Judah: We're compiling a list of nonprofits in Second Life - right now about 25 identified, I suspect there are more. Many not on the list are those in the talking about stages ... (list is here: http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=aptcrhmkxkv_bcjvrhrc2vgbq)
TechSoup's approach has been done on shoestring budget and lots of volunteer time. This is to get the effort started. TechSoup has a group of volunteers who did the build of the office and various items like kiosks. The Community Manager of TechSoup has been spending some time in the overall planning and managing the event. There is an active community of practice of nonprofit professionals (I'm part of this group) are who working on this as a way to learn and see what the possibilities are. Plus, it is loads of fun! For an in-world museum, aside from the Island fees, I would assume there is the start up cost which is building out the space -- whatever buildings, classrooms, exhibits, information kiosks, etc. You need a combination of technical skills scripting language is based on C++), plus SMEs, plus design. I've visited the nonprofit spaces and it seems like the approach is to start small and build out. The ongoing costs or staff time would be for any "events" whether these lectures, trainings, gatherings, calls for art work, exhibitions openings, meetings, etc. It also depends on how elaborate the events are -- whether you are doing something like connecting with a real world live event or doing something just in-world. The former requires more technical expertise in terms of streaming video and audio, etc. There are a number of art galleries and museums with "resident-created art" -- it is a combination of professional digital artists or hobbyists -- I'm not even clear on the asethetics of in-world art. I also just came across the New Globe Theatre model that is being built - that sounds fascinating: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pathfinderlinden/sets/72157594150210551/ The education community is huge and there is a lot of training and simulation going on - it seems a ripe area for museum educators who want to reach young people. SL also has a teen grid and there are some interesting youth projects, most noteable Global Kids (http://www.holymeatballs.org The American Cancer Society has been doing Relay for Life events in world - all volunteer run and they have fundraising kiosks or donation kiosks all over the place. They've raised some money and awareness, although not huge amounts of cash. There is also the Better World Island project which includes the Darfur Camps and a few other nonprofits. They host regular gatherings there and I've met a lot of interesting artists and educators there - who are very knowledgeable. B. -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of psully at magnes.org Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 5:03 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Are there any real-life museums on Second Life? Wow! what an interesting discussion! I've some friends who are part of the dev team for this project, but I hadn't been keeping a close enough eye on it to realize that it's now live. Looking at the website, I found this blurb rather interesting:/ Pricing/ /Small islands are priced at US$1,250 for 65,536 square meters (about 16 acres), monthly land fees for maintenance are US$195./ /Large islands are priced at US$5,000 for 262,144 square meters (about 64 acres), monthly land fees for maintenance are US$780./ /We offer a 25% discount to verified real world educators and academic institutions (e.g., universities/schools) or 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that will be using the regions to support their organization's official work. Please contact education at lists.lindenlab.com <mailto:education at lists.lindenlab.com> for verification and more details./ *** I wonder how many other nonprofits have been using this medium to support their work. And I wonder what the upkeep and demands on staff time would be if one were to, say, create a Metropolitan Museum of Art or Getty, which would require a lot of maintenance. There wouldn't be the overhead of maintaining artwork or facilities, right? but the staff time would be an extra cost. Perian Sully Collection Database and Records Administrator Judah L. Magnes Museum Berkeley, CA Richard Urban wrote: > Hi all, > > In the spirit of putting heads together I created the "Museums in Second > Life" group this spring. I haven't had a chance to do much with it yet, but > you can find it by searching the SL groups category. I'm eyeing what Beth & > the TechSoup group are doing for examples of how we can do more to interact > with each other. > > I'll also take this opportunity to plug the 2006 MCN conference where I'll > be moderating a panel called "Modding the Museum: Accessing Collections > through Games" that will feature several panelists who are building > game-based museum interactives. Hope to see you in the audience in > Pasadena! > > Richard Urban > Graduate School of Library and Information Science > University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign > rjurban at uiuc.edu > http://www.inherentvice.net > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > Swiader, Larry > Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 3:31 PM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Are there any real-life museums on Second Life? > > Hi Beth, > > We've been doing some thinking here at the Holocaust Museum on what a > presence on Second Life might be like (and mean). My colleague, David > Klevan (dklevan at ushmm.org), our Education Manager for Technology and > Distance Learning, is at the forefront of that thinking. > > It'd be nice to put our heads together..... > > Regards, > > Larry > > > Lawrence Swiader > Deputy Chief Information Officer > United States Holocaust Memorial Museum > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Beth > Kanter > Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 11:48 AM > To: 'Museum Computer Network Listserv' > Subject: [MCN-L] Are there any real-life museums on Second Life? > > Hi Folks, > > I've been researching the possibilities for nonprofits on Second Life > (http://www.secondlife.com), the virtual world. I'm participating in some > "in-world" projects that TechSoup is organizing around nonprofits in SL. > There will be an event later this month and we're starting to compile a > directory of nonprofits using it. You can see the directory here > (http://www.writely.com/View.aspx?docid=aptcrhmkxkv_bcjvrhrc2vgbq) > > So far, I've seen some "museums" in second life - created by residents, but > not any real life museums there - there may be, but haven't run across it. > The San Jose Art Museum is building a virtual Island for display of virtual > art works being sought from SL http://www.ludica.org.uk/NewWest/ The event > will coincide with ZeroOne Festival http://isea2006.sjsu.edu/Grabbed from > comments in blog post here: > > I'm wondering if any of you are investigating the possibilities or doing any > projects. There a huge community of educators (320) from universities, some > teen education projects, a library project, and embryonic nonprofit > presence. I've written up what I learn on my blog here: > http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/npsl/index.html > > Beth > > > > _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l
