The Electric Sheep Company send out news that Lotus Notes creator and Linden Lab board chair Mitch Kapor will be talking about his work to encourage young people of color to study science and technology this Thursday, May 24 at 8pm PST. Mitch is on the board of the Level Playing Field Institute, a San Francisco-based
non-profit organization dedicated to creating more opportunities on campus and the workplace for people of color.
The overall decline in numbers of young Americans choosing to enter into science and technology fields is of overriding importance for the future of our country, our economy and democracy. How are we going to solve the problems of tomorrow without the base of trained and skilled scientists and technologists to guide us? Or will we become merely consumers of technology that is increasingly innovated and created outside of the US?
The Thursday program will include:
- Streaming video of Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale speaking about SL and Level Playing Field Institute
- Streaming video about the students of Level Playing Field Institute’s education programs
- An in-world Q&A with Mitch Kapor on his approach to philanthropy
That’s at Sheep Island Auditorium (teleport SLURL) and Crayon Theater (teleport SLURL) .
I was at the event in RL and the first I’d been introduced to LPFI. Great work and doubly important to me as many of the people it helps are in the disadvantaged areas of Silicon Valley. So, it’s local too.
While the tuition sponsorships might be a bit steep, it’s certainly not outside of our power to help, train, educate, recycle equipment for those in our own neighborhoods… with all the unconference/*camps and such, it’s proven that people can organize on the cheap. Hopefully, models like this might help others realize that it is an important issue beyond whether or not Twitter is up for the day.
Good reality check. Let’s see some action now.