NPSL: Nonprofits in Second Life

On Monday, July 21, at 12PM SLT, the GK International Justice Center will be streaming a conversation on the situation in Darfur with Dr. Francis Deng, the UN Secretary Generals’ Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide. Dr. Deng is a Sudanese national and has served as a human rights officer at the United Nations since the 1960s as well as his own country as Minister of Foreign Affairs and ambassador to several countries.

After Dr. Deng's short speech, Global Kids will facilitate a Q&A with a group of Global Kids teens present with the advisor, teens on the teen grid, and adults in the Justice Center.

Please go here to RSVP.

We just announced in-world the five finalists in the USC Network Culture Project's "Second Life and Public Good Community Challenge". They are:

• Ability Commons: Proposers Gentle Heron and Carolina Yeats
• Mauerkrankheit:  Proposers Ping Rau and Nonny Writer
• Native Lands Cultural Project: Proposer Boondoggle Gruppman
• Texas Obesity Research Center:  Proposer Sirena Felisimo
• Interactive Accessible Home:  Proposer Kathee Gibbs

Congrats to all the finalists, and all those that participated!

Gene Koo of the Berkman Center at Harvard wanted me to pass around these job notices for an innovative project called "Hub2":

"Hub2 seeks to enable local neighborhoods to participate more meaningfully in the design and development of their own public spaces. Residents engage in a process that employs 3D tools and  problem-solving techniques to articulate a common vision reflecting the participants’  values. Over the next 3 months, Hub2 will work with Allston residents and stakeholders, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and Harvard’s Allston Development Group to design Library Park. Hub2 seeks enthusiastic and community-minded staff to pioneer this cutting-edge program. "

Hub2 is looking for a "Youth Coordinator" and "Project Coordinator." Check the two job descriptions for more info or visit http://hub2.org/.

Global Kids, the foremost nonprofit in virtual world education, is set to launch the International Justice Center within Second Life on March 20 at 3PM EST. The inaugural event will feature a presentation and discussion by Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). During the launch, the ICC Prosecutor will appear in avatar form to give a brief statement, answer questions from the audience, and introduce the Center. This will be broadcast live by SLCN.TV.

Later that same day, the International Justice Center will host a simulcast of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan as he receives the first MacArthur Award for International Justice and gives a keynote address on international justice. Global Kids will stream a number of other live videos into the Center (click here to teleport).

[UPDATE 3/24/08: For those that we not able to make the event, SLCN.tv has kindly made available their coverage of the event at http://www.slcn.tv/international-justice-center-launch . ]

The complete press release follows...

Global Kids is excited and honored to announce that on Thursday, March 20, at 3pm EST, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will give a short welcome address to officially inaugurate the Global Kids’ International Justice Center on our new sim The Justice Commons. We hope you all can make it!

On March 8 and 9, a collaborative of Second Life residents will be presenting an original production called "In the Pink," a series of one-acts intended to fight gender violence.  The inspiration is Eve Ensler's play "The Vagina Monologues" and co-incides with a series of real worlds events called "V-Day" to draw attention to the issue of violence against women.  The premiere is this Saturday, March 8 at 1:30PM PST at Ivy Falls (click here to teleport.)  The show repeats at 5:30PM that day, and again on Sunday at 2:30 and 6:30PM. 

Global Kids Inc., a New York City based non-profit organization dedicated to transforming urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders, is seeking to fill a short-term freelance position as Online Community Developer/Content Editor, to be filled within our New York City offices or remotely. The position will run from mid-March until end of June.

The Online Community Developer/Content Editor will work with staff at Global Kids to create the structure and content for a new social networking site called “RezEd: A Hub for Virtual World Educators.” This project is designed to provide educators using virtual worlds with access to the highest quality resources and research in the field, and to use the most effective technology to establish a strong network of those using virtual worlds for education. RezEd features will include podcasts, newsletters, best practice documents, contributor blogs, an event calendar, job postings, resource library, listserv, and other social networking functions.

See the complete job description at holymeatballs.org.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of leading up a panel of non-profit experts talking about "Best Practices for Non-profits in Second Life," held at the Plush Nonprofit Commons in SL.  Speakers shown from left to right are:

• Lori Bell, Alliance Library System
• Rafi Santo, Global Kids
• Jade Lily, SL Relay for Life
• Jimbo Hoyer, YearlyKos in SL
• myself
• and Glitteractica Cookie, TechSoup

I couldn't have asked for a better group of speakers on the subject!

Pulling off the event was a real team effort, involving my lovely green friend In Kenzo producing the event, Penguin Kuhn moderating in-world, and cyber-goddess Rhiannon Chatnoir helping with the audio stream.  Streaming into the grid seven people from different locations (including In Kenzo as question passer) via Skype was very ambitious and frankly I'm a bit surprised that it worked.

We reportedly had 82+ avatars present and we maxed out our audio stream for most of the talk!  For those that were not able to attend or had the audio cut out on them, we've posted an audio file of the entire event to Holymeatballs.org. You can check out the Best Practices for Nonprofits white paper and also read the (slightly edited) chat log after the jump.  Thanks, everyone for coming! 

Panel Discussion on “Best Practices for Nonprofits in Second Life”
February 8, 2008
Amphitheater, Plush Nonprofit Commons sim, Second Life

Get Activated!
Leading Non-profits Discuss "Best Practices" for Using Virtual Worlds for Activism, Collaboration, Education, and Fundraising

Friday, February 8, 8:30AM PST, Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater in Second Life

The year 2007 was a remarkable year for charitable and civil society activity in Second Life -- from the launch of the 32-office Plush Nonprofit Commons to the record US$100,000 raised by the SL Relay for Life.  On Friday, February 8, from 8:30-9:30AM PST, there will be presentation and discussion on "Best Practices for Non-profits in Second Life." Based on a report prepared by Global Kids organizer Rik Panganiban, the program will explore what are some of the lessons that non-profits have learned from their first forays into the virtual world. 

Event Details:
TITLE:               Presentation and Discussion on "Best Practices for Non-profits in Second Life"
DATE / TIME:       Friday, February 8, 2008, 8:30-9:30AM PST
LOCATION:         Main Amphitheater, Plush Nonprofit Commons sim (teleport SLURL )

At the last Non Profit Commons meeting, Rhiannon, Glitteractica and I announced that the program for the 2008 Second Life Community Convention is being organized now, and that if there is to be a non-profit presence that we need to get in a Request for Proposals (RFP) very quickly. SLCC08 is scheduled for September 5-7 in Tampa, Florida.

We would like to strongly encourage groups to indicate their interest in organizing specific sessions or talks on different subject matter at SLCC. You don't have to commit to being there (yet), but just indicate your interest in the subject area. Head to the wiki page here and put in your ideas.

The deadline has been extended for RFPs by the SLCC committee, but time is still very short.

Also, if you have ideas and suggestions for possible sponsors and financial supporters of non-profit activity at SLCC, please put it up on the wiki page as well.

Thanks so much for your contributions!