the month of August during our Friday morning meetings, so come this week for tips and tools on using Flickr for your organization.

There will be no Grant Station webinar in Second Life this week as previously noted in our weekly update – however you can register and attend this webinar through www.techsoup.org web access.

Last week at the NPC:
EmmaGNP Seaside from Great Nonprofits shared an opportunity to be featured as part of the Science and Technology Campaign. Eligible nonprofits should visit the www.greatnonprofits.org website and ask others to vote for their organizations.
Penguin Kuhn from TechSoupGlobal shared changes to the Nonprofit Commons blog and website. The blog is now the front page to our site and tenants are welcome to apply to blog with NPC.
We discussed plans for the new Community Gateway being installed on Aloft Nonprofit Commons.
Layal and Evonne (Ninlil Xentiltat and In Kenzo) shared the Stories of Impact production plan for short machinima videos to feature our tenants, events and partners at NPC. Virtual Helping Hands and the National Service Inclusion Project are our first featured partners and you can look for more videos up this week at http://youtu.be/E3vuBsIK3NI and http://youtube.com/TechSoupVideo
Glitteractica Cookie will be away for the next two weeks but Kali, InK, Ninlil and Penguin will be around to assist any tenants by emailing nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org

Classes:
August 12th at 6PM with Builders Brewery:
BEGINNING BUILDING – Learning the basics, lesson 1 with instructor DeAnn Dufaux Builders Brewery – Dockside (Class 1 of 5) – This is the first class of the series. During this series, we’ll go over some of the building tools that, even if you have built something, perhaps you haven’t thought to use or don’t know what they’re for. Instructions will be for both viewer v.1.23 and v. 2.0.

In case you missed:
The Online Community Managers Meetup is hosted monthly at TechSoup Global in San Francisco and at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheatre on the fourth wednesday of the month and the next live event will take place September 22nd. From last week’s event here are two quick links—
The first link to Ben Rigby’s presentation on SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/benrigby/ocm-presi
The second link is to the follow-up discussion with The Extraordinaries, prompted by our in-person discussion: http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/t/30701.aspx

Thank you for your contributions to the Nonprofit Commons! For questions contact nonprofitcommons@techsoup.org for fastest response.

Written by: InKenzo

AVATARS RAISE MONEY FOR HAITI THROUGH VIRTUAL EVENTS, GOODS, CAMPAIGNS

2/26-2/28 THREE DAY EVENT in SECOND LIFE

Virtual Haiti Relief with TechSoup Global’s Nonprofit Commons to help Haiti

Avatars from around the world are coming together to honor the Haitian people with a cultural festival designed to raise money for Haiti relief and rebuilding efforts.

From February 26-28th the virtual world of Second Life will play host to a festival highlighting organizations on the ground in Haiti using emerging technologies for rebuilding and aid efforts. Events will include a live music festival led by Kathey Fatica (Katydid Something in Second Life) along with nonprofit organizers of TechSoup Global’s Nonprofit Commons and Virtual Haiti Relief, an online organization formed by volunteers and nonprofit staff members within the virtual world as a response to the devastation in Haiti.

Nonprofit Commons is a four-island cooperative community with representatives from over 100 charitable organizations in ten countries organized by San Francisco-based technology provider TechSoup Global. Avatars can visit the Nonprofit Commons islands in Second Life to the Help Haiti Hub where they can take action, make a donation and visit a makeshift aid distribution center (SLurl to location in Second Life: www.tinyurl.com/teleporttoNPC). Events on Friday February 26th at the Nonprofit Commons will include speakers from real-world organizations giving aid and a virtual goods auction to raise funds for Haitian relief.

”The Music & Arts Festival for Virtual Haiti Relief will be an example of the rich environment that Second Life® offers. Featured throughout the area will be a number of exhibits and artwork, a sculpture garden, and stage. Users can walk their avatars through a 3-dimensional exhibit depicting interpretations of the devastation of Haiti with a map, examples of broken landscape, and a field hospital with only rudimentary equipment. In addition, the event includes informational exhibits and speakers from organizations working to restore a balance to Haitian life, along with a general art exhibit and 40 consecutive hours of Live Music for our world audience to experience,” explains Kathey Fatica, Virtual Haiti Organizer and Creative Director at Needham Fatica Advertising Agency. “It’s our goal to create not only an environment of entertainment but also of education and empathy.”

A charity ball for avatars in Second Life will be hosted by Brenda Bryan (Brena Benoir) of the national nonprofit organization, Preferred Family Healthcare, from 7-10 PM PST/SLT on Saturday February 27th. This virtual Second Life® event will feature live music and dancing on the water while raising money for the Virtual Haiti Relief campaign.

Live music will be featured around the clock beginning at 5AM PST/Second Life Time (SLT), Saturday February 27th, and continuing through to 10PM PST/SLT on Sunday February 28th. Performances celebrating the diversity of music in Second Life® include folk, rock, jazz, and classical music from international performers based in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.

The Music & Arts Festival for Virtual Haiti Relief is being produced with the support of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life and TechSoup Global. Visit the web for more information on TechSoupGlobal’s activities to help Haiti.

Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, have lent support to organizing and fundraising efforts within the Second Life community, providing space for memorials and outreach support. To date, dozens of events to help Haiti have been hosted within Second Life and throughout other virtual worlds.

Virtual Haiti Relief’s campaign in Second Life sends 100% of donations toward seven charities on the ground in Haiti:
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund: www.clintonbushhaitifund.org
United Nations World Food Programme: www.wfp.org
Oxfam America: www.oxfamamerica.org
Partners in Health: www.pih.org or www.standwithhaiti.org
Red Cross: www.redcross.org
UNICEF: www.unicef.org
Yele Haiti Foundation: www.yele.org

Virtual Fundraising Success
Volunteers have already raised over $6,000 U.S. dollars in the short time the campaign has been live. The Virtual Haiti Relief Donation Package includes information on the charity, a Donation Kiosk to raise funds, a Donation Vendor to raise funds by selling items, a informational notecard explaining more details, and a Virtual Haiti Relief t-shirt for avatars to wear. Avatars share fundraising tools with others through gift bags or group gifts created by Joyce Bettencourt (Rhiannon Chatnoir of Global Kids).

To learn more about Virtual Haiti Relief events at the Nonprofit Commons contact Kathey Fatica, festival event producer (katydidsomething@virtualhaitirelief.org) or Evonne Heyning, Nonprofit Commons Interactive Producer (evoamo@gmail.com).

Social Actions for Virtual Haiti Relief

You Can Help by Fundraising
Pick up a Virtual Haiti Relief Donation Package in Second Life:
Put out a kiosk found in any blue Haiti gift bag to help collect donations or drop some Linden dollars in a kiosk near you.
Kiosks and Virtual Hait Relief Donation packages may be found in Second Life: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vesuvius/100/164/25
If you are a content creator, use the vendors to sell items where proceeds go toward fundraising
You can pass along the Donation Package to others that might be interested in raising funds for Haiti relief

Other Ways to Get Involved:
Blog, tweet/retweet, post on Facebook to help share with others outside of SL, follow @VirtualHaiti on twitter and join the VirtualHaiti Facebook group
Distribute the Donation Package through your Second Life groups
Beyond the events planned here by Nonprofit Commons and others involved with the larger Virtual Haiti Relief group, you can plan your own events towards Haitian relief and awareness. Events ideas include talks on Haitian culture/history, dances, candle lightings, music or DJ performances, art exhibits and shows
For Second Life event listings, photos, blog posts, or social media posting beyond Second Life, tag with: VirtualHaiti
For more information visit http://VirtualHaitiRelief.org; IM or email us contact@virtualhaitirelief.org

Written by: InKenzo

TechSoup and Nonprofit Commons in the News!

Mixed reality panel at NetSquared conference

TechSoup’s own Susan Tenby, aka Glitteractica Cookie, wrote up a blog post about the Mixed Reality Health Panel Expo event that is featured on the Huffington Post. Part of TechSoup’s NetSquared Conference (N2y4), the mixed reality event highlighted nonprofits doing work in the virtual world of Second Life. including health expert panelists from organizations including Community Voicemail, Boomer Esiason Foundation, and Virtual Ability.

But that’s not all! The NetSquared Conference has gotten a number of press mentions. Huffington Post also featured an post from by longtime NetSquared supporter Allen Gunn: “NetSquared 2009: Making the Virtual Proximal”. “Lessons on Innovation from Nonprofits”, by columnist Chris O’Brien, also recently appeared in the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times. And we were proud to see The Economist’s Technology Quarterly, showcasing five of NetSquared’s previous Featured Projects for their application of mapping tools for social benefit work

We are thrilled to see these fantastic individuals and social benefit organization getting press about their important work. If you’d like to see more you can check out wrap-up detailed coverage of the NetSquared conference and find text archive, pictures, and live-blogging of the Health Panel Expo event.

Written by: penguin kuhn

Blogging The Health Panel Expo

[Cross-posting from the NetSquared blog by BJ Wishinsky]

N2Y4 Mixed Reality Health Panel, Wed. May 27, 11:15 AM

My name is BJ Wishinsky (avatar name Biji Mornington), and I’m the Communities Program Manager at the nonprofit Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. I had so much fun live-blogging the mixed reality at last year’s NetSquared conference that I volunteered to do it again today. There are Health Panels all day today in Second Life, celebrating the launch of the new inworld Health Commons. The 11:15 panel on Mobile Health Information is mixed reality: Second Life and Real Life (here at Cisco’s Vineyard Conference Center in San Jose, CA). We’re about to begin, so stay tuned.

Seth Gonzales (Avatar Impeccably Peccable) is the Communities Manager for the Boomer Esiason Foundation in New York. They started their SecondLife presence with the long-term goal of starting an inworld community of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients. SecondLife can provide CF patients an opportunity to interact with each other without the risk of infection. They are also using SecondLife and mobile technology to engage donors. Donors can give via mobile up to four times a month. The text-to-donate program was launched this month because May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month. 263 million people in the U.S. have cell phones so they want to tap into this group. Seth is confident this will be a sustainable program that helps tremendously with fundraising. They just started it and are getting some good responses using promotional PSAs to get the word out.

Our multiple venues in real life and Second Life are starting to fill up, and Susan Tenby (whose avatar is named Glitteractica Cookie) is explaining the format for our new arrivals. Susan asks Seth about the unique opportunity of the Second Life environment for CF patients. CF patients usually are taking 10-20 pills a day and going through multiple treatments from nebulizers to vibrating vests to keep their lungs clear and stay alive. They often live very isolated lives, between treatments and the need to keep them from being exposed to other infectious diseases that can aggravate their CF and prove fatal. Second Life provides an opportunity for them to meet safely in Second Life and connect with other CF patients for support and socializing.

Their measure of success is getting CF patients acclimated (with a SecondLife 101 class) and familiarizing them with what they offer on Boomer Island.

Jessica Dally of Community Voicemail, works for a nonprofit that provides voice mailboxes to people who are homeless and don’t have their own home or cell. This allows those who are homeless to better keep in touch with their families and friends, and for those who care about them to be able to reach them. It also allows Community Voicemail to get important messages out to clients, for example, about the peanut butter recall, or an approaching hurricane. They are also partnering with AIDS.gov in Second Life and using voicemail and mobile technology to help them disseminate information about HIV testing. In Second Life they partner with other organizations and help them set up voicemail programs with their communities. Second Life helps them spread the word about what they’re doing and partnering with other cities and agencies.

Ellehcim Fizzle (speaking from inworld) of AIDS.gov is talking about the stigma of AIDS and the need to continue to pay attention to AIDS/HIV. One in five people who are infected with HIV are unaware of their status, which underscores the importance of Testing Day. They’re still determining all that they want to do in Second Life. They’re using mobile technology for the KNOWIT campaign where you can text 566948 (KNOWIT) with your zip code and receive information on an testing facility in your area. At the CDC Conference a few months ago she heard about how Community Voicemail was used to reach homeless people regarding the peanut recall and thought it would be a great way to reach the homeless community with information about HIV testing. They are also highlight videos created by partners like Kaiser Family Foundation, MTV and others to help promote testing day.

About 15 of the people here in the room with me are also currently present as avatars at the event in Second Life (SL). Our host, Cisco, has provided great support for all these people running the graphics-intensive Second Life application over the conference wireless. We’re starting some Q&A — microphone in the room, text chat in SL. Jessica (Kali Idziak in SL) notes there was a bit of a steep learning curve for her getting started in SL since she was not a gamer, but there are lots of people and resources to help you learn. She notes that you don’t have to be a techie to learn your way around in SL.

How do nonprofits get started? Come to the weekly inworld Nonprofits in Second Life meetings (http://nonprofitcommons.org/ for info). There’s a meeting every Friday at 8:30 a.m. SLT (Second Life Time, which is Pacific Time).

Susan introduces Jeska Dzwigalski (avatar name Jessica Linden), Director of Communities at Linden Labs. Jessica says recommends telling your boss that IBM saved $320k in Second Life. She recommends also looking at some of the case studies at http://secondlife.com. Some groups in Second Life where you can find help: Virtual Ability (http://virtualability.org/) helps people with disabilities and Wiki Tecture helps people work on their 3D spaces.

The NetSquared Conference is a program of TechSoup, which also offers discounted technology to nonprofits through their TechSoup Stock program. TechSoup Stock is actively working to get more software partners to offer discounted products to health-related nonprofits.

Written by: penguin kuhn

Mixed Reality Aloft Nonprofit Commons Launch at NetSquared Conference

Hi, I’m BJ Wishinsky, Communities Program Manager for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (http://anitaborg.org/). At Glitter and Penguin’s requests, I’m cross-posting here my live-blog on this event from the NetSquared Conference blog.

My avatar, Biji Mornington, has been attending Nonprofits in SecondLife (NPSL) meetings at the Nonprofit Commons (NPC; http://nonprofitcommons.org/) on Friday mornings. So when Megan Keane (Penguin Asana in SL) asked me to live-blog this mixed-reality event, I said yes. A lot of the buzz at NPSL meetings of late has been about the launch of NPC’s second island, Aloft, and plans for this morning’s mixed reality launch event. Our panelists are physically here at the Netsquared Conference and virtually inworld at Aloft. Here in San Jose, CA we can see avatars gathering at Aloft, and at Aloft the avatars also see our panelists by video. Evonne Heyning (In Zenzo) introduced our panel:

* Sandy Andrews (Ozma Malibu) of Floaters
* Dick Dillon (Coughran Mayo) of Preferred Family Healthcare
* Rik (Rik Riel) of Global Kids
* Jessica (Kali Idziak) of Community Voicemail
* Rebecca Wise (Jani Myriam) of Transgender Resource Center

Susan Tenby (Glitteractica Cookie) then kicked us off by introducing the Nonprofit Commons, a TechSoup project that provides to real world nonprofits virtual office space and support in SecondLife. Susan is the driving force, but other TechSoup staff and many volunteers make this a tremendous resource for nonprofits exploring how SecondLife can help them build community and meet their organizations’ goals. Currently about 70 nonprofits have free inworld office space at the two NPC islands, on donated land. There are two SL groups that avatars can join: Nonprofit Commons (NPC residents only), and the TechSoup group of those who, like me, are interested in nonprofit use of SL but not ready to commit to office hours. Volunteers are always needed and new group members are always welcome. Volunteers come from dozens of countries. Those of us who attend NPSL meetings are happy to be here today and finally meet our colleagues in person. One great thing about SecondLife is you don’t have to be anywhere specifically, physically, to do anything. But it’s nice to meet face to face when we get the chance.

Sandy tells us about Floaters, a program that provides access to those who otherwise wouldn’t have access. Her group has been able to connect, through NPSL, with other groups who have similar goals. With Bridges for Women, Kiva, and others they are planning a large scale project for people who are displaced, homeless, survivors of domestic violence, or otherwise in transition: http://www.aplacefordreams.com/. They’ll provide services and mentors for the displaced and homeless, who can log in to SecondLife from places like McDonalds. They are looking for a programmer to help with a widget that would help people find shelter, food, training on life skills and computer skills. They offer free voicemail also. Services will be available from both the website and SecondLife. They offer training that will help people design and build a business in SecondLife, and hope they will in turn become mentors themselves.

Dick gets a big laugh by saying he was drawn to SL by the ease of use of the technology. Those who have organized this panel have had to work through several technical issues (apparently voice from the panel just now started coming through in Aloft). His agency is a nonprofit mental health service provider with emphasis primarily on drug abuse programs. They’re big, with 35 offices and 500 employees. They’ve been aggressively exploring SecondLife as a platform for the last year. In the mental health field the ability to reach out to people in hard-to-reach places is critical. If it would take too much time, effort or energy to get to an office, many people won’t go. So any technology from telephone and chat rooms to virtual worlds can be a big help in bridging that gap. A virtual world provides a sense of place, once people have learned the basics of getting around, and the real-time interactions help blur the distinction between real life and the virtual world in getting clients involved. And there are trade-offs. A client asked about lack of body language in SL. Coughran, his avatar, showed the client 40 different body positions his avatar could assume and also noted that when communicating face-to-face we don’t have the benefit of emoticons.

Our next speaker is Rebecca from the Transgender Resource Center. She talks about the behavioral health implications of SecondLife and says SL has unique qualities that make it an ideal environment for self-discovery. It’s safe and anonymous; you can delete your avatar at any time. It’s deeply immersive, so you can really explore your avatar’s identity by customizing it in ways you might not risk in real life. SL as a diverse and tolerant community. Yee and Bailenson’s 2007 report “The Proteus Effect” showed that as individuals explore their avatar’s self-representation, this in turn has an impact on their real-life self-identity. She told us her personal story and how important SL was in providing a safe space to explore her own gender identity. In SL, with a distinctly female avatar, no one questioned her identity and she could explore this safely. She was also able to make some connections in SL that pointed her to resources in real life that helped her with her own transition. Based on that experience she founded the Transgender Resource Center in SecondLife which provides a unique resource for community, information and peer support. Inworld they provide book excerpts, movie trailers, links to web sites and forums, bi-monthly support groups, and more. In the Nonprofit Commons TRC has found a supportive community of peers and mentors frm other nonprofit organizations, as well as free virtual office space, tools and training. TRC has over 800 members now.

Jessica’s organization, Community Voicemail, provides 24 hour voicemail service to people in crisis and transition. These phone numbers can be used for job searches, to connect with family, medical care and other resources, for people who are homeless, between jobs, etc. Community Voicemail has a multi-year grant from Cisco (our conference hosts) and heard about SecondLife from Cisco and then connected with TechSoup/NPC. They partner with nonprofits and agencies in different areas and SecondLife gives them a rich way to make these connections and spread the word about the services they provide. People in SecondLife are very community-minded and help spread the word, give advice, etc.. They don’t have a dedicated person on SecondLife but she spends part of her time there.

Rik Panganiban is a SecondLife producer for Global Kids. Global Kids empower the kids by teaching them technology and leadership skills. His topic “Turn Off the Damn PC and Go Outside” got a laugh from the (real) room. This was a line from a post on Boingboing.net that initially inspired his perspective on virtual worlds. They use the teen grid in SL as a space where real learning happens. Earlier this year they streamed Kofi Annan talking about human rights into SL, where the kids had their own conversations about human rights and what that means to them. They use virtual worlds to foster leadership, self-confidence and collaboration skills, and engage them in working for real change in the real world. Their International Justice Center in SL will provide access to war crimes trials and opportunities for dialogue and learning. Global Kids is looking at the crisis in Darfur, giving them information and access to activists, and they are brainstorming with kids in other countries about solutions. They’re currently working on an application that would provide access on mobile phones for those who do not have access to computers for virtual worlds.

Inworld, the Aloft Nonprofit Commons festivities continue throughout the day with games, music, and tours. Here at the NetSquared Conference, I’m looking forward to sitting at a SecondLife table at lunch.

Written by: BijiMornington