I am super excited to announce that the report I prepared for Global Kids on "Best Practices for Non-profits in Second Life" is now out on the interwebs for your downloading pleasure. Global Kids is simultaneously releasing my report, as well as the excellent parallel report on best practices for education in SL by Cathy…
Reminder: Civil Liberties and Virtual Worlds event this Monday!
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…
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…
Swifty’s 52-self-portraits-for-a-year challenge
My roommate Swifty announced three weeks ago that he’s going to try and do the "52 self portraits in a year" challenge on Flickr. Here are his first three weeks of self-portraits, which are all gems. I hope he can do a full year’s worth. The bathroom one is awesome! Our shower curtain might be…
Second Life Screenshots, the DMCA and Ad Extortion — I want a takedown notice!
My friend RubyMae, who is active in the Flickr community, pointed me to a discussion thread by another Second Life resident Ordinal Malaprop (who makes the most ingenious steampunk inventions). Apparently Ordinal has been encouraging SL residents to post to a Flickr group screenshots of particular ads being displayed on plots of land in Second…
Will the MacBook Air run Second Life? Meh.
Like all the other fanboys, I was fawning over the new MacBook Air. So sexy, so svelte. But Mac-user Second Lifers like me want to know, will it run Second Life? The answer is: sorta. Details on my initial research on this after the jump…
Yehoodi Talk Show #504: the “Rik Got Fired” Episode
Episode #504 of the Yehoodi Talk Show is live and direct to your iTunes / podcast deliverator of choice . My buddy Spuds somehow got me talking about how I got laid off and subsequently hired by Global Kids within a matter of days running up to Christmas. Plus, Spuds discusses the wonders of ignoring Friend Requests…
Robin Linden and Jack Balkin to talk on “avatar civil rights” on January 28
On Monday, January 28, there will be a public forum on the topic "Virtual Liberties: Do Avatars Dream of Civil Rights?" featuring Jack Balkin , First Amendment legal expert at Yale Law School, and Robin Linden, head of marketing and business development at Linden Lab. Part of the "MacArthur Series on Philanthropy and Virtual Worlds,"…
I’ll have fried rice, General Tso, and a Pepto, please
This is an actual conversation I had with a co-worker this week: Me: I’m headed to the Chinese place on the corner, you want anything?Him: No, I’ve had some… problems there.Me: Oh. Like, gastro-intestinal problems?Him: Yeah.Me: I see. Well, maybe I won’t get what you got. What did you order there?Him: Oh, I’ve had everything….
Global Kids: First Week Reflections
Having concluded my first full-week as a Global Kid employee, I thought it would be helpful to put down some of my initial impressions and thoughts. Overall, it has been really great week. I am starting to get a clearer picture of how the GK team operates and works with teens as well as the…