BWI part2D
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By P (CCAL30) (1370), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 17:37:49 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Thanks John. Will do.
By june-marie mahay (143), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 17:38:39 PST
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well hello everyone~
i'm the june-marie mentioned above and i am indeed fortunate in that i work at a day program for disabled adults. there are many assorted levels of disability there ranging from low functioning sweet souls to higher functioning sweet souls but in really messed up bodies/shells.
theres much i could share about the treasures they are, but my words could never convey that well enough to you.
my job entales many things on a day to day basis. our program is devided into 4 groups of 8-10 each. i am primarily responsible for the care and well being of one such group, but not to the exclusion of the others. (=
the group that i work with is higher functioning mentally but in the most restrictive bodies. not entirely, but for the most part that is. 5 of my crew have cerebral palsy (cp) and harsh speech impediments. they can not use their hands or bodies as we do, not even close. only 2 of those 5 can use their hands in a meaninful way at all. one guy cant use them at all. hes the brightest in the group, go figure!
of the 5, 2 have only 1-2 word reply capabilities as a rule of thumb. and what they can say is not clear. the other 3 still must be interpreted like another language. sometimes thats easy, sometimes its painfully hard for all parties involved.
in their world where they can not use their hands or language as you or i, i have become their hands and voice. i have taken them into second life and the life of blogs running as an interface for them and their desires and dreams. often what you or i would do in a few moments they (we) take hours or even days to do.
its hard to be them. to have a full mind, great senses of humor, all that make a human being human, and to be trapped in messed up bodies that confine them so. its hard when your them to find ways to be included in the world and not merely spectators. yet they burst with dreams and messages to share with the world. they yearn for the same fun outlets you and i have.
nonetheless, using my frailities and instruments as their interface, they HAVE been able to get out. to get out of their shells and let the world know they are here and have something to tell and share.
i'm addicted to loving and caring for them. the treasures they are and offer are more rare than what is found even when someone seeks diligently. i'm very lucky to be where i am and at such a time as this for them.
feel free to check out their blog at braintalk.blogs.com/live2give to read a bit about whats going on with them, us. their writings are under the catagory wilde's writings. some things i've shared are under mascots musings.
all of us, all of wilde, want more folk to come and be freed as they have experienced this new freedom and empowerment. they have such a sense of mission! i'm regularly floored by them! i hope some may get the chance to know them, if only a tad. those who do will be lucky too!
i have this inner song going in the back of my head always, 'let my people go'...
they are my example. everyone can make a difference, no matter how lil we may think we are!
heres to the freedom of all all are lil all are big together we are strong
in sl you will find me as lilone sandgrain. i welcome your im's.
june-marie
By c•a•r•l•a (white) (1330), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 17:41:28 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) god bless you june-marie. thank you for that wonderful post... i just found out about all of this this week, i am so thankful... i'll see you in SL... and look forward to meeting these wonderful people. thanks again.
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 18:49:50 PST
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Thanks for posting June-Marie. Look forward to learning more and getting to know Wilde more. Peace,
By Debbie Gleason (CCAL30) (2527), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 19:44:48 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) John and June-Marie, Thank you both for what you do. As I mentioned upthread, our older daughter has a locked up brain in a severely handicapped body. So I think what you are doing is just terrific.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 21:06:33 PST
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Hello John and June-Marie! So great to see you here! I first read about your work through Tony Walsh's blog 'Clickable Culture' and I was very moved. Just recently I visited the Live2Give Island (with Pam and Tom) and I am very inspired and impressed. (I stashed some of the lovely poem notecards in my virtual pockets as well!;) My fiance worked many years with a wonderful group of high-functioning adults who he grew very attached to...and then several years with United Cerebral Palsy. I can't wait to show him the island. He's also been researching adaptive devices for internet use in depth and I'd love for him to join this thread eventually. Our names are Ava Dougall and Evan Otis on SL. Hope to meet you soon.:)
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Mon, 07 Feb 2005 21:14:07 PST Edited: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 21:15:13 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) John and June-Marie, how wonderful to have you join us. I have to tell you how powerful your stories were for me... I think that you are doing a remarkable job, and hope that we can figure out a way of amplifying your work. In yet another small-world incident - I mentioned the BrainTMR list and its founder, Semantha Scolomiero in an 1995 paper called Creating an Epidemic of Health with the Internet. So many threads of discussion: let me sort out a few: The use of Second Life for Better World Activities in general (this thread's original purpose, to which I'd like to return) The use of Second Life for access to the extreme disabled (I've started a separate thread on this) I am not sure of what an appropriate title would be so someone help me out with an appropriate name. General use of network technologies for health issues... perhaps the Health Care group works for that. May Good Things Come. (Tortoise Calliope)
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Tue, 08 Feb 2005 12:35:59 PST
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John and June-Marie, I am glad you have joined us in o.net. Thank you for the good work you do and thanks for telling us about it.
(Panther Magpie)
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Thu, 10 Feb 2005 20:26:53 PST Edited: Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:12:57 PDT Comment feedback score: 0 Hello all.In brainstorming how Better World Island can also become a collaborative retreat and mirrorworld for members of omidyar.net, perhaps these visualizations and their accompanying blurbs will be helpful: These are from a series of mixed-media artworks I made last year (the coordinates are not true SecondLife coordinates...but they were actually titled this way to convey the possibility) I don't think anyone at the galleries quite understood these pieces but perhaps that was because they were meant for my work on This side of the wormhole;) . Dorthvo Cottages 76,212
Dorthvo Cottages offer the very latest in streamlined efficiency. Smarthouse technology and integrated datastorage put all you need at your fingertips in one virtual home. Whether you're sharing files, brainstorming with friends or creating a multi-media presentation, your Dorthvo cottage will keep you organized and prepared. Intuitive mnemonic devices, clickable bookshelves and filefolders, video and sound components. Move right in if you choose. Or keep shopping for the right virtual community.I've got more!.;) You and your best online friend will never be too far if you move into our fabulous starterkit: A Place for Us 99,6
Meet during your lunchbreaks, walk the grounds together and chat. Upload/Import objects,Visit eachother's houses and share memory-databank-tv. A place to call home for you and that special someone across the globe.
Still not close enough? Well then, you'd better try our 'Synapse-House' located at 33,17. Like adjoining offices, but much more comfortable.
'Kayla's Community' at 73,19 is a popular retreat for green-minded individuals. Share stories and ideas,stroll the grounds, enjoy spectacular sunsets. Lectures every Friday @ RedBarnBCD. Guest lecturers TBA.
Meet at 'Suki's Teahouse' for that very special discussion you've been meaning to have. Simple, secluded and peaceful.... Also available: 2 person guided tea ceremony meditation (text/chat disabled)
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:14:22 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Cool, I love the concepts! .... but where is the hottub?
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:32:10 PST Comment feedback score: 0 hehe that's at YOUR house, Pam, in the maTURE section,silly.lol;) Different focus, for after-work festivites. I know you were hoping it could be 'conducive'...aherm..*one eyebrow up smirk* ...but I don't think Better World Island will have hot tubs. I could be wrong...but it's a weeeee bit distractingggg hehe now go pout.;)
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:59:22 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) Sigh. Not pouting at all. What I find so amazing about SL is that hanging out in a hottub inworld is incredibly relaxing and condusive to a productive conversation. That trips me out a bit. I spent part of last night hanging out with a new friend in SL. We were talking while swinging on swings, while hanging out on a big couch. It felt so real. When I sit down at the virtual conference table that Kitto set up, it feels stiff. Even though I may really be in my flannel PJs, with a laptop on my lap in real life. My avie behaved herself very well in that hottub. Joan's avie will testify to that... and I was wearing my halo too, if I remember... Peace,
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 02:09:56 PST Comment feedback score: 0 no pouting???? dang. I'm only teasing you, hon!;) hmmm well, it's true I never really gave the hot tub much of a chance...Now that I hear how it affects you.. I'm giving it some real thought..and it brings up an interesting topic- how individual associations from real life affect our reactions to virtual objects and settings... And hmmmm this will be important in designing spaces for comfortable interaction. .... I am venturing a guess that in real life you have been in a hot tub...in relaxing situations. and you've had the previous experience of good conversations in one...Therfore, Just the virtual stepping into one is somehow setting your brain into similar patterns of relaxation and allows you to feel casual/informal enough to comfortably speak your mind. =good. But for me...well.. let's say...hmmm...I guess it probably reflected and triggered my own associations and (few)past experiences with hot tubs...which were now that I think about it...not too positive. Eek, on a subconscious level...it probably triggered a discomfort based on past experiences where entering into a hot tub was sort of 'agreeing' to things I wasn't sure of..and yes usually had a sexual overtone which changed the nature of the previous interaction/discussion. So...interesting to think of how to create safe comfortable spaces...ah, it's too hard to guess on Everyone's associations...but perhaps there might be tendencies.Polls maybe. I think for in depth conversation I would personally respond well to any situation where the movement was a bit limited..(less distraction)(sitting)(clothed).and more eye contact could be made. Big couch sounds gooood.:) But then I'm easily distracted...and NOT a multi-tasker. More the type that needs to 'settle into' conversation.I have friends that can do a zillion things at once and find it exhilirating and much more fun. On another tangent I've been thinking a lot about creating a 'meeting ritual script'...something that could develop online as a better than life norm and then make its way into real life. Sort of a moment of thorough eye contact....and a deliberate acknowledgement of the wonder of the moment. something Akin to the 'God Moment' in the animated film 'Waking Life' if you've seen that. Or with the quality of Namaste... http://www.taketheleap.com/namaste.htm but without using the specific religious term like that...something easier for people of all faiths and teenagers, etc. ahhh many thoughts on all this...time for bed though, nitenite.:)
By Therese Fitzpatrick (117), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 08:54:36 PST Edited: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 08:55:31 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) I am slogging on in SL, and feeling competent to move about. I have ordered a faster DSL line and once it is installed, I will start showing up, Pam. Darlene, I love the work you just shared. About your 'meeting ritual script': in my f2f first life, I open meetings with a few minutes of silence. Used to do lots of very clever things to get people 'in' the circle but I've found that collective silence works quite well. I give no instruction: just ask for a few moments or few minutes (depends on the schedule) of silence. Then each person brings to those moments what feels right to them but it still focusses attention into the circle. all faiths and all languages and all cultures are embraced in a moment of collective silence. Would silence work as a ritual in SL? Just a moment or two.
By P (CCAL30) (1370), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 08:59:42 PST
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Good morning Darlene,
Interesting. Actually, maybe I haven't had enough hottub time in real life! And just to clarify, I am talking all rated G here (oh, except for that hottub someone put inside a college dorm room...long story, won't go there).
But Tom and I had an interesting conversation last night about SL versus RL behavior. He said he was who he was, regardless. And I found that honest and true and good. But for me, why not use SL to experiment a bit with how people communicate and interact? I can be more me, less me, different me, someone else entirely.
I think what we both agreed upon was that SL offers infinite possibilities but with no or less risk than in real life. Someone can go inworld and just build, someone else can only shop, someone else can only go clubbing and dance. But personally, I think the trick to my "happiness" in SL is finding a balance.
Hey Darlene, I can get you that big couch inworld! Good thoughts!
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 13:02:01 PST Comment feedback score: 3 (* * *) +|- (net 0 from me) Maybe a Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs could be used to explain some of what's happening in Second Life activities: Maslow's idea is applicable not only to individual people but to social groups too. Small organisations and groups of friends or teammates, couples, companies, schools and whole societies move up the heirarchy. This section outlines the theory and the need levels and discusses some of the implications. Survival Needs: The raw basics of survival. Without these nothing else matters. Food, water shelter. The caveman needs. Security Needs: Safety from danger, safety in numbers. This covers everything from having a big club with you in your cave, to having a parent look out for you, to having a system of law and order in society. Belonging Needs: Affiliation as part of a group with which you identify. A family, a social group, some likeminded peers. The need not to be an outcast. Love Needs: This is part of the need to belong and doesn't necessarily mean love in the romantic sense. Love for ones family and friends applies too. It is the need to have people to care deeply for and to feel cared for in return. Freud dealt with the survival, security and belonging needs as manifested in the human psyche. Self-Esteem Needs: The need to achieve a level of competence or status that one feels is useful and deserving of respect in society. Adler's psychology of power and inferiority complexes deals with the specific nature and manifestations of this need. The next few needs are higher still and are often parallel to each other in a person or society. Which is dominant seems more determined by indiviual aptitude and skill. Self-Expression Needs: The need to control and create within ones environment. Freedom to express individuality that will not collide with the needs for belonging and esteem. An artists may feel this particularly. Intellectual Needs: A higher need. The need for people to pursue intellectual avenues and probe the reaches of human understanding. A gifted person will feel this very strongly and may actually experience mental illness if this need isn't satisfied. Spritual Needs: Conecting with a greater power or God or the development of a consistent and nourishing philosophy is a psychological need. One needs a reason to live. Self-Actualisation: This is the highest attainment according to Maslow and is the state where a person is achieving all they want and is able to fulfil their true potential unhindered by society or circumstance.
For example, folks who are concerned about their basic survival or security needs are not particularly focussed on intellectual needs, etc. My own theory is that Do Something Moments can "ratchet" people up a notch or two on the scale, bring a higher level of attention. Some folks are deeply involved at the survival/security/belonging levels on this hierarchy, and they may take this out in shoot-em-up games, etc. Others, may be focussed on the other end of the range, looking for more other-oriented activities. While there is a continuum of these activities, there is also a need for a "safe space" for folks to explore within their level. For example, I don't particularly want warlords soliciting me to become part of their army, or hookers offering their virtual services when I'm dealing with better world activities. I don't begrudge them their activities in their own spaces, but at the same time i'd like as space independent of them. I think the solution is to create a space for those interested in Maslow's higher needs... this will appear quite boring to those not interested in those activities, and may be a kind of self-selecting process.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 13:58:31 PST Comment feedback score: 0 Therese, yes.:) I think that it would best incorporate a moment of silence... I am thinking of something that is between two people rather than a group (although now I think a variation would be great for group as well). It would be similar to the 'hug' script...In that one would initialize it...and the other would agree to it....and the avatars would go through the movements that would convey this. There is already a script for 'talk to' which directs and makes eye contact...this would be included but be mutually engaged and prolonged in silence. There might be a sitting down right on the spot, I'm not sure. Or it might be just a subtle very slow bowing while maintaining eye contact. I found it interesting first when I took snapshots of my own avatar, that there was Something...different when I could spend a quiet moment looking into the eyes. She came alive for me in a different way. usually the activity/movement makes it difficult to 'get this'...and when I am with others in SL, I am mostly getting every other perspective...and I feel a certain frustration. I would like to somehow 'frame' the wondrous fact that there is an actual person 'inside' the avatar, using it to communicate and be in a space with you. It is the same in real life of course...we are all avatars with an essence within and this is a beautiful realization. And right now in SL we have an opportunity to design in something quite simple that might encourage that realization. Oh and lest I confuse anyone,I'm not a programmer. Like many ideas, it would just be a matter of thinking it out a bit more and dropping it on the programmer message boards I think and having someone run with it. It would be a quite simple creation for the right person. It's just something I that would satisfy me in a very deep way as I'm sensing a certain 'missing nothing' now. (;)to tom)
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:33:32 PST
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I too work silence into my workshops... as well as my personal life...
I think that silence could work very well in SL... I could imagine a script turning off the music, surpressing any sounds in a kind of "cone of silence" (I am reminded of Yukio Mishima's phrasing of an "airplane leaving a wake of silence").
By Anne Marie Bellavance (2207), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:49:35 PST
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Silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 18:05:15 PST Edited: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:43:34 PST Comment feedback score: 0 Tom, thank you for sharing Maslow's hierarchy of needs..I found that very insightful.(!) Anne Marie, I agree.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 18:23:27 PST Comment feedback score: 0 Pam, I do agree. I think the beauty of SL as a whole is that it allows for a grand scale of freedoms and explorations. SL is a huge 'world' where every bit of it is just a teleport away. In this way there are 'areas' which have certain focuses and themes and people can visit and interact within those areas when they wish without feeling confined to them. We don't have to spend all our SL time on 'Better World Island'.It is a place that I hope can emerge as a focused incubator and nurturer of better world projects and an educational realm exploring and bringing the concepts in Tom's book to interactive 'life". It does not have to be all things. There is a whole universe to explore and engage in for all else. What would be our hopes for one small island Within the universe? What more unique experiences could we offer? Just as Live2Give Island has an 'aim' of sorts...awareness and connection with those with disabilities...as I see it, Better World Island would try to offer an inspirational experience to the random visitor and a resourceful supportive atmosphere for project collaborators.
By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:34:35 PST
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By Darlene Charneco (CCAL30) (594), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:49:19 PST
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Darlene Charneco said:
The Holy Moment
(from Richard Linklater's animated film 'Waking Life')
The characters are conversing over a cafe table: "Truffaut always said that the best scripts don't make the best films, because they have that kind of literary narrative frame that you're sort of a slave to. The best films are the ones that aren't tied to that slavishly. So I don't know. That whole narrative thing just seems to cinema like time is to music. You don't first think of the story of the song, and then make the song. It has to come out of that moment. And that's what film has, that moment which is holy. Like this moment. But if we walk around it's not holy. If we walk around, there are some holy moments, and there are all the other moments that are not holy. But this moment is holy, right? And if film can let us see that, like frame it so that we see, ah, this moment, holy, holy, holy, holy, moment by moment. But who can live that way? Like wow, holy! If I were to look at you and just let you be holy, I don't know, I would just stop talking.
David: Well, you'd be in the moment, and the moment is holy.
Caveh: Yeah, but I'd be open. And then I'd look in your eyes, and I'd cry, and I would like feel all this stuff, and that's not polite. It would make you feel uncomfortable.
David: You could laugh too. I mean, why would you cry?
Caveh: I don't know. For me, I tend to cry. Let's do it right now. Let's have a holy moment.
David: Okay.
David and Caveh stare at each other intently for a while.
David: Everything is layers, isn't it? I mean, there's the holy moment, and then there's the awareness of trying to have the holy moment. It's the same way that the film is the actual moment really happening, but then the character is pretending to be in a different reality, and it's all these layers. I was in and out of the holy moment looking at you. You're unique that way, Caveh. That's one of the reasons I enjoy you.
we watch as they continue to stare at eachother and morph into cloud-versions of themselves....
It's done quite beautifully in the film, which is a bit of a cult classic for today's generation...I wonder how it could be translated into a 'holy moment' avatar script. It might be good to use the term even...it's playful and serious at the same time...ok, let's have a holy moment. what now? yup. ok.;) And suddenly they're practicing something quite profound ..perhaps not the first few times...but any time could be the one that they can truly fall into.. Being able to really acknowledge another human being is at the basis of empathy, is it not?
By Tom Munnecke (1530), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 21:42:32 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) I just left my Second Life window open for an hour or so while I was doing something else. When I returned, the chat history window contained a very lengthy conversation between two avatars who were having sex, in very graphic language. (no, it was no one I knew). I am not opposed to this behavior, but at the same time I don't want to have it forced on me. We need to figure out a way of having a safe space for the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy if we are going to have a successful Better World Environment on Second Life.
By c•a•r•l•a (white) (1330), Fri, 11 Feb 2005 21:49:35 PST Comment feedback score: 0 +|- (net 0 from me) hun???? very strange....
