The Teen Grid

Second Life Best Practices in Education

May was a great month for significant educational events in Second Life. Second Life educators held the first Second Life Best Practices in Education: Teaching, Learning and Research 2007 International Conference on May 25.

Tips and Tricks

The Public Issue Tracker (JIRA):

A how to guide Part I

At first glance, JIRA can be daunting. However, a few well-spent minutes of your time can make your experience reporting and voting in JIRA quite easy and rewarding.

VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER: SCION AND MOVIETICKETS.COM LAUNCH THE FIRST-EVER MS FLY IN SECOND LIFE

The National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Pilots New Fundraising Opportunities in Virtual World

In a move symbolic of the National MS Society's goal to achieve a world free of multiple sclerosis (MS), the organization's Southern California Chapter is expanding on the success of its signature annual fundraising events to create the first-ever MS Fly, taking participants through an engaging scavenger hunt in Second Life.

Produced by The Illusion Factory and Bullpen Advertising, the captivating and interactive MS Fly will take place June 10th through the 17th. With the support of Scion and MovieTickets.com, the National MS Society is calling on participants worldwide to enter the Second Life world, adorn a MS cape, and join the movement to help achieve a world free of MS. Registration is open until close of event on June 17th at www.themsfly.org. Proceeds for this pilot event will benefit the Society's Southern California Chapter.

"In collaborating with the MS Society, The Illusion Factory is very excited to champion a cause-worthy event that will help spotlight the less commercial, more creative corners of Second Life," said MS Fly producer and Illusion Factory CEO, Brian Weiner.

After check in, participants (known as avatars) will receive a MS Fly cape which will give them the capability to fly to far greater heights in the virtual world, and begin their adventure through Second Life. Each avatar will travel along a "fly" route of floating islands - including Scion City, MovieTickets.com, The International Space Station, The Carl Sagan Pavilion, Svarga, Second Chance Trees, Dublin Island, Diegoland, House of Tunes, Health Info Island, New Zealand Pavilion, and Info Island/Second Life Library - scouring each island for clues within the interactive world as they engage in multiple levels of in-world activities. With completion of each scavenger hunt phase comes a new incentive for the participant and more money raised to help end MS.

A kick-off celebration and ribbon cutting to jump-start the week-long event will take place June 10th at 9am PDT at the MS Pavilion, located on the Illusion Factory West Island in Second Life. Search MS FLY in Second Life.

"Bullpen Advertising created this concept to allow us to expand our very successful fundraising campaigns beyond the physical world, eliminating all geographic, demographic and physical obstacles to participation," said Jim Elfline, Vice President of Special Events, National MS Society, Southern California Chapter. "The MS Fly is a new and innovative way to identify more people who want to join the movement to create a world free of MS. Conducting the MS Fly in a virtual world like Second Life is a way for us to explore a meaningful approach to engage and connect future fundraisers with our cause." Key sponsors Scion and MovieTickets.com were compelled to be a part of this unique global fundraising event. "As a huge believer of community events, partnering with the National MS Society on its virtual Fly just makes sense," said Scion's Interactive Marketing Manager, Adrian Si. "We get the chance to creatively engage this audience and at the same time support a worthy cause."

"By blending the power of community and Second Life, with the essential spirit of giving, the MS Fly is making a giant leap in fundraising and awareness for multiple sclerosis. MovieTickets.com is proud to lend our platform and brand participation to such a unique and important cause," said Joel Cohen, Executive Vice President & General Manager for MovieTickets.com.

About Multiple Sclerosis:

Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information from the brain to the body and stops people from moving. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a MS-free world. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men effected by the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.5 million worldwide.

About the National MS Society:

MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn't. We help each person address the challenges of living with MS through our 50-state network of chapters. We fund more MS research, provide more services to people with MS, offer more professional education and further more advocacy efforts than any other MS organization in the world. The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. We are people who want to do something about MS now. Join the movement at www.nationalmssociety.org. For more information about the Southern California Chapter, visit www.nationalmssociety.org/cal or call 310-479-4456.

Studies show that early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can reduce future disease activity and improve quality of life for many people with multiple sclerosis. Talk to your health care professional and contact the National MS Society at www.nationalmssociety.org or 1-800-344-4867 to learn about ways to help manage multiple sclerosis and about current research that may one day reveal a cure.

Name Dropping

This month, Linden Lab would like to recognize the efforts of both the Main Grid Second Life Birthday Volunteers and the Teen Grid Second Life Birthday Volunteers. These two Resident groups have worked tirelessly to make this year's celebration both exciting and educational.

SignpostMarv Martin headed up the Main Grid SL4B team with the assistance of Ariel Otafuko, JayJay Talamasca, Shoshana Episilon, Patchouli Woollahra, Will Webb, and many others. This Main Grid celebration featured SL's premier DJ's, extraordinary artwork, historical builds, and more.

Storm Basiat headed up the Teen Grid SL4B team. Storm rallied some of the most talented teen content-creators and organizers, including Brooke Barmy, Daniel Voyager, Mercury Metropolitan, Reallife Orca, and Ryan Dayton. In fact, teens did such an amazing job planning and building TSL4B that they even secured Linden Lab's own Spike Linden as DJ for the weekend bash.

A big thanks to everyone who made this anniversary the event of the year!

Know someone worth mentioning? Tell us!

As We See It

SL Voice: Another Valuable Choice

Aggregating Resident feedback on the blog and in the forums, we've noticed that many feel strongly that the soon-to-be released voice feature has the potential to marginalize certain Second Life communities and individuals, primarily the disabled, roleplayers and non-English speaking residents. While we certainly take all thoughtful concerns into consideration, it bears noting that voice may just as well benefit elements of these communities. In the interest of broadening the debate, as we do encourage your feedback, let's take a look at these two communities specifically.

Agree? Disagree? Let us know - send us your Letter to the Editor - with your Second Life username - and we will publish a representative set in the next edition of The Second Opinion.

Your Letters

We received several thoughtful responses to our opinion piece Missed Opportunities. Below is a sample of the replies. Thank you for your responses!

Keep it Up!

I have to agree with this editorial. I started in SL on April 16, 2006, and that's not so old. And I HAVE noticed the lack of bouncing out of your seat while changing clothing or attachments! Boxhead has been fixed, the list goes on.

Most of the groups which do a lot of complaining seem to be made up of relative newcomers (end 2006) (lol newcomers!). The only thing I find "not like the old days" is the lack of courtesy and a joy of being in the world that was there when I started.

But I think you are doing a great job, keep it up.

- vaguegirl Petty

Reflections on being ten days old

How to have fun in SL:
DO

• Figure out what you're here for. My first SL friend asked me "what are you doing here?" It made me think. The answer is in my profile.
• Fill in your profile - it's a quick "first impression" for others. Look at other people's profiles.
• Pay attention to the chat around you. Join in. There's more than one way to join in.
• Get very familiar with search - it's the web of Second Life.

DON'T

• Don't Panic. Take it slow. If the place you're in isn't slow, then it probably isn't fun.
• Don't be impatient. Sure there's lag, and all the rest, but it's a long way from web 1.0 to Second Life in only 10 years (www being 14 and SL being 4 I think that works out). Don't take it for granted - be amazed!
• Don't forget that behind every avatar is a real person. Don't forget that YOU are you're avatar. Be free, be real, be cool, be fun, be you.
• Don't leave a place so quick you don't see what's going on. Don't stay if you don't like it.

Best experiences:

• Dancing with strangers, who were dancing as a group made me feel part of the group.
• Hearing (and seeing) RL friends performing in SL. OhMy!
• Being part of a huge crowd at a gig.
• Freebie shopping frenzy!

Worst experiences:

• Getting stuck in a wall of a house a friend was building in a sandbox.
• System crashing the first time I was in a huge crowd.

- OhMy Kidd