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Schedule for Non-profit / Philanthropy “thread” at SLCC available

For those of you coming to the Second Life Community Convention this weekend in Chicago who are interested in following the non-profit / philanthropy thread, there’s a convenient non-profit schedule, posted by Joyce at Global Kids. Here are the main events in a nutshell:

Saturday, August 25 

  • 10:00am-11:00am Keynote by Connie Yowell,
    Director of Education in the MacArthur Foundation’s Program on Human
    and Community Development
  • 1:30pm-03:00pm “Teens Making Machinima within Non-Profit Programs”
  • 3:30pm-04:00pm “An Educational Non-profit’s History of the Teen Grid: A Global Kids Adventure in Best Practices”

Sunday, August 26

  • 10:00am-11:00am "Best Practices in Bringing Non-profits into SL"
  • 2:30pm-03:30pm  "The Role of Philanthropy in Virtual Worlds"

You can find the full schedule for SLCC here.

Written by: rikomatic

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Community Spotlight: Metrocake McLeod

Metrocake McLeod: Roe Bianculli, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America

Why is your nonprofit doing work in second life? What do you hope to achieve?

Our mission is to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. What we hope to achieve here is greater awareness of the diseases — that’s a priority. Our secondary goals are to start support groups, and virtual groups to support national event programs. Those are a little trickier, though, and may take longer to get up and running. For example, I need to see how “confidential” a support group here would be.
We would have HIPPA regulations to consider with a support group.

Is your work in Second Life a formal part of your job? Are you doing this during work hours?

I’m doing some of this during work hours, some of it not. 🙂 This is not considered a formal part of my job.

What advice would you give to other nonprofits about going into second life ?

Determine your goals first — determine your plan and strategy before you start. Make sure to have someone who knows SL fairly well, or knows how to get support from those who do, so that you can get up and running quickly.

Written by: kanter

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WWF brings an ecological message to SL in their new Conservation Island

The international conservation organization formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, now simply called the WWF, has launched a new “Conservation Island” in Second Life to spread their message about living in harmony with nature. Clearly they are taking a whimsical approach to this, with orangutans that sell you ice cream and pandas that teach about sustainable products. Check out the sim at this SLURL.

Thanks to Nobody Fugazi for the heads up!

Second Life look at nature’s real-life problems
From WWF Press Release

Gland, Switzerland – Ever dreamt of building a new life on a deserted island? Then pack your virtual toolkit and head for Conservation Island, a place where an orang-utan will “sell” you ice-cream and a panda will be your friend.

Set up by WWF in the virtual world Second Life, the island is the latest initiative in the global conservation organization’s campaign to get people to live in harmony with nature.

“WWF set up the island as a way to help people learn about conservation issues and the need to live sustainably,” said David Cole, Online Outreach Manager at WWF International. “We want to be able to show people that WWF has solutions to the real environmental issues affecting their ‘first life’.

“We hope that Second Life residents will become a community that helps us build and develop the island and at the same time learn about conservation in a fun, engaging and interactive way.”

Second Life users, called residents, can interact with each other, explore their world, participate in social events and activities, and “purchase” goods and services.

On Conservation Island, for instance, if residents “buy” an ice-cream from Mr Tangee, the orang-utan who runs the ice-cream van, they will have the chance to learn that plantations to provide the soy and palm oil found in an array of everyday products, from ice-cream to cosmetics and chocolate bars, already cover an area the size of France and are growing. This threatens not only some of the world’s greatest forests and traditional lifestyles, but also endangered species such as orang-utans and jaguars.

Visitors to another part of the island can befriend a panda who will tell them about environmental issues and go with them as they explore a town powered by a wind-powered pinwheel.

“Conservation Island provides WWF with an opportunity to put its message before a new audience, potentially millions of people who may not otherwise engage with conservation issues,” said Cole.

“Residents will be able to learn about climate change and marine and forest loss in a fun way, and then, if they want to know more, they will be directed to WWF’s website, www.panda.org.”

Conservation Island was developed for WWF by Enable Interactive, the Bristol-based specialist digital agency.

“Social and consumer behaviour is changing, so the way brands communicate must change too,” said Matt Connolly, Strategic Director at Enable Interactive. “At Enable, we’ve enjoyed helping WWF innovate around how it communicates, and believe its presence on Second Life will help it get a whole new group of people to make conservation part of their lives.”

For further information:
Moira O’Brien-Malone, Head of Media Relations
WWF International
Tel: +41 22 364 9550
E-mail: mobrien@wwfint.org

END NOTES:

• Screen grabs to illustrate this story have been posted at:
https://intranet.panda.org/documents/document.cfm?uFolderID=61441&uDocID…
User name; intranet@wwfint.org, password dropbox.

• If you already have Second Life installed on your computer, you can access Conservation Island via:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/WWF/138/199/41/

• WWF’s presence in Second Life was developed by Enable Interactive and made possible with the generous support of South West Screen and the South West of England Regional Development Agency.

Written by: rikomatic

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Belgian media watchdog group Zorra opens new office with “Gender & Advertising” exhibit August 17


On august 17, 2007 at 11:30AM PST, the Belgian media watch ZORRA opens its virtual doors in Second Life (teleport SLURL). ZORRA, known for its Public Award for the the most woman-friendly and/or role bending advertisement, has organised its exhibit building on Gender Square in Second Life. The exhibit “Gender & Advertising” and its quiz presents a selection of 10 years of good and less good practices, from advertisements which are funny and less funny, to advertisements which are controversial.

But ZORRA wouldn’t be ZORRA if it feared controversy. On Second Life ZORRA continues to put question marks after ads which are considered sexist. Enough to engage the visitors in heated discussion, especially those who have never had in their first life the chance or the time to reflect on the topic of (in)equality in the representation of men and women in advertising.

Second Life is offering this opportunity, and most of all the opportunity, after visiting the exhibit, to sit down at the Gender Square (place where ZORRA’s exhibit is taking place on Second Life) and to engage in a discussion with Second Life residents of all nationalities, ages, colors and forms.

At the exhibit, what is perhaps most remarkable is that on more than 30 exhibited advertisements three are from the financial institute Fortis, and all three are found on the side of good practice.

Gilke Eeckhoudt, marketing and communication manager at Fortis Belgium, sees it as a recognition of the years of efforts Fortis has provided on behalf of diversity. “In its advertising campaigns Fortis wants to reflect ‘in a truthful manner’ its clients and the labour market where it recruits” (2).

DETAILS
Date : august 17, 2007 at 08:30 PM (Paris-Brussel-Amsterdam = SLT 11:30 am)
Place : Gender Square (teleport SLURL)

Written by: rikomatic

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Nonprofits Launch Party Rocks The Sim!

That photo is from tonight’s opening launch party of the Nonprofits Commons in Second Life, TechSoup’s project in Second Life.   Ruby Sinreich did an excellent job of live blogging.   


Some interesting questions about Second Life and developing countries. I am bringing a couple of Second Life t-shirts to Cambodia, thanks to Jeska Linden.  Will also have an opportunity to show a little bit Second Life and it will be interesting to hear about the possibilities.

Written by: kanter

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Overflow Location for Non-profit Commons launch party, August 14

I hope that you are planning on joining us tomorrow, Tuesday, August 14, for the official public launch of the Non-profit Commons sim. We’re planning on having a fabulous event with a number of guests, media and SL celebrities.

The downside of popularity is that it’s possible that our sim might fill out quickly. If that happens, don’t fear. We’ve set up an overflow location just around the corner from the Commons at Plush Lake West (teleport SLURL). So head over there, where you will be able to catch the audio of our event. Hopefully we can teleport people over as more space becomes available.

Thanks for your understanding and support!

Written by: rikomatic

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YearlyKos Progressive Blogger conference in SL this weekend

Jushualevy_00201

This weekend, August 2-5, progressive activists, bloggers, and politicians from all over the country (and the world) will be gathering in Chicago for the Yearly Kos convention. Joining them will be all the major Democratic Presidential candidates, as well as Democratic party leaders.

For those that can’t make it to Illinois, the organizers will be streaming keynotes and letting you attending breakout sessions virtually. They have arranged for hospitality suites, an exhibit hall, dancing, and informal meeting areas. You can see the full convention schedule at
http://www.yearlykosconvention.org/schedule.

Registration is just US$25, available on the web at http://www.yksl.eventbrite.com/ or
in SL at
http://tinyurl.com/yqpoza”>http://tinyurl.com/yqpoza  or direct to Progressive Island (127, 52, 25).

Written by: rikomatic

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The NPSL Management Team’s Meeting

Well, a group of us met today by phone call. There are a few things I took away from today’s meeting.

1) Please, if you want to blog here (even if you have your own blog and want to cross post from there), let me know. Email matthew at dogstar.org and let me know your NPSL username and who you are in the nonprofit commons. I’ll set you up. The more bloggers we have, the better.

2) We still have a ton of volunteer roles available. If you have interest in helping out, check out the NPSL wiki at: http://npsl.wikispaces.com/volunteer_roles and find something you like. Remember, this place is being provided for our use for free.

3) Remember to promote our official launch day! It is on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. PT/SLT.

I’m really excited by the progress made in tons of our tenant offices. The different decor is well worth traveling around and checking out.

Thanks for your participation and I’m looking forward to seeing you inworld!

Creech/Matthew.

Written by: Creech

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CNN, YouTube, and Tweets

What a curious thing the Democratic debate this afternoon ended up being. I was unable to watch them live, needing to be at work to earn a living, but found out via Len Edgerly on Twitter that baratunde was sending out live tweets covering the goings on. So, when I got home this evening, I followed the Twitter streams of baratunde and Len to get a sense of what happened.

Things have changed in the last three years. What tools do you think are going to pop up before the election that will continue to disrupt traditional media?

Written by: Creech