Community Mobilization

ACS Second Life Office News

I wanted to make a few announcements here about the ACS Second Life Office. We have decided to add a few volunteer positions to help us manage all of the activity that is going on. I am very pleased to announce that Fayandria Foley will continue as our Relay For Life Chair, and Poppy Zebelin will continue as our Survivorship Chair. As of this week we now are so lucky to have Xandi Mars as our Office Manager and Synergy Devonshire as our new Marking Strides Against Breast Cancer Chair.

As we continue to extend the resources offered to the SL community we are lucky to have dedicated volunteers willing to put in the time and the effort to bring our vision to a reality. These women have dedicated so much of themselves and they are truly represent the best of volunteer leadership.

Open Id and portable reputation

One of the long standing issues with social networks and social community sites if the ability to have portable reputation and identity specifically if you are a good upstanding member of the community. Here is a very good Lifehacker article on openid and the promise of what it brings as well as some of the concerns surrounding the system, or set of systems.

I know that Marc Canter has been addressing some of these issues on his Broadband Mechanics blog and the people aggregator program. Reputation transfer has always been a confounding issue. One of the reasons is that every network is built with a unique system. The Open ID does not transfer data and information between networks but does maintain an identity. Not only does it allow of an approaching universal single sign on, but it maintains displayed identity throughout the gamut of spaces that you visit.

One Laptop Per-Child Promotion

The One Laptop Per Child program is running a two-for-one special ... kind -of. It is even better! Nicholas Negroponte has set up an opportunity where you can purchase two laptops and keep one and send one to a child who needs it overseas. On their web page you can sign up for a reminder e-mail and I have to insist that it is the best present you can give this 2007 holiday season.

On a community outreach program it is seems like an exceptional humanitarian outreach opportunity for communities to designate donor communities overseas. Small schools utilize the computers to educate and drive learning. The core purpose clearly to bring first world connectivity to the least connected areas. In conjunction with future wimax blankets the laptops could potentially be the backbone of learning network that could rapidly expose the most remote locations to the first world and vice versa.

High-Technology Ehysical Education

Time magazine published a article focusing on the latest trend of employing video games and electronic exercise systems to engage youth in physical fitness. The trend of exergaming is catching on in schools as much as it is in private business. The fundamental long term question is weather or not the investment in the equipment is going to pay off. DDR machines are worth the investment compared to a dodgeball or a kickball. The real question is going to be which get used.

Virtual Worlds Conference II

Once again I will be speaking at the Virtual Worlds conference, taking place this October. Tickets are still on sale and you will be able to see me not once but twice as I am moderating a panel on special events and providing a case study on the growth of the Second Life Relay For Life. The speakers list looks exceptional and I am simply jealous that I will not be able to attend and listen in on every panel.

Target Marketing on Social Networks

I said it would happen, and even named it as one of the monetization strategies for online social networks - target marketing. Boing Boing reports that Myspace has gotten wise and they are directing adds to users based on .... shock ... their interests. What is so confusing is that we have not seen this surface yet. I wrote about monetization models well over a year ago. We went through the add revenue model, and the premium subscription model, and even saw the gift economy model. But seriously did it need to take this long to get to the real value of understanding a constituent and driving products to them based on their interests?

IT Depratment - Rest Stop on The Innovation Superhighway

In an editorial in CIO Insight Magazine Eric Chabrow pushes the point that the IT department is where innovation gets transformed into a project, complete with restrictions, functional measures, and performance benchmarks - all weighing down the rapid development speed intrinsic to innovation. In the article Gary Hamel cautions against turning to the IT department for help on some initiatives. As a matter of course Hamel sees that innovation and rapid prototype decisions would be forced down into the ranks of those who are 'doing' not 'strategizing'.  There have been books about process management that preach that empowering the front line to catch and stop waste is the best way to engage employees, drive up quality, and improve overall efficiency. With that in mind it is wholly clear that the same approach should be taken in the rapid prototype and innovation arena as well.

Dossia Network

A number of large US employers are lining up to help support the development of the Dossia Network Program that will create and manage Electronic Health records. In the wake of natural disasters like Katrina the need for transportable health records became apparent. The Boston based hospital group is developing the Children's Hospital Informatics Program in pilot reports the Wall Street Journal.

Alternative exercise - the Wii as therapy

It seems the sales of the wii are being driven in part by adult living facilities buying them as therapeutic instruments for seniors. A case of dual use technology, or a creative design choice by Nintendo. What will be interesting as wii usage becomes more sophisticated in this realm and we see socials taking place over the internet where inter-nursing home leagues will sprout up. I am hoping that the system  and future systems will be sophisticated enough to engage seniors in real calculated physical therapy comparing metrics of improvement.

Douglas Rushkoff Course

Thank you Boing Boing for being a champ again and pointing to a fantastic set of courses offered up by one of my favorite authors Douglas Rushkoff.  I am going to look into taking the course distance learning because his writings have really been eye opening over the years. Exit Strategy and Get Back In The Box really changed the way I view corporate construction and make me so happy I work in non-profit every day.