Ana Herzog sends me info about a fun progressive political action in SL, "Impeach on the Beach." The feminist activist group Code Pink invites avatars to gather at Mikianna Island in Second Life to help spell out the word "IMPEACH" lying head-to-toe on the beach. The event is this Sunday, May 6, starting at noon…
Category: Civil Society
Reporters without Borders comes to the world without borders
The Paris-based press freedom Rapporteurs sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders) has opened a new Second Life headquarters to draw attention to their work in support of persecuted and imprisoned journalists around the world. You can find a "hall of shame" showing prominent persecutors of the press around the world, news feeds from their work around…
Obama reclaims his myspace page: the limits of viral grassroots organizing
PoliticsOnline.com reports that the Barack Obama campaign has "taken control of the volunteer created MySpace page listed under his name." Apparently 29-year-old Joe Anthony created the MySpace page a few years ago after hearing Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention. Since then, it has unofficially hosted news and information about Obama and his campaign,…
It’s Press Freedom Day: let’s free some press
Happy Press Freedom Day! Here’s some of Rapporteurs Sans Frontieres statistics on press repression around the world this year: 24 Journalists killed 5 Media Assistants killed 125 Journalists imprisoned 4 Media Assistants imprisoned 65 Cyberdissidents imprisoned Also check out Freedom House’s world map of press freedom. Support your local press freedom, freedom of expression, or…
CORRECTION: IVM offers SL marketing help for non-profits
I got the cool news a few days ago that SL marketing firm Infinite Vision Media will be offering their services pro bono for non-profits as part of their "Social Responsibility Initiative"! I am very excited about anything that makes it easier for non-profits to get started in using virtual worlds more effectively to achieve…
Added video and audio streams to Yehoodi HQ in Second Life
Slowly I am starting to get established Yehoodi’s in-world presence, in our new HQ at the Non-profit Commons (teleport SLURL). Today’s lesson in Second Life living was "How to set up an audio and video stream on your property." It’s so easy that even a dummy like me could figure it out. I got both…
Avatars walk the world to fight hunger
The UN World Food Programme every year organizes a "Walk the World" fundraiser / awareness raising event to draw attention to the problem of famine and hunger around the world. In towns and cities all over the planet, people gather to walk in support of humanitarian aid and development assistance for the most needy. This…
Happy Earth Day!
Hurray for the Earth! There are a bevy of Second Life events going on today to celebrate Earth Day and help people and avatars live more responsibly on it, from lectures to tours to live music performances and dance parties.
Learning to lead
In the non-profit, social justice fields, often people end up in leadership positions out of their personal passion toward addressing a certain social ill. Someone might decide to dedicate their life to ending homelessness in America, or fighting racism against Latinos, or protecting the Northwest old growth forests. Out of that passion they found new…
Letting my inner leader out in Sonoma
I’m off tomorrow for a non-profit leadership training retreat in the lovely Sonoma Valley being facilitated by the Rockwood Leadership Program. I hear that the retreat venue is really lovely with a pool, hot tub, massage center and fine dining. I’m looking forward to stepping back a bit from the work and examining some of…