Connections/ Live2Give

[avad]

Yay for the speedy ease of linkage and the wonders it can do.:)
I read this wonderful post on Tony Walsh's blog 'Clickable Clulture'last week
Transcending Physicality in Second Life and I was moved by it and decided to repost it with a link on the 'gaming technology for social good' discussion thread on omidyar.net.
Pam Omidyar was intrigued and looked into it more and she and I met up on Second Life and visited the Live2Give Island itself (along with Tom).
SO inspiring and wonderful what they've done there. I can't wait to show B. (B worked with a group of similarly disabled adults for quite a while and also worked at United Cerebral Palsy). Next thing you know, Pam has decided she is going to help Live2Give with some funding for new technology! :)! And then next thing you know both John Lester and June-Marie Mahay of Live2give are on omidyar.net and on 'our' Better Island discussion thread and all sorts of people are inspired and want to help and a new discussion thread 'Innovative Use of Technology for the extremely disabled' is started. And June-marie emails me and she's so sweet and we will meet up on SL soon(hopefully with B somehow). He's been researching adaptive devices for quite a while...and well,how perfect.
whew. this stuff is just so FAST!! Connections, connections.
Something as easy as just moving information along on the web can really make a difference quick! hmmmmmm

Comments

[avad.livejournal.com]

It's a virtual world more than it is a 'Game'.
It's totally open-ended which is what fascinates me. It is a collaborative construction, sort of like a dreamworld made by you and others.
You enter and choose/modify an avatar to be 'you'(there are instructions how to do this)...and you can explore and build and chat with everyone that's around.
So it can be a place you meet with your friends online in avatar form and meet folks from all over. It's kindof wild to know that people regardless of where they are geographically in real life, here they can be 'dancing in the same club'.
Businesses abound and there is an economy.
Linden Dollars are actually convertable to real currency. This is why I was so amazed and hopeful when groups like Vertu (http://www.vertuous.org/) began fundraising for realworld charities like Heifer international..and made it work! You, for instance, if you wanted to (as an extension of your real world identity)...could design virtual clothes (http://www.nafii.com/kasi/PixelDolls/PDV/index.html) and have your own shop. You can design your own home any way you like.
I think the important thing to keep in mind is that you are reaching people you would not normally be able to....and to think of the possibilities of that and how it can be much more than a game. It's a mode of communication that allows you certain freedoms. How you use those freedoms is up to you.
So, for me, I'm trying to brainstorm how this technology can be used to really inspire people to feel more connected to others across distance, to feel able to do good things...and to feel part of a larger benevolent organism...how the ideas fromm my dreams and art can be communicated in this realm..etc
SO much potential I can't even express.:)