Tag: TechSoup

AGENDA (all times below PT)

8:30 am Introductions
8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
8:50 am Mentors Central
9:00 am Featured Presentation – Glenn Fajardo (muzzygator in SL)
9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

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

October 7, 2015

The Future of TechSoup’s Community Forum for the October 9th NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, October 9th, TechSoup’s NonProfit Commons in Second Life will feature Chris Delatorre who will give a rundown of exciting changes to the TechSoup community forum slated for next year, and share on his work and recent events in New York and Istanbul.

Chris Delatorre is an independent communications consultant for science, technology and global philanthropy initiatives, including WINGS and TechSoup Global. Chris is a writer, an editor and content producer – a storyteller with chops in hard and social science. He’s a systems junkie, specifically built environments and social structures. His multimedia resource, COMPASS, was named model program by the US Department of Education. Chris has previous experience in pharmacogenomics and human rights activism, and his current research focuses on creating a framework for distributed social networking for CSOs. He is invested in communicating the viability of science and emerging technology as they relate to sustainable urban development and social relations. He’s a New Yorker, a dog lover, caffeine freak, zombie hunter and sci-fi geek. He believes in the power of science, empathy and community.

Learn more about him here: https://about.me/christopherdelatorre

Follow him on Twitter @urbanmolecule

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, October 9th, 8:30 AM PT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

AGENDA (all times below PT)

8:30 am Introductions
8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
8:50 am Featured Presentation – Chris Delatorre (UrbanMolecule in SL)
9:30 am Mentors Central
9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

July 2, 2015

Celebrating the 4th with NPC at SL12B Nonprofit Videos – no meeting July3rd

Nonprofit Commons in Second Life will not be hosting a weekly meeting this week, since our usual meeting day of Friday July 3rd, falls during the 4th of July holiday observances in the US. Though we won’t be meeting, let’s celebrate this 4th by enjoying some of the videos captured during last week’s Second Life 12th birthday (#SL12B). As part of SL12B celebrations, Nonprofit Commons in Second Life had a week long series of presentations and performances focused on nonprofit uses of virtual worlds such as Second Life.

Please enjoy some of the amazing people and projects that make up NPC! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBbCCN1eQ2t5Ewfk5OgkMHNnoY8Xx0gAh

Sorry for sound loss in some of the videos. You can find more information on these panels, including speaker bios for all presenters throughout the week at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AlPl9q3YjUyo0MoKbUuALXjownlMEbPrIGlofcaaexI/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you to everyone who presented last week at SL12B, all those who attend our NPC weekly meetings and other events, and the nonprofit, social-good community of folks who inhabit these virtual spaces. Happy 4th all!

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

April 9, 2013

Masterminding Your Machinima Story for the April 12th NonProfit Commons Meeting

Join us this Friday, April 12th at Nonprofit Commons in Second Life to learn how machinima can enhance storytelling. Opal Lei returns to NPC to briefly talk about the process of creating machinima and to facilitate a mastermind group session, where you can exchange feedback about how to incorporate machinima in your organization or project’s storytelling.

Please note that Opal’s presentation will be partly in voice and partly in text, and feature a brainstorming session, so come ready to participate. Bring your ideas for the current TechSoup Digital Storytelling (http://tsdigs.org) challenge, whether you have them already fleshed out or not. Or just what you want to express in your machinima video. Get ideas, feedback, references, links, resources, and information from everyone in the group.

Prior to the meeting, please prepare a short paragraph that describes your organization and its goal, and another short paragraph about what your goals are for your video (i.e.: fundraising, awareness, documentation) and your vision for it (if you already have one).

Bio:

Opal Lei’s first machinima is a 30-second ad for her Mer Betta brand in 2010. Turning down an offer from a friend to produce it for her for a mere US$50, she chose to learn the basics of machinima filming in Second Life to create her own ad and immersed herself in a new form of creative expression. She helped film and edit MODA Primetime fashion shows and eventually taught machinima to new models at the MODA Modeling School. In 2012, she started two machinima series: “Talk, Like Dim Sum,” a talk show that is a follow-up to her book, and “Splo On The Go,” short clips which document the exhibits at the Splo Museum in SL.

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, April 12th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

AGENDA

8:30 am Introductions
8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
8:45 am Mentors Central: Jeroen Frans (Frans Charming in SL)
8:55 am *Featured Presentation: Opal Lei – Masterminding Your Machinima Story
9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

* Please note, the featured presentation will be partly in voice and partly in text. Please arrive early (8:00 AM PDT) if you need any help setting up Second Life so you can use voice.

• http://www.techsoupglobal.org/blog/need-humanitarian-computer-refurbishment-and-reuse

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

March 14, 2013

TechSoup Global Goes To Congress (Again): Humanitarian Electronics Recycling and Refurbishment for the March 15th NPC Meeting

This Friday, March 15th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Jim Lynch, Director of GreenTech for TechSoup Global. It’s not our first time advocating for charities and libraries in the hallowed halls of the U.S. Congress, but this time, Jim Lynch has created a catch phrase that he hopes will capture some hearts and minds of policymakers. He calls it “humanitarian electronics recycling and refurbishment”. Find out what he said to policymakers on behalf of the digital divide.

Bio: Jim Lynch, Director of GreenTech, TechSoup Global

Over his long career at TechSoup Global, Jim Lynch has been involved in creating all of TechSoup’s environmental programs. Mr. Lynch leads TechSoup Global’s work to develop the computer refurbishment and reuse field in the United States and internationally. He has provided testimony on the humanitarian portion of the field to the U.S International Trade Commission. He has also participated in the creation and refinement of standards for the U.S. electronics recycling industry.

Mr. Lynch also directs TechSoup’s GreenTech program, which promotes technology and practices that reduce the IT environmental impact and carbon footprint of nonprofits, NGOs, and libraries worldwide.

Jim Lynch designed, in cooperation with Microsoft, the Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher Program for the Americas, which distributes low-cost Windows and Office software to recyclers and refurbishers. In 2005 he also started TechSoup’s Refurbished Computer Initiative, which supplies low-cost warrantied refurbished computers to U.S. nonprofits and libraries. His interest in computer recycling and nonprofit social enterprise began when he created and ran homeless education programs and computer training labs in the 1980s.

Jim Lynch has been interviewed extensively over the years on computer recycling and related issues by the Wall St. Journal, National Public Radio, PC World Magazine, and many other news outlets.

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, March 15th, 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 Jim Lynch: Humanitarian Electronics Recycling and Refurbishment
9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

http://nonprofitcommons.org

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

February 15, 2013

NPC 2/15/13 Featured Presentation: Community Partnership Development Through Hackathons

Below is an edited transcript of the 2/15/13 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Lyre Calliope on Community Partnership Development through Hackathons. To view the full transcript, go HERE.

Today we have as our featured presenter Lyre Calliope who will be discussing how hackathons can be used to develop community partnerships and for social good.

Bio: Lyre Calliope’s mission is to assist in the emergence of a globally collaborative society. His first work experiences came as a volunteer for futures oriented non-profit organizations where he was exposed to cutting edge thought leadership, technology, and had his first experiences as a community organizer. Lyre began applying these experiences in 2006 through work as a social media consultant in an Atlanta-based agency called ConceptHub where he learned how business ecosystems operate and just how challenging they can be when faced with change. In 2010 he cofounded C4 Atlanta, a non-profit organization dedicated to stewarding Atlanta’s creative economy by helping arts entrepreneurs build successful careers. Now in Boston, he’s turned his efforts toward growing an ecosystem of open innovation practitioners that learn and build in the Commons.

Let’s welcome up Lyre, please take a seat and start whenever you are ready.

[Lyre Calliope]

Thanks for inviting me back Rhiannon! It’s great to jump back inworld. 🙂

For some time I’ve been worried about how accelerating technological change also accelerates gaps within society: income, literacy, social equity, etc. ‘Disruptive innovation’ is often seen as the most valuable form of innovation, but there has to be a place for constructive innovation. There has to be a way in which innovation can occur that doesn’t disrupt whole communities, industries, or even economies.

How do we approach innovation as an act of renovation?

I believe a major piece of this puzzle involves tying technological advancement to learning. This is exactly what happens at hackathons.

So, what is a hackathon?

A hackathon is an event in which people involved in software development come together to collaborate on projects. They usually last one to two days, but weeklong hackathons are not unknown. The goals of hackathons can vary, but usually the aim is to develop working software. Hackathons usually have a theme such as a specific programming language, a product category, a community, an industry, or a problem space. You can think of a hackathon as a programming marathon.

As the number of API (Application Programming Interface) based companies have grown, the number of hackathons has gone up as a means of marketing their developer focused products. Some developers think there are too many hackathons. There’s also the problem that good software takes time and few finished products ever come out of them. As a result, hackathons are seen by many people as superficial. This is understandable when finished products are seen as the outcome.

The real value from hackathons comes not from software developed, but from learning: the new connections made neurally, socially, and webbily.

Done right, hackathons enable communities of practice to form. Communities of open innovation practitioners.

Arthur C. Clarke famously said: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Well, hackthons are like the new Hogwarts. They’re where you go to learn new magic.

So let’s talk about purpose driven hackathons.

After Hurricane Sandy, I began volunteering for CrisisCommons, a non-profit organization that stewards the CrisisCamp hackathons it grew from. CrisisCamps convene globally whenever there is a natural disaster to apply open source and open data capacities to disaster recovery efforts. More than just software developers, people of all stripes are invited to participate in data management tasks, communications, etc.

One of the lessons I’ve learned over the past few months is that unlike traditional hackathons in which developers start working on projects from the very beginning, CrisisCamps require something of an R&D process. The problems faced by crisis responders are unique, and often happen in real time. A successful CrisisCamp invites subject matter experts to share their knowledge and help guide the discovery process that informs the design and development of solutions.

At the end of a hackathon, it’s customary for groups to demo the projects that they have been working on.. even if their projects are only prototypes or mockups. During these demos, there’s often an a-ha moment that comes when subject matter experts see what is technologically possible. This can open doors to new opportunities for change within the organizations these subject matter experts operate in.

The division of labor for a team at the typical hackathon falls between designers working on the user interface systems and developers working on the back-end logic systems. For the purpose-driven hackathon, I’d like to add a third category of team participant: Storytellers facilitating problem discovery and solution documentation.

I imagine many of you hear actively identify as storytellers. 🙂

By introducing the storytelling role into the mix, hackathons can become a learning opportunity open to a much wider group of people. There’s a lot more that I’d love to say about the importance of storytelling in purpose-driven hackathons, but I should talk a bit about the role of data.

Innovation during the past decade can be largely attributed to the Open Source movement. Innovation during the next decade will be all about Open Data.

At the center of hackathon culture is the use of APIs: Application Programming Interfaces. APIs enable the flow of data between Apps and organizational infrastructures in a secure, structured, and accessible way. You may or may not realize it, but all of us are constantly using APIs every day. They are kind of like the web, but for all our apps. 21st century organizational partnerships are built through the exchange of data via APIs.

I could easily have spent this entire time just talking about the role of APIs play in facilitating powerful partnerships between organizations, but then the community learning piece would have been lost!

One of the best ways to really understand APIs if you’re not a techie is to go to a hackathon and help put them into action! Making is learning, and we learn best when we make together. The last thing the world needs is more Instagrams and Pinterests. Unfortunately, software developers are too often isolated from communities with real problems to solve.

Hackathons are the forums where bridges can be built to engage software developers in civic and purpose-driven problem solving. Hackathons are the place where communities can come together to not only learn where information technology is going, but actually direct its advancement toward solving the real-world problems they face.

That’s all I have prepared, but I can go into more detail and fish out some relevant links if ya’ll are interested. So, questions? 🙂

CarmenLittleFawn: how can a story teller get involved?

[Lyre Calliope]

First thing that brings real value: documentation. Most software developers hate creating documentation, but it’s really important for encoding knowledge as well as engaging others in building forward. Second, facilitating conversation and understanding with subject matter experts and helping developers think through application logic. Btw, when I say subject matter experts, I mean people with pain points within communities.

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Made my living as translator between engineering and users

Ozma Malibu: so the storyteller can interpret the problems to the designers and developers, and the storyteller can have the vision of a solution that holds everything together (yes Jen – I made my living similarly as translator but in education)

Ozma Malibu: Pain points! I had not heard that expression. very useful way to see the problem.

Glitteractica Cookie: My new work with Carvanstudios will be largely focused on hackthons and apps that come out of them. Lyre and the rest of you… @caravanstudios is our twitter handle. You may be interested in this hacker helper wiki: http://hackerhelper.wikispaces.com which identifies the probelms and gives corresponding data to hackers who build apps to help solve civis problems. We are hoping ppl add to the hacker helper wiki and edit it if they see fit.

Jen (jenelle.levenque): QUESTION: How do we find out about hackathons and what their focus is?

Gentle Heron wonders if there is somewhere a master list of upcoming hackathons and topics?

Glitteractica Cookie: there are thousands of hackathons going on, so I doubt there is one master list

[Lyre Calliope]

As for where to find out about hackathons, there are community calendars you can find. A friend of mine is trying to compile a semi-master list and I’ll share that link. Honestly, I’d try Meetup.com! Enter the social stream where developers reside and ask them where the hackathon calanders are. 🙂

Rhiannon Chatnoir: I have a question, how could you seem something like a Hackathon being carried out within a virtual space such as Second Life or otherwise, and within communities like NPC.

[Lyre Calliope]

So, the great thing about open source tools is that they allow for productive time and space displacement. Which makes them even more powerful when you get people together at the same time.

As long as you get people together within the same headspace and have effective communication channels in place, you’re good to go.

Horror story:

After Hurricane Sandy, I was at the MIT Media Lab at the local CrisisCamp while at least a dozen other hackathons were ongoing around the world. All sharing waaaaayyyyy too many communications channels. It didn’t just disrupt our ability to work with other events, it disrupted our room.

The physical space was disrupted by too much virtual distraction.

Rhiannon Chatnoir: so collaborative presence is key – even if virtual

Frans Charming: You know some the relief fundraising we did and do in SL can be viewed as a hackaton. Thinking back on the once I was involved in, though less about providing data/program.

Jen (jenelle.levenque): The key word with communications was EFFECTIVE.

[Lyre Calliope]

So yes. Collaborative presence. 🙂

And by past experience, hacking in second life is second only to actual physical presence.

Incidentally, hackathons are a great way for organizations to support their communities.

The presence enables conversations that wouldn’t occur otherwise. Fast looping and iteration. And helps form that core engaged community that supports itself. Kind of like what used to happen in the old days of yore right here.

One other comment!

I’m a big fan of inter-organizational collaboration. Communities exist between organizations. Hackathons are a great way to bring multiple organizations together and learning how their communities not only intersect, but can help facilitate organizational partnerships out in the open.

Like I said, it’s like Hogwarts! Especially for non-api savvy types.

Rhiannon Chatnoir: Any other questions for Lyre on Hackathons or how this could fit witing your org/mission? And, I have a question for all of you… what are your thoughts on somehow organizing a virtual hackathon?

CarmenLittleFawn: I would be interested in seeing how it would fit my organization

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Been mulling that over

Dancers Yao: sounds good….would like to learn more about this

Buffy Beale: I think it would be fun and interesting for those non-api savvy types too

CarmenLittleFawn: I would love it all though I am not a programmer but a storyteller

[Lyre Calliope]

Storytelling is the original programming.

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Someone needs to provide the story that shows the need to be addressed

CarmenLittleFawn: I would love too If I knew how I have a idea I would love to implement

Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes, the issue/mission/storyline comes first

CarmenLittleFawn: I can provide a story that show needs

Rhiannon Chatnoir: maybe we can work on that to come

Glitteractica Cookie: Are any of you going to build an app or enter an already built app to the win8 apps for social benefit contest?

Dancers Yao: want to enter…but it is at storytellng level

CarynTopia Silvercloud: I have an idea but don’t know how to get it actualized

Glitteractica Cookie: caryn, if you want to post yr idea to the wiki, we could maybe add the data to help a hacker build it

[Lyre Calliope]

And just as important as storytelling around need, is storytelling the activity at the hackathon. Publishing ideas, hypothesis, ideas and hypothesis thrown out for new ones.. code prototypes that didn’t pan out.. all valuable stories.

Rhiannon Chatnoir: so let’s thank Lyre for presenting today! Great to see you back in Second Life. and maybe we can drag you back if we can get a hackathon going 🙂

[Lyre Calliope]

Any time! I’m totally in!

Gentle Heron: Thank you Lyre. I learned a new word for “collaborative work”

CarynTopia Silvercloud: very interesting presentation

Buffy Beale: cheering! thanks Lyre

Glitteractica Cookie: Thanks Lyre! You are great

Beth Ghostraven: yay! Thanks, Lyre!

CarynTopia Silvercloud: would love to check out a hackathon

Jen (jenelle.levenque): Thank you Lyre, I was totally mystified about hackathons til today

[Lyre Calliope]

I’m still mystified. 😉

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

January 16, 2013

Moving Beyond Second Life: Opportunities for Education, NonProfits & Healthcare in the Wider Metaverse, January 18th NPC Meeting

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

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

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

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

January 9, 2013

Transcript of the January 4th NPC Meeting: Future Trends in Technology

[08:35] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Welcome everyone to this week’s Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting!

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Happy New Year everyone!

[08:36] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Happy New Year, Rhi!

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: The Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is sponsored by TechSoup Global and is a program of the TechSoup Global Community & Social Media team

[08:36] Zinnia Zauber: Happy New Year!

[08:36] Wisdom (esavage): Oronoque, that is an excellent discussion and sometimes unavoidable when trying to levearage time

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Today’s Agenda:

– 8:30 am Introductions

– 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

– 8:50 am Mentors Central

– 9:00 am Future Trends in Technology

– 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: First a few links to start off the meeting.

Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

– Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

– http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

– Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

– G+ Community: https://plus.google.com/communities/114212078390326305687

– Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

– Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

– http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

– http://flavors.me/techsoup

[08:36] Wisdom (esavage): Goodmorning

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I encourage you if you are new to check some of those out and if you take any photos today, please post them up in our Facebook or G+ community group

— INTRODUCTIONS —

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Hello everyone, let’s start off with Introductions!

[08:37] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Bruce Hestley, Transgender American Veterans Association, Akron, OH, http://www.tavausa.org, http://www.facebook.com/#!/TAVAUS

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Please state your real name, location, org, and the ways we can find you online.

[08:37] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko

[08:37] Chayenn: Monique Richert, Protect Yourself 1, Inc., Baltimore MD, protectyourself1.org, facebook.com/PY1US , @PY1US

[08:38] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Loren Alunaia, Director of the distanSLab Educational Technology Resource Center, Washington, D.C. | www.distanslab.org / @distanslab / www.facebook.com/distanslab

[08:38] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. www.virtualability.org

[08:38] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): iSkye Silverweb Bonde, Virtual Ability

[08:38] bulaklak: Michael DeLong, San Francisco, CA, USA, TechSoup Global, @mmdelong @TechSoup www.techsoup.org

[08:38] Ethelred Weatherwax: Dave Dexter, Neenah Historical Society, Wisconsin USA

[08:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and, if your new, might also be nice to know how you found about NonProfit Commons

[08:38] Wisdom (esavage): Eveangel Savage, CasebyCase Research Foundation, Greenville, NC

[08:38] Coughran Mayo: Dick Dillon, Innovaision, LLC St. Louis MO @Innovaision @Coughran

[08:38] CarynTopia Silvercloud: Caryn Heilman, Topia Arts Center, @topiaartscenter, www.TopiaArts.org, in Adams in the Berkshires of NW, MA

[08:38] Josain Zsun: Budd Turner, middle school teacher in Tucson, AZ

[08:38] Chad Mikado: Chad Gobert, National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP), UMass Boston, www.serviceandinclusion.org

[08:39] Oronoque Westland: Roberta Kilkenny, Hunter College, City University of New York

[08:39] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett, Elder Voices, Inc Los Angeles, CA Human Rights and Health Care

[08:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir is Joyce Bettencourt, Boston MA area, Online Community manager of TechSoup’s NonProfit Commons in Second Life community, @RhiannonSL, http://joycebettencourt.com

[08:39] Wisdom (esavage): Been involved for a while but still My goal for the new year is active membership in second life how to be active.

[08:40] Gentle Heron: There’s a lot to learn, Wisdom, and these folks here can help mentor you.

[08:40] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Wisdom stick around for the Mentor’s meeting after as that is a topic we’ve been discussing

[08:40] Rhiannon Chatnoir: If you joined us late, please still introduce yourself!

[08:40] jacmacaire Humby: Hi everyone

[08:40] Ronnie Rhode: Denise Harrison, The Garden for the Missing featuring missing persons: http://www.gardenforthemissing.org/ and SLURL Remora (203,148,21), Project Jason, assistance for families of the missing, http://www.projectjason.org.

[08:40] Beth Ghostraven: Beth O’Connell, middle school librarian, Virginia, US, @booklady9

[08:40] Keko Heckroth: Keko Heckroth, Cincinnati, Adult Ed

[08:41] Wisdom (esavage): Great, I will stick around.

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and I love the idea of sharing your personal or organizational new year’s resolutions that revolve around technology/media 🙂

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: any other introductions?

[08:41] Adalace Jewell: RoSa Library Brussels – Belgium @adalace http://www.rosadoc.be

[08:41] jacmacaire Humby: Jacques Macaire HUMANBE http://www.humanbe.com Action Tank on Sustainable Human Development France and International @Humanbe

[08:42] Tori Landau: Patricia Dean, volunteer event coordinator fot the Open University’s deep think sims and volunteer owner of the former International Schools island, renamed Moonstone but still ISI currently °͜° www.open.ac.uk

[08:42] Wisdom (esavage): strategyis critical for the enhancement of organization in digital advocacy

[08:42] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Resolutions: I resolve not to use my teachers’ or clients’ computers to bludgeon them this year. Only iPads. ｡◕‿÷ ｡ LOL in all seriousness, we’re hoping to deploy virtual environment opportunities into classrooms in a very serious way this year, and I hope the NPO on the grid will facilitate that for our organizations in First.

[08:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lets move on.. but please feel free to introduce youself still

— TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS —

[08:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: It is time for TechSoup Announcements!

[08:43] bulaklak: Happy new year, all!

[08:43] Chayenn: happy new year bulaklak

[08:43] bulaklak: It looks like none of my other Soupers are here today, just me and Rhiannon!

[08:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes

[08:44] bulaklak: Anyway, my own personal resolution is to see more movies this year and my org/professional resolution (one of many) is to refresh my coding skills and learn HTML5

[08:45] bulaklak: Now on to the TechSoup announcements . . . .

[08:45] bulaklak: There is really just one big one today

[08:45] bulaklak: Which is that we have a new website launching on Monday

[08:45] Zinnia Zauber: Awesome bulaklak!

[08:45] bulaklak: I know I’ve teased you with info about this over the last six months or so

[08:45] bulaklak: But we’re *finally* there

[08:45] Adalace Jewell: 🙂

[08:45] Tori Landau: Great news °͜°

[08:46] bulaklak: The major improvement will be to the search functionality on the site

[08:46] bulaklak: We know right now it is quite hard to find things on the site

[08:46] bulaklak: So the new site has many snazzy new search features that make it very easy to find things

[08:46] bulaklak: And a much more integrated way of displaying content from across different parts of the site

[08:47] bulaklak: All of the community content such as forums and blogs will be integrated into product pages and vice versa

[08:47] Beth Ghostraven: @bulaklak, could you put the URL for the site in chat pls?

[08:47] bulaklak: Here is a little more information on the upcoming change, and once it launches we will likely have a TS representative come speak about it

[08:47] bulaklak: http://bit.ly/S5dJoP

[08:48] bulaklak: Sure, Beth. The URL will be the same: www.techsoup.org

[08:48] bulaklak: Come Monday, it will just look a bit different from the way it looks now!

[08:48] bulaklak: Once it launches, we welcome all of your feedback

[08:48] bulaklak: There is a special forum called Site Improvements where you can leave bugs, complaints . . . or praise!

[08:49] bulaklak: It’s special because you don’t have to log in to post there as you do on the rest of the forums

[08:49] bulaklak: We want you to be able to have anonymity if you like, and have a lower barrier to leaving feedback

[08:49] bulaklak: Here is that URL

[08:49] bulaklak: http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/f/30.aspx

[08:50] bulaklak: Just a quick note that the site will be unavailable from this evening through Monday morning

[08:50] bulaklak: But we’ll be posting messages on our Facebook and Twitter

[08:50] bulaklak: Happy new year everyone!

[08:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Will that down time effect any of the NonProfit Commons sites or just the central TechSoup.org?

[08:51] bulaklak: just the central techsoup.org

[08:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: good to know and thanks for the update Bulaklak

— MENTOR’S CENTRAL —

[08:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s move on to Mentor’s Central

[08:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Today for Mentor Central we have iSkye Bonde to speak, let’s welcome her up and please start whenever your ready.!

[08:53] iSkye Silverweb: HOW will it be announced?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: So, let’s talk about this.

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: First, WHO will be invited?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: – For workshops or conferences: Who is your audience?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: – Is the event intended for a specific group?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: – Is it a public event or a private one?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: WHAT is the occasion?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: – Is there a theme?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: – Is decorating needed, any building to be done?

[08:54] iSkye Silverweb: – Are display materials needed?

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: WHY have the event?

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: – The answer to this could be as simple as “Let’s have fun!” or “It’s Sour Pickles Month, let’s organize a conference around it.”

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: – Be sure to describe the event to draw interest and give good details. Make people want to come!

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: WHERE will it be?

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: – Is this a cozy discussion intended for only a few people? A small location, perhaps in a cafe?

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: – Is it a professional conference? Consider a larger auditorium-type setting.

[08:55] iSkye Silverweb: – Is this to be simulcast on video or audio to RL venues or only inside SL? Plan for this!

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: – Will it be filmed or recorded? Take that into consideration, too.

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: WHEN will it be?

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: – Avoid conflicts with other major events.

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: WHAT TIME will it start?

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: – Consider your audience.

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: SL is a worldwide grid, but you might want to target just Americans/Canadians,

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: or people in Europe, Asia, or the UK.

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: 5:00PM SLT works out to something like 1:00AM in the United Kingdom.

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: For presentations and meetings where you want people

[08:56] iSkye Silverweb: from other parts of the globe to have the opportunity to participate,

[08:57] iSkye Silverweb: think about having them more than once, at times that are workable for them.

[08:57] iSkye Silverweb: HOW will it be announced?

[08:57] iSkye Silverweb: – If you want to have people coming into SL from RL, you will want to promote accordingly –

[08:57] iSkye Silverweb: interoffice memo, Facebook/Twitter, a website or blog

[08:57] iSkye Silverweb: – If it will be an intergrid event (parallel with the same event in another virtual setting), you will want to make sure it’s promoted in the sister grid, and possibly through RL means as well.

[08:57] iSkye Silverweb: – Inworld only – group notices, group chats, community calendars, perhaps even the SL Destination Guide or SL Event Calendar.

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: – Be sure to include all the information:

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: Event title,

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: date,

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: time (use SL/Pacific time zone as a common reference for all),

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: description,

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: location,

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: is it public or private, and

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: contact person for questions.

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: Most of all, ALLOW ENOUGH LEAD TIME to COMMUNICATE about the event so enough people hear about it and can plan to attend.

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: We like a good week or so for guest presentations,

[08:58] Sarvana Haalan: Sally S. Cherry, Baltimore, MD, http://CHAREproject.com, @CHAREproject

[08:58] iSkye Silverweb: and much more time for professional conferences or large group parties.

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: Be considerate: if your attendees are coming into Second Life for the first time, BE PREPARED to assist them.

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: We were all noobs once!

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: (This picture shows a presenter who came in for the first time, specifically to speak at IDRAC last summer.)

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: What has worked for us at Virtual Ability

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: is to encourage those planning to attend special inworld events for the first time,

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: to set up their SL accounts at least a few days in advance

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: and utilize Virtual Ability’s award winning orientation course.

[08:59] iSkye Silverweb: Our mentors can be on hand to help with any questions.

[09:00] Wisdom (esavage): Is there an iPAD app for these meetings?

[09:00] iSkye Silverweb: In the giver box you’ll get examples of notecards I give out when I am scheduling a presenter or guest to come to Virtual Ability.

[09:00] Gentle Heron: Wisdom, any way you can get into SL, you can attend these meetings.

[09:00] iSkye Silverweb: The questions on the notecard are designed to help me and Virtual Ability do all that we can,

[09:00] iSkye Silverweb: to help the guest have a successful presentation or event.

[09:00] iSkye Silverweb: A key question we ask is, “Will you conduct this in voice, text, or both?” It’s important to include all participants. Everyone benefits!

[09:00] Wisdom (esavage): Great information!

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we have a blog that I post all of the transcript up onto as well if you can’t make it into the meeting.

[09:01] iSkye Silverweb: Some of our partners have events that may be of interest to our community members.

[09:01] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): ( For Android check out Lumiya. For iPad, check out Pocket Metaverse. )

[09:01] iSkye Silverweb: Be sure to include the key information, jazz it up a bit, and don’t forget a contact person in case there are questions.

[09:01] iSkye Silverweb: Now that all the questions are answered and arrangements are made, you’ll be READY and can enjoy the event!

[09:01] iSkye Silverweb: Thank you – any questions?

[09:01] Sarvana Haalan: awesome!

[09:01] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): please steal my notecard examples from the giver!

[09:02] Rhiannon Chatnoir: iSkye Thanks for leading Mentors Central today!

[09:02] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): You’re welcome

[09:02] Wisdom (esavage): Very helpful dialogue:)

[09:02] Gentle Heron: Thank you iSkye. In addition to the awesome presenters, iSkye is a large part of why VAI has such great presentations.

[09:02] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you so much!

[09:02] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great – let’s move on to our main part of the meeting

[09:02] Oronoque Westland: hooray for iSkye…very helpful and succinct

[09:02] Sarvana Haalan: very helpful info

[09:02] Dancers Yao: Great….You are excellent at helping people to present and do events!

[09:02] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Excellent presentation

[09:03] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Easy to follow

[09:03] Josain Zsun thanks iSkye

[09:03] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd) applauds!

— FEATURED PRESENTATION: FUTURE TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY —

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Today I will be presenting on Future Trends in Technology

[09:03] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): my head is going to get so big I won’t be able to get out of SL… but thank you, everyone!

[09:03] Sarvana Haalan: Woot, woot!!!!!

[09:03] Lord Emmanuel Davidson (lordemmanuele)Lord Emmanuel Davidson (lordemmanuele)lol

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir: So as a kick off to 2013, I thought it might be nice to do a presentation on some interesting future trends in technology and chat a bit about how they might be relevant.

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Some of this was fueled by my summer at Singularity University (http://singularityu.org) and the plethora of amazing speakers and content on future focused tech out there and thinking on how it can be used for social good.

[09:04] Rhiannon Chatnoir: topics such as crowdfunding, gamification, big data, alternate input devices, augmented reality and 3D printing and discuss how these innovations could be used for organizations.

[09:04] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Any one of these topics could be a full presentation – so think of it as a very brief intro and we can always schedule something deeper going forward.

[09:04] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I invite you to all contribute with your comments as I go along and maybe we can also make this a bit of a brainstorm session on thinking how these various technologies could be used to further your org’s mission or initiatives.

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and feel free to grab photos – I will be busy typing

[09:05] Sarvana Haalan: I testing a couple of crowdfunding sites now

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great segway

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: So lets start off with…

CROWDFUNDING

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Crowd Funding

[09:05] Sarvana Haalan: 🙂

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: You have no doubt heard of the term ‘crowd’ sourcing – the idea of the power of looking to the many (crowd) to solve a problem or task. Crowd funding is applying this principle to fund raising.

[09:06] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Sites like Kickstarter.com, IndieGoGo (http://www.indiegogo.com/) and others have ‘kicked-off’ a wave of individuals being able to reach out for funding directly to a global/internet audience, for projects or ideas.

[09:06] Rhiannon Chatnoir: If you search through Kickstarter you will see people looking for funding for art, social good, events, hardware/software, games, music, films and numerous other types of projects.

[09:06] Rhiannon Chatnoir: In return, funders get something back…maybe it is the first wave of your new product, service, game, etc or some other perk.

[09:06] Gentle Heron always wondered about the accountablity of such funding.

[09:07] Rhiannon Chatnoir: And – the fundraising platform get some sort of small percentage of the entire amount raised as the cost of suing and doing business through the site.

[09:07] Chayenn: In general they take 15%

[09:07] Sarvana Haalan: it depends on the site

[09:07] Chayenn: and keep your money from 8 days to 6 weeks

[09:08] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Yes Gentle, there have been more push for enforcement of ‘rewards’ on sites, but it is a ‘buyer beware’ and you have to apply some of the same elements of trust/reputation as for any internet interaction/transaction

[09:08] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks Chayenn

[09:08] Rhiannon Chatnoir: How could crowd funding relate to your nonprofit or cause?

[09:09] Oronoque Westland: @Rhiannon, did you mean to type “the cost of suing” or did you mean using?

[09:09] Rhiannon Chatnoir: oops using

[09:09] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb) grins

[09:09] Lord Emmanuel Davidson (lordemmanuele): lol

[09:09] Rhiannon Chatnoir: a little bit of morning typos there

[09:10] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Crowd Funding can possibly offer innovative ways to try to fundraise for a specific thing.

[09:10] Oronoque Westland: thanks

[09:10] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Not really the way to go if you are looking at needing ongoing funds to sustain an org, but great if you want to fund a specific new project and can find innovative ways to thank via rewards those that give funds.

[09:10] Beth Ghostraven: Could this be used to fund technology acquisitions for a school, instead of/in addition to applying for a grant?

[09:11] Wisdom (esavage): has anyone considered endowment funding?

[09:11] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I have seen IndiGoGo used more for personal or mission based goals

[09:11] Sarvana Haalan: It helps cover the cost of unfunded activities

[09:11] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Kickstarter seems more focused on funding that results in tangible outcomes that the investor can be part of or receive

[09:11] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Make sure you understand the terms you are signing up for on any given crowd funding site, on Kickstarter it is an ‘all or nothing’ model. If you do not make at least the goal money amount you set up that you need – you won’t receive anything.

[09:12] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Look to sites like IndieGoGo if you want to set up a more flexible fundraising that even if you don’t meet your goal, you can receive some funding.

[09:12] Sarvana Haalan: there is an directory of crowdfunding sites based on topics… and help tailor your proposal

[09:12] Coughran Mayo: Do you have a link for that, Sar?

[09:12] Rhiannon Chatnoir: do you have the link to that Sarvana

[09:12] Rhiannon Chatnoir: IndieGoGo also offers a 25% discount on any platform fees to registered 501c3 nonprofits. Any funds raised for nonprofits are sent to your organization through FirstGiving.

[09:12] Sarvana Haalan: Kickstarter only gives if you reach goal

[09:12] Sarvana Haalan: just a sec, C

[09:13] Sarvana Haalan: have to search files

[09:13] Rhiannon Chatnoir: There have been several virtual worlds focused projects that I know of that have used crowd funding sites for fund raising on project such as to publish a book (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/virtualhandhold/virgins-handbook-on-…) or create a specific virtual experience or machinima (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203270798/the-tinies-of-raglan-shire).

[09:13] Wisdom (esavage): good information:)

[09:13] Gentle Heron: www.crowdsourcing.org/directory

[09:13] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks

[09:13] Coughran Mayo: Thanks GH

[09:13] Chayenn: Timely info for local nonprofits on how the fiscal cliff legislation will affect donors. http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2013/exempt-organizations-and… …

[09:13] Sarvana Haalan: wonderland did one, I think

[09:14] Sarvana Haalan: Thanks GH… I am slow at multitasking today

[09:14] Chayenn: you should also check the guidestar link above if you are a 501 c3

[09:14] Rhiannon Chatnoir: A Few Resources:

Wikipedia article on Crowd Funding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding

An article from IndieGoGO, on how to raise funds for NonProfits: http://support.indiegogo.com/entries/20557666

[09:14] Rhiannon Chatnoir: also US Jobs Act Legislation opening up crowd funding of company investments to beyond ‘friends and family’: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224003# (article on) and http://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/tmjobsact-crowdfundingintermediar… (US gov FAQ on).

[09:15] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that legislation takes effect this year, so we will start to see broader and more serious usage of crowdfunding in 2013

[09:15] Sarvana Haalan: The JOB Act brought a lot of attention to crowdfundin especially for businesses… http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224003

[09:16] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I think we both were reading that same article Sarvana

[09:16] Rhiannon Chatnoir: 😉

[09:16] Sarvana Haalan: lol, lol… Thiannon, great minds think a like…lol

[09:16] Sarvana Haalan: *Rhiannon

[09:16] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so, again…this is a brief overview of several trends..

GAMIFICATION

[09:16] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lets move on to Gamification

[09:17] Rhiannon Chatnoir: What do the Boy/Girl Scouts, retail store loyalty programs/cards, and Foursquare all have in common?

[09:17] Rhiannon Chatnoir: They all encourage actions and give rewards for engagement with their org/brand/app.

[09:18] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Gamification is the use of game-thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts in order to engage users and solve problems. You can use this to increase engagement, enhance learning.

[09:18] Rhiannon Chatnoir: some ways to do this:

– adding achievement badges to your app/site

– the concept of ‘leveling up’ for your community or volunteers

– leader boards of top engagers

– a way for your community engagers to be awarded points for key engagements / actions

– finding a way to create organization or network-wide challenges and competitions

[09:19] Rhiannon Chatnoir: An example of this being used for social good:

[09:19] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Using incentives via engaging game elements In a project that the NYC HIVE Learning Network (http://explorecreateshare.org) produced.

They created a mobile learning and discover mobile app where teens could become citizen scientists by exploring their local neighborhoods and finding key nature elements and collecting evidence by documenting their findings through capturing cell phone photos via their phones, earning badges for their discoveries and ranking with other teen naturalists.

[09:20] Rhiannon Chatnoir: How gamification can be used in the virtual world:

[09:20] Rhiannon Chatnoir: The World Bank, through a collaboration with Global Kids, used gameplay to reinforce concepts learned during trainings and also encourage a sense of competition and upped the level of excitement of what might have been initially dry subject matter.

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Training participants logging in to Second Life, and via their avatars buzz in or run to a target to answer a question or hop into a race car and race against other training teams to get to the next checkpoint first and have the opportunity to answer a question on content studied.

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: In this example, the gameplay becomes a great tool to assess what was actually learned!

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: This sure beats being handed a multiple choice survey after a training workshop!

[09:21] Oronoque Westland: Games for Change is a great resource http://www.gamesforchange.org/

[09:22] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes and also, Jane McGonigal’s site for game developers/makers who want to make a difference: http://gameful.org

[09:22] Rhiannon Chatnoir: also the Wikipedia entry on gamification: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification

[09:22] Sarvana Haalan: My daughter will actually at Magfest today helping to kick off her employer’s new Gaming Division

[09:22] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great!

[09:22] Sarvana Haalan: barely can wait to hear about it

[09:23] Rhiannon Chatnoir: with interactions and data online or via a mobile phone and even here in Second Life where you can add interactivity – you can add game elements to any of these

[09:23] Rhiannon Chatnoir: any other examples anyone would like to share or thoughts?

[09:23] Gentle Heron: It’s heresy, I know, but not all of us like to learn by playing games.

[09:24] Gentle Heron: Not all of us are competitive.

[09:24] Coughran Mayo: I would jump back to the crowdfunging topic quickly and note that related to this is the issue of crowdsourced opinion, this is a technology that may have a really big impact on charities in the next few years.

[09:24] Rhiannon Chatnoir: there are noncompetitive games and even things like earning badges, can be more on a personal achievement level

[09:24] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb) turns and looks at Gentle – THAT is what I have trouble with, if the emphasis is too much on the competition and not enough on collaboration

[09:25] Josain Zsun hoping bring up web browser won’t crash SL client…again

[09:25] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Mozilla foundation is putting in a lot of research into using badges as a way to quantify informal learning across many platforms and ways you can learn/earn a badge

[09:25] Sarvana Haalan: am using games to reach the teen girls who are big users of games but I have them help me develop the game… as part of a STEM project

[09:26] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes, check out Global Kids work on using games for learning by having teens develope games on social/world issues: http://olpglobalkids.org

BIG DATA

[09:27] Rhiannon Chatnoir: OK – lets move on to Big Data!

[09:27] Sarvana Haalan: teo-fold goal… educate and get them interested in Science, Tech and Math

[09:27] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Think about services like Netflix or Amazon that have so much data coming into them about the habits and preferences of their customers and through the querying in innovative ways you can help assist via predicting patterns through analysis of this data.

[09:27] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Predictive modeling = analyzing data to help predict what people will do/choose/buy.

[09:27] Oronoque Westland: a former Global Kids kid was in my university class a few years back and talked about GK….the others in the class were sooooo jealous….they want GK for college “kids”

[09:27] Rhiannon Chatnoir worked for Global Kids for many years

[09:28] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and yes – their teens are amazing

[09:28] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Think Amazon being able to suggest items you might like or Netflix suggesting movies you would enjoy

[09:28] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Some examples of big data being used for social good:

[09:28] Sarvana Haalan: their manual is my “Vistual Bible” lol

[09:28] Oronoque Westland: the marketing potential is huge but the privacy implications scary

[09:28] Sarvana Haalan: *Virtual

[09:28] Rhiannon Chatnoir: “fold it” (http://fold.it/portal/) – combining big data with human-directed computing power to find a better way to solve complex problems like folding proteins.

[09:29] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes Oronoque.. with great data comes great responsibility

[09:29] Gentle Heron agrees with Oro on that point.

[09:29] Rhiannon Chatnoir: think of all of the personal data pouring through not just your financial institutions/banks, but Google and other platforms we interact with

[09:29] Josain Zsun: http://www.scoop.it/t/3dle/ is a collection of gaming & VW posts I’ve collected.

[09:30] Rhiannon Chatnoir: With Fold It, Through using game-like play, they are getting their users to manipulate protein data structures to find real life solutions to things such as cancer and finding clean energy.

[09:30] Gentle Heron: Thanks Josain.

[09:30] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks!

[09:30] Rhiannon Chatnoir: You also see analysis and prediction of data used a lot in health care.

For example, the National Cancer Institute developed an online interactive tool to assess breast cancer risk based off of extensive medical research survey data: http://www.cancer.gov/bcrisktool/

[09:30] Rhiannon Chatnoir: How big data relates to the virtual world:

[09:31] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Most common example of interesting usage of data in Second Life, are a lot of the stats collection devices, that take the proximity and movement of avatars and analyzes it to show patterns in activity and usage of a virtual space.

[09:31] Rhiannon Chatnoir: But there are innumerable ways to incorporate data into a world like Second Life where you can put a script into any object, record interactions, save those to external databases and even use data to reward engagement.

[09:31] Gentle Heron: Rhiannon, what are the privacy implications of that, in SL?

[09:32] Rhiannon Chatnoir: well you could go as far as knowing the IP of an avatar and track their actions/interactions fully in a virtual space

[09:32] Gentle Heron nods, and understands that that is possible.

[09:32] Rhiannon Chatnoir: the up side is that you can use that to help your users or create unique experiences

[09:33] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so you have to weigh how much you might want to do and you could always put up a notice that you are tracking certain avatar data in your space and the reasons

[09:33] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that gives people an option to ‘opt out’ by teleporting away at least

[09:34] Gentle Heron: I suspect that’s too late to avoid being “IDed”

[09:34] Coughran Mayo: Aren’t we trying to encourage engagement?

[09:34] Oronoque Westland: At a minimum I think sims need to alert visitors that data is being collected, like what is done when we are told that our chat will be used elsewhere.

[09:34] Gentle Heron: One of the things I try to do when I greet newcomers here at NPC is let them know that they do NOT need to give their RL names when roll is taken.

[09:34] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes – but also always good to be transparent if you are collecting info that might be sensitive

[09:35] Gentle Heron: Good point Rhiannon.

[09:35] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): And those of us who try to keep a moderately-high fence between personal and professional, as well as First and Second, appreciate that sensitivity!

[09:35] Gentle Heron: But with this technology, your existence at a certain place and time now is an invasion of privacy.

[09:35] Oronoque Westland: this is a RL issue as well…more and more communities have cameras on the streets, we have tracking devices in our mobile devices, etc.

[09:35] Sarvana Haalan: would posting a sign good enough

[09:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: here in SL, that would be good Sarvana or if you have a specific area that you might have sensors in you could have a pop up notecard appear when they walk into that

[09:36] Sarvana Haalan: be good enough

[09:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: nod

[09:36] Dancers Yao: privacy issue very important when your org may be a human rights legal witness….

[09:37] Gentle Heron: It’s also very important when dealing with personal health data.

[09:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: nod

[09:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: A Few Resources:

Wikipedia article on Big Data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data
A four part seminar series that was hosted by Code for America on using Big Data for Public Good: http://www.greenplum.com/code-for-america/ (some informative and interesting videos!)
Kaggle – a competition site for collaborative big data projects: http://www.kaggle.com/
An archived presentation from the OReily Stratus conference focusing on using Big Dat for Good: http://strataconf.com/strata2012/public/schedule/detail/22590

[09:37] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): or lines on the floor that demarcate sensor ranges – like the sim borders – with notifications so avatars know how they can avoid those sensors

AUGMENTED REALITY

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lets move on to Augmented Reality!

[09:38] Dancers Yao: agree Gentle….

[09:38] Sarvana Haalan: My Centre have a sensor for visitors… I receive email to informed of their presence. So I can share a proper greeting if I am online

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Augmented reality is adding extra layers of information, data, audio or visual over physical life

Think of it as a way to bring some of the virtual world into the physical world by laying it atop.

[09:38] Sarvana Haalan: Woot… Augmented Reality Woot!!!

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: It can be a way to enhance one’s current perception of reality..

[09:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Some examples of augmented reality:

[09:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Mobile applications – such as Layer that if you hold your phone up in front of you or looking at a QR code, you see a 3D image pop up atop your screen view.

[09:39] Sarvana Haalan: Sally is my “augmented reality”… LOL, LOL

[09:39] Oronoque Westland: Oro visited a RL subway station the other day via green screen she learned about at an NPC meeting

[09:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ahh great – share the link again if you remember it

[09:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Google glass – A project in development by Google, where you wear a pair of glasses and this adds an extra layer of info and interaction with the mobile web

[09:40] Sarvana Haalan: the Google glasses were featured at Fashion Week

[09:40] Sarvana Haalan: so cool

[09:40] Rhiannon Chatnoir: If you havent seen the video Google put out about Google Glass – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4

[09:40] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that gies you an idea of how they are working on augmented an extra layer atop reality

[09:40] Oronoque Westland: @Rhiannon, I think you talked about green screen here a few years back

[09:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: There is also Spatial augmented reality – using projection of images to layer atop reality. You can create mixed reality by projecting a virtual avatar into a real life space.

[09:41] Sarvana Haalan: it’s a regulatrdiscussion topic at my local tech meetups

[09:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: there has been a surge of this being used for entertainment, by bringing in holograms of often deceased singers or actors and putting them on stage ‘live’ with a band or performers in real life

[09:42] Beth Ghostraven: A friend is a nursing lab assistant at a community college; they use VR simulation combined with RL actors for training

[09:42] Gentle Heron: WARNING: Begging is not allowed in SL. If someone asks you for Lindens, please refuse.

[09:42] Oronoque Westland: I saw a super-imposed Dr. King advertising something a few years ago that must have made Dr. King roll over in his tomb

[09:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes Oronoque, there have been some interesting explorations of using projection and greens screens live, at the SLCC10 conference there was a live mixed reality performance of Alice and WOnderland delivered this way

[09:43] Tori Landau: Yes, I just got a begging IM, was about to remind the person of that.

[09:43] Beth Ghostraven: I got one too

[09:43] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): There’s an artist who did a mixed reality art exhibit that was great fun

[09:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Beth – check out Stanford’s Virtual Reality lab for interesting research there

[09:43] Oronoque Westland: a begging IM is a type of crowd sourcing

[09:43] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): I got one, too, Tori

[09:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: How this could relate to your nonprofit:

[09:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: You can use applications like Layar (http://www.layar.com/) or ARToolKit (http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit/) to recreate historic buildings or create a walking tour that highlights social/historical moments that have happened in an area – a way of adding capturing and sharing a lost moment in time

[09:45] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I have seen this to recreate historic objects or moment for the Freedom Trail in Boston

[09:45] Oronoque Westland: there is great work being done with AR for mobile device use by school kids

[09:46] Beth Ghostraven: for what kinds of mobile devices, Oronoque?

[09:46] Oronoque Westland: smartphones

[09:46] Oronoque Westland: the students use them during field trips

[09:47] Sarvana Haalan: Virtual Reality is the foundation of my “Real to Virtual; Virtual to Real” Program

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes – usually via a smart phone app of some sort, I know Nokia has done a lot of AR specific apps and there are independent apps both on the iOs and android platforms

[09:47] Beth Ghostraven: You can use QR codes for that, too

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great – yes Augmented reality could really be used as a bridge to help jump people between virtual and real

[09:48] Ozma Malibu: Wow that is worth looking into Rhiannon, Beth, I am trying to think of ways to get visitors to our historic neighborhood.

[09:48] Beth Ghostraven: As long as they know what the difference is…

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: an interesting using augmented reality along side Second Life to enhance collaborative 3D building http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/06/augmented-reality-second-life-3d-modeli…

[09:48] Oronoque Westland: @Beth, I was just thinking the same thing

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco CA highlighting some of their augmented and virtual reality projects: http://museumvirtualworlds.org/

[09:49] Sarvana Haalan: has been proposed for a customized community health education

[09:49] Rhiannon Chatnoir: also the Wikipedia entry on augmented reality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_Reality

[09:49] Sarvana Haalan: the local area familiarity for the targeted users helps to drive the project

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I think we should maybe end things here.. I got through about half of the trends I wanted to go through

[09:50] Sarvana Haalan: Part 2 next week?

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: but we can schedule the other half for an upcoming meeting 🙂

[09:51] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Please do

[09:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: lol – definitely in the following weeks – depends on other presentations

[09:51] Sarvana Haalan: perfect discussion for the first New Year meetings

[09:51] Gentle Heron: As you said, each of these topics could have a whole presentation on its own

[09:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: which – if you are interested in being a presenter in 2013, please IM or email me: joyce@techsoup.org

[09:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes

[09:52] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Thank you very much for a terrific day’s session!

[09:52] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd) applaud

[09:52] Sarvana Haalan: R, Did you connect with Ines?

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: a couple of interesting food for thought articles though and then we move on to Open Mic

27 Science Fictions that Became Science Facts in 2012: http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/27-science-fictions-that-became-science-f…
List of some top global innovations: http://mashable.com/2012/12/31/top-global-innovations/

[09:52] Oronoque Westland: really great discussion

[09:52] Chayenn: PY1 emailed you Rhia the new MOA did u get it ?

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes

— OPEN MIC & ANNOUNCEMENTS —

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: It’s time for Open Mic!

[09:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Does anyone have any announcements today?

[09:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and welcome Glitteractica 🙂

[09:53] Sarvana Haalan: yes

[09:53] Glitteractica Cookie: got back just in time

[09:53] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): Taking up my notecard giver in…2 minutes

[09:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ok Sarvana

[09:53] Chayenn: happy new year glit

[09:53] Sarvana Haalan: Happy New Year to all!!! smiles

[09:53] Second Life: Event Planning Info Giver owned by iSkye Silverweb gave you ‘*Event Planners – Please RENAME this Notecard!’ ( Plush Nonprofit Commons (123,122,23) ).

[09:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: 🙂

[09:54] Glitteractica Cookie: I have an announcement

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great!

[09:54] Second Life: Event Planning Info Giver owned by iSkye Silverweb gave you ‘*Presenters – Please RENAME this Notecard!’ ( Plush Nonprofit Commons (123,122,23) ).

[09:54] Wisdom (esavage): how do you create notecards? still learning the basics?

[09:54] Glitteractica Cookie: the mentors can help you with that after this mtg, Wisdom

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: wisdom, if you want to stay for the Mentors meeting that follows this, we can help you with some new SL stuff

[09:55] Wisdom (esavage): yes:)

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: feel free to make your announcement Glitter

[09:55] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): giver is going…

[09:55] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): going….

[09:55] iSkye Bonde (iskye.silverweb): gone!

[09:56] Jen (jenelle.levenque): raises hand

[09:56] Glitteractica Cookie: Ok, so my announcement is… that we are helping to produce a windows 8 hackahon. And I think you have all heard about it from Bulaklak

[09:56] Glitteractica Cookie: was he here earlier to re-announce it today?

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: he talked on the reformat of the techsoup site

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I don’t think he rementioned the app hackathon

[09:57] Glitteractica Cookie: Ok, I will get link to show you all, but anyway… we’ve mentioned over the past few weeks that we are helping produce this hackatho with microsoft.

[09:58] Sarvana Haalan: I share it with the Balto Tech group

[09:58] Glitteractica Cookie: And there is a wiki for hackers/developers to use for the social benefit issue that the app that you will design

[09:58] Glitteractica Cookie: the app needs to be designed in win8, solving a social problem

[09:58] Glitteractica Cookie: so, i wanted to invite you all to help edit the hacker helper wiki

[09:58] Sarvana Haalan: will share with the social enterprise folks also

[09:59] Glitteractica Cookie: hackerhelper.wikispaces.com

[09:59] Glitteractica Cookie: plz look at the contest info here: http://bit.ly/QKexib

[09:59] Glitteractica Cookie: and then look at the hacker helper wiki

[10:00] Glitteractica Cookie: see if we got yr problem described right, add to the issue area, help us fill this wiki out

[10:00] Glitteractica Cookie: then developers can take the data from the wiki and build apps to solve social issues

[10:00] Glitteractica Cookie: if anyone is interested in this, just go to hackerhelper.wikispaces.com and start poking around and editing

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: if you have any questions, please email me at susan@techsoup.org

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: more on that next friday

[10:01] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: and thanks for your time and attn

[10:01] Sarvana Haalan: awesome

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: over and out

[10:01] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and thanks Susan!

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: np, sorry about my mishap this morn

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: glad i made it to open mic

[10:01] Sarvana Haalan: so exciting!!!!

[10:01] Jen (jenelle.levenque): raises hand

[10:01] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that’s ok and yes

[10:01] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Jen?

[10:01] Jen (jenelle.levenque): I’m an editor and if anyone would like me to look over any printed material, please contact me. There is no charge for nonprofits

[10:01] Glitteractica Cookie: sarvana, please feel free to ping me if you or anyone else has any quesions

[10:02] Sarvana Haalan: ok

[10:02] Rhiannon Chatnoir: good to know Jen and a great offer

[10:02] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so let’s wrap things up for this week – our first meeting of 2013!

[10:02] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Always helps to have another set of eyes

[10:02] Rhiannon Chatnoir: And again, here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

– Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

– http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

– Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

– G+ Community: https://plus.google.com/communities/114212078390326305687

– Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

– Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

– http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

– http://flavors.me/techsoup

Thanks everyone and see you next week!

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

January 4, 2013

“Future Trends in Tech” for the January 4th NonProfit Commons Meeting

This Friday, January 4th, NonProfit Commons will be featuring a discussion by our own community manager Joyce Bettencourt (Rhiannon Chatnoir in SL), who will be presenting an overview and sharing insights on exciting trends in technology. We will explore topics such as crowdfunding, gamification, big data, alternate input devices, augmented reality and 3D printing and discuss how these innovations could be used for organizations.

Join us in Second Life and share your thoughts on innovations in tech!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, January 4th, 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 Featured Presentation: Future Trends in Technology
9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

http://nonprofitcommons.org

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

December 19, 2012

Transcript of the December 14th NPC Meeting Featuring: Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe)

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Welcome everyone to this week’s Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting!

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: The Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is sponsored by TechSoup Global and is a program of the TechSoup Global Community & Social Media team.

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Today’s Agenda:

– 8:30 am Introductions

– 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

– 8:45 am Mentor’s Central

– 8:55 am Main Speaker: Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe in SL): “Creative Social Strategy for Non-Profit Organizations”

– 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: First a few links to start off the meeting.

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

– Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

– http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

– Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

– Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

– Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

– http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

– http://flavors.me/techsoup

— INTRODUCTIONS —

[08:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Morning all! Happy Friday and let’s start off with Introductions!

[08:38] Buffy Beale: Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women, Victoria BC Canada, http://www.bridgesforwomen.ca @bridges4women

[08:38] HB Eternal: Harold W Becker, The Love Foundation, Florida, http://www.thelovefoundation.com @lovefoundation

[08:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Please state your real name, location, org, and the ways we can find you online.

[08:38] JT Christos: John Goltz, The Love Foundation, Florida, http:www.thelovefoundation.com, @lovefoundation

[08:38] HB Eternal: LOL Buffy

[08:38] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko

[08:38] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett, Elder Voices, Inc. Los Angeles, CA Health Care and Human Rights www.eldervoices.net

[08:38] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Keith Reeves, distanSLab Educational Technology Resource Center, Washington, D.C. http://www.distanslab.org.

[08:38] Sarvana Haalan: Sally S. Cherry, Baltimore, MD, http://Facebook.com/CHAREproject, Email: sally@CHAREproject.com

[08:38] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. www.virtualability.org

[08:38] Buffy Beale: hehe HB we both jumped in too soon

[08:38] Andy Evans: Andy Mallon, First Opinions Panel in SL…- Chief Bottle-Washer, Social Research Foundation, New York, NY http://www.socialresearchfoundation.org/

[08:38] Chad Mikado: Chad Gobertwww.serviceandinclusion.org

[08:39] Glitteractica Cookie: Susan Tenby, Online Community and Social Media Director, TechSoup, SF CA USA @suzboop @techsoup

[08:39] Ozma Malibu: Sandra Andrews, Floaters Org and now Floaters @ The Millett House Gallery, tech outreach in AZ, Mexico and On the Road, @ozma

[08:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir is Joyce Bettencourt, Boston MA area, Online Community Manager of NonProfit Commons in Second Life, http://joycebettencourt.com, http://twitter.com/RhiannonSL

[08:39] bulaklak: Michael DeLong, TechSoup Global, San Francisco, CA, USA @MichaelDeLongSF @TechSoup

[08:39] JoJa Dhara: JoJa Dhara, Holland, www.metameets.com www.jojadhara.com @jojadhara

[08:39] Chayenn: Monique Richert, Protect Yourself 1, Inc., protectyourself1.org, facebook.com/PY1US. @PY1US

[08:39] alebez: Ale Bezdikian, Online Community Coordinator, TechSoup Global, SF, CA – @TechSoup, @alebez

[08:39] Skylar Smythe: Skylar Smythe, Freelance Social Media CRM and Writer | www.socialmeskylar.com @skylar_smythe

[08:39] Ethelred Weatherwax: Dave Dexter, Neenah Historical Society, Wisconsin USA

[08:39] CarynTopia Silvercloud: Caryn Heilman, Topia Arts Center, www.TopiaArts.org in the Berkshires of NW, MA

[08:39] AnnaMina Alter: AnnaMina Alter, Digital Navigator

[08:40] Gentle Heron likes AnnaMina’s title.

[08:40] AnnaMina Alter: smiles

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: any more introductions?

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: OK

— TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS —

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s move on to TechSoup Announcements!

[08:42] bulaklak: Hello, people! So excited to be here today. I love today’s topic – social media. Very near and dear to my heart.

[08:42] bulaklak: First just a little ‘housekeeping’ as they say. We will be around next week, but then TechSoup will be closed from December 24 – January 1. So no NPC meeting on the 28th. And next week I’ll have some more info on what this means for requesting donation for your org during that time.

[08:43] bulaklak: Next, I want to make sure to get in another plug — are you tired of them yet? — for the Microsoft Windows 8 Apps for Social Good contest. Remember there are three cash prizes totaling $40k at stake. We’ve already started to see some excellent submissions rolling in. Check them out and read all the contest details here: http://bit.ly/QKexib

[08:43] bulaklak: And if you’re curious about what makes for an excellent submission to this contest, Susan Chavez, whom you may remember from her visit here last spring to talk about the Facebook time line changes, wrote this nifty blog with loads of good information about what the judges will be looking for: http://bit.ly/TSmeid

[08:43] Sarvana Haalan: woot!!

[08:43] bulaklak: Speaking of our blog — as well as the NetSquared blog, TechSoup for Libraries, and the TechSoup Global blog — don’t forget that you can subscribe by RSS and never miss an update: http://bit.ly/Z5PvO3

[08:44] bulaklak: Last, I just want to let you all know that we are revamping our weekly newsletter By the Cup a little bit, and will be featuring more community-driven content. So, just as for the Local Impact Map, I want you all to think of great stories you might want us to feature. This will be a little less formal than the LIM, so have a little fun with it, too. More on that later, but just wanted to get you all thinking about stuff we could surface.

[08:44] bulaklak: And that’s all I’ve got for today!

[08:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Thanks Bulaklak!

[08:45] Rhiannon Chatnoir: do we have anyone for Mentor’s Central today?

[08:46] Zinnia Zauber: We have Sar today!

[08:46] Buffy Beale: cheers for Bulaklak!

[08:46] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great!

— MENTOR’S CENTRAL —

[08:46] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Then let’s move to Mentors Central & welcome Sarvana up!

[08:46] Buffy Beale: wooot Sar!

[08:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and if you joined us late, feel free to introduce yourselves still

[08:47] Sarvana Haalan: just rezzed back in

[08:47] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Aeonix Aeon | Will Burns – Vice Chair for IEEE Virtual World Standard Group P1828

[08:47] CarmenLittleFawn: GM Sar, Lorna Hawkins, Drive By Agony, (Keeping Kids Safe), California

[08:47] Sarvana Haalan: seats are not rezzed yet 🙁

[08:48] Buffy Beale: welcome to the new folks 🙂

[08:48] Zinnia Zauber: No worries, you can be outstanding! Instead of sitting.

[08:48] Sarvana Haalan: can you see me

[08:48] Zinnia Zauber: Yes!

[08:48] alebez: looking good, sar

[08:48] Orange Planer begins hearing the rock opera “Tommy” in his head.

[08:49] Sarvana Haalan: ok… I will start while I rez 🙂

[08:49] Sarvana Haalan: As gadget loving ava, I am always checking out new gadgets and links. I am currently testing… the Lumiya Viewer

[08:49] Mia (praxislady.witt) grabs headphones off Orange, hmm

[08:49] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we can see you – so all good on our end and thanks Sar

[08:49] Sarvana Haalan: lagging

[08:50] Sarvana Haalan: A little about… About Lumiya

Lumiya Viewer is a Second Life grid client for Android phones and tablets. It is recognized as a Third Party Viewer by Second Life. Lumiya runs entirely on the phone without requiring you to use special in-world objects or external services.

[08:52] CarmenLittleFawn: aww she crashed

[08:52] Zinnia Zauber: aww

[08:52] Zinnia Zauber: Well, we wanted to do discuss different phone apps and this was a start.

[08:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: 🙁

[08:52] Orange Planer: hey, I can throw in an informational tid-bit while she relogs.

[08:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: sure

[08:53] CarmenLittleFawn: 🙂

[08:53] Brena Benoir: Brenda Bryan, Preferred Family Healthcare, Kirksville, MIssouri, www.pfh.org, @brenabenoir

[08:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we have had a few crashes in SL today it seems

[08:53] Zinnia Zauber: info nugget away Orange

[08:53] Mia (praxislady.witt) giggles

[08:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we can give a minute and if she can’t make it back in.. we can swap things around

[08:54] Orange Planer: A security company recently did a manual inventory of android apps on Google’s site that use SSL, which is what http”s” means. SSL is the security layer used to encrypt your data between your computer and the website in question. 41 of the 100 apps they found that use SSL had weak implementations and are unsecure.

[08:54] Orange Planer: So, the next time you’re looking for a cool Google app…

[08:54] Orange Planer: think twice.

[08:55] CarmenLittleFawn: I heard this the other day Orange

[08:55] Orange Planer: Technology is awesome: but technology used blindly is not awesome.

[08:55] Mia (praxislady.witt) nods head at Orange

[08:55] Gentle Heron: That is a great saying, Orange.

[08:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: btw Sarvana is trying to log in.. she pasted me her text though into skype in case not

[08:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Why don’t we move to our Main speaker and then we can have Sarvana pick back up before Open Mic if she is back 🙂

[08:56] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Hi everyone… I’m Shirley (in both worlds), I was a track leader at SLCC 2010 and 2011, right now I’m figuring out what is next in my life

[08:56] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Lumiya is a handy Android app for mobile use, but even minor connectivity interruptions can pull the avvie off the grid. Handy for quick conversations and check ins, though! I use it regularly. 🙂

[08:56] Orange Planer: More info: http://www.darkreading.com/vulnerability-management/167901026/security/news/240144260/top-mobile-vulnerabilities-and-exploits-of-2012.html?cid=nl_DR_daily_2012-12-12_html&elq=053d04bcd7d645408adb060399588f08

[08:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: but I do love the talk on apps.. really dovetails with TechSoups app challenge – do you have the contest link handy Bulaklak?

[08:57] AnnaMina Alter: ty Orange

[08:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and yes, thank you Orange

[08:57] Orange Planer: Moral of the story: “Do you have antivirus protection on your android phone?”

[08:58] Zinnia Zauber: Great Orange

[08:58] CarmenLittleFawn: very good info

[08:58] Orange Planer: Welcome back, Sarvana.

[08:58] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Sar

[08:58] Skylar Smythe: wb Sarvana.

[08:58] Rhiannon Chatnoir: oh – she is back!

[08:58] Tori Landau: Yay, wb Sarvana

[08:59] Rhiannon Chatnoir: am sure the world is probably rezzing around her

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: OK – well still a good idea then to invite up our main speaker

— FEATURED PRESENTATION: LORI SHEPPARD (SKYLAR SMYTHE) —

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s welcome Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe in SL), who will speaking to us about the importance of content, appropriate social channels and multimedia tools to create qualitative interaction with your community online. She will also answer questions regarding outsourcing and social media best practices.

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: First a bit about our speaker…

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Bio: Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe) is a freelance marketing professional from Toronto, Ontario Canada. Actively engaged in online communities since 1995, she provides social media management and onboarding to organizations in the UK, Canada and the United States and is a Senior Writer for ShesConnected.com, Canada’s largest network of business bloggers and brand ambassadors.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lori-sheppard/25/296/7a9

[09:01] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lori – Please come up and grab a seat in front!

[09:01] Zinnia Zauber: Rah Skylar!

[09:01] Mia (praxislady.witt) claps for Lori

[09:01] Skylar Smythe: haha managed to sit without falling… woot!

[09:01] Gentle Heron applauds for Skylar

[09:01] Buffy Beale: Cheering!!!

[09:01] Skylar Smythe: Thanks very much Joyce, and thank you for inviting me to talk with everyone today. It’s a great pleasure to be here leading the discussion on social media for the Non Profit Commons.

[09:02] Skylar Smythe: Good morning everyone. Welcome to what I hope is a less like a lecture and more like an idea sharing opportunity. For those of you that use Twitter I would like to encourage you to follow along in the Non Profit Commons feed @NPSL. For this presentation we are going to be using the hashtag #NPCSocial.

[09:02] Glitteractica Cookie: we are happy to have yo uhere

[09:02] Skylar Smythe: Thank you Glitter!

[09:02] Skylar Smythe: I’m going to be posting some questions to engage everyone in discussion on Twitter, and I will be responding to questions there after we are done. If you know someone who was unable to attend, be sure to give them the hashtag so they can review later if they’d like.

[09:02] Glitteractica Cookie: i don’t think we’ve ever had a live tweeting backchannel for an NPC presentation. Good idea

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes

[09:03] Skylar Smythe: So let’s begin.

I’d like to start by taking a poll of our non-profit agencies to determine who is using social media within their organization. If you are, type YES in the general chat so we can see.

[09:03] CarynTopia Silvercloud: yes

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir is

[09:03] CarmenLittleFawn: yes

[09:03] Skylar Smythe: Yes.

[09:03] Coughran Mayo: Para Espanol, 2

[09:04] Dancers Yao: yes

[09:04] Buffy Beale: yes

[09:04] Skylar Smythe: Okay great. To get a sense of how long you have been using social media professionally, please tell us the year that you set up your social media channels by typing the year into general chat.

[09:04] Jen (jenelle.levenque): YES

[09:04] Jen (jenelle.levenque): 2011

[09:04] Skylar Smythe: 2006

[09:05] Buffy Beale: 2009

[09:05] CarmenLittleFawn: I think 2005

[09:05] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Unless you count SL

[09:05] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Sar

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: if I think back to media to forums 1995, if I think back to media and social sites 2005

[09:05] Tori Landau: 2009

[09:05] Dancers Yao: 2007

[09:05] CarynTopia Silvercloud: 2007

[09:05] Mia (praxislady.witt): 2006

[09:06] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): I decline to say on account it would reveal my age, and it’s impolite to ask an avatar their age. Unless you’re in the Amsterdam sim.

[09:06] Buffy Beale: lol Will

[09:06] JoJa Dhara: 2007

[09:06] CarmenLittleFawn: giggles

[09:06] Skylar Smythe: That’s wonderful. So we know that non-profits are engaging on social media channels almost unilaterally. But what we are going to take a look at is HOW well you are engaging and what you might do differently.

[09:06] Skylar Smythe chuckles at Will

[09:06] Orange Planer: Eh, I don’t care. I started using chat rooms in 1985.

[09:06] Rhiannon Chatnoir: or in an AOL forum.. though that sates an avatar too

[09:06] jacmacaire Humby: Hi everyone.. sorry to be in late.; A lot of problem to connect today in SL from France..

[09:06] Mia (praxislady.witt): @Will, we won’t tell (crossing fingers)

[09:07] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Depends on what you define as social media.

[09:07] Buffy Beale: good point Will

[09:07] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Modern incarnations?

[09:07] Orange Planer: If I’m being social, it must be media!

[09:07] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Or the original precursors

[09:07] Skylar Smythe: For this discussion, I mean formal communication platform on Twitter, G+, Facebook etc. Not specific to online communities like SL or GeoCities, mIRC et al.

[09:07] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Compuserve and AOL forums were certainly precursors of modern social media

[09:08] Mia (praxislady.witt): yes, good question Will, I would side with Orange at 1985

[09:08] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Modern Social Media. gotcha

[09:08] Rhiannon Chatnoir: nod – anyone who was using online forums and MUDs / MOOs is direct precursor to varied social channels of today

[09:08] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): and Usenet

[09:08] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): forums, BBS systems, etc

[09:08] Skylar Smythe: Most virtual world users are enterprise users of online communities dating back to the late 1980’s and early 90’s

[09:09] JoJa Dhara: when internet started

[09:09] Glitteractica Cookie: i was on bbs in early 90s

[09:09] Skylar Smythe: I want to share my rockstar moment with you.

[09:09] Skylar Smythe: When I was in New York city in May, I attended the Mayo Clinic’s conference “Connecting Healthcare and Social Media” at the Roosevelt Hospital. I was there with my host, a Second Life non-profit called Southern Tier HealthLink (NY HealthScape). I have been working with NY HealthScape and assisting their Executive Director Christina Galanis for three years now using virtual worlds, machinima and social media to expand their scope of communication and educate on the benefits of electronic health information exchange.

[09:09] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): oh the sweet sound of the dial-up modem… I remember it fondly with bleeding ears.

[09:09] Skylar Smythe: The first night when we were in New York, I had my rock star moment. I sat beside this really cool guy who was even more passionate about social media than I was. He made the big mistake of asking me if I had any ideas HOW non-profits and health care institutions could use social media. I talked his ear off that night at Rosa’s Mexicana in Manhattan, and after I was done giving him about a million different ways non profits could integrate social into their marketing, Christina let me know I had been talking to Lee Aase, who as you know is the director and head hauncho of social media for the Mayo Clinic.

[09:09] Rhiannon Chatnoir nods to Will

[09:10] Skylar Smythe: I think I almost choked on my churro. (heh heh)

[09:10] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): LOL

[09:10] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd) laughs!

[09:10] Buffy Beale: lol

[09:10] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): oh nu!

[09:10] Sarvana Haalan: smiles

[09:10] Skylar Smythe: I have worked with the Ontario College of Pharmacists since 2005 and was responsible for setting up and outlining best practice for their member feed on Twitter. Like most non-profits, they understand that there is the potential to engage qualitatively both within the profession as well as externally to the public and media.

[09:11] Skylar Smythe: The College is going through what most non-profits in Canada and the United States are experiencing at this exact moment. The realization that they SHOULD be social but a fear that they may not do it “the right way”. Other institutions I have talked to are frustrated because they don’t know how to approach social engagement, and are not seeing any quantitative results from their investment in social media communication.

[09:11] Skylar Smythe: Is that true for your organization?

[09:12] Buffy Beale: somewhat yes

[09:12] CarmenLittleFawn: yes

[09:12] JoJa Dhara: yep

[09:12] Mia (praxislady.witt): yes

[09:12] Gentle Heron: We polled our community members. They pretty much don’t use social media. So we aren’t going there at this time.

[09:12] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Quantitative results are always a challenge unless you do direct selling or solicitation

[09:13] Skylar Smythe: That is a good point Gentle. Social is not a perfect fit for every niche but some engagement is still expected by your audience and community. It varies depending on the sector.

[09:13] Sarvana Haalan: many orgs do not want to wait for the “engagement”… they want instant results or they stop support th eongoing effort

[09:13] Ozma Malibu: (Regardless, without social media we don’t reach our audience. It’s how we communicate.)

[09:13] Skylar Smythe: You are right Sarvana 🙂 That is the challenge for CRMs such as myself to show that ROI.

[09:13] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Suppose you ask them if they’re that nervous about attending a cocktail party. If not, tell them that’s how to approach it.

[09:14] Sarvana Haalan: *supporting the ongoing effort

[09:14] Coughran Mayo: so “pre-loading” helps, Will?

[09:14] Skylar Smythe: Let’s take a look at a great infographic I found called “How Non-Profits Relied on Social Media in 2012”. It was published two days ago on Mashable and I really recommend sharing this link with others because it has some amazing stats.

http://ow.ly/g6Bju

[09:14] Skylar Smythe: Fact: 98% of non-profits are on Facebook. #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:14] CarmenLittleFawn: ty

[09:14] Sarvana Haalan: awesome

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: Fact: 68% of individuals will investigate a non-profit their friend shares or discusses the organization through a social channel. #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: Fact: Fundraising that is integrated with Twitter yields almost ten times more revenue than other types of campaigns. #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: Fact: #GivingTuesday is a non-profit movement on Twitter designed organize requests for support #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:15] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): I mean – It’s not a passive communication of push, it’s actual engagement dictated by the whims of the crowd and what they feel is important to share. Just be the conversation instead of trying to dictate it.

[09:15] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): which is why Lori is awesome at it

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: Exactly Will! I’m going to get more into the importance of two way conversations in social.

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: The real gem in this infographic is the “how”. When non-profits who are experiencing a lot of success using social media were asked how they were achieving their communication goals and harnessing the power of social, they gave three top reasons.

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: 1. Coming up with a detailed social media strategy

2. Having Executive Management make social media a priority

3. Dedicating a current or new (personnel) position for social media

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: A few things to think about as you are developing your strategic plan for the new year. If you want to see some tangible results from your social media engagement, you have to not only put organizational effort into it but you have to formally integrate it into your overall marketing and communication plan.

[09:17] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:17] Skylar Smythe: Q1: What do you think are some of the administrative challenges to formalizing social media strategy for non-profits? #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:18] Skylar Smythe: Even with these encouraging statistics, we know that social media is still being under utilized in social, health and educational sectors. It’s not working as hard as it could for most of the organizations that use it. Frequently I see non-profits who have disproportionately high expectations of their social media efforts without putting in the necessary attention and effort to making their online sharing engaging.

[09:18] AnnaMina Alter: Lack of admin buyin

[09:18] Orange Planer: 1) Who does it? 2) What are they communicating? 3) Which platforms would be most effective? 4) Deciding it’s relevant to the business.

[09:19] Gentle Heron: finding the TIME!

[09:19] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Amen Gentle

[09:19] Skylar Smythe: Very good point AnnaMina. Bang on there. Care to elaborate?

[09:19] Chad Mikado: keeping up with it

[09:19] Orange Planer: Skylar – I’d like to comment on that, too.

[09:19] Skylar Smythe: Please do.

[09:20] Orange Planer: “Lack of admin buyin“: “We aren’t doing it because the administration didn’t buy in to it.”

[09:20] Orange Planer: That’s a copout comment:

[09:20] Orange Planer: The administration decided it wasn’t relevant.

[09:20] Skylar Smythe: Not always.

[09:20] Orange Planer: the point is to look at why the adminsitration didn’t agree.

[09:20] AnnaMina Alter: In our setting admins are fully occupied and not SM literate themselves… their world does not yet include that element

[09:20] AnnaMina Alter: Time / staffing issues

[09:20] Skylar Smythe: My experience is that high level decision makers frequently are less socially educated on communicating using these new channels. So they don’t see the value in it because they don’t understand it.

[09:21] Orange Planer: That’s not “buy in.” That’s “I am too busy.”

[09:21] Skylar Smythe nods at AnnaMina

[09:21] Orange Planer: Saying “someone doesn’t buy in” is a blame thing. it doesn’t look at the reason why someone isn’t doing what one wants.

[09:21] Orange Planer: I never use that phrase for that reason.

[09:22] Skylar Smythe: When I approach non-profits and executives, the first thing we hurdle is the value proposition. Once they understand what is to be gained from it, they jump on board pretty fast. Often it just takes some translation and “proof” of it working successfully in the sector for other organizations.

[09:22] Jen (jenelle.levenque): “buy in” is a symptom not a cause

[09:22] Buffy Beale: It adds more workload on already overworked staff so it’s been a lower priority

[09:22] Skylar Smythe: Often social can be easily added to a communication designate.

[09:22] Orange Planer: in my company’s case, the vast majority of the target audience doesn’t use computers

[09:22] Skylar Smythe: Or affordably outsourced (shameless plug)

[09:23] Buffy Beale: grins

[09:23] Skylar Smythe

[09:23] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): ( Nicely played, SS. 😉 Stone cold killer! )

[09:23] Skylar Smythe: Outsourcing is (while we mention it) a great way for SMEs to get professional social account management.

[09:23] Skylar Smythe: And it is an option many explore. You’ll have to take my word on that 😉

[09:24] Skylar Smythe: Q2: How many hours per week does your non-profit organization spend communicating on Facebook, Twitter or other social networks? #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:25] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): There is always an army of kittens with tineh netbooks willing to post cat pictures on Facebook for you

[09:25] Skylar Smythe: I spend 4 hours per week (for example) managing the Twitter stream for @nyhealthscape

[09:25] CarmenLittleFawn: not enough these days about three hours

[09:25] CarynTopia Silvercloud: 2

[09:26] Buffy Beale: 3

[09:26] CarynTopia Silvercloud: I had a lot of trouble with Google + and primarily use Facebook

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: Facebook and Twitter are the top channels for most businesses.

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: Augmented by other social feeds including Instagram and Linkedin

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: Q3: How would you rate your current satisfaction with your organizations overall social engagement? #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:28] CarmenLittleFawn: low satisfaction

[09:28] Jen (jenelle.levenque): On a 1 to 10 I’d say 2

[09:28] Mia (praxislady.witt): Facebook is questionable these days due to security issues and excessive ads, hmmm

[09:28] CarmenLittleFawn: true

[09:28] Skylar Smythe: Do you find you are talking and few people are listening?

[09:28] Skylar Smythe: or reacting?

[09:28] CarynTopia Silvercloud: less costy than direct mail and as a result more valuable in climate of uncertain fundraising

[09:28] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Rhi

[09:28] Skylar Smythe: WB Joyce xo

[09:29] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): For those of us working in education there’s also a stigma with Facebook that makes it challenging. Not to say we shouldn’t use it – huge user base – but there are some concerns there.

[09:29] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks and crashed all – sorry

[09:29] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): It’s in the nature of communication from organizations that a lot of it is one way…

[09:29] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): people are listening but feel that they don’t have anything useful to add to the conversation so they stay quiet

[09:29] Skylar Smythe: There are always concerns regarding best practice. And they are legitimate. Each agency will formulate their own guidelines.

[09:30] Skylar Smythe: You are 100% right Shirley. Don’t base the success of your engagement on reactions alone. Many people like to read, and learn but may not respond.

[09:30] Skylar Smythe: Sharing of information is valuable to create the centrifugal viral effect. That’s always the hope for some of your content is that it “catches fire” that way and creates awareness for your organization.

[09:31] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:31] Skylar Smythe: Like most organizations you probably realize that your social engagement is more broadcast in nature. If you are posting links of information in your Twitter feed or interesting industry articles in Facebook, you are simply broadcasting. You are not engaging with your audience. And frankly if your audience wanted to find those links themselves they could.

[09:31] Mia (praxislady.witt): sometimes lurking is a sport, yet benefit from data shared?

[09:32] Skylar Smythe: You got it Praxis. I’ve seen data that suggests 60%+ are intuitive lurkers.

[09:32] Gentle Heron: That is a good point, PraxisLady.

[09:32] CarmenLittleFawn: nods

[09:32] Second Life: Items successfully shared.

[09:32] Skylar Smythe: Here is what is critical to remember.

[09:32] Skylar Smythe: Don’t be a one way social conversation! Non-profits can engage qualitatively by responding to questions, providing clinical or educational informatics and still keep it real by being conversational in their social feeds.

[09:32] Mia (praxislady.witt): 🙂

[09:32] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): it can be useful to check how often your posts are being retweeted or shared on Facebook… though if they’re really specific to your organization you may not see much of that

[09:33] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd) must politely excuse himself, as his enthusiasm for this topic is outpacing his laptop battery; Cheers, friends! Great topic, will follow in backchannel!

[09:33] Skylar Smythe: Thank you for joining us!

[09:33] CarmenLittleFawn: tc Loren

[09:33] Skylar Smythe: Metrics are useful but they are only part of the sum of your ROI for social media engagement.

[09:33] Orange Planer: That’s true, Skylar. If yo ubecome a one-way conversation, people will tune you out.

[09:34] Orange Planer: “They aren’t talking to me, so they aren’t important.”

[09:34] Skylar Smythe: Exactly!

[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: Is there an easy automated way to see how things are re-shared that you are aware of? What tool do you use to track this stuff across your networks?

[09:34] Mia (praxislady.witt): agree, Orange

[09:34] Skylar Smythe: I apologize I do not have the link, but recently wrote on a piece where it revealed that 80% of major brands do not even take the time to respond to questions, comments or discussions on their social feeds.

[09:34] Skylar Smythe: What kind of impression does that make?

[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: i am always incredulous when I tweet to a company and they don’t respond

[09:35] Orange Planer: You mean like the sub shop I complained to on their facebook page when their delivery food stank?

[09:36] CarmenLittleFawn: this is true skylar and it makes you wonder are they reading any of the info or just using it for marketing

[09:36] Skylar Smythe: I am offended when they don’t respond to me. And I often let them know 😉

[09:36] Skylar Smythe: In your social you have a responsibility to engage in a two way conversation with your audience that acknowledges their attention and their feedback.

[09:36] Ethelred Weatherwax: And do they respond when you let them know?

[09:36] Skylar Smythe: Yep 🙂

[09:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: well that poses the question, specially if you do make the jump for your business/org into social media.. that it shouldn’t be something passive, you have to engage with those that reach out if you can. Even a negative response can be turned around

[09:36] Orange Planer: Yeah, I called them. They put a comment into my record stating “talk with manager.”

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: Social media strategy and content planning is part of your communication mix. It requires a formal action plan and thoughtfulness toward your target audience, consistency of posting (frequency) and a touch of “human” always in your conversation.

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: So how do we do it better?

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:38] Dancers Yao: For health care, we’ve found that because medical insurance in the US doesn’t often cover things like telehealth, it is hard to use social media to suggest possible places to find health care that is online, eg people who are homebound.

[09:39] Gentle Heron nods to Dancers.

[09:39] CarmenLittleFawn: mmmhmmm

[09:39] Skylar Smythe: You can provide links and ask your audience to provide feedback on the relevancy or usefulness of those links… to create conversation.

[09:39] Gentle Heron: I think that’s what Skylar means by “thoughtfulness toward your target audience.”

[09:39] CarmenLittleFawn: like that sky

[09:39] Skylar Smythe: I want to provide a few tips before we wrap up for you to consider.

[09:39] Skylar Smythe: 1. Focus efforts to grow audience on Twitter first. It is the easiest social network to develop a solid follower base. Include your Facebook and other social channel links weekly in your Twitter feed, and invite your followers to join you there.

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: 2. Develop a hashtag [#] in Twitter that is unique to your organization and use it consistently with your communication campaigns or topic matter to build following.

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: 3. Host weekly Twitter parties that allow your organization to communicate within the profession and with the people it serves. By allowing your followers that direct conversational access, you build community around your social presence. Click here to learn more about hosting a Twitter party: http://www.twitterpartyguide.com/what-is-a-twitter-party

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: 4. Shake up your communication mix! Don’t rely on text based engagement, blog posts or articles alone. Use multimedia such as music, video and interactive presentations in SlideShare or Prezi that can be imbedded in your content for interactive sharing. Be the opposite of boring and put some effort into making your sharing personable and fun.

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Glitteractica posed this question earlier, what are your favorite tools to measure and interact with your social media outreach

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: 5. Get your staff involved! Keep the ‘social’ in your social media. If you are having a major event, utilize your internal staff to promote the event in their own social channels using an appropriate #hashtag. Ask for positive contributions from staff members about the day-to-day things that make your organization exceptional or “moments” and have them post to Facebook.

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: .]

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: Sorry between windows 😉

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: I use Hootsuite reporting to gather metrics for my clients on a monthly basis Glitter.

[09:43] Skylar Smythe: I can tell how many impressions or clicks each link has received for them, as well as evaluate monthly growth of their audience, retweets, shares and other statistics.

[09:43] Mia (praxislady.witt): curious, how does that help the educational community plz?

[09:43] Glitteractica Cookie: oh you use the hootsuite report they send you?

[09:43] CarmenLittleFawn: likes this idea

[09:43] Glitteractica Cookie: the PDF one that hootsuite emails to u

[09:44] Skylar Smythe: Educational communities, Health providers, Regulatory Colleges are all engaging for different reasons Praxis. Increase awareness, fund raising, education, increase enrollment… there are are quite a few practical applications and benefits.

[09:44] Ethelred Weatherwax: Staff?

[09:45] Skylar Smythe: Yes 🙂

[09:45] Skylar Smythe: Staff can contribute posts to the social media designate for approval, and then publishing.

[09:45] Skylar Smythe: When your audience sees contributions from your staff… it creates a personal relationship between your organization and your audience.

[09:45] Ethelred Weatherwax: That was a rhetorical question. There is no staff.

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: Oh hah 🙂

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: Poor fellow.

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: xo

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: Get Creative!

• Have staff contribute their favourite holiday recipes on Facebook. Include a sentence about the contributing staff member and what they do within your organization.

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: • Create a holiday play list in YouTube of your favorite songs. Instructions for creating a playlist in YouTube: http://ow.ly/g6Arp

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we have to wrap things up with today’s conversation shortly

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so any last points or comments from everyone

[09:47] Skylar Smythe: Thanks everyone.

[09:47] CarmenLittleFawn: ty sky 🙂

[09:47] Skylar Smythe: I hope I’ve inspired some new ideas and thoughts.

[09:48] CarmenLittleFawn: 🙂 yes u have

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: this has been a great conversation though and think would be great to have you back for a deeper, part two of this!

[09:48] Dancers Yao: thank you

[09:48] Buffy Beale: That was fantastic Skylar thank you, it’s given a lot of food for thought!

[09:48] Tori Landau: Have learnt a lot, thank you.

[09:48] Gentle Heron: Thanks Skylar.

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s thank Skylar for presenting today!

[09:48] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Thank you, Skylar

[09:48] bulaklak: thank you!

[09:48] Glitteractica Cookie: I think it would be a great blog recap

[09:48] Skylar Smythe: I’d be happy to Rhia. Thank you for the invitation.

[09:48] Tori Landau: Applauds

[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: Wonderful!

[09:49] Mia (praxislady.witt): Thank you Skylar :)) *claps*

[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you Skylar!

[09:49] Namaara MacMoragh: thank you Skylar

[09:49] Skylar Smythe: I’d be happy to write a guest post for you Rhia if you like in follow up.

[09:49] Chayenn: very interesting thank you

[09:50] Skylar Smythe: I did not knock Rhia off the grid for more air time 😉

— OPEN MIC & ANNOUNCEMENTS —

[09:50] alebez: I wanted to see if there were any more announcements, as Rhi comes back to us.

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks Ale

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: lol no Skylar

[09:50] Skylar Smythe: wb Rhia.

[09:50] alebez: welcome back

[09:50] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Rhi

[09:50] Gentle Heron: I have an event for tomorrow I can announce.

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so any quick announcements.. feel free to share

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Gentle 🙂

[09:50] Gentle Heron: December Holiday Poetry delivered in voice and text. Saturday, Dec 15, 1pm SLT.

[09:51] Gentle Heron: Come get in the mood for Hannukah, Winter Solstice, Yalda, Yule, Christmas, New Years….

[09:51] Gentle Heron: whatever we celebrate in winter is shared through poetry.

Cape Serenity Library

[09:51] Gentle Heron: Cape Serenity (84,123,23)

[09:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks – anyone else?

[09:51] Gentle Heron: (done)

[09:51] Tori Landau: I have two if I may please

[09:51] Namaara MacMoragh: Etopia is having a holiday hunt. I have a giver I’d like to put out if that’s okay.

[09:52] Zinnia Zauber: me, please.

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: sure TOri

[09:52] Namaara MacMoragh: oops… so sorry

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and then Zinnia

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that’s ok Namaara

[09:52] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Raises hand

[09:52] Tori Landau: Firstly, if you wish to participiate in the festive gift exchange that is cross group/community, please give me your name br Sat 15th and…

[09:53] Tori Landau: *Tuesday 18th – Open Session at 1.15pm slt / 9.15pm GMT

Informal discussion exploring how joining virtual worlds can impact upon identity, to what extent do we role play, perhaps even without being aware of it and the extent to which changes are a natural adaptation to experiencing a new world. Location is the rooftop of the communal building at Deep Think West.

[09:53] Tori Landau: Deep Think West (74,53,37)

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ok

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Zinnia?

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: then Jen

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is Dec 20 from 5 to 7 PM SLT!

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: GOLD!

[09:54] Buffy Beale: oooooo

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is a fun and informative networking party here at the Nonprofit Commons to promote about what nonprofits, educators, humanitarians, scientists, and artists accomplish in Second Life.

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: woo hoo – great color

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Jen?

[09:55] Zinnia Zauber: So dress up and get down in GOLD!

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: oops

[09:55] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!

[09:55] Jen (jenelle.levenque): I have a menorah in my office (# 1) and will be lighting the candles each night at sunset (EST) which is approximately 14 SLT. Everyone is welcome.

[09:55] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Done

[09:55] JoJa Dhara whisper bye and thks for great meeting…of to dinner..hugzz xx and great weekend

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: good to know – lots of great ways to share community here during the holidays

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: well Let’s wrap things up for this week’s meeting

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: And again, here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org