I'm excited to announce that this Saturday, my group Global Kids is participating in the First Annual NYC Digital Youth Media & Technology Festival taking place on June 27 at the New School in NYC. The daylong festival will spotlight the growing movement among teenagers in New York and nationally to design video games, films…
Category: Virtual Worlds
Vigil for the people of Iran tomorrow in Second Life at 2pm and 7pm PST
Tomorrow, Thursday June 25, in Second Life there will be a candelight vigil on behalf of the people of Iran at 2PM PST and 7PM PST. The location is the Roissy sim (click here to teleport directly.) The demonstration today at the beautiful Al Andalus sim was very moving, with 30-some avatars holding candles, sharing…
Why the “Awesome Philippines” Island in Second Life is not so awesome
Earlier this month, I did a little machinima tour of the new "Awesome Philippines" island in Second Life, an effort of the Philippines Department of Tourism to spur youth travel to la Perla del Mar. The Secretary of Tourism Joseph ''Ace'' Durano does seem to get the value of virtual worlds as participatory media. From…
Global Kids Youth Leaders Premiere “Discovered” Machinima on July 1 in NYC
On July 1, 2009, 15 New York City public high school students will premiere their film Discovered –a digital "machinima" film produced in Second Life that explores the powerful issue of child sex trafficking through the fictional story of one Mexican teenager. Discovered is the final product of a year-long, intensive digital filmmaking program called…
Mind blowing machinima by Lainy Voom: “The Stolen Child”
This machinima "The Stolen Child" by Lainy Voom just completely blows me away. I find it unbelievable that this was done in Second Life. Those water and light effects are just amazing. The first in a series of machinima inspired by poetry, I can not wait for the next one!
Final stages of “Discovered” — serious machinima film on child sex trafficking
We are in the final stages of post-production for "Discovered," the serious issue machinima created by the youth filmmakers in our "Virtual Video Project" at Global Kids. The difficult subject our youth have chosen is child sex trafficking, and they did an amazing job crafting a short film from the issue. I'm really impressed with…
Tour of “Awesome Philippines” virtual island in Second Life (video)
Here is a quick video tour of the "Awesome Philippines" island in Second Life, a joint project of the Philippine Department of Tourism and MTV. Sorry about the low volume on some of my audio, and all of my "ums". All of the ambient sounds you hear come from Second Life. You can also check…
Appreciating my role as a “Connector”
Post-processing my experience being a "mentor" at the BAVC Producers Institute in San Francisco last week, I've been realizing some of the unique aspects of my own personal journey and how that has shaped me into the odd amalgamation of activist / technologist / educator/ dancer/ Quaker etc. This past week has helped me to…
BAVC Producer’s Institute Finale: Pitching your project!
The culminating event of the BAVC Producer's Institute is a presentation of the eight projects being developed here to a group of potential funders, partners and distributors. The challenge presented to each team was to develop and present a prototype of a participatory media project that creates social change. It's an intense and nerve-wracking experience…
Draxtor’s report on the BAVC Producer’s Institute
Here's the first in a series of machinima reports by my friend Draxtor Despres on the Producer's Institute, run by the Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco. Draxtor's first guest is Wendy Levy of BAVC, the coordinator of the Institute, explaining what it's all about.