Just a reminder that there will be a Second Life event on "Philanthropy and Virtual Worlds: Considering Civil Liberties" on Monday, January 28, at 12PM PST. Speakers include: Jonathan F. Fanton, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (chair) Robin Harper, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development from Linden Lab…
Category: Politics
Japanese-American girls in a WWII internment camp
This morning I was checking out the pictures on the Library of Congress’ amazing new Flickr archive, and I ran across this startling photo of Japanese-american girls in an internment camp in 1942 or 43. The smiles on their lovely young faces just breaks my heart a little. It reminds me of how far we…
CPSR Conference on Technology in Wartime at Stanford January 26
My friend Bill McIver send around info about this fascinating conference on "Technology in Wartime" put on by the find folks at Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. It takes place at Stanford Law School on January 26. Here’s the description: How will autonomous robots and cyberwarfare change combat? Does internet surveillance undermine the rules of…
Review: Castronova’s Exodus to the Virtual World
I just finished my advance copy of Edward Castronova’s Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun is Changing Reality (2007, Palgrave McMillan.) As anyone familiar with Costronova should expect, the book is provocative and entertaining. Costronova’s central premise is simple: as more and more people spend a larger percentage of their waking hours in…
“Don’t Iraq Iran” Protests in Second Life on December 1st
Several friends of mine are involved in the organization of a day of peaceful protest tomorrow called "Don’t Iraq Iran" as a pro-active measure to keep the US from going to war with Iran. Organized by the group Lag4Peace, there are events happening all over the grid from 8AM-6PM PST, with Commonwealth Island being the…
Compare US presidential hopefuls on their international positions at “08 or bust!” website
My friends at Citizens for Global Solutions have created a neat new website called "08 or Bust" that tracks the positions of each of the major candidates for the US presidency on a range of international issues. The heart of the website is an interactive comparison chart that allows you to pull up the public…
Second Life demos in solidarity with Burma tomorrow (saturday)
Like millions of others, I am shocked and horrified with what is happening in Burma / Myanmar. The nearly complete isolation of the small country makes it virtually impervious to outside public pressure, short of military invasion. I have long been an admirer of dissident Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, back in 1999 when…
Is the new Newt the great uniter? (Thoughts on Gingrich’s first foray into Second Life)
This afternoon, former Speaker of the House and head of the group American Solutions for Winning the Future, Newt Gingrich spoke briefly and answered questions from an audience of 50-some avatars in Second Life. Located appropriately enough on the steps of the virtual Capitol Hill (teleport SLURL), Gingrich spoke about a number of issues, including…
ISP ad from the non-Net Neutral future
Cool internet researcher dude Jeremy Husinger sent around a link to this brilliant fake ad for what our internet access rates might look like in a world without Net Neutrality public policy. The most effective illustration of what is at stake I’ve seen yet. Taken from Reddit.com. NOTE: No licensing or authorship information was available…
MTV launches beta version of “think” youth activism site
I got an invite to join the beta version of MTV’s new youth activism site "think" yesterday. Looks like an another way to facilitate activist social networking, group blogging, calls for action, volunteer matchmaking, and awareness-raising about various issues. Non-profit organizations can use "think" to try and reach out to a younger demographic for their…