Starting tomorrow, November 29, the Ministry of Media officially opens in Second Life, a sim dedicated to the UN Climate Change Conference happening in Poznań, Poland from December 1-12. The Poznań meeting, which is expected to draw 8,000 participants from around the world, is intended to "advance international cooperation on a future climate change regime…
Category: Virtual Worlds
Speaking about the UN, civic engagement, new media, and virtual worlds
I had the pleasure of speaking to my friend Josephine Dorado's class on "Collaboration in Networked Environments" that she is teaching at the New School this semester. The course apparently this week is exploring virtual worlds and MMOs, after delving into a range of other social media, from social networks to micro-blogging to mashup technologies. …
Metaplace has the awesome-est EULA of any virtual world
I have heard rumors that some educators have been invited to be part of the Metaplace beta testers group for this new virtual world environment created by Raph Koster. According to one of those rumored educator beta-testers, Metaplace is "one of the most powerful, user-friendly web-based / flash-driven virtual platforms out there." But of course,…
New report describes how youth hang out, mess around and “geek out” in digital spaces
I've started reading the white paper "Living and Learning with New Media," a summary of the immense, three-year, multi-study investigation of how American youth are using digital media for learning. Funded by the Digital Media & Learning initiative of the MacArthur Foundation, it incorporates the work of 23 researchers under the overall guidance of Mimi…
Alas, poor Lively, we hardly knew ye
Despite not being in the best of moods myself, I will try and be as generous as I can about yesterday''s announcement that Google Lively is dead. They posted on their blog today that their first experiment in creating a virtual world will close its doors on December 31, 2008. There been lots of bitching…
Global Kids seeking Second Life space for teen-created serious game
My colleague Rafi tells me that we are looking for a free plot of land so that we can bring over to the main grid of Second Life a social issue game called "Consent" that Global Kids' teens created last year: Last year, teens in Global Kids' "Playing 4 Keeps" afterschool program developed a Second…
HIV/AIDS education island opens in Second Life on World AIDS Day (December 1)
I got word from Ricken Flow about Karuna, a new space in Second Life focused on HIV/AIDS education. Karuna is holding a day of opening festivities on December 1st – World AIDS Day. The program includes keynote speakers Pathfinder Linden and Michelle Samplin-Salgado of AIDS.gov, a story writing workshop with Jenaia Morane, and musical performances…
RezEd’s first virtual world education conference a success!
I helped organize what I think was a very successful Second Life conference on education in virtual worlds yesterday. This was the first virtual conference sponsored by RezEd.org, the social network for virtual world educators. The RezEd conference featured a panel discussion with educators working in Second Life, Google Lively and Dizzywood; a "birds of…
Akiva bonds with my dragon avatar! (video)
Here’s some super cute video of my boss Barry’s kid Akiva identifying with my dragon furry avatar in Second Life. That kid has good taste!
Seeking speaking gigs on virtual worlds, education, non-profit tech, and civic engagement
I realized today that I’ve never mentioned on my blog that I’m available and interested in speaking engagements, either in person or virtually. Among the topics I’m particularly qualified to speak on: Immersive Learning: The potential and reality of education and virtual worlds The Activist Avatar: the Use of virtual worlds to promote non-profit causes…