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Featured Neighbor: The Exploratorium

Many thanks to Patio Plasma for taking the time to work with me on this great 5 minute interview! I checked out The Exploratorium yesterday and its really intriguing. The exhibits are really creative and its a great example of how education can be expanded in Second Life. I highly recommend that everyone take a trip there to check out the great exhibitions.

Q: What is the Exploratorium and why does it exist?
A: The Exploratorium in Second Life is an interactive science museum created and run by staff at the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco. We created the Exploratorium to present webcasts in-world of total solar eclipses. In the sim we show live images of eclipses in our amphitheater. In addition we have an exhibition of exhibits that explains solar eclipses. We also have large exhibits that let you: ride a cannon ball in orbit around the earth as drawn by Newton in the Principia,ride a molecule in brownian motion, ride a galaxy cluster outward from the big bang, and to observe an asteroid impact on Mars. We are in second life because it provides an opportunity to create interactive three dimensional time varying exhibits that would be impossible to create in real life.

Q: What can you tell me about the Pi exhibits?
A: The Exploratorium started Pi day, March 14, twenty one years ago. So it seemed natural to bring Pi day into Second Life. We have exhibits that are for fun, like the leaning tower of Pi-za that collapses when approached, and exhibits that help people come to grips with pi, a telephone reads the digits of pi when answered, or a pi glass, a glass that is one circumference tall and which seems impossibly tall.

Q: Do you have any events/initiatives coming up that you would like to promote?
A: Pi day exhibits are up and running from March 14 through April 15. We usually have a couple of special shows each year. Later in 2009 we will have a science of baseball show. And in 2010 we will bring live to SL a total solar eclipse from French Polynesia.

Q: How can NPC and the nonprofit community help support the Exploratorium?
A: A group of nonprofits can support each other by sharing information. Together we can create new worlds in SL without re- inventing the wheel. There is a second museum run by staff from the Exploratorium, The Splo, in Sploland sim. It has Exploratorium-like interactive science exhibits it also pokes fun at real life science museums.

If you would like us to feature your organization, event or exhibit on the blog, please contact Beth J. Bates (aka Cordelia Gothly) in-world or through the blog! We’re here to support you!

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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City Planning in Second Life

Second Life seems like such a dynamic platform for real-life city planning, and now that seems to be coming to fruition. The city of Birmingham in the UK has taken the lead in taking a look at this new platform for this practical purpose. The initiative has opened itself to mixed reviews, but I think that its a great test of how directly Second Life reflects real-life programs.

How can Second Life help planners in your community develop children’s centers, parks and other community hubs? Is this a worthwhile venture?

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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Come talk about the future of SL’s Teen Grid & Main Grid this Wednesday March 25!

You are cordially invited to RezEd.org‘s first Seasonal Meetup this Wednesday, March 25 from 12-1pm PST in Second Life! For those that don’t know, RezEd.org is a social network of educators using a variety of virtual worlds and MMOs for learning from a variety of perspectives and institutions.

For our first virtual meetup, we are going to discuss a very hot topic: “Educational Implications of Mixed-age Versus Age-segregated Virtual Worlds.” As you probably know, Linden Lab is planning big changes to the Teen Grid and “adult content” on the main grid that is going to have far-reaching implications for all of our work as educators, organizers and activists. We have three excellent speakers who can address this subject from youth, teacher and librarian perspectives. Plus we’ll have lots of time for Q&A, discussion and socializing.

Here’s the details:

RezEd.org’s Spring Virtual Meetup: “Educational Implications of Mixed-age Versus Age-segregated Virtual Worlds”

Second Life, Foundations Sim

Wednesday, March 25, 12-1pm PST / SLT

WHO:
• Lucky Figtree: Teen Second Life Resident
• Peggy Sheehy: Teacher, Suffern Middle School
• Kelly Czarnecki: Librarian, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

It’s going to be a fun and thought-provoking event. Please invite your friends and colleagues interested in the changes going on in the Main Grid and Teen Grid of Second Life, how other virtual worlds and MMORPGs navigate mixed-age and age-segregated spaces, and the impacts upon education and youth development.

For more information see http://www.rezed.org/profiles/blogs/rezed-holds-1st-seasonal or contact Amira@globalkids.org. See you there!

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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Global Kids Streaming Live from National Service Learning Conference in Nashville on March 20

Tomorrow, March 20, Global Kids will be streaming from (and participating in) the National Service-Learning Conference in Nashville, TN for the third straight year. The conference is an inspiring gathering of over 2,700 students, teachers, youth-workers and volunteers focused on service learning. For more info on the conference, please see the conference website.

For those who can’t make it to Nashville, Global Kids will be streaming several sessions from the NSLC live to the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater (click here to teleport ). The complete schedule is as follows:

7 – 8:30am PST: Plenary Session
Exciting entertainment and inspiring keynote speeches from Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, the Executive Director of Community Service Volunteers, the UK’s largest volunteering and training charity and Dr. James Hildreth, Director of the Center for AIDS Health Disparities, Meharry Medical College

11:45am – 1:15pm PST: Global Kids Workshop: Virtual Worlds for Real World Service Learning – Intro for Educators
 Learn about service-learning projects in virtual worlds such as Second Life and Habbo Hotel. You will gain a deeper understanding how virtual worlds can create more meaningful learning and service in your community.

1:30 – 3pm PST: Global Kids Workshop: Global Kids Workshop: Online Tools for Offline Action – How Generation MySpace Can Change The World
Join Global Kids to check out a variety of cool tools for your service-learning projects both online and offline. Discover how you can use Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, and others to make a positive difference locally and globally.

Both of the workshops will have interactive activities for the avatars to participate in. See you all there!

Written by: rikomatic

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Sign the Pledge – Feed Hungry People

Hunger in this country has always been a problem, but with the current state of the economy and the rise in unemployment, it is hitting families worse than ever.

PledgeToEndHunger.com has rallied with Tyson Foods, Share Our Strength, Hum. Minds at Work, Kompolt and Mediasauce to help support the efforts of food banks.

There are several ways that you, the individual, can help feed hungry people right now:

  • Sign the pledge
  • Write a blog post to help promote the campaign
  • Spread the word and encourage others to make the pledge

How easy is that? By just signing the pledge, you will automatically send 35lbs of food to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas from Tyson Foods. What’s more, if your state generates the most pledges, Tyson will send two truckloads of food to your state.

So what are you waiting for? Go to PledgeToEndHunger.com and sign the pledge. It’s quick. It’s easy. And you will be putting food in the mouths of hungry folks.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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N2Y4’s Mobile Challenge

As you might know, NetSquared – an initiative of TechSoup Global – is focused on launching Open Innovation Challenges designed to recruit and fund Web and mobile-based social-benefit projects.

This year, NetSquared’s Global Challenge and Conference, N2Y4, focuses on mobile innovations that support communication and progressive social change. N2Y4’s Mobile Challenge calls for world-changing ideas about how mobile applications can help citizens, groups and others create a better world for everybody.

The NetSquared Community will vote to select the top 14 Projects, and those Projects will be featured at the N2Y4 Conference, May 26-27 in San Jose, California. There, Project developers will have the opportunity to come together with great minds from the business, philanthropy, entrepreneurship and nonprofit sectors. The final three Projects will receive cash awards.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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Last Chance to Present in the Nonprofit Session at NSLC

We still have one NPC slot open for the Nonprofit Commons sessions to present in-world to the real-life National Service Learning Conference in Nashville, TN, 3/18-3/21. Further details on the conference are below, but this is a great chance to reach a 2000+ audience of folks, especially if you are involved with service projects/service learning in Second Life.

Our time slots for NPC nonprofits (in 30 minute increments) are:

Thursday, 3/19, 9:00 AM SLT

Thursday, 3/19, 9:30 AM SLT

Friday, 3/20, 9:00 AM SLT

Friday, 3/20, 1:30 PM SLT (Penguin and Glitter will be presenting on NPC in this slot)

So far, we’ve heard back from two other folks (Buffy and Muse Carmona) who expressed interest in presenting, but we still have one more open. Please email Brad or IM Bradford Raymaker in-world if you are interested.

If you IM’d Bradford before about your interest and we somehow overlooked you, let us know and we’ll make sure you are included.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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What is Your Organization Doing in Second Life?

The Nonprofit Commons provides such a great venue for forward thinking nonprofit leaders to share their ideas, challenges and friendship. There are exciting things happening – events, social gatherings, meetings of the minds. We want to share what your organization is doing…on the blog!

If your organization is executing engaging initiatives in Second Life (and in RL), please let me know. I want to blog about what YOU are doing!

Some of our neighbors highlight what they are doing in SL on their website, so here is a shout out to those keeping us informed!

If you have something that you would like us to blog about, please shoot me an IM in SL – Cordelia Gothly.

Written by: Beth J. Bates

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Last week to help, humiliate, AND fundraise

Originally posted on TechSoup Blog

With the economic slump, a lot of nonprofits are feeling the crunch, especially when it comes to travel and conference budgets. That’s why our friends over at NTEN are reaching out to the community to pitch in for the scholarship fund to help up to 57 nonprofit folks attend the annual NTEN conference.

NTEN has until Sat. Feb. 28th to make their goal of $10,000 and they have just a little over $2,500 to go. But should you need more incentive to pitch in, NTEN’s executive director, Holly Ross, has upped the ante. Holly has pledged to do one of three humiliating tasks if NTEN is able to reach their scholarship goal. Convio is sweetening the deal still further by matching scholarship funds making your dollar go twice as far.

So if Holly is prepared to publicly sing, play an instrument, and/or eat quite the bacon recipe, isn’t that worth taking a few minutes of your time to help a nonprofit colleague? Donate now and in the meantime, Holly will keep working on those dance moves.

Written by: penguin kuhn