Some Extropian Announcements

Here's a couple of announcements from (or on behalf of) Sophrosyne Stenvaag of Extropia Core. First up:

Sophrosyne's Saturday Salon: Creativity and Corporate Builds
When..... Saturday, December 8, 2007 at 1:00pm - 3:00pm SLT
Where... The Nexus at Extropia Core

Please join us as we discuss what makes an effective corporate build, and how to liberate our design imaginations!

Our Spotlight Guest will be Aleister Kronos, of the popular and insightful blog, Ambling In Second Life! Al is a veteran traveler, wildly creative designer, and incisive design critic. Join him for an amble through the best and worst of Second Life builds!

It's nice to be invited and I'm looking forward to it, albeit with a looming sense of dread. Do come along if you fancy it, and get a thrilling sense of schadenfreude while I demonstrate my mastery of the bleedin' obvious.

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The second announcement from Sophrosyne concerns the excellent - and fun - site: freerice.com. She has set up a contest aimed at benefitting both freerice and Second Life Africa. The latter is an initiative by Uthango, a South African social investment company. As she explains in this blog post:

I've staked $USD 250 as prize money for a contest to run for three weeks, from December 1, 2007 to December 21, 2007. At the end of that time, on December 22, 2007, I'll award all the prize money that's been won at a party in Second Life.

For every person who posts a top score of 50 (one score per player - if you post 10 screencaps of 50, we'll still only pay out once!), we'll pay you $L250, and donate $L1000 to Second Life Africa. For every person who posts a score of 49, we'll pay you $L250 and donate $L750 to Second Life Africa. For every person who posts a score of 48, we'll pay you $L250 and donate $L500 to Second Life Africa. We will *not* pay out more than $USD250, unless we receive other sponsors. Once we have $USD250 in winners, the contest will be over.

Good causes, a fun and challenging game and prizes! What more could you want?

Africa in Extropia

More often than not my time in Second Life is somewhat squeezed as a result of the various activities I need to cram into it: rambling around the islands and blogging them (that's the real biggy), building and scripting stuff (if only for my own amusement) and chatting with friends. So it is not often that I make the effort to tootle along to one of the many meetings and presentations that occur on a dizzyingly frequent basis in SL. That - plus I can be something of an anti-social git.

Now if you've read this blog before and have actually made your way to somewhere near the bottom of the page, you may have noticed that I am a member of Virtual Worlds Connect. This is a social network, built on the Ning platform, for anyone with an interest in virtual worlds. It is completely agnostic about which worlds, and there is no need to be a member of any of them. As with other such networks, you can join up with old friends and meet new ones (albeit rather asynchronously). One such new chum of mine,and fellow SL blogger, is Sophrosyne Stenvaag. She sent me a notification (via VW Connect) of a presentation today by my SL friend, Alanagh Recreant, of the South African non-profit organisation, Uthango Social Investments. Alanagh was going to talk about the work of Uthango and its Virtual Africa projects in Second Life. How could I not go?

The meeting was held at Extropia Core - about which I will write more on another occasion - and was attended by around 16 people. Sophrosyne hosts such a meeting every Saturday at 1:00PM SLT, and for those unlucky enough to be around, the guest in 2 weeks might well be... ummm... me. Anyhoo...

Alanagh gave a thorough walkthru of the work undertaken by Uthango and the use of Second Life as a tool to assist them. Second Life can fulfil a variety of roles with respect to Virtual Africa. At its most basic, perhaps, it can put technology and other skills providers, regardless of their geographic location, in direct contact with Uthango. It can also act as a vehicle for raising awareness, not only of the challenges facing Africa, but also of the resources, knowledge and skills that Africa has to offer. As an immersive social network it fits very well with the African culture(s), where such networks are a strong component of everyday life. Hopefully, Uthango will also be able to broker African communities learning new skills and learning from each other.

Here's a couple of photos I took of the meeting:


Now you might be thinking: "Hang on, Al... Africa is a big place... this feels like an over-simplification." If you are, then you share my concerns. At the end of the day, Uthango's remit is South Africa, not the entire continent. However, I am not aware (unless you tell me otherwise) of any other direct African engagement in Second Life yet, and so I cannot really object to this apparent inclusiveness that spans all of Africa. I hope (and expect) that other African participants will emerge in Second Life, but until then Uthango is the torch-bearer for the entire continent. It was a good presentation, followed by a lively Q&A.

On a final note - Soph, any chance of some seating next time? My old virtual legs were seizing up by the end! And finally, just for completeness, here's a link to the Extropia blog.

Get on Yer Bike for Africa

Here's a press release from my friends on the Virtual Africa project. If you want more information, please IM Alanagh Recreant inworld. All help will be gratefully received!

Virtual Africa raises funds for real world project in Second Life with African bicycles.

[CAPE TOWN, November 12, 2007] The developers of Virtual Africa in Second Life are raising money through the [e]bizikile fundraising drive for an Opportunity Centre in a Cape Town community for unemployed job seekers. From 15 November through the upcoming festive season, residents can purchase virtual African bicycles designed by Shukran Fahid of !BooPeRFunK! for L$250 and next year, participate in a grid-wide virtual bike-a-thon.

“The Opportunity Centre is a revamped cow shed that we need to equip with computers, office resources and mentors to assist job seekers, small entrepreneurs and community members in making their own way out of poverty by actively pursuing their dreams,” said Dorette Steenkamp, co-executive director of Uthango Social Investments, a South African charity working with more than 12,000 people living in poverty. “The [e]bizikile fundraising event is meant to bring attention to how bicycles fit into the economy in African cities and rural towns.”

Second Life residents will also have the option to donate funds to purchase a real life bicycle that will then be bought by the Uthango for a school learner in rural Africa. Photos and interviews of the beneficiary will be streamed back into SL during 2008.

Steenkamp, whose avatar is Alanagh Recreant in Second Life, is working with co-executive director Erna Sittig who is Enakai Ultsch in the popular 3-dimensional virtual world. Through their NGO Uthango Social Investments, they are building Virtual Africa in Second Life as an orientation 'island' to serve as an entry point for Africans to participate in virtual worlds as well to build international awareness of Africa and the issues faced by the continent's people.

“We are encouraging African stakeholders to participate in virtual worlds for networking and commerce as well as educational and fundraising initiatives,” said Ultsch. “Virtual Africa is only one of a number of initiatives we are implementing to help generate economic development and growth at a local level, but it is the first African nonprofit initiative in Second Life.”

The [e]bizikile fundraising event is supported by Charitable Hearts, one of the largest charity groups in Second Life advocating for the work of a few selected charities. The e]bizikile African bicycles will be available from Uthango’s office in Second Life or from dedicated affiliated businesses. Web-enabled vendors donated by Hippo Technologies will dispense the bicycles. Free vendors are still available to interested companies, organizations or individual landowners in Second Life.

For more information about distributing or obtaining a unique African bicycle, contact Enakai Ultsch. Second Life residents can also join the [e]bizikile group or IM Alanagh Recreant for further details. To visit the Uthango offices in Second Life, follow this SLURL.


ABOUT UTHANGO™
Uthango Social Investments is a registered charity located in Cape Town, South Africa. It is the first African-based company and NGO officially in Second Life, where it will launch VIRTUAL AFRICA in 2008. Uthango Social Investments is an investment and development company specialising in sustainable poverty eradication. It focuses on the digital divide, micro-enterprise development, intercultural dialogue, crime prevention, community mental health, and infrastructure development.

http://www.uthango.org/