2012 Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge Announced

News from Rik Panganiban of Nonprofit Commons:

"2012 Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge Announced - This year there are TWO grand prizes of $25,000! Check it out! Engaging Learning focus area is a call for demonstrations of learning activities in virtual environments. http://fvwc.army.mil/"

Hosting SecondLife Orientations Focus of March 9 Virtual Worlds for Engmt Mtg

Please join us this coming Wednesday (tomorrow!) for our March Virtual Worlds for Stakeholder Engagement Working Group.  This month’s meeting focuses on the subject “Orientations to Second Life.”  Beth Offenbacker/PublicDecisions (Bettina Mint in SL) and Hope Kandel Gershik/Learning Times (Rye Checchinato in SL) will speak on the key elements of hosting an effective Second Life orientation for folks new to the technology.  Participants are also encouraged to bring their own materials, resources and tips to share.

Date: Wednesday 9 March

Time: 16:00 Eastern/New York (see www.worldtimeserver.com for your respective time zone)

RSVP to Beth Offenbacker at beth@publicdecisions.com.

This group is free and the meeting is open to anyone interested in attending; you must have a Second Life account (they’re free) to participate.  We’ll convene at our regular meeting spot on Squirrel Island.  The group is co-sponsored by PublicDecisions and Learning Times.

Our April 13 meeting will feature the subject, “How to Hold a Virtual Deliberation in Second Life.”  Bill Corbett/The Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia (Jim Acacia in SL) and Craig Paterson/Deliberative IDEAS (Giarc Glenwalker in SL) will provide a practical overview of the steps they took for planning and hosting recent virtual deliberations in Second Life.  Stay tuned for details!

You're Invited: Virtual Deliberation on Economic Security, Sat Feb 19

You are invited to join a forum in the virtual world of Second Life on Saturday February 19 at 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) about economic security in America.  This program is co-sponsored by the Center for Voter Deliberation of Northern Virginia and PublicDecisions.  Attendance is free of charge. 

This virtual deliberation will focus on the question, "As the nation recovers from its worst recession in decades, how can we best take charge of the future so families can feel reasonably secure, parents can help their children prosper, and everyone can move toward a financially stable retirement?"

To register and get information on how to join Second Life (it's free), please complete the form at CVDNVA.org.  We look forward to your participation in this exciting virtual event!

July 20: Creating a Better World Roundtable on Virtual Worlds

Here's an invitation courtesy of Rik Panganiban from Global Kids about a great upcoming program in Second Life:

You are cordially invited to "Creating a Better World" a Global Kids' Roundtable on Virtual Worlds and Nonprofits on Tuesday July 20, from 12-1pm PST at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater ( teleport link ). Representatives of six nonprofit organizations will give brief presentations on their initial explorations of Second Life and other virtual worlds, and how they are thinking of integrating these virtual tools into their organizations' respective missions. Afterwards, there will be an open discussion about the applications of virtual worlds for various public good purposes.

The event is open to the public, with a special welcome to nonprofits, activists, educators, and developers.

Representatives of the following organizations participated in the summer 2010 session of the Virtual World Capacity Building Program:
The World Bank
Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy
Eurica Media Lab
Reach the World
Widener Memorial School
Center for Character and Citizenship

Each of these organizations has just completed the Virtual World Capacity Building Program, a four-week intensive exposure to virtual worlds for public good institutions. The event will be moderated by Global Kids and take place at at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater at the link above. For more information about the Virtual World Capacity Building Program contact Rik Panganiban at rik@globalkids.org. The VWCBP is supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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About Second Life
Second Life is a 3D immersive virtual world where roughly a million people from around the world communicate, share media, build 3D objects, and buy and sell virtual goods and services from each other. To participate in a Second Life virtual event, you will need a fairly recent computer and broadband access to the internet. Basic accounts are free. For more information and to get started, head to http://www.secondlife.com.

About Global Kids
Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program (OLP), now in its ninth year, integrates the use of social media -- from blogging to games to virtual worlds -- into GK’s innovative pedagogical approach. See http://www.globalkids.org for more info.

MuniGov Announces New Virtual Town and Resources for Second Life Engagement

MuniGov 2.0 is a new initiative that explores government collaboration via technology; the group recently announced plans to establish a presence in Second Life.

According to Bill Greeves, "The concept is simple: we want to build a series of training simulators and tools that can be used, free of charge, by any member of the organization. We intend to include the basic tools (conference room, auditorium/lecture hall, etc.) But we also are working on some very basic customizable tools such as a polling center, a paramedic training simulator and the like. We even intend to build a forum for use in public meetings. This is only the beginning of what we hope will become a centralized hub of virtual world resources for all of us to share and "check out" for specific purposes within a locality."

Learn more about MuniGov and this great initiative at Bill's blog here and at the MuniGov website here.

May 27 Pgm on Immersive Intell for Collaborative Decisionmaking

The Gronstedt Group sponsors weekly “Train for Success” Second Life sessions that convene training and communication professionals from around the globe to explore how leading corporations are transforming workplace performance with virtual worlds. No registration is needed for these sessions, which are held in Second Life.

The May 27 program at 12pm eastern is on Immersive Intelligence and it features Richard Hackathorn. According to the Gronstedt Group website, "Immersive Intelligence is a collaborative data-driven decision process for understanding complex systems using immersive spaces. Immersive spaces are virtual environments whose objects are created from and sync with a rich dynamic database, allowing persons to experience immersion within a data world ranging from the natural and familiar to the abstract and unusual. Richard Hackathorn (Hack Richard), Bolder Technology, Inc., will offer an overview of the concepts/architecture, discuss collaborative decision-making spaces, explore some use cases, and cite SL examples illustrating key features of Immersive Intelligence. Finally, we will suggest ways for getting involved. Scan http://im-tel.org/ for background."

Why Should I Care about Immersive Technologies for Engagement?

If you aren’t following Karl Kapp’s fantastic blog on virtual worlds for training and education, I highly recommend it. I’ve blogged here before about Karls’ work and mentioned his great book, Learning in 3D (co-authored with Tony O’Driscoll).

One of the questions I get frequently when I talk about how virtual worlds can be used for engagement work is, “Is Second Life just a fad?” In other words, is it around to stay? What kind of real impact is it going to have over the long haul?

My response is that it definitely is here to stay, and reports from organizations such as The Gartner Group and ThinkBalm show that immersive technologies are becoming a mainstream part of how organizations collaborate and learn together. Using these tools to engage with people is a natural extension of this practice, and they build on the exponential growth in social media that we’ve seen in engagement work over the past five years.

Check out this post from Karl Kapp’s blog that describes a couple alternatives that are blossoming outside of Second Life, as a way of showing how this technology is starting to change how we work together and with stakeholders.

Tues Apr 6: Free "Learning In 3d" Webinar with Karl Kapp and Tony O'Driscoll

Noted author Karl Kapp is presenting a free webinar tomorrow, Tuesday, April on Learning in 3D.

Karl will be presenting with co-author Tony O'Driscoll on the topic of Learning In 3d: Adding A New Dimension To Enterprise Learning And Collaboration with the Training Network. They're co-authors of the recent book, "Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration" (Pfeiffer, 2010).  What's particularly exciting about Karl and Tony's work is that there are many ways the learning they talk about can apply to stakeholder engagement.

According to his blog, subjects to be covered include:

• The advantages of 3D Learning
  
• How Virtual Immersive Environments (VIEs) are being used in organizations to encourage learning and collaboration.
  
• Case Studies of effective VIE implementations
  
• The right design archetypes for 3D learning environments
  
• Several guiding principles for establishing a successful 3D learning environment
  
• How to position virtual immersive environments to support actual business needs to improve productivity and enhance organizational effectiveness.

Learn more about Karl's great work on immersive learning and register for the webinar here.

Invitation to Global Kids' Winter 2010 Roundtable on Virtual Worlds & Nonprofits

You are cordially invited to Global Kids' Winter 2010 Roundtable on Virtual Worlds and Nonprofitson Monday April 12, from 12-1pm PST on MacArthur Island in Second Life (Use this teleport link)

Representatives of six nonprofit organizations will give brief presentations on their initial explorations of Second Life and other virtual worlds, and how they are thinking of integrating these virtual tools into their organizations' respective missions. Afterwards, there will be an open discussion about the applications of virtual worlds for various public good purposes.

The event is open to the public, with a special welcome to nonprofits, activists, educators, and developers.

Representatives of the following organizations will be presenting:

• Child Welfare League of America
• Health Consumers Alliance of South Australia
• Hip-Hop Education Center
• Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health
• United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc
• V.O.I.C.E. Community Development Corp

Each of these organizations has just completed the Global Kids' Virtual World Capacity Building Program, a four-week intensive exposure to virtual worlds for public good institutions. The event will be moderated by
Global Kids take place at the MacArthur Island Amphitheater (click here to teleport.)For more information about the Virtual World Capacity Building Program join the program's group on the EdgeProject.org or Contact Amira Fouad at amira@globalkids.org.

The VWCBP is by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ___________________________________
About Second Life
Second Life is a 3D immersive virtual world where roughly a million people from around the world communicate, share media, build 3D objects, and buy and sell virtual goods and services from each other. To participate in a Second Life virtual event, you will need a fairly recent computer and broadband access to the internet. Basic accounts are free. For more information and to get started, head to http://www.secondlife.com .

About Global Kids
Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program (OLP), now in its ninth year, integrates the use of social media -- from blogging to games to virtual worlds -- into GK’s innovative pedagogical approach. See http://www.globalkids.org for more info.

Idaho State University Play2Train program named Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge finalist

Here's a great article on the Idaho State University website about the Federal Virtual Worlds Competition and ISU's entry.  This competition is a wonderful way of showcasing new ways virtual worlds can be used to support collaboration, skill-building, instruction and visualization of often complex subjects.  Certainly the potential applicability to engagement work is something that's particularly exciting.

"The U.S. Army Simulation and Training Technology Center named the Idaho State University “Play2Train” Second Life application produced by Rameshsharma Ramloll as a finalist for the inaugural Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge."  Read more

Next Virtual Worlds for Engmt Mtg on Wed Mar 10 at 4pm eastern

Just a quick reminder that our next meeting of the Virtual Worlds Working Group will take place on Wednesday, March 10 at 4pm eastern. Check your respective time zone at www.WorldTimeServer.com.

At this meeting, we’ll be taking a field trip to Collaboration Cove. Collaboration Cove is an island providing “meeting space for business professionals in SL. Multimedia auditoriums, library, game room, photo studio, lounges and conference rooms in calm surroundings.” Tom Dell will be our host.

Please RSVP by Tuesday, March 9 for this meeting. We’ll convene at Squirrel Island (our regular meeting place) and then teleport to Collaboration Cove at 4:10pm eastern.

If you’re not already a member of the Working Group, it’s easy to join; just email Beth. Membership is free and we meet monthly.