Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

The event opened with a brief introduction to the Virtual World Capacity Building program, an initiative of Global Kids supported by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation.  The program seeks to help nonprofits better understand the unique affordances of virtual worlds for various public good applications through a four-week intensive explosure to different synthetic spaces and experiences.  The aim of the program is to assist nonprofits in understanding how they might better fulfill their missions using these virtual technologies and integrate them into their larger program strategies.

The four organizations Adler Planetarium of Chicago, Archi-treasures, The National Writing Project, and the Vera Institute of Justice represented a diverse range of interests, from astronomy to community development, literacy and criminal justice reform.  Having all of these leading organizations in one space, speaking from their unique perspectives about how they might use virtual worlds in their work itself was a great example of the application of these 3D environments for public engagement, collaboration and education.

After my introduction, Craig Wacker of the MacArthur Foundation spoke about why the foundation is interested in virtual worlds and supportive of this project. Craig described some of the unique attributes of virtual worlds that make them worth looking at, including immersive 3D experiences, community-building, and various forms of education.

The first speaker was Katie Peterson (SL avatar: Katy Wetherby) of the Adler Planetarium of Chicago, the first planetarium in the United States.  Katie talked about some of the Adler's initial forays into Second Life, participating in astronomy related events with other organizations.  Katie noted that there was already a rich presence of astronomy-related institutions doing education, events and collaborations using virtual worlds.  She spoked about their possible next steps, including holding their own virtual mixed-reality events and creating a more permanent virtual presence.

Next up was Joyce Fernandes (SL: Joyce Firehawk) of Archi-treasures a small Chicago-based nonprofit that brings together architects, designers and community groups to transform public spaces and lives.  Joyce talked about how virtual spaces might be used to prototype possible real world spaces, and allow people to walk amidst them and discuss them.  She contrasted the "alternate" reality of Second Life with the "transformed" reality that Archi-treasures facilitates with the communities that they work with. Joyce asked how Second Life might help people better map their real life experiences and narratives.

Christina Cantrill (SL: See Haiku) of The National Writing Project was the next speaker. The National Writing Project is a national educational network that supports K-12 teachers in teaching literacy to young people of all ages. Christina opened her talk by leading a quick writing exercise among the avatars in the amphitheater, which was a nice demonstration of the educational possibilities in these spaces. As a next step, the National Writing Project will be simulcasting into Second Life their next real world gathering in November.

Finally, Tina Chiu (SL: Jin cyberschreiber) of the Vera Institute of Justice addressed the audience.  Vera Institute works largely with various governmental entities on reforming different aspecdts of the criminal justice system, from juvenile justice to the rights of undocumented people to prison conditions.  Tina gave a couple of possible applications for virtual worlds in their work.  First, she described ways that virtual spaces might simulate different criminal justice environments (a courtroom, detention facility, etc) for those who work in the courts for educational purposes.  She also mused about how a virtual experience might simulate how different policies are effected in different context, like a piece of legislation that has to be implemented by police, judges, lawyers, and government bureaucrats.

It was an incredibly rich 1.5 hour event, with lots of great in-world text chat supplementing anad adding to the presentations by our speakers.  It was not without its glitches, like video that wouldn't load for everyone, avatars crashing, and the occasional rude gesture.  But I was surprised that Second Life voice actually worked for the large majority of our participants there, and that our speakers quickly got over their initial jitters and were able to navigate the space effectively. 

Thanks again to the MacArthur Foundation for entrusting Global Kids with this project and hosting us in their beautiful island in Second Life.  Stay tuned for future events, simulcasts and trainings.