Community Mobilization

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Second Life Relay For Life 2007 - going on now

As a continuation of my previous post - Madison Ave can chew on this:
$100,000 + raised
1,000 walkers in the first 1 hour
Dozens of cancer survivors on the track
And it is going to gall all night long.

How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life - or - How Madison Ave Tried To Schill Products and Ignore Community

This Wired Article is great. It absolutely goes down the list as to wy traditional advertising may not work as well in Second Life as it does in Real Life. What it is missing is the other side of the story that highlights local brands that are thriving. The marketing companies are not doing sufficient engagement within the community to make the investment worthwhile. In an environment where anyone can do anything  and the barriers to entry in any business line are summed up with time, effort, and skill, it makes for a tough market.  So why buy commercial Jeans when I can get hand scripted designer jeans. Everything is a commodity at L$250.

So how are successful brands doing it? How is the American Cancer Society raising over $100,000.00 USD to support research, awareness activities, and run patient service programs? The answer is not simple, but it revolves around something that major corporations forgot at the dawn of Television. Mass markets are just that, and in some cases special people deserve to treated special. Care for your constituents, give them something of real honest value, and they will support you all the way.

Richard Bartle on the state of Modern Online Games

In The Guardian, Richard Bartle, the original designer of MUD talks about the state of online games and the evolution form text based environments to the current 3-d environments. He makes a prediction about the future of the virtual world scene that I tend to agree with. He says that as creation costs go down the market will get flooded with new commercial offerings(Stardolls, Virtual Barbie) leading to a churning fragmentation of users. I however believe that true community based sites, and not commercial sites, will find ways to retain more users longer. Or, more appropriately, the communities will find ways to retain their friends longer even in the face of flashy corporate based ventures.

Moving

We moved over the weekend. It was exhausting and very chaotic. Needless to day everything made it safe save a few nicks on the china cabinet and the scratches on the flooring. Home network is set up and we are back in business. The only thing constant in life is change.

RWJF Supports Games to Deliver Health Meassaging

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is supporting the Changemakers initiative to award game designs that focus on improving health through education and awareness. Entries are due in by September 26th. The competiton is a competition seeking creative solutions that merge two increasingly interconnected worlds-computer and video games and health and health care. All competition finalists will go to Baltimore, Maryland, in May 2008, to present their work at the Changemakers Change Summit held in conjunction with the RWJF-sponsored Games for Health Conference.

Smaller Portions

Bucking the trend of Super Sizing foods, it appears that sit down chains are offering smaller portions on selected items. Forbes reports that a few chains like TGI Fridays and soon Applebees will offer smaller portions sizes for slightly less money. Small burgers are not new - Krystal / White Castle sells minis hamburgers ... in sacks of 5. The key to getting the nation healthy is to offer healthy food, not less of unhealthy food. Smaller portions of bacon wrapped, cheeses dripped, deep fried steak is still not what we should be consuming even though it is served as a 'right portion'.

Harvard Physicians as a Social Network for the Public

it appears that the  Harvard Health Publications is teaming with online networking site Gather.com to connect consumers with Harvard docs online. So it seems that soon everyone will have access to a Harvard Doctor. The WSJ article 'Right Click for Harvard Docs' asks the questions regarding liability, and community created content. These are central concerns when dealing with critical and sensitive health information. One of the pieces no touched on was HIPAA, a notorious sticky point for physician records. I look forward to see the usage of the space, and the first law suit. I bet they have Harvard Lawyers keeping them in line.

Philanthropy Centric Video Games and Courses

The Wall Street Journal writes that join endeavors are developing video games to help students learn about not for profit management. In a collaboration with JP Morgan, Do Something is creating a video game aimed at Middle and High School kids to teach them about being philanthropic. The aim is to develop a generation of those willing and happy to give back time and money to their community and causes they care about. As a matter of fact over 125 universities have classes aimed at educating their students about the business aspects of running and managing philanthropies. Universities like Colgate and Mary Washington University have programs aimed at cultivating the future philanthropic executives.

Individual Fundraising Pages

Individuals have been raising money for charitable organizations on the internet for years. Now it seems that when people need a bit of charity themselves they are using the internet to raise funds to help pay off unexpected medical bills, or back rent after a natural disaster. Realitycharity.com is a site that allows anyone to set up their own fund raising space and tell their story and why they need a little help. Some experts fear this is a new way to commit fraud, and some are worried it will take away from established charitable organizations. Any way you look at it the site is filling a void most charitable organizations do not fill - direct cash financial aid. I'm curious about the business model, if there is a percentage fee that goes to Realitycharity.com.