UgoTrade

White African noted last week that in “The Best of Blogs, “there’s a number of African blogs in there” and a lot of activity over the last month in the African blogosphere.

• Actualités de la République Démocratique du Congo in the best Weblog category
• Diário de um Sociólogo from Mozambique in best Portuguese blog

Recently, when Joshua S. Fouts (a.k.a Schmilsson Nilsson in Second Life) who directs the USC Center for Public Diplomacy was interviewed by John Jainschigg for Grid Talk on Second Life, much of the latter part of the talk was spent discussing issues of digital divides with the audience.

Schmilsson noted that among other infrastructure challenges in Africa, “40 countries on the African continent do not have reliable Internet access. Thus, they are not a part of our conversations here. This is a major problem.” The conversation that followed covered a number of the hotly debated issues around the role of technology in situations where food, water, clothing and medicine are pressing needs.

This is an ongoing debate at Uthango’s Virtual Africa project (for more about this see Africa’s Second Life, Our Virtual Reality). Uthango are also coming up with creative ways to connect global virtual communities. They are currently organizing a BLOG CARNIVAL. The Grid Talk discussion on Public Diplomacy indicated there is much interest from Second Life residents in the topic of Infrastructure development in Africa. The blog carnival is an opportunity to connect this conversation to the wider online community and African bloggers in particular. Alanagh Recreant of Uthango explained:

We believe that Africans offer a unique perspective on global issues and all stops should be pulled out to increase their authentic presence in virtual worlds.

The BLOG CARNIVAL topic is: “Infrastructure as an Enterprise Enabler in Africa.” The carnival is managed by the acclaimed blogger Benin Mwangi (currently with African Path and respected writer for Global Voices Online, Africa Ready For Business).

It is really simple to participate by using the little form provided here:
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_1680.html

Do you have any article or would like to say anything about INFRASTRUCTURE development in Africa? (This could include IT infrastructure or property or any other kind…)

Choose a blog article to share, and note its Permalink URL.
Fill in the other fields (hint: copy and paste!), and hit Submit .

Uthango’s Virtual Bike-a-thon

Uthango Social Investments is blazing the trail for African participation in immersive virtual worlds like Second Life while continuing to work at all levels of community development, on-line and off-line. Part of the registered not-for-profit company’s work include asset-based community development to identify gaps and find resources for adequate infrastructure, such as small business ‘incubators’ and shared community ICT facilities.

Another related ongoing project from Uthango in Second life is the [e]bizikile fundraising drive for a specific Opportunity Center in a Cape Town community for unemployed job seekers. Uthango’s Directors speak about transference from SL to RL and vice versa. They point out the [e]bizikile project could be an example of their attempts to do just that! Real life bicycles are also for sale as part of the project and will be donated to an African family in rural Africa.

“In many parts of Africa, bicycles (and mobile phones) are the appropriate technology to drive the local economy,” says Enakai Ultsch of Uthango.

Second Life residents can purchase virtual African bicycles designed by Shukran Fahid of !BooPeRFunK! for L$250 and next year, participate in a grid-wide virtual bike-a-thon (for more Ambling in Second Life). I picked up my bike at the November 15th launch party.

There were many demonstrations across Second Life today in support of peace and justice in Myanmar (Burma) where hundreds of Buddhist monks are being arrested in government raids on monasteries after leading large protests against the military regime.

I joined one of the avatar chains organized by Second Life avatar Vivienne Casavettes. It stretched across multiple sims. Many of the participants wore robes or like me “went bald for Burma.” It was a powerful experience to meet so many people in Second Life finding ways to show there support for the monks and people of Burma.

There were T-shirts, placards and note cards giving updates on events in Burma handed out. I chose this T-shirt asking for the freedom of dissident Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar, and a noted prisoner of conscience, advocate of nonviolent resistance. “A Buddhist, Suu Kyi won the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and in 1991 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful and non-violent struggle under a military dictatorship. She is currently under detention, with the Myanmar government repeatedly extending her detention.”

Rik Riel on his excellent blog has posted some of the Other steps you can take, suggested by the Peacemaker Institute:

1. Protest - Look below for details of worldwide protests. Contact US Campaign for Burma to sign up to hold a march, vigil or any sort of event in your area- thelma@uscampaignforburma.org .
2. Spread the word - Invite your friends to this group, email all your family and friends, write to local newspapers
3. Write to your elected official - they will respond if enough people contact them.
4. Wear red clothes on Friday.
5. Email the companies that still operate in Burma, their email addresses are listed here
6. Sign up for the petition! US campaign for Burma, Petition Online, AVAAZ

I am a second generation Western Buddhist. Today (Sunday) I will also observe 5 minutes of silent aspiration with members of the sangha of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, in NYC, in support of the protest of the Buddhist monastics and lay sangha in Myanmar, and against the violations of human rights and suppression of religious freedom now being enacted by the government.

Second Life avatars Vivienne Casavettes, Sugar Seville, and Dizzy Banjo are just some of the Second Life Residents who are organizing support efforts in Second Life. Also see Cryogenix’s, Dizzy Banjo’s, blogs and here for more. Dizzy has a video of a vigil organized by Sugar Seville

I met with Alanagh Recreant (a.k.a. Dorette Steenkamp) from Uthango Social Investments, on Virtual Africa in Second Life. And, while Uthango’s Virtual Africa initiative has barely begun yet - terra forming is first on the agenda - there is already a very special feeling of possibility, and great things to come. Uthango has already put out tender to all the listed developers on the Linden Lab website. And, many of Second Life’s top developers, PR companies, marketing experts, and consultants have offered services, as well as pro bono work.

The core of the USI strategy for poverty relief in Africa does not primarily revolve around Second Life. But Uthango uses Second Life as an enabling platform for social innovation. By doing this, they are taking the visionary extra step of including Second Life in their strategy to make an impact in the lives of the people they benefit.

A participatory social media convergence bringing mobile, Web 2.0 and Second Life together for community engagement, is happening now and will - in itself - make the first steps to addressing the exclusive nature of 3D-platforms. And, USI is determined not to let the digital divide that is exasperated in Africa by expensive, inadequate/non-existent broadband coverage (for now) widen any further. While significant moves are afoot to bring broadband to large swathes of Africa, often known as the “missing link,” because of the lack of connectivity, access is still a big problem for all but the most privileged.

Uthango’s concerted effort to tackle inequality and social injustice in South Africa goes beyond advocacy for connectivity to other divides - economic, educational and access to opportunities as well.

Investment is our passion - to draw attention to investment opportunities for people in Africa.

But, Uthango is pioneering the inclusion of participatory new media and advocacy for connectivity in their vision. And, while broadband remains prohibitively expensive in Africa, they are preparing the way with projects utilizing mobile connectivity. Mobile phones have become a powerful tool for creative economic development in Africa (see African Uptimist). Uthango has a participatory social media initiative in the works that will link three very diverse communities - two with 65% unemployment and lack of resources, and the other an affluent sea-side community with better infrastructure.

We plan to institute an inter-cultural and civil engagement program across these communities, using video-blogging, mobile, and upload to a central server, and link it up to Google Earth. There will be a community portal, initially linked to computers at the schools and library and ultimately with an upload facility from mobile phones - a mobile magazine linked to the portal with community events. Ultimately, this extensive and integrated social network will be linked to Second Life. Meanwhile, innovation from the more inaccessible SL will be channeled back via the more modest communication framework in real life. This RL/SL convergence for social gain will be a unique example of an integrated ICT approach to development.

Uthango are working with partners and professionals in Second Life to explore the commercial value for companies and individuals and the social benefits for institutions such as universities and schools, in their preparation for Virtual Africa. A key initiative on Virtual Africa will be a Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Innovation Center (see ‘Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ by C.K. Prahalad). Uthango are serious about seeking ways to bring community voices into Second Life while broadband issues are addressed.

But the plans for Virtual Africa also include creating one of the most sophisticated ecosystems on Second Life that will extend to the wildlife to ensure an exciting, educational experience: Eagles swooping, lions hunting, zebras reacting and mirroring wildlife patterns as closely as possible whilst highlighting endangered species and indigenous cultures. The vision of Second Life/Real life integrations possible for Virtual Africa goes well beyond educational and immersive goals into a vision that includes health, travel, adventure, e-commerce, environmental monitoring, and even disaster management.

Virtual Africa will be a key place for Uthango to bring attention to their Real Life work in poverty reduction, and collaborate with others on the goal of social investment in Africa. There are many initiatives already planned that will both bring in the Second Life Community to Uthango’s work, and make connections to Real Life projects - including concerts, a Second Life Bikeathon, publishing parties, and much more.

A new global market is emerging. The sellers are intelligent, energetic and pragmatic young African leaders with innovative projects in their respective fields. The buyers are equally intelligent, energetic and pragmatic young Westerners yearning to apply pragmatism to their idealism. The market place is new media, where stories are told, opportunities are elucidated, connections are made, and action is taken. (Joshua Goldstein, African Path)

From the Blogosphere, to Twitter, to Facebook, to Second Life!

I first met Yee, who is from Jinjiang, China and a recent graduate with a Business Diploma from HELP College University, in the blogosphere. Yee’s blog caught my attention and I linked to him in a post, “Bridging On Line Off Line Worlds.” And, Yee’s comments on my post re the task of bridge blogging were so wise that a connection was born.

Then we became friends on Twitter where I followed the obstacles Yee faced keeping his blog open to world despite the GFW (Great Firewall) of China. Then last night Yee joined Facebook. We instantly struck up a messaging exchange that covered everything from the role that religions played in American culture to how participatory media, blogs, social networks etc. could play and important role in intercultural communication. This is what Yee had to say on this topic.

There are many many English language learners in China. But a large number of them just take this language as a means to pass the exam or a “certification” for better job occupation, once they achieve these goals some of them will probably stop learning, in a word, they do not treat English as a tool for two-way communication. So you can see there are many many translations of English-to-Chinese blogs in China. But, there very few Chinese-to-English blogs.

To encourage participatory media in China, I think it’s important to help Chinese English learners realize that English is not only a means for graduation or better jobs. It’s a tool for communication! In addition, they must have confidence to use it properly

The obstacles: According to my experience, all Chinese people welcome the behavior of translating their posts or profiles or business documents into English. They have a strong desire to be understood by the world. However, things are not always so easy, as our logic and mind and culture are quite different from foreigners. And, culture conflict happens from time to time and sometimes conflict leads to bigger misunderstanding. Besides, on the internet, there is a Great Fire Wall which was founded by the Chinese Gov to block “sensitive info” from abroad.

I had asked Yee a little while ago if he had ever explored Second Life. I said I would love him to write about his experiences in SL for Ugotrade. Well in a matter of minutes after our Facebook exchange Yee had logged into Second Life for the first time. And so I met his avatar Yee Heron on Scope Cleaver’s sim.

It is hard to describe the excitement of meeting Yee for the first time in Second Life. The gulf of culture and geography and even the GFW of China seemed to dissolve as his avatar materialized in world.

Here is a picture of Yee, Scope Cleaver, Miko Omegamu (Scope’s right hand!), and I greeting Yee only minutes after he logged on and got his Second Life Avatar.

There were a few obstacles to getting Yee’s avatar fully rezzed. And, whether it was due to network connection issues, or the need for more memory on his lap top, chat was lagging and SL was taking a while to rez for Yee. Yee did mention that HiPiHi will not let him log in and was giving a message that he has not enough memory. Interesting that it was easier to get in SL from China than HiPiHi. But, we managed despite the technical obstacles to show Yee some of SL, including Scope Cleaver’s awesome virtual furniture store in Second Life, EOLUS One, and where to shop for cool clothes! And, here is a snippet of our chat as Yee saw Scope’s work on Second Life.

[23:29] Scope Cleaver: This is the office furniture building
[23:29] Scope Cleaver: I seel modern furniture here for Second Life residents
[23:29] Scope Cleaver: sell*
[23:29] Yee Heron: wow,so cool
[23:31] Scope Cleaver: the building looks empty but it’s only to hold all the production and hard work I’ll be doing on the coming months hehe
[23:32] You: Yee Scope is what they call a metabrand
[23:32] Scope Cleaver: in the making
[23:33] Yee Heron: IS Miko your partner, Scope??
[23:33] You: scope makes products and architecture just for the virtual world
[23:34] Scope Cleaver: Yes she is Yee
[23:34] Scope Cleaver: Been working in SL for a bit
[23:34] Yee Heron: cool, you do your business just as real
[23:34] Scope Cleaver: Yes indeed
[23:35] Scope Cleaver: You’ve been here less than half an hour and you look better than I do.
[23:35] Miko Omegamu: lol
[23:35] Yee Heron: are you a full time SL business woman?
[23:35] You: I know it is amazing Yee!
[23:35] Scope Cleaver: Should I work on my AV?

Yee stayed on Second Life for a couple of hours or more. And, we talked until the time difference meant I really had to leave to sleep. Welcome Yee to Second Life! We all look forward to seeing you again soon. And, as Scope Cleaver said:

[23:43] Scope Cleaver: Good luck Yee, and give SL a chance and it will reward you

Jonathan Fanton, President of the MacArthur Foundation, and Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, appeared in Second Life to talk about the future role of philanthropy in virtual worlds (also see Jonathan Fanton’s post.) The tireless crew of USC Center On Public Diplomacy (see my previous post for more on Anna Annenberg and Sitearm Madonna) did an amazing job of hosting this event that used four sims to bring so many people together (perhaps up to 250 at peak).

A recording of the event can be found at the MacArthur site for Digital Media and Learning here , a great post from Rik Riel here, and a call from Prokofky Neva for a new philanthropy here. But, the high point for me was the emphasis Jonathan Fanton put on Africa - developing access, connectivity, and bringing Second Life there.

In response to a question about using the combined energies of Linden Lab and The MacArthur Foundation to help Second Life to bring opportunities and training to communities in isolation - cutting out the middle man so to speak, Philip Linden said:

while they had nothing planned yet, this question was a fabulous example of the kind of barrier reduction that Second Life enables………cutting the costs of collaborating with people to close to zero sometimes.

And, Philip added:

I would love to work on ways, with the MacArthur foundation, to enable that.

Jonathan Fanton responded:

That question is a great example of what I hoped would come out of this conversation which is a series of concrete ideas that we could look at and develop into a program or two.

One of the challenges we face is being sure that places in the world that are remote, where people are desperately poor, that some of those people have access to the technology that enables them to come in and be part of Second Life. The MacArthur Foundation along with other foundations has a partnership for higher education in Africa working now in a dozen countries. One of the principle pieces of that initiative is to expand bandwidth at a lower cost and to get high quality internet connectivity through the continent of Africa.

Also, Jonathan Fanton described “being in the Google office and looking at the map of the world,” and :

how he remembered where inquiries were coming in ….and it is shocking to see that Africa was totally dark, just one or two places where Europe and the United States and places in Asia were bursting with activity. So, we have a real challenge in this world to get to the places where people most need us.

This project of developing high quality internet access and the opportunity to access virtual worlds like Second Life for all, especially people from remote and isolated communities, has been a prime motivation for much of my writing on Ugotrade.

The Magic of Second Life - talking one on one with Jonathan Fanton and Philip Linden

Both Philip Linden (above) and Jonathan Fanton stayed after the event to chat one on one with people (although Philip L. had to leave for the office fairly quickly).

I sent an IM to Jonathan Fanton about an African initiated Virtual Africa portal to Second Life (see next post!). And, I got an instant response. Not only did Jonathan Fanton himself want to stay in touch with project. He immediately sent contact information for the person most involved with Africa at The MacArthur Foundation.

“Africa Open For and In Business:” TED Global 2007

Soyapi Mumba writes about the mood at TED Global 2007 that convened in Arusha, Tanzania in early June:

everyone I met was determined to solve Africa’s problems without waiting for governments or donors. So I’ve come back energized and connected to the right community that will hopefully keep me motivated.

The picture above shows William Kamkwamba. His presentation was a highlight of TED Global 2007. Ethan Zuckerman who blogged every session of TED Global, and summarized in his post, “A New Wind Blowing In Africa.” Also, he noted the debut of William Kamkwamba’s Malawi’s Windmill Blog. William has begun blogging with the help of someone he met at TED.

(more…)

It was a real thrill to see Hometown Baghdad given a whole segment by CNN yesterday. I loved this close up on the blog including the URL. I know many of Ugotrade readers have followed and supported Hometown Baghdad since before the first webisode was even posted. Some submitted designs for the podcast logo, and many were among the first blogs to link to Hometown Baghdad, beginning the cascade of connections that has brought this web series to over a million viewers in the just a few short weeks.

In an interview on CNN, Exec. producer Laurie Meadoff said that Chat the Planet would continue this work of connecting the world’s youth in other places, including Pakistan and India. Mike Dibenedetto who many of you are familiar with from his work on Hometown Baghdad, and across the web, was unfortunately sick, so we missed seeing him on TV too. But, if you are new to this series, Mike has just posted a, Recap - Most Viewed, Most Discussed on Hometown Baghdad. Also, this recap offers a great way to catch up on any parts of the series you may have missed. And, it is a great place to refer people who are new to the series and want to get into it. But, if you need no introduction, you can click on the thumbnails below for Episodes 9 through 20.

I have posted before on how I believe that Web 2.0, and the rapidly evolving social and immersive environments of Web 3.D (exemplified by virtual worlds like Second Life) may provide a new way for us, as global citizens, to realize even our most lofty aspirations for positive global development. As we get to know each other, and make relationships beyond the fairly limited range of identities and opportunities for connection available in our day to daily lives, (and offered in conventional “push” media), a new understanding and era of cooperation and collaboration can emerge across cultural divides. In my view, Hometown Baghdad is one of the pioneers of this new era.

Tags: Hometown Baghdad | Web 2.0 | vlog | podcast | global development | Iraq | Web 3.D | blogging | blogosphere | Chat The Planet | peace |

Picture from ilounge.

This week the announcement by Bob Geldof of his Dictionary of Man or Encyclopedia Humanica triggered a discussion on digital divides.

Live Aid founder Bob Geldof and the BBC announced Tuesday they had joined forces on an ambitious multi-media project to produce a Dictionary of Man [aka Encyclopedia Humanica] that will be a complete record of humanity.

Geldolf said the web-based Dictionary would be a limitless repository of content: an immense, digital catalogue of all current human existence and an enormous resource for the exchange of ideas and information.

There was some criticism of the apparent culture in aspic paradigm.  Culture Matters pointed out that The Dictionary of Man project seems to be framed in these early press releases in an outdated mode of cultural preservation that ignores that “new diversity is created by the encounter between global consumer goods, media, ideas and institutions with local ways of doing and thinking.”

But, my favorite comment on the DoM project was on The Village Pump:

eh, it might be a bit uncoordinated.. but don’t we already call this ‘the internet’?
Oh well, more power to him, I guess. A freakishly massive undertaking, to be sure.

Yes the internet would already be on its way to being the Encylcopedia Humanica, if it wasn’t for digital divides, or rather lets call it Wikipedia Humanica, or even Humanica Life - the potential offspring of Second Life after it goes open source server side, (see announcement).

But, unless digital divides are addressed the internet is a long way from being a platform for all Humanica. And, while Geldof indicated that the DoM website may be up as early as next week, it is not clear from the press release how they will include voices from any of the 900 cultures that will be “captured” by camera crews.

I first saw picture on the left on Boing Boing and traced it back to Wired , and then ilounge where it is currently up to 28,347 views. The picture is captioned, “Female member of Mursi tribe in Southern Ethiopia.” There is no other background on the photo that I have found yet. But, I include the picture to the right for anyone who is not familiar with the genre of ilounge photos - ipods displayed in exotic locals.

When seen on its own the photo on the left suggests that a digital divide is being crossed, in context of other ilounge photos it seems to indicate a digital chasm.

But there was some good news this week in terms of bridging digital divides. From the i-witnesses:

At long last the World Bank has approved a US$164.5 million package to connect East and Southern Africa to the global broadband infrastructure – which will enable cheaper access to the internet and international phonecalls.

And, from Screenshots:

iBurst, is said to have transformed wireless broadband in Africa. The buzz will be in KL next Thursday: MoBif and Kyocera are bringing iBurst International Forum 2007 to town.

“Freakishly Massive”

And, then there is the “freakishly massiveness” of the Encyclopedia Humanica undertaking. The internet, in all its wiki open source glory, is the only media which makes such a project is even imaginable.

But, massive projects approached from the principle of sharing from the bottom up are what has defined the power of open sourcing to create new processes for businesses and society. And, these processes have gone well beyond their origins in software development.

Open Source evangelist Dana Blankenhorn’s famously posted on:

Bill Gates demanding that AIDS researchers share or open source their results if they’re to get some of the $287 million the Gates Foundation is putting into the search for AIDS vaccines.

Blankenhorn asks: “If you can change the way things work in AIDS vaccines, how about the world’s other pressing challenges? And if Bill Gates can learn the value of sharing, isn’t that the final proof open source works?”

Open Source activism has been in the news this last week when an open source heckler at Bill Gates recent talk at Bejing university seized a photo op.

The picture on the left is from Boing Boing and the picture on the right AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel.

But, if Bill Gates is not yet willing to put his money where his mouth is on open sourcing, Linden Labs it seems is.

“Having already taken the timid steps of open-sourcing the code for its client software, Linden Lab has confirmed that they’ll be going the whole way, and will soon be opening up the server code for Second Life. This furthers Second Life’s ambitions to be a fully distributed 3D network — built on interoperability and not owned by one company — a bit like the Internet itself.

ZDNet’s The Social Web asks: ‘who will be the first to offer Second Life hosting or use the server code for their own internal purposes? IBM would be an obvious candidate, perhaps offering corporate Second Life services. And for the rest of us? GoogleLife, free virtual land — ad supported of course. It’s certainly a possibility.’”

Humanica Life: virtual worlds serving all humanity.

It was quite clear at Virtual Worlds 2007 that IBM has no intention being caught napping re virtual worlds. The IBM key note speaker, Colin Parris, succinctly articulated the potential of virtual worlds to facilitate large scale collaborative innovation across geographical boundaries. Also noted was the power of virtual worlds to enhance learning by leveraging a variety of sensory inputs and to realize an individual’s potential that comes only from being able to tap into a larger network of people.

IBM is clearly focusing on making virtual worlds “fit for business and society.” But, without at the very least a discussion of virtual citizenship from the rest of us, will virtual worlds ever be fit for humanity?

I would really like to thank all the folks who discussed virtual citizenship in their comments on my last post, Can you be a citizen in a virtual world? This topic was well beyond the scope of my own imaginings. But, it came to life for me in the discussion of Aleister Kronos,Team Mascot, Gwyneth Llewelyn, Tisha, Dandellion Kimban, and Ziggy Figaro.

Some projects to watch re Humanica Life

African Path - “is one of the most exciting African citizen media projects. It is an online platform whose content comes from bloggers, readers, artists, and specialists. It also aggregates news on Africa from different sources (Global Voices).”

Language Labs - this Beta Technologies build and their client, Language Labs, have been getting a lot of press lately.

Second Life International Education Conference, May 25th, 2007

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Worlds | Virtual Reality | Virtual Citizenship | Virtual Citizen | Web 3.D | Bob Geldof | Dictionary of Man | Encyclopedia Humanica | Open Source | Bill Gates | Africa | internet | e-learning | internet development | Wikipoedia | digital divides | global development | positive global development | wireless broadband | open sourcing | user generated content |

Online communities play an important role in positive global change not just because they bring crises to world attention, Hollywood celebrities are even better at doing this! More importantly, they bring together diverse aspects of the global community/polity to make human dignity and freedom a priority in a world seemingly dominated by global competition (see Chika Anyan Wu).

I have been focusing on “bridge blogging” and “virtual worlds” because I believe on-line communities, in general, and virtual worlds, in particular, will play a role in positive global change so big that we cannot fully imagine it yet.

A connection to the experience of others motivates the social and political actions that can make the world a better place. The potential of virtual worlds, in particular, to enhance and energize shared experience and human connection has been acknowledged by everyone I have met (who has actually explored them), educators, corporate marketers, gamers, and political activists.

Are Virtual Worlds just games?

On Tuesday, I went to visit Xerox Innovation Island on Second Life to hear panelists, from Xerox Innovation Group, Beta Technologies, Multiverse, IBM and Xerox (PARC) and others discuss, “A vision of what’s next for virtual worlds.”

The theme that came through strongly despite grid problems was the role of virtual worlds in enhancing and enriching the experience of communication and collaboration at work. And, while this of course can be debated, and it is not the main topic of this particular post (later), I will mention that “making work fun” came up a lot. The focus of the event was, “perspective and ideas for business.” But, there was food for thought on the potential role of virtual worlds in global development. And, an important factor will probably be the particularly engaging qualities of these environments.

I am sitting on the far right in a xerox T-shirt looking very prim and proper (no foxy face this day). I had actually stripped my avatar of my “fun” accessories like flames and a foxy face. Inappropriate, I thought, for a Xerox guest. So, I was a little jealous of Jonas Karlsson’s (prime mover of the Xerox Innovation Island project) cool skates, and Philip Linden style spiked hair.

Second Life is not a game!

There was a large press turnout for the Xerox event that was being watched by a Real Life Audience. At one point, I found myself sitting next to Ziggy Figaro of Information Week. And, I couldn’t resist telling him I had been tweaked by Cory Doctorow’s post and article, “Why Online Games Are Dictatorships in Information Week. Doctorow asks the question “Can you be a Citizen of a Virtual World.”

Doctorow argues that Second Life is just like World of Warcraft - a dictatorship because the control of wealth and property is ultimately in the hands of the Lindens. The debate continues from a gaming perspective on Raph Koster’s blog. Where Koster writes: “The core of his argument [Cory Ds] is that while democracy can be really fun, actually governing sure isn’t, and interactions with governments tend not to be either. And that this poses challenges for any world (just as it does for the real world!)

I asked Ziggy Figaro what he thought of Doctorow’s article. And, he told me he had edited it, adding:

I thought it was interesting, his idea that games might well have to be dictatorships. I think he’s right. Unlike Cory, though, I don’t think that’s a bad thing…..in a game, like many businesses, you’re the customer and you expect the business owner to RUN things……his essay convinces me that SL is not a game. Because it’s not a dictatorship.

Can you be a citizen in a virtual world that is not a game?

Issues of governance are debated in depth in some communities on Second Life, notably in the Neufreistadt (a topic for another post!). And, Second Life citizenship is discussed both in the sense of property rights, rights to participation, and as active citizenship.

Forms of “active citizenship” are very much a part of online culture. If you go to this link you will find a detailed argument for this, and many other relevant links. There are reasons to be skeptical of the potential of “cyberactivism” to result in real world change. See Mutant Palm’s, “Nailhouse Blues,” where it is pointed out that the “Nail House” cyberhype seems to have had little impact, so far, on the much “blogged about new property law.” But, there is plenty of evidence for a more optimistic view.

In particular, there is the role new media technologies have in questioning “the role of nation states as agents of change, public police and social monitor.” And, as the state of nations states is frequently corrupt, oppressive, impotent or defunct. And, the majority of successful political or social movements in the last few years do not reside in their country or society of opposition due to political pressure and intimidation (Wu), this role is pretty important. See this post, “Reporters Without Borders, has published The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents.” (BBC Click)

Darfur - Giving Voice to a Crisis.

The on-going Darfur crisis in Sudan has caught the world’s attention (we are still waiting for global leaders to act) through a combination of celebrity activism - Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg - and the work of new communication networks. Working across a wide physical and cultural geography these new networks of communication and online organizations have found ways to give voice to the refugees, e.g. savedarfur.org, and bring attention to the crisis (see the Google Earth Darfur initiative).

The New York Times, reports on Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg’s efforts to put pressure on China. And, how in the new global politics, governments are more likely to listen to global threats to their interests than local protesters. A Senior Chinese official -

Mr. Zhai even went all the way to Darfur and toured three refugee camps, a rare event for a high-ranking official from China, which has extensive business and oil ties to Sudan and generally avoids telling other countries how to conduct their internal affairs.

Just when it seemed safe to buy a plane ticket to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games, nongovernmental organizations and other groups appear to have scored a surprising success in an effort to link the Olympics, which the Chinese government holds very dear, to the killings in Darfur, which, until recently, Beijing had not seemed too concerned about. (New York Times)

This picture and the drawing by a child from a Darfur camp at the beginning of this post are from Camilla Nielsson. Her film, “The Children of Darfur,” “tells the children’s version of what is happening in Darfur. Some of the strongest testimonies are told by the children and etched in drawings made in the support centres that have opened throughout Darfur.”

I talked with Camilla about her film, her experiences making it, and talking to people around the world about the situation in Darfur. Camilla stressed the necessity for people to have some experience of a situation, and to make a connection, for political motivation to arise. Her film by taking you into the day to day lives of children in the camps, as they draw, cook, duck their head against the sandstorms creates an opportunity for such a connection to be made.

Camp Darfur in Second Life is a trail blazing effort at trying to connect people, through a multi-dimensional experience in a virtual world, to a social crisis in the real world. This and other projects like it are the beginning of an exciting and crucial adventure in positive global development. But, as anyone who has tried knows, establishing a presence/experience in a virtual world, whether it is corporate, educational, or as an active citizen, is an on-going experiment - a process of trial and error as we learn how to engage the potentials of virtual worlds more fully and effectively. But, as we learn how to deepen the experience and link on line and off line worlds in more and more creative ways there will be an ever increasing ROA - Return On Awesome (ROA is from Jerry Paffendorf).

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Citizenship | Virtual Worlds | Virtual Reality | Metaverse | internet | Xerox Innovation | Xerox PARC | Beta Technologies | MMOGS | online games | bridge blogging | blogging | blogosphere | global development | Darfur | Cyberactivism | celebrity activism | Return On Awesome | Camp Darfur | Digital Democracy | active citizenship | xerox |

In the year of 2010, 70% of the population in the developed nations will pass ten times more time per day interacting with people in the virtual world than in the physical world, says Charles Abrams a Director of Research for Gartner in, Internet Midia Digital.

What with the upcoming launch of Second Life Brasil, the arrival of Second News! Brasil, and the Gartner Conference in, Sao Paulo, Brasil (April 10th and 11th), virtual worlds in general and Second Life, in particular, are making a big splash in Brasil at the moment.

The picture on the left is of the opening party on Second Life for Second News! Brasil. The picture on the right is of the Pelorinho, Salvador, Brasil from Omar Junior’s Flickr photostream.

What is it about virtual worlds that will draw this many people in for this amount of time? Certainly it is not just about being 3D! The pivotal points of a virtual world are outlined in “Onder’s Big Three.”

“Onder’s big three” describes the qualities any virtual world must have if it is going to play the kind of role in 2010 that Abrams from Gartner describes. (Notably, Onder finds that, at this time, Second Life is the “ONLY virtual world that completely complies with ‘Onder’s Big Three.’”

1. Real money must move in and out of the “virtual” economy freely. RMT (Real-Money Trading) is designed in, not forbidden by TOS.

2.Users must be able to create unique content and retain ownership over it. Things like scripting and accepting uploads are important here. Multimedia is a bonus. We must be able to control the rights to our content.

3.The world must be persistent, and the users able to change it. Residents like being able to build the world themselves, and don’t need somebody stepping in and erasing their work.

But, in terms of the growth of virtual world’s in developing countries, at the moment, Onder’s number one point is, perhaps, the most important. The use of mobile phones as virtual bank accounts, to send, receive and save money is being touted but Telecom industry pundits as the major market driver after SMS.

M-Banking

BBC News notes: “M-banking, as it is known, might help to serve the three billion people who currently have no access to financial services, according to the World Bank.”

On the left is a Kaizen Cash booth on Brazilian Second Life (Kaizen is one of the Brazilian partners in Second Life Brasil - see 3pointD for the complete story). It will be possible to buy Linden Dollars using Brazilian currency, the Real.

On the right, is a “Geesm,” (GSM) kiosk in Lagos for mobile phone based virtual banking (no connection to Second Life, yet!).

Olusola Oyewola points outs call centers as they are known “attend to their customers just like your banker does when you go to cash some amount of money.” For more about the role of mobile phones in job creation in Africa see, Textually, Mobile Africa, Afrigadget, and Timbuktu Chronicles.

Leapfrogging

Jamais Cascio in World Changing, discusses “Leapfrogging” - the “notion that areas which have poorly-developed technology or economic bases can move themselves forward rapidly through the adoption of modern systems without going through intermediary steps. ” Bowers writes on PSD blog, “M-banking remains the most powerful example of leapfrogging that I know of. It’s actually a double leapfrog - from landlines to cell phones, and from traditional banks to virtual wallets.

Scott Schaffer has been blogging for a while about “leapfrogging” from “Phase 1 of internet development, the connection of the electronic world” which has been dominated by the platform creators (Microsoft) and search (Google) to “Phase 2 - connecting every physical item to the Internet,” which will take the internet into 3D. He notes, “Phase 2 will be 1000 times larger and more lucrative than Phase 1.”

Physical World Connection Players

Business Week, last week summarized the Chinese physical world connection players. Gmedia uses two-dimensional bar codes to bridge “the online and offline worlds, turning, say, a coffee table into a physical hyperlink, and your mobile phone into a giant mouse pointer. You “click” the barcode on the coffee table by taking a picture of it with the camera on your phone, and then are automatically taken online.”

Hong Kong-based, MyClick, “Although, it uses a patented photo recognition technology, not barcodes, the end result is virtually identical. Any visual medium - a magazine page, billboard or television commercial - can carry an image framed by a special border. The user simply snaps a photo of the framed image.”

Steve McCormick, vice-president of MyClick says: “In China, consumers are into marketing that’s hao wanr (fun). It’s not like the US, where the internet is a tool for purchasing products. Here, it’s all about yu le (entertainment).” Also, see Pacific Epoc’s interview with MyClick.

But, for a questioning look at whether mobile phone advertising and datamatrix codes will work , see Danwei.

What is happening “on the ground? M4G and Life Logging

Africa - Ready For Business tagged me recently. And, ever since, I have been wondering what to write for a meme post - What are my goals? Well one of my goals for this blog is not just to focus on top down innovation, but to keep looking at what innovations are coming from people who take up and use technology in creative and unexpected ways.

I love coming up with big ideas. But, I have been reining in my love of “big ideas” lately. I have come to realize that more often than not deep engagement with very specific areas evolves into big ideas one could never have imagined when starting out.

In Africa, the focus of innovation may not be on broadband at the moment, but, this does not mean trails are not being blazed. Virtual banking “the next big market driver after SMS” is being pioneered in Africa and other developing countries (including Second Life!).

Also, Africa Ready For Business notes, new and innovative uses for SMS are emerging . See their post for a video on M4G - Mobile For Good about how MG4 is helping Kenyans find jobs. And, check One World, to see more about this “social franchise project designed to use mobile phone technology to alleviate poverty” by delivering vital health, employment and community content via SMS.

Innovative approaches to connecting on grid and off grid worlds don’t just come from large corporate ventures.

Please check out, the other here, to learn about Jerry Paffendorf’s (The Futurist In Residence at The Electric Sheep Company) “on the ground” experiments in Phase 2 internet development using his shoes.

Pursuing an instinct to life log with his Nike+ tracking shoes plus new camera plus new Google MyMaps service, Jerry begins work on the virtualizing the neighborhood side of things.

Bridge blogging is a very big idea!

Recently, I was following a link from Clapping Trees post on, Top Blogs in China Malayasia and the Phillipines, when I came across Yee’s Blog, “Ya, I Yee, if only I could be a bridge blogger.” Aha, there you have it. That’s the way to think about “bridge blogging.” It is too big of an idea to pin down. Now I feel I can write down three goals:

1) Aspire to”bridge blog” while remembering this is a lofty goal.

2) Work on some practical bridge building everyday. For example, put time into at least one of my avatars (other than my blog), e.g., in Second Life, Twitter, Stumble Upon, Jaiku, Mybloglog, etc., etc., to build connections, make friends, and exchange ideas with an aspiration to building bridges across digital divides, and towards the goal of positive global development.

3) Practice meditation everyday.

I tag

Ya, I Yee, Electronic Village, Mshairi, JynxedPanda, African Gadget Geek, Congo Girl, Zanglu, Team Mascot, Brown Thoughts, Mutant Palm, Black In Business, Steli

Tags: Second Life | Virtual Worlds | Virtual Realty | m-banking | kaizen | global development | internet development | leapfrogging | Web 3.D | Web 3.0 | GSM | SMS | Africa | Second Life Brasil | physical hyperlinking | mobile phones | cell phones | mobile computing | MyClick | Gmedia | Electric Sheep | social media | social networking | life logging | Nike | Web 2.0 | virtual china | bridge blogging | Brasil | MMOGS | digital divides | social entrepreneurs | social entrepreneurship | internet | web development | positive global development |

“I don’t have any MSN, hotmail, friendster, icq, irc or any forums. Do not add the impostor to your list!” says the real Lao Zha Bor. But, by
riffing and rapping about her life, the real Lao Zha Bor, who acted as Fann Wong’s mother in Just Follow Law, has soared to the heights of the blogosphere, obliterating the digital divide of age - an impressive feat!

I have so little time to add friends or visit forums these days. Lao Zha Bor’s success really cheered me up! Check out, “Aunitie’s,” impressive number of hits, and her stream of comments too.

Lao Zha Bor, is not IT trained. She got her start blogging with the help of young friends: “They taught me how to create a blog and design template.” (hey another form of “bridge blogging” has begun). Lao Zha Bor comments on the media attention her blog has brought her, “I think more and more aunties and uncles will start to set up a blog soon!”

I learned about this new rockin’ blog star from Clapping Trees, my second friend on Twitter, who is keeping me up to date on what is going on in the very cool Singapore blogs - pioneers in the exploration of virtual worlds. (My first friend Jim Gustafson reminds me of events and scripting classes on SL. I will check out his 11 am class on the beta voice grid tomorrow) One of Clapping Trees tweets led me to Rinaz’s latest report on a Singapore Second Life Meetup hosted by Engkiat and Nicholas from the Idea Factory and to the Nexus 2007 conference.

She writes: “I met fellow Secondlifers like Preetam, Vanessa and Alvin. I also met Aileen and for the first time ever, finally got to meet up with Jeremy, or Limkopi, as he is known inworld.”

Aunties and Uncles to storm virtual worlds?

I can imagine that soon, not only blogging, but virtual reality, will begin to play an important role in banishing the loneliness, isolation and depression that is all too often part of aging. Right now probably most people on line who declare themselves as 80 are decades younger. But, perhaps, the next big “off the grid” community to get a ramp to the super highway will be the elderly - with a little help, like Lao Zha Bor had, from their young friends.

Now, virtual reality plays a big role for people with disabilities, not just because in a virtual world many disabilities are not the factor they are in RL. Mitch Wagner reports, “one woman whose cancer was quite severe, for whom Second Life had become her first life.” And, on Second Life there is a community using SL to aid in the recovery of stroke victims. But, also, Wayne Porter notes that HUDS that simulate disabilities in Second Life can offer a way to educate people from a new perspective (also see Wayne’s review of the groovy and free SLtweets HUD (Heads UP Display) available at SLTweets.com).

With a little bit of luck, inspiration and support the next suave lady and gentlemen you meet on SL, gliding and twirling on the dance floor in “tails” and “bling heels,” may really be 95!

Tags: Second Life | Web 3.D | Virtual Reality | Virtual Worlds | Second Life | Singapore | Just the Law | Lao Zha Bor | social media | social networks | forums | blogging | disabilities | internet | meet ups | twitter | SLtwitter | scripting classes | blogs | ratings | hit counts | blog ranking |

Click to watch an episode on YouTube.

The Perfect Storm began with blogs, large and small, everyone from Salon, BoingBoing, Chris Pirillo, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Doc Searls, to Canadian Shanagans (who was still waiting for his first link) joined the flow of energy. Here are the first 25 blogs to link (taken from technorati) - justkate, Charles Sheehan-Miles, Neverwonderland, SineQuaNon’s Journal, It’s all One Thing, Planet Identity, Beet.TV, PerthNorg, Visiopoetics, Joho The Blog, The S.n.a.f.u principle, Panzerfaust, Growabrain, Keith Snyder, Iava Blog, Smith Magazine, I Like Motorcycles, Tom Paine, TIG Blogs, Waterfall’s Paranormal Life, Pop + Politics, Mr V’s, Fun Vampires, notes from somewhere bizarre, and many many more!

Then the blog and YouTube video comments started to roll in! Here are three of most recent YouTube video comments. I did not select for particular content. But, these give a flavor of how an online debate has begun to grow. Click to find more on YouTube.

Then the YouTube editors came on board featuring Hometown Baghdad, making them a content partner, and one editor vowed “to build as much momentum and buzz for you (HTB) as I can. Keep me posted of any other press ops/events you have coming up so we can try to build a perfect storm around your content.”

And, yesterday, a video made it to the front page of Digg’s Video Section which translated into thousands of hits and enormous buzz among netizens.

Now, Michael Dibenedetto reports, the “old” media is picking up the story too. Hometown Baghdad has been talked and written about around the world. We have been seen in or will be seen in: the lead article on Le Monde’s website; a full page article in Germany’s largest newspaper, FAZ; an article in a major Austrian newspaper; a piece on a German youth radio station; another piece on a major German radio station; and a feature article in one of Argentina’s largest newspapers.” And, look out for upcoming feature in Rolling Stone, “On the Web” column that points to the web’s most
interesting sites.

Fady one of the Iraqi producers wrote this very moving note of thanks.

Dear all -

I am extremely moved and inspired by all the warm feedback that we are getting on several blogs and websites. It is giving me energy and strength to bear the nightmares that I am living and the ones I dream of at night. It was an honor for me to help in bringing out these messages from Baghdad to the outer world, despite of all the dangers we face everyday.
Thank you, Mike, for keep sending me the feedback.

Best,
Fady
Baghdad

Congratulations to everyone, producers and netizens! This amazing project is, in my view, a huge step toward developing a world of peace and tolerance. And, it has only just begun. There are still many more webisodes to come, so keep watching, blogging, digging, stumbling upon, video commenting, and spreading the word. This is Wikimocracy in action!

The latest episode.

Mike notes, that the conversations that have sprung up in the blog’s comments, both argumentative and friendly, tell us that we need dialogue and understanding.

I am tempted to start expounding on how the “brand” of “democracy,” has been seriously devalued worldwide, not by users but by governments. But, I will restrain myself because I want Ugotrade to be a place that focuses on imagining worlds that are yet to be imagined, not about writing history.

And, I am excited. I have seen a blue print for Wikimocracy 3.D, (here’s the 2D prototype). Wikimocracy 3D is a big idea through which users will soon be reinventing the “brand” of democracy, and adding much needed value to this tired, misused, work horse. 3Dpointcom and other futurists have been pioneering an “idea factory.” Their post “Clocking in at the idea factory,” features a wonderful hand written plan for a metaversal idea factory by Bill Ward. Click to see the full plan on Flickr.