At Global Kids I am in charge of a really awesome project called the “Virtual Worlds Capacity Building Program for Nonprofits.” (What the name lacks in parsimony, it makes up for in descriptiveness. I sometimes wish we could just call it “The Rutabaga Project,” or something like that.)
Despite the name, it’s kind of a dream project for me. I get to work with some really cool organizations over the course of four weeks and help them to think about the possibilities for integrating virtual worlds into their strategies and activities. Already in the first summer session, I had the pleasure, alongside my colleague Amira, to work with representatives of the Adler Planetarium, the Vera Institute of Justice, the Justice Policy Institute, Edutopia, Archi-treasures and the National Writing Project!
Together each week we got to explore together a different aspect of virtual worlds, including avatar creation, 3D building, multimedia presentations, and games-based learning. While we spent the most time in Second Life, given the vibrancy of the nonprofit community there, we also got some time to explore other virtual worlds such as Metaplace, Whyville and Small Worlds.
As someone who has spent years in these kinds of spaces, it is helpful for me to be around people who are totally new to virtual worlds. I forget how daunting and bewildering these environments can be. One of our participants complained of dizziness when moving around her avatar. Another got so frightened when another avatar starting talking to her that she immediately logged off.
On the other side, it’s inspiring for me seeing these activists, educators and organizers have their own epiphanies of what these tools might offer their organizations. You can read my recap of the Virtual Roundtable we held for the first “graduates” of the program a few weeks ago to get an idea of their thinking.
Our hope is that out of these brief exposures might blossom new, innovative uses of these virtual tools. Some of these might directly involve Global Kids and others might be done on their own initiative. I am certain that there is still much more potential out there for education, civic engagement, collaboration and cross-cultural connections that we are just starting to imagine.
We know that there are potentially many, many organizations that might benefit from this kind of facilitated exposure to virtual worlds. In the coming months, we are hoping to be able to open up this process to more civic and cultural organizations that wish to participate. Because as far as we know, we are the only organization that is doing these kinds of virtual world exploratory sessions, specifically tailored for the public good sector.
My larger hope is that as these groups over the next years start their own virtual world builds, exhibits, offices, conferences and games, our own youth will get to benefit from these as they become more engaged digital citizens.
Just one of the cool projects I get to work on at Global Kids!
