NPSL: Nonprofits in Second Life

From NPSL

genesis Zhangsun: Hey Buffy!
Buffy Beale: Hi Hi HI
genesis Zhangsun: so this is Bridges! The colors match your outfit, in a good way!

How to Participate in the Digital Storytelling Drive-In Events hosted by TechSoupGlobal inSL or in San Francisco:

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2009 7PM PST

See and hear the stories live in San Francisco

For the past four weeks, representatives of five nonprofits supported by the MacArthur Foundation have been going through the "Virtual World Capacity Building Program" an intensive training on nonprofit applications of virtual worlds.  These organizations have explored several major virtual platforms, examined some of the leading examples of nonprofit actions in the metaverse, and thought about how they might best use these tools to further their respective missions.

This Thursday, August 27, these five groups will be presenting on MacArthur Island in Second Life their initial impressions of virtual worlds, outstanding questions, and possible next steps.  It's a very diverse group of nonprofits, including:

• The Adler Planetarium of Chicago
• Archi-treasures
• The Justice Policy Institute
  
• The National Writing Project
• and the Vera Institute of Justice

Come hear what they have to say on Thursday, from 12-1:30pm PST on MacArthur Island in Second Life (teleport link). Afterwards, there will be an open discussion about the applications of virtual worlds for various public good purposes.  And we'll close the event with a casual mixer / dance party!

With the Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) fast approaching, August 13-16, we're excited to roll-out the schedule for the Nonprofit Track to everyone! The Nonprofit Track is a set of workshops and presentations provided by nonprofits. Information provided will benefit not only nonprofits, but other organizations as well.

The official hash tags for the event are #NPSL and #SLCC09, so please be sure to use them in your tweets and blog posts to make it a little easier to track.

The SCHEDULE for the Nonprofit Commons Track is as follows:

This Thursday, August 6, at 6:30am PST / 9:30am EST, there will be a Second Life simulcast of an FCC Workshop on the subject of "E-Gov/Civic Engagement." The goal of this workshop is to evaluate how broadband can improve the performance of government specifically in terms of transparency and citizen participation and more generally in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. The workshop will consider various ways all levels of government, as well as governments in other countries, have used broadband to improve its performance in these ways and how those lessons might apply for purposes of developing the national broadband plan. The workshop will also consider the potential benefits of universal broadband in enabling various government operations to move to a digital platform in terms of improved performance, cost savings, and strategic benefits to the communications infrastructure.

Hosted on MacArthur Island in Second Life ( click here to teleport ), this video simulcast of the workshop is open to the general public to attend. Key constituents of particular interest to the FCC include service providers, equipment providers, applications providers, community groups, and other groups that have a stake in the future of broadband. Virtual event hosting, moderation and technical support provided by Global Kids.