From March 27-29, the Virtual World Best Practices in Education Conference is taking place in Second Life. According to their website, this grassroots, community-based conference attracts faculty, instructors, trainers, administrators, instructional designers, and technical specialists from around the world. The virtual conference will "provide opportunities for virtual world communities to showcase projects, courses, events and…
Category: Civil Society
Habbo asks avatars to turn off their lights on “Earth Hour” March 28, 8:30pm EST
Habbo, the largest youth-oriented virtual world on the planet, is asking its millions of members globally to participate in "Earth Hour" — an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund to get one billion people to turn of their lights for an hour at 8:30PM EST on Saturday, March 28. The goal is raise awareness about…
“Mad Hot Ballroom” kids need your support!
"Dancing Classrooms" is the afterschool program run that teaches thousands of young people around New York City how to ballroom dance, as featured in the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom." Unfortunately, like a lot of non-profits, the Dancing Classrooms program is in dire financial straits due to decreased contributions. Founder Pierre Dulaine says the program will…
My interview with DMC about his new hip-hop virtual world (video)
Here's the video of my interview with the pioneering rapper DMC (of Run-DMC fame) talking about his new virtual hangout DMC World. It was great getting an opportunity to hear DMC's views about hip-hop culture, online games, and youth empowerment. The actual virtual environment looks pretty clunky and dated, I'm afraid. But DMC clearly has…
Smithsonian Launches Latino Museum in Second Life (video)
I got last minute word from SLballyhoo's Twitter Feed that the Smithsonian was launching today in Second Life a virtual Latino Museum! I happened to pop over just as they were cutting the ribbon and playing the introductory video, and managed to capture some jerky footage of it. Looks like this has a lot of…
Sign up for FOCUS: Cross-Generational Dialogue on Digital Media and Society April 13-May 4
My colleague Rafi at Global Kids sends out word about the opening of registration for Focus on Digital Media! Focus is a set of online dialogues to bring youth voices to the societal changes that digital media is bringing. According to Rafi, one important bit of feedback we got from the teens involved in our…
IJCentral.org: New online center for action on the International Criminal Court
The filmmakers behind "The Reckoning," the new documentary about the International Criminal Court, have launched an associated online clearinghouse to support education and outreach about ICC. Called "IJ Central," it promises to : integrate a multi-platform citizen engagement strategy using online mapping technology to visualize the global justice network through SMS text messaging, aggregating blogs,…
ENGAGE Expo 2009: From brand placement to youth development
Ted Tagami of Small Worlds demoing to Joyce, Barry and GK youth Chanel at ENGAGE. I just back to the office from the ENGAGE Expo, which took place March 10-11 at the Jacob Javitz Center in Manhattan. I have to say that I was a bit pessimistic going in about what I was going to…
Buckminster Fuller Institute looking for coordinator of $100K global solution prize
Man, if I didn't already have an awesome position, I would be applying for this dream job: Program Coordinator of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Essentially you get to give out $100,000 to someone who has come up with a strategy to solve one of humanity's greatest challenges. You pay people to save the planet. That's…
Five cool job openings at American Friends Service Committee
The national service arm of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is the American Friends Service Committee, based out of Philadelphia. Over the years, AFSC has been a vital force in the United States for peace, social justice and human rights, which makes me so proud. I just got word that there are five job…