BWI part2B
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By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:13:36 PST Comment feedback score: 0 I'm all for the retreat center idea. Setting up specific areas that are conducive to focused roundtable discussions would be great. Eventually I hope that many of the groups on omidyar.net can meet and hold occassional discussions and workspace presentations inworld. How do we create a space that encourages and facilitates the collaboration that is already happening through omidyar.net? And how can we create content that is conveyable and inspiring to the random visitor? An important thing to remember is that we don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Inworld builders have created countless amazing stuctures which can be bought with linden dollars and modified according to our needs.The time and energy needed to build Everything from scratch might be better used on actually communicating and developing 'better world projects'. For instance,search through and buy a beautiful presentation space to upload quickly. Then we can FOCUS on the quality and quantities of the presentations. I envision there being wonderful weekly events on Better World Island, presentations, films that inspire. What will those be? (I'll take a look around and give coordinates to set-ups we might consider) For the random visitor, I think it is important to create a zone that is educational and inspiring. Since we don't have xml incorporated yet...probably we can start out with clickable notecards and signage. Tom, can you make notecards to briefly explain to the viewer what the wormhole is? where can you being to 'drop' pieces of your book in text form...as a seed for visual form to follow? By the way, the website for Vertu is http://vertuous.org . VERTU is virtual organization that seeks to raise funds for, and awareness of, real life non-profits within MMOG's such as Second Life. They're undergoing 'reorganization' right now so we'll have to wait and see what happens with them. Live2Give (http://braintalk.blogs.com/live2give/) is another organization with their own island. here's a bit about it from Tony Walsh's great blog Clickable Culture: Physical Challenges vs. Nonphysical Space by Tony Walsh on January 28, 2005 @ 4:12 pm Virtual worlds can empower those with physical and psychological challenges, levelling the playing field and allowing people not only to interact with fewer restrictions, but in ways not physically possible in real life. Live2Give, a project founded by two collaborators, intends to develop an online community for people with cerebral palsy and similar conditions. The project is manifested in blog format as well as a Second Life group and island (both unsurprisingly named "Live2Give"). Live2Give was co-founded by John Lester, the IT Director at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and June-Marie Mahay, who is working with Wilde Cunningham, a Second Life avatar controlled by a group of people dealing with cerebral palsy. Live2Give will be hosting a round-table discussion on their private island today on "Surmounting physical disabilities in virtual worlds." Topics include a discussion of novel human-computer interfaces and the sociological implications of persistant virtual communities. links available on the actual blog post here: http://secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/physical_challenges_vs_nonphsyical_space/
By Luke Martin (1845), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:20:39 PST
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Tom, thanks for turning me on to this thread. I still can't believe that you are a gamer. Did you ever get to drop the Little Red Riding Hood garb?
If any of you are interested in exploring a discussion on virtual vs. real when it comes to relationships, check out what I posted today. As people trying to do good in a virtual gaming reality, you may have a different take on things than my wife does.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:26:51 PST Comment feedback score: 0 ha. I was so busy writing that lengthy post that I didn't even notice your additional threads in the meantime! I would LOVE of course if the ideas from my artworks were able to be incorporated somehow. :)! Boy that'll really be drilling the idea of anticipatory systems home to Me, that's for sure. Can't wait.:) ohboy...now this is getting strange...hmmm...this just reminded me I have to show you something I did..wow, I wonder if this will work!! I have to find something...eek! A proposal I made a while ago for a real park out here....based on Threads of Empathy! why this might really work!!:) ok, darn, I've got to run. But I will get on this as soon as I can. Thanks for the nudge, I'm sParKLing now.:)
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Fri, 04 Feb 2005 20:56:34 PST
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Well, I joined Second Life with the name Panther Magpie. I go in there and I can't figure out what to do.
I tried to use the help function and got no response. It's not my computer, which is a new Mac laptop. The trouble is me.
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 08:05:28 PST
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Doh, wish we had known that last night... Joan joined too. I will look for you when I am online and can totally help out...
Hang in there!
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 08:18:09 PST
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I found this... might help: http://www.tutorialslive.com/SL/
I highly recommend reading the 20 page starter guide too.
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 12:49:34 PST
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Luke... not sure I'd call myself a gamer yet, but I am having fun. (Actually, I worked on a virtual reality project years ago, and lost an architectural battle to build the project similar to SL's approach using a scripting language).
I agree with Darlene's comments about not needing to reinvent wheels... there are a whole lot of folks and ideas floating around, we need to create a space within which they can condense (aka Snowflake model)... and need to set up values to shape what condenses.
Here's an interesting orb that Pierre found:
and this is what it looks like from the outside when someone else is in it:
we could make this a kind of gondola ride between the peace poles. Or, new inhabitants could be stuck inside of an orb with the rights and privileges of a landless peasant, for example, with only limited freedoms - and the quest is to help folks out of their orbs. I did a mockup of a peace pole, but could use a texture to wrap around it, if anyone has a jpg i could use...
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 19:41:46 PST
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Interesting! He just 'found' it?What was it like inside the orb?
I think many of your 'Processes Known To Work For Collective Visioning' ideas can be used here.Been reading a lot of your stuff today, Tom. SO many beautiful overlaps with all I hold dear...I am very glad to have met you. You express so many things I wish I could in words. Micro Philanthropy and the 'Nothing is Missing' papers.:)! yesyes and yes.
I found my proposal, now trying to figure out how to upload it.
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 21:51:11 PST
Edited: Sun, 06 Feb 2005 03:02:29 PST
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Pam Omidyar said:
Doh, wish we had known that last night... Joan joined too. I will look for you when I am online and can totally help out...
Hang in there!
I am chagrinned as I tell you that I have read the starter guide twice.
I spent my Saturday evening in SL and I am getting the hang of it. I believe there is a misfire in my computer and I have reported the repeated crash. My laptop has virtualy never crashed before.
Tonight, I was in a place with dance music and lots of people but I couldn't quite get next to anyone. Progress. . .
I do know how to work on my avatar image. Fun.
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 21:58:28 PST
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Darlene, from inside the orb, you see the universe, a galaxy, and lots of stars... kind of 2001ish.
Nothing is Missing is the basis for the opening story in Toasters, Cats, and Snowflakes. The story is about Tom trying to convince Homer of the value of zero - a missing "nothing" to the ancient Greeks. He finally has his "duh" moment and wonders what nothings might be missing in today's world - the simple ideas which have great power. Homer sets off for various odessies around the island, trying to get up mount uplift. Being blind, he must rely on innovative ideas and activities to lead the quest. The story opens up the space for many other quests to be formed, and other missing nothings to be discovered. Setting this all in Second Life is a fun kind of participatory world building exercise, letting us jump outside the limitations of the "real" world.
For example, I could imagine setting up an "anticipatory accounting system" which might be based on "incursions" instead of "transactions." So, instead of measuring our interaction via the past and a chart of accounts, we could measure our interaction by its expected effect on the future. In this world, the placebo effect would be "normal" and "real medicines" would be the exception.
Having an island (or many) in a virtual world to play with these ideas gives us a new form of creativity, I think. Maybe there are things that are just to complex to express on paper or two dimensional interaction which are really important and need to get communicated. Maybe there are things which can only be expressed by simulation to be understood.
Maybe the intellectual paraphernalia with which we evaluate the "real" world is flawed, that it is not rich enough express the richness of complex, adaptive systems, and we need to invent something new?
One of the neat things I've found about this process is that you can get around the "Why?" question. You don't have to ask what caused a pink flamingo to appear by the hot tub. It just did, and its just there in your face with no causality. After spending time immersed SL, you come back to the real world realizing that "Why?" is a loaded question... it presumes a "because". big topic, more later.
By Luke Martin (1845), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:07:11 PST
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I don't think I should read any more of this thread. You guys are making it very hard for me to resist entering the orb!
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:22:07 PST Comment feedback score: 0 Enterrrr the orb, Luke, enterrrr the orb.;)
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:37:23 PST
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Pam showed me this group on Second Life: - quite touching, insightful, and uplifting:
wilde cunningham is a group of 9 severely disabled adults all beginning to explore second life which in all reality frees us to do things we could never ever do in rl. wilde loooooves second life! they generally play as a group. hello and welcome to our wilde world we are a small group of adults, age 30-70, with somewhat extream physical challenges. we have tremendous dignity and love to laugh and learn. some of us are sports addicts. several of us can not use regular speech as you mostly do, tho our minds and hearts are fully intact. (= we are deep. we have GREAT sences of humor. we love to serve, volunteer, and just chill outside under a niiiiiiice tree! we love to think, ponder, dream.... heh... at our program, where we play sl, we have a groups. each group has a name they give themselves. we named ourselves the wildes some time ago. this is how we named our av. second life is new for us. it is indeed a second life for us! here we can design how we look... maybe look several ways ~(= talk to folk the same as others. fly walk run drive EXPERIENCE what life has to offer. fullfill some dreams... meet some really really kewl people we would not otherwise have met. and PLAY~ we have an insatiable appetite to learn, especially about other countries and cultures... there are so many different ways to live. so... we'd love to say hi~ friends are always welcome~ john s , micah, scott, danny, john g johanna, mary, nichole, charlene and ya just never know quite who~ the wildes
By c•a•r•l•a (white) (1330), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:40:23 PST
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that is so very cool... thanks for sharing that tom... now i really gotta get over there!
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 22:51:53 PST
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And here is a poem I just read from the same group:
i'm trapped inside my body
trapped inside this shell
while the outside doesnt look so good
the insides doing well
its hard to speak the words dont come
as easy as for you
how can i show you what i feel
or all that i've been through
i yearn to give and share and laugh
i ache to know a friend
i crave to tell you how i feel
that the lonliness would end
i'm trapped i'm trapped but so are you
tho perhaps you see it not
your trapped inside frailities too
your worries make you rot
take my hand oh feeble friend
for i am feeble too
together we can make the world
better for me, better for you
by mary
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 23:00:20 PST
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I had an amazing conversation this morning (in Second Life) with the woman who helped found the Life2Give site and helps these people with cerebral palsy create their virtual world in SL. Lilone is amazing! I am looking forward to continuing the friendship and seeing how I can help.
Tom, thanks for posting. I should post one from Wilde C. that pierced my heart but inspired my soul.
By Luke Martin (1845), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 23:07:25 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Wow. That's incredible -- voices and mobility for those without. What a tremendous feat! And I did break down tonight and joined, but just sort of stumbled around without doing much of anything. Not even a single pink flamingo! I'll have to try it again tomorrow.
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 23:18:53 PST Comment feedback score: 3 (* * *) +|- (net 0 from me) Thanks, Pam... maybe we can get Wilde on this thread, too. I have to say that this is some of the most moving writing I've seen in a long, long, time. Giving these folks a voice and an identity in Second Life is quite an amazing feat. and check this out: crimes and injustices, more than our sharethis will be a corporate note written by all the members of wilde, but namelessly for their protection and greater transparency
most of us, if not all of us, have had things stolen from us, because we were disabled
many of us, if not all of us, have been slapped or abused physically, and several times
all of us have been verbally abused- a lot! which hurts by the way!!
we've had our money taken from us
perhaps the greatest pain when our dignity has been taken, stolen.
our humanity, feelings, kicked around and abused
we've been left alone for looooooong periods of time, some unable to move... when it was not safe for us
infact, we often find ourselves at risk of something or another
when its beyond our control
we have to have courage
and think
and not freak out, which is a valid responce at such times
high risk without control yumm yummm can i have seconds please?
control. people take control. they take control of our things, our decisions. they force their will and preferences upon us. no we cant buy that. no we cant eat that. no we have to watch this. no i dont have time now. no you cant go anywhere. no you will be unable to move for awhile. no. we will do it my way. no i cant come to help. no one can come to help with that for weeks so deal with it.
but we have our minds, feelings, preferences.... do people tell you when you can eat your food? do they tell you when you can go to the bathroom? do they force you to go to bed at an early time all the time? if you are bored, can you change your activity when you want? how lucky you are!
some of us, if not all of us, have wanted all our lives for just one close friend who was really a friend, not a hireling. someone we could know for a lil while. maybe do something fun with. we look so odd, sometimes sound so odd, its hard for people to get past. and tell me... who has time anymore??
we have many many good things in us to share and give what we offer enriches the hearts and lives of those who know us
so why do people make fun of us
make us cry
intentionally or unintentionally treat us like we are less worthy
children run away
it can be so sad
is our soul less worthy?
its not like we did anything to anyone
its not like we had choice in how we entered the world
we dont mean to be this way
or inconvenience others
we hate it infact
we hate haveing to ask for help
to need your help
we are forced to consider how others feel 24/7
its not that we are demanding
we just ask for a simple drink from time to time
is that so hard?? too much???
perhaps a loving look would be nice
to notice we are alive and human too
it sucks to have to sit in your... um... personal needs... for hours
we DO notice
we dont like it anymore than you would
and it gets old
humiliating
but perhaps everyone sits in something of that nature
something that stinks and repluses others
maybe thats part of the human condition
only ours is more obvious
more obvious than backbiting or anger
secret things
our frailities are right in everyones face
most folks have theirs hidden
for us its our beauties which are hidden
but not very deeply at all
takes just a few moments of looking
and ya get it right across the face
the purity of the treasures we bring will change how you think
redefine your definitions
yet...
we try
it can be very tiring to be us...
we try harder than most in many things
we strain to overcome our challenges
we are warriors tried and true
with bionic inner muscles
as we press and reach and keep preservering
and our treasures then grow
and more we become
more we offer
such is the human condition
if you can weather the storms of life
transparently we offer to you
that you may ponder and grow
that we may speak as never before
with one voice for many
and perhaps make a positive difference
somehow
someway
all suffer injustices
all share weaknesses
all can give
something
if this touches you drop us, wilde cunningham, a line.
wilde
By Gerry Gleason (CCAL30) (1945), Sat, 05 Feb 2005 23:38:18 PST
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Is there a way to drop 'wilde cunningham' a line without entering Second Life?
By Luke Martin (1845), Sun, 06 Feb 2005 00:01:26 PST
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My apologies to Tom and the others (was it some of you??) I had just met up with at the Wilde site. My laptop battery died -- no charger at home, boo hoo, and my old PC here doesn't seem to have the right graphics card.
I wish I had got transported a bit earlier, wouldn't have just flown around willy nilly. Anyway, I'll try it again tomorrow -- I must confess that it was very cool while it lasted.
My wife's gonna kill me... yet something else to fuel my insomnia...
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Sun, 06 Feb 2005 08:36:55 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Man, that is the one I told Tom about first-it pierces your heart. We learned last night that Wilde C. is a composite of nine people with CP. www.braintalk.org and John Lester are fueling the Live2Give island effort. They also have an island for people with autism and asperger's syndrome (thanks Pierre for finding that). Going to talk to them more. I will let you know what I find out. Peace, P
By Debbie Gleason (CCAL30) (2527), Sun, 06 Feb 2005 08:59:31 PST
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Pam,
Gerry just PM'd me about this discussion. I hope they develop an island for caregivers, as well. It's a lonely world sometimes, as I try to advocate for our older daughter. I have much strength, but it's taken a lot of out me. Maura has severe cerebral palsy. She has quadraplegic spasticity, specifically. That's approximately the right term for her diagnosis. She has no real way yet to communicate. Finding out how to have her properly evaluated has been quite a frustrating process. I am very glad to know about these people. It's wonderful to know that people with CP are online expresssing themselves so well. I only hope that some day Maura will be unlocked similarly.
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:24:39 PST
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Hi Debbie,
I cannot imagine how hard it must be for you.
Check out www.braintalk.org - I think I saw some caregiver support discusions. And maybe they can help with finding some better physicians for your daughter.
Big virtual hugs to you and your daughter.
By Debbie Gleason (CCAL30) (2527), Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:35:27 PST
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Thanks, Pam. That website sounds like a good place for me. Also, ever since attending last summer's Giving Conference, I have been slowly but surely building my advocacy hub, so that others won't feel so isolated.
We have excellent alternative therapy in place for her. Cranial sacral therapist. Special yoga. Feldenkrais. It's the education that is the problem. I am looking to find a neuropsychologist and have her more properly evaluated for communication devices. Problem is that everything costs money. And places like United Cerebral Palsy has been useless to us. Easter Seals is a bit better. Even so, evaluations through them costs a lot of money. We just can't afford it. Not asking for a hand out. Just being matter of fact. I would love to do all kinds of things I have heard of, including dolphin therapy. But it's simply not possible. Right now, I am looking into homeschooling, and hoping that I miraculously find a person (man or woman, makes me no never mind) who is a cross between Mary Poppins and Annie Sullivan, because we have our younger daughter, too, to guide and raise and I am instrumental in helping Gerry get connected with necessary people, and so not as much time and energy as I would need to do this on my own.
Thanks for the hugs. I am happy to receive all or any prayers, hugs, good energy, etc.
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:47:26 PST
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Where would you do dolphin therapy? Do you have a link?
I am just starting to look into communication devices for CP too. I will pass on what I find.
There are many Mary and Annies out there! I hope you find the perfect person.
