Community Mobilization

SXSW Report Card released

The 2007 SXSW report card (participant reviews of event sessions) were released today and I am so proud that our panel on Disruptive Technology in the Nonprofits Sector received a 4.19 our of 5.00. We were one of the higher rated panels and it is all due to the great presenters. Hates off to Keith, Erin, and David!

Grid Review Covers SLRFL

Friend and occasional co-conspirator Johnny Ming points his  camera towards the Second Life Relay For Life in Episode 6 of The Grid Review. I thank the crew for highlighting a great dance event, and I hope that more of SL will learn about the Relay from this budding media outlet. Keep up the good work everyone!

When you loose a volunteer - Feliciaa Feaver

The Second Life Relay For Life community is preparing for the passing of one of our volunteers, Feliciaa Feaver. It is hard on the community and hard on me personally because I never really thought about the power of relationship building through a virtual community. There are some things our trainers did not tell me at my orientation, they say a lot but never really talked about how you cope with loosing a volunteer. It is an inevitable occurrence seeing what we at the Society do for a living. I spoke with some counterparts here and they shared their experiences, how hard it is every time you loose a volunteer. Felicia is our first SL volunteer to leave, and my hope is that it never gets easier. It hurts because we care.

This all brings into focus why I work where I do, and why all of our volunteers work as hard as they do ... there are so many people left that we can still help. There is so much research to conduct, so many patients to help, survivors to honor, and loved ones to memorialize. Continuing on with SLRFL is how we all can remember Felicia and everyone else who lost their battle with cancer.

Powered by ScribeFire.

SXSW Non Profit Technology Event

The one panel  I did not blog about at SXSW was my own. I was so lucky ot have Erin Anderson, David Neff, and Keith Morris as the presenters. Me, I just moderated the great talent as they talked about the Society's implementation of technology for philanthropic purposes. They talked about legacy system integrations, community development tools and services, as well as fund raising processing systems. Erin and David also talked about the implementation of some open source products as well as how we look to make the best use of our Donor money. Keith was not actually there, he made his presentation using Skype and Second Life ... which was so appropriate since ... well you can watch the video that David captured on his phone.

Chronicle Of Philanthropy Article

The Chronicle of Philanthropy had a unique article on how some of the not-for-profit organizations are beginning to use video games and virtual worlds for fund raising and education purposes. It was very neat to see how some of the other organizations are using the technology. I cut and clipped out a section from the article and pasted it below.

Second Life Relay For Life 2007

We just had our kickoff for our 2007 Second Life Relay For Life. Here is a great photo of our group. Looking forward to it. Please mark your calendars for July 28!!!

Virtual World Taxation

It appears that US Taxation is on tis way to virtual worlds. Between the article on C-Net and the conversations at State of Play reported by 3.d,  I think it is an inevitable development. I am not opposed to the concept of taxation in a virtual community, I am suspect of the execution though.

Within these communities you have a collection of international participants buying, selling and even bartering virtual goods and services. The execution of determining who is who could be the real unraveling of this concept. Who pays what taxes and to whom? Will the virtual world owners be assessed based on the value created on their platform? Will only American be taxed, or will anyone buying merchandise from, or selling to Americans be taxed? It seems like an amazing way to completely alienate huge sections of the creative force behind these virtual worlds.

SXSW

I am beyond excited to be organizing a panel at SXSW 2007. I hope all of my loyal readers come and engage my panel.  Moreover I have the creative direction to steer the 'Technology in Non Profit Sector' panel in pretty much any direction I choose. Therefore I am asking for ideas or topics you would want to see addressed. Also if you have ideas for presenters please let me know.

American Cancer Society in Businesweek

The American Cancer Society was mentioned in a recent Businessweek.com sidebar article called How to Get a Second Life. The example highlights the limitations of electronic based systems that can only deliver so much bandwidth at peak times. In the example we were holding a silent auction and could only accommodate 90 persons. All thins being equal 90 people is a lot of people. Next year we are looking at holding parallel auction or mirror sites so more people can participate in the event.

SLCC 2006

I  am here at San Francisco.  Last night there were a ton of live entertainers from SL up on the convention center stage.  Frogg Marlowe and others brought their guitars and keyboards to play live for the audience.  It was very cool to meet numerous SL Residents face to face and have the very real and sincere handshakes and conversations.

The event is in full swing and right now Mitch Kapor (developer of Lotus 123) is onstage giving a brief history of his involvement with Second Life.  As a n investor and visionary Mitch helped mentor Philip and help him drive the business strategy - a frugal strategy that made the company lean and efficient. Skepticism is part of starting disruptive technology, and the ability the move past that is a key for success.  SL started at a critical point when the nexus of the appropriate technology, and social ideals converged.

Mitch is now talking about the Second Life RFL and how we are going to take and create an office in world. I am so excited to give a very brief presentation about the Society’s efforts in SL.  Mitch is excited about a place and world that is inclusive and provides new opportunities for those who are marginalized in the material world.