Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

Well, last Tuesday we got a tutorial on editing using iMovie! Sam did a really great quick tutorial on iMovie and editing in it. Sadly, we didn't have many people there at the Machinima program... and we were short three group members (which left only 2 people), and that didn’t help our group because Thursday I was in Albuquerque for the NYLC Conference.

However, I'm sure they were fine without me because the last time I was out they did a great job at filming, so I look forward to seeing what kind of progress the group has made on Thursday. If much couldn't be done, that's okay too because we have a lot of time to work on it the coming Thursday. Anyway, on Tuesday, we learned how to cut a clip and cool little tricks with iMovie. And then we went to editing on our own~ and my group found that the parts we wanted were extremely short! Therefore, after cutting, the edited portion we got turned out to be about a little over a second. Then, we decided that the second cut was too quick, so with some help from team "media piracy" my oh-so-blind-eyes were able to locate the slow-motion effect.

We ended up with about four seconds of video, which is still short, but we were also short on time so we couldn't really do anything much more. Although, we did think that the ghost-like effect might go well with the PSA when Miguel's avatar is dancing. So, overall, it was a pretty productive day because we did get some work done, and we did learn a lot from Sam. However, I am a little concerned about how things turned out on Thursday because we had three people who we needed to teach or update the editing process to, which might have caused a little delay in the work. Well, I'm sure they caught on quickly. I can't wait until Thursday ^^!!!!~

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This blog entry is a directory to content from our first anniversary in Teen Second Life (okay, February was really our birthday, but we were busy...).

The events ran from March 12- March 23, 2007. The full schedule is available. Below you will find teen reports, photos, transcripts, and more. A giant thank you to the dozens of teens, as well as the Lindens, who built objects, created animations, ran activities, promoted the events, and more!

PANELS
• TSL residents present on the past year of programs in TSL.
• TSL residents debate the role of adults in online teen spaces.
• Blue and Philip Linden on the past, present and future of TSL.
• Representatives from Learn & Serve America and the National Youth Leadership Council speak to teens through a live audio stream on service-learning.
• A live video from the annual Global Kids youth conference.

ACTIVITIES
• Scavenger Hunt on global environmental issues.
• GK Birthday Cake Baking Contest.
• A tour of the new NOAA Glacier followed by a workshop on global climate change.
• Two dance parties
• Birthday card signing.

TEEN REPORTS
• Lucky on the Volcano Eruption.
• Lucky on the teen panel on GK programs.
• Mariel on assisting the interview with Blue and Philip Linden.
• Mariel on the teen debate on the role of adults in teen second life.
• Jay on running the Cake Contest.
• Mat reports on the Scavenger Hunt.
• Nic385 on running the dance parties.
• Idan from the Virtual Video Project writes about filming the Global Kids conference for an entire day, and streaming it into Second life.
• Birthday messages left on the GK TSL Answering Machine.
• Mercury, the Global Kids Intern, reports on his personal highlights.

MULTIMEDIA
• Watch the official project wrap-up video.
• View over 100 photos within seven photosets on Flickr.
• Learn and Serve America and the National Youth Leadership Council podcast.
• Machinima birthday card from TSL resident.

COVERAGE
• UNICEF wrote a fantastic piece covering the GK youth conference and the role throughout the festival of Mariel VoyUNICEF.

  

• The Pacific Rim Exchange blog covers it here.

Posted by Barry at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello everyone - Merc here. This month has been a blast (literally)! Our 2 weeks of the GK 1 Year Anniversary in Second Life celebration was a great success. From the Birthday cake contest to Blue & Philip Linden discussing the history and future of Teen Grid, to the volcano eruption! All events went wonderfully. It was very fun to plan and execute some of these events; my favorite being the Learn and Serve Panel, which I moderated. I had never moderated a panel of adults before, so it was a new and exciting experience for me. I felt as though I did well in transitioning from question to question and keeping the speakers engaged. It was wonderful to hear about service learning and the positive impact it has on youth.

Image of the Learn and Serve voice panel that I interviewed.

Another highlight of the two week anniversary events was the volcano eruption, which Ryan Dayton beautifully scripted. The particle effects and the explosive lava rocks that were ejected from the volcano upon eruption were amazing. Many gathered to watch the initial explosion including Aimee Weber from the main grid, who was visiting as an approved adult under the name AimeeDev GKid. Aimee also brought over the melting ice glacier from the NOAA sim on Main Grid. We used the glacier for another event that same week to coincide with our theme of climate change.

This pic is of the calm before the eruption! Teens were waiting on this platform and hoping that giant pyroclasts of lava wouldn't knock them down.

So many of us worked hard to make this celebration happen! I'm so glad it turned out the way it did. Thanks to everyone who attended, and HAPPY 1 YEAR in SL GLOBAL KIDS! There will be many more birthday celebrations to come.

Posted by Mercury at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Below is the video from Global Kids two week celebration in March of 2007 observing our year anniversary in Second Life.

Post and read comments on YouTube.

Posted by Barry at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday’s class was a class on iMovie editing, Having used moviemaker before, I understood the basics of amateur editing software and the rest I figured out on my own. I have this natural knack for video software that I can just work with it and figure out its features. For example, I learned Adobe premiere pro and Adobe after effects pro 7.0 on my own. After effects being a program many say is way too complex for me as well as others with more experience. So Tuesday we edited the footage further and I worked on video titles. That’s really all but there is more to come, we're almost done!

Posted by VVP Idan at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We didn't succeed in finishing the PSA machinima T_T. We added the music to the PSA but we didn't finish the text. There were some problems with iMovie where we had to cut the text up and put it in different parts because when we put it all together the words would shrink and be on one line, which made it impossible to read. Today we will definitely (hopefully) finish the PSA once and for all.

Posted by VVP Joe at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TSL resident Nic385 created a simple answering machine for us on GK Island, so teens could leave us one line messages. Here are a few we received during the recent birthday celebration:

Kirbit Allen said, 'THANKS FOR GLOBKIDS!!!'
Jay Clostermann said, 'Global Kids Rocks!'
Killer Mills said, 'why is there a random turkey here?'
Moose Crossair said, 'Hiya. I’m showing Olivia Gray that its ok and its not gonna hurt her to leave a message'
Olivia Gray said, 'Recording machines scare me cause they are scary....and they growl.'
Ivan Ortega said, 'happy birthday, one year guys keep it up! wt!!!'
Gompy Zapedzki said, 'Hi i think that you are awesome.com'
Markus Vanbeeck said, 'I think this is quite a place... a little more people, and it would be perfect!'
Kinzie Lutetia said, 'hi. just asking if u think pie is good'
Master Sakai said, 'this place is awsome when's the party though?'
Rihanna Vanalten said, 'i like fish head...NOT'
Issabella Sanders said, 'Your Awesome Barry Keep Up The Good work ~Your Friend issabella sanders~'
Angelo Apps said, 'Gkid!! Happy Birthday... Cant say enough to let yall know how appreciative i am of you guys... Peace out...'
Cuteboy Dix said, 'I like ya place very supporting'
Paco Rahja said, 'No soup for you!'
jayco Bing said, 'This place rules!'
Zack Voom said, 'GK IS AWESOME! YAY! HAPPY ONE YEAR BDAY GK!!'

Posted by Barry at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last thursday we learned about filming and editing and how producers and editors can include so many cuts and camera angles in a simple clip. We also learned how the angles gives us a different perspective of a certain character or an object. The angles and camera cuts affect the way the viewers see the movie. Some are more effective than others. Some shots can make the viewers feel like they're the person, or sometimes it can put a lot of emphasis in a certain scene like the one where the baby carriage was rolling down the stairs. That scene was supposed to make the audience feel more and more suspenseful like they want to know what's going to happen to the baby. Is the baby going to get hurt? Is it going to be okay? I tried to closely pay attention to the camera angles in a couple of shots and i realized it gave more of a dramatic feeling to the show. Anyways, ill see everybody at Global Kids!

Posted by VVP Alex at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey all! I just got back from a lovely weekend in San Francisco. I was invited by Linden Lab to participate in the SL Views program. For those who aren't familiar with SL Views - it is a meeting in which involved residents of the community are chosen to discuss the long term development and feature design of the Second Life platform. Sounds exciting, yeah? Well, it was definitely an experience of a lifetime! We spoke and gave our input about various topics ranging from Voice Implementation, to Group Tools, and UI design. (Look forward to some exciting new features, folks!)

I met many Lindens face-to-face and had conversations with them (very interesting to see how their RL avatar differs from their SL one). Oh, and I met some amazing residents - most of which were from the main grid. I also got to meet my longtime SL buddy Brooke Barmy, whom I've known in SL for almost 2 years now. We were a very eclectic group with skills scattered all over the spectrum, yet we all managed to relate because of one commonality. That commonality being - we are all residents of Second Life.

The actual meeting/discussion was held in a seperate building than LL's main offices, but after the meeting was over we headed over for a reception. Lindens really know how to plan a reception, let me tell you. There was lots of food and everyone was pretty eager to eat. After all, it had been a long day! LL's office and work environment in general is absolutely astonishing. They are big into transparency, and as such, all of their desks are in one large room - no cubicles or anything! Blue Linden gave Brooke and I the tour of the building. Now, if you think Blue is an interesting character in-world, he is even friendlier and definitely more responsive in First Life. haha! Oh, and he is a big fan of Kidrobot and has a real aviator cap on his desk - there's a Linden factoid for those who are interested. Gotta love Bloo!

The LL resident signature board that I forgot to sign because I was too busy talking to people! grrr

Oh, how I miss San Francisco already...

Posted by Mercury at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday was an interesting day. People went to the global conference but what I got to do was film the event!

So much fun handling that...beautiful...expensive...very expensive camera. It was amazing, the camera had depth of field focus and all sorts of beautiful features not available to me on my little camcorder. The Depth of field was what really amazed me its the one thing camcorders lack that I want so bad.

But now about the conference. It was a really exciting event. The performances were so powerful. My personal favorite was Queen God Is and what she said. I thought it was very passionate and powerful.

It was a joy to be there and aid in the filming of the event. Nice job GK!

Posted by VVP Idan at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last class we worked on finishing our PSA but the music was not transferrable off my i-pod so we didn't make any progress with music. I now transfered it to a usb cord and am going to put it into the PSA today! When we finish that we will work the text in on the last few shots. Then we'll be officially finished!

Posted by VVP Joe at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This blog entry is a directory to content as we post it for the 18th Annual NYLC Service-Learning Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from March 28 - 30, 2007.

Those unable to attend the 18th Annual National Service-Learning Conference in Albuquerque can attend it LIVE in Second Life!

Residents of Second Life will be able to attend conference plenary sessions in real time at the Global Kids Island in Teen Second Life and at the NMC Teaching sim in Second Life’s community for adults.

"Speakers include Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and United Nations Messengers of Peace; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympian and founder of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation; Verna Cornelia Price, founder of the Girls in Action program; J. Robert Flores, Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; Kerri Strug, Special Advisor to the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Olympian; and David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. More speakers will be announced as they are confirmed."

For more information on the 18th Annual NYLC Service-Learning Conference, please visit their website by clicking here.

• Representatives from Learn & Serve America and the NYLC speak to teens through a live audio stream on service-learning in Teen Second Life, prior to the conference.
• The permanent video feed of footage from the conference. (coming soon)
• Photos taken from Second Life, both on the main grid and on the teen grid.
• Photos taken in Second life and in real life at the Conference during the 2 day plenary and workshop sessions.
• Photos taken by Tabitha and Nafiza of their trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Teen post by Nafiza, on her experience at the Conference, who also presented along with Tabitha on "Youth in the Digital Age" during a workshop on March 30, 2007.
• Live chat dialogue from the workshop on "Youth in the Digital Age" by teens in Second Life. (coming soon)
• Staff post by Tabitha, on her experience at the Conference and photos from the event. (coming soon)

-------------------------------------------------------

(The event has now concluded, please click on above links for post-conference materials, thanks!)

The conference will be streamed into both the main grid and the teen grid. The location on the main grid will be at the NMC Teaching sim, this is the teleport URL for those of you who are not familiar with NMC. You must join the NMC guests group in order to access the NMC sim.

Go to this link for a direct teleport on the main grid in Second Life

Anyone who is not in SL can also copy and paste the stream below in their regular web browser to watch and listen in, just be sure to have Quicktime installed on your computer.

Copy and paste this link to watch from your Internet browser

Please see below for the specific times that will be streamed into Second Life.

NYLC STREAMING SCHEDULE (all in EST):

Thursday, March 29
11am ~ 12:30pm: Opening Plenary Session - Stream from conference to SL, and SL to conference. Audience in SL will "see" themselves on the screen of the real-life stage!

3:45pm ~ 5:15pm: Workshop Session
Topic: Resources for Recovery
Presenter: Karen McKinney, Bethel University, MN

Join this highly interactive session on service-learning as a key strategy in disaster recovery and relief. Better understand the assumptions we make when helping others while exploring how to appropriately implement genuine, thoughtful service-learning projects in the wake of adversity.

5:30pm ~ 7pm: Workshop Session
Topic:Thinking Outside the Box: Community-Based Collaborations, Service-Learning, and Urban Youths
Presenter: Ed Irwin, The Imani Youth and Family Development Center, MN

Ed Irwin has been working with urban youths and service-learning for over 20 years. In this session he will encourage you to "think outside the box" when it comes to developing effective service-learning programs for urban youths. The presenter will share insights, successful initiatives, and effective principles on how to utilize service-learning to engage urban youths and develop young leaders of the urban community.

Friday, March 30

11:45am ~ 1:15pm: Opening Plenary Session

3:45pm ~ 5:15pm:
Topic: What's the next big idea?

Presenter: David Eisner, Corporation for National and Communitiy Service, DC; Robert Flores, OJJDP, and others

Corporation for National and Community Service CEO David Eisner, OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores, and others will share the latest research findings and program opportunities for service-learning. They will challenge the audience to dream big and to think about how to work together to get out the word about the positive power of youths and service-learning in the US. The conversation will also include a discussion of Corporation and OJJDP resources, and efforts to support youth-driven service-learning.

5:30pm ~ 7pm: Workshop Session - Global Kids and Youth Noise present together on "Youth Work in a Digital World".
Topic: Youth Work in a Digital Age

Presenter: Brad Lewis, Learn and Serve America, Corporation for National and Community Service, DC

Presenters: Tabitha Tsai, Nafiza Akter, Global Kids, and Youth Noise.

This session will highlight some of the exciting work that young people are undertaking both on and off-line to address significant problems faced by youths in the 21st century, including those who are disadvantaged. Across America and around the world, young people are using technological tools in innovative ways to serve their communities. Come and hear youths and their adult allies from Global Kids and Youth Noise speak out on how they are working for a better virtual and real world.

Hope to see you in-world!

Tabitha Gkid and Nafiza Gkid will be presenting in a workshop at the NYLC conference

Posted by tabitha at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last Thursday our workshop was a good experience. We learned about editing and how it affects the look and feel of a movie. This is great for our PSA's because now we can apply what we learned in the workshop to our PSA's using iMovie. Hopefully we'll get to deeper understanding of how to use iMovie and edit our films to look as professional as the ones you see on television.

Posted by VVP Miguel at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The final event of our two week festivities celebrating the start of GK's second year in TSL was a day long youth conference, streamed live from New York City.

The Global Kids annual conference is always one of the highlights of the year - an all-day affair led by Global Kids youth leaders for over 600 teens. The topic this year was global environmental concerns.

We streamed the event into both Global Kids Island and, with the help of the NMC, to educators on the main grid as well. This was our first time handling every aspect of a live video feed into TSL on our own, and it went really smooth. We even had one of our youth leaders from the machinima program, Idan, run the camera all day. We were very pleased.

Below are some photos and the schedule for the day.

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Registration and Breakfast

9:00 AM – 10:15 AM Morning Plenary

Welcome
• Marc Dones and Lilia Diaz, Students, Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts
• Joel Towers, Director, Tishman Environment and Design Center, The New School.
• Daphne Farganis, Director, Institute for Urban Education, Eugene Lang The New School for Liberal Arts.
• Carole Artigiani, Executive Director, Global Kids, Inc.
• Ramon Cruz, Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense
• Undesirable Elements - A Global Kids & Ping Chong & Co. Collaborative Project with Long Island City High School, Canarsie High School, and South Shore High School
• Human Rights Activist Project (HRAP) - Amanda Arriola, Jean Fatal and Monsammet Nahar, Lafayette High School

12:00 PM – 12:45 PM Lunch

1:00 PM – 1:45 PM Afternoon Plenary

• Dance Performance: Absolute Bhangra, Long Island City HS
• Alexie Torres-Fleming, Founder and Executive Director, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice
• New York State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris
• Spoken Word Performance: Gabriel Peoples and Sharon Anne
• Proclamation by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM Afternoon Workshops

• The Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Cultures
• Global Warming
• War and the Environment
• Food and the Environment
• Natural Disasters
• Women’s Health and the Environment
• Energy
• Children’s Rights and the Environment
• Consumption of Natural Resources
• Environmental Racism

3:30PM – 4:15 PM Closing Plenary and Performances

• Performance by Queen God Is
• Dance Performance: The Beacon School Dance Club
• Belly dancing by Kailie Cabarcas, Academy of American Studies
• Poetry: Children’s Aid Society

On the NMC Campus:

Posted by Barry at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UNICEF posted to their site a great write up on the Global Kids conference and various workshops held. Read the full text below or view it here.

At Global Kids Conference, high school students debate environmental issues UNICEF Image

© UNICEF USA/2007/Gallegos

A participant at the 2007 Global Kids Annual Conference in New York takes notes during a workshop on water.

By Rachel Bonham Carter

NEW YORK, USA, 26 March 2007 – Six hundred teenagers gathered in New York on Friday to debate environmental issues at the 2007 Global Kids Annual Conference entitled, ‘Do you know where your environment is?’ While experts from UNICEF and other organizations helped to guide discussions, the event was entirely youth-organized and youth-led. 

“The opportunity for a young person to go to a conference that is completely run by and for youth can be a transformative experience,” said Global Kids Online Leadership Programme Director Barry Joseph. “It shows them the possibilities of what can happen when youth are given the resources and are supported to be in charge and make a difference.”

The day was split between group workshops in the morning, which focused on ‘indicators for a healthy, sustainable environment’, and separate sessions in the afternoon, which covered a variety of issues, including:

• The impact of war on the environment
• Environmental justice
• Global warming and climate change
• Food, water, children’s rights and the environment.

Global Kids

The 2007 Global Kids Annual Conference was streamed live in the virtual online world, Second Life.

Online in Second Life

“I was very impressed with the young facilitators,” said UNICEF Programme Advisor Donna Goodman, who spoke at the workshop on water. “The kids were very well prepared and well-informed. The value of working with kids in industrialized countries is to raise awareness.

“The water cycle on this planet is all connected so the more kids that know how they can support each other and connect to kids around the world, the better. Youth advocacy is really the key to meeting the Millennium Development Goals,” added Ms. Goodman.

Students from over 50 public schools and youth organizations took part in the conference at the New School in Manhattan. It was also streamed live online in the virtual world Second Life, where it reached young people and educators around the world. The aim was to help young people examine local and global perspectives on critical environmental issues and potential solutions.

UNICEF Voices of Youth member Mariel, who is from Mexico, took part in various events in Teen Second Life last week in the build-up to the conference. She helped to raise awareness of the event by facilitating online discussions amongst youth and by hosting tours of the virtual buildings created in Teen Second Life during the UNICEF World Fit For Children contest, which was held in December 2006.

Posted by joyce at 1:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Thursday we were supposed to finish filming our PSA. This concept was simple except that our group was missing two of our members. Because of this, our filming had to be postponed. The main subject about the project we were doing on Thursday was editing. We went through the basics of editing. In the workshop we learned about the 180 degree rule which was to keep things in one half of a circle. The main reason was to make space. Space along with timing are important factors of editing. We saw a couple of movie clips to give us the idea of how editing depicts the atmosphere of a movie. If only we could finish our filming, then we could work on editing.

Posted by VVP Armando at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As part of the two weeks celebrating GK's one year anniversary in Second Life, Ryan Dayton built not one, not two, but three birthday cards for over 220 teens to sign.

Thank you all for taking the time to drop by and adding your name to the card! We look forward to our next birthday. With this year's volcanic eruptions, birthday cake making contests, live audio and video panels and more... I can't wait to see what we do together next year!

Birthday card 1 of 3

Birthday card 2 of 3

Birthday card 3 of 3

Posted by tabitha at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hiya! I'm nik385 Doesburg, a GK Intern. Global Kids interns host events monthly on Global Kids Islands.

This month, as party of their birthday party, I hosted parties on the thirteenth and the twenty second. I had a lot of fun running the music stream as a DJ, and hosting a few games of hud-Bitris. People seem to like to dance on things a lot.

I learned a few things though. I need to advertise my events better, as at the second party there was a very low attendance, because it was not following a large event, and I hadn't advertised.

I had a free music download system running that allowed me to download requests as long as they weren't inappropriate. After the first party we played hud-bitris.

At the second party Rafi got "Ruthed" which is when an avatar reverts to the default avatar shape, but keeps it's skin and clothing.

We had a lot of fun at both, and I had fun hosting them and look forward to hosting events again soon. I had some trouble getting images on the Global Kids image stream, so I had to use a backup account. Hopefully, by next time, I will have everything working properly.

nik385 out.

Posted by Nik - SL Intern at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday was interesting. The first 15 minutes were given to us to finish filming but since my group was done filming we started to do the editing with an Apple application called iMOVIE. Sadly, we couldn't figure out how to do it, so that 15 minutes went to waste. But it wasn't completely useless, you learn through trial and failure--right? Anyway, the rest of the workshop Chris and Meredith led. We watched scenes or clips from different movies to see how we can make good use of the editing process or cutting scenes. We learned about the 180 degree rule and why it is applied when filming. I guess it makes sense to keep everything in one half of a circle--and the reason was to establish space. That was one of the things we were told to keep in mind when editing. The three things were: space, time, and to establish meaning.

I think it was good that we got to see the different effects that cutting can have on the mood of the film--because that is pretty important. I guess, in our PSA's we might not want to cut back and forth too much because that might kill the seriousness of the mood--but maybe if someone is making a PSA that's more entertaining then they may want to do that. I really want to learn more about the actual editing process since that will come in useful when it comes to finalizing the PSA, but we will need a lot more time to actually do that...since an hour is just too small amount of time.

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An interesting blog entry about Ayiti: The Cost of Life recently came from a blog entitled "Once in the morning sunlight...Take a moment to reflect on the World." In it the author, Nenya, talks about her thoughts on playing the game.

You can read her heartfelt entry below:

I'm probably going to post something about this on my other blog, as well, but from a different perspective.

Has anyone ever tried www.costlife.org ? A little game for anyone to play, and reach one simple conclusion: the poor can achieve very moderate success in life, and may be reduced to living in pityful conditions if they should make the slightest mistake, or encounter the slightest unforeseen hardship.

The poor aren't equally poor everywhere; a poor man living in New York can stil beg his way around to a couple of dollars a day, eat a burger or two, and keep clean, maybe even get some free education, or read a paper; it's not pleasant, but it simply doesn't compare with poverty in the "Least developed countries" (read, poorest), such as Haiti (or Ayiti, where the game is set). The game, which is made in cooperation with Unicef, drives home some pertinent, if sad, facts. I discovered that some things I consider crucial_ the wonders of education, children needing to be children, not wage-earners_ are, in fact, luxuries which our economic state allows us... Beautiful principles, indeed, but... how realistic?

...A lesson which, I believe, many "westerners" (or wasterners) might well to heed, before judging the poor to be lazy or sufficiently aided already.

So play the game... show it to your children. Learn for it, as I did. A la bon bagay!

Posted by joyce at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last class we finished all the filming necessary for our PSA. All we have to do now is edit the film, add music, and the two clips of information and website credits! We are finally almost done! It's about 29 seconds long so far. Today we will be putting in music, and if that goes by smoothly we will put in the text at the end of the PSA! Then we'll be finally done!

Posted by VVP Joe at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday we got to filming once again. We filmed the still camera shots because we took care of all the panoramic shots when we had Barry's camera in Second Life at our disposal. Once the shots were done, I imported them all to iMOVIE and began to edit them keeping the continuity of the shots clear so that the cutting wouldn't look jittery. Once it was done it was 30 seconds long exactly what we needed only problem was there were no text. So hopefully we'll be able to go a little over 30 seconds but not too much. Today I’ll be adding music to the video and then the editing process should be just about done.

Posted by VVP Idan at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After much anticipation, the melting glacier of NOAA main grid fame has arrived on GK island. We held an event on Tuesday located there, engaged in some great discussion about what NOAA is, why sea levels rise, and what it all means for the world. It was followed by an incredible debate, GK style of course (involving flying!), during which the teens showed us just how much they knew and how passionate they are about environmental issues.

Check out this great post by Kate, one of the educators that works with GK on our island:

Global Kids do Global Warming

This week is Global Kids' first birthday in Teen Second Life, which surprised me as I thought they had been around for a lot longer. To celebrate they have been running special events. Last night we saw the trademark GK volcano erupt, and this evening we were treated to an interactive glacier that shows how the sea levels rise as the glaciers melt. It was a fantastic session, with Rafi (one of the adult members of staff) asking interesting and challenging questions.

For the second part of the event, platforms appeared, one central one, and three others with textures that said either 'agree', 'disagree' or 'not sure'. Rafi said out a statement and the rest of us had to stand on the platform that fitted how we felt. We had to be prepared to defend our position too.

I was VERY impressed by the kids involved. They were attentive, made great points, supported each other, valued each other's comments, and occasionally corrected the facilitator's typing politely so that the meaning was understood by all. If kids were getting distracted by scuttling crabs or trying to find promotional jackets, other kids were politely suggesting that they should pay attention or get back on topic. A couple of kids had to leave during the debate and they were really disappointed. There was a real enthusiasm for the event, and at the end kids were asking how long the glacier would be staying and when the next events and debates would be. ... and this was all voluntary - no compulsory education involved at all.

If you would like to read a transcript from the event this is continued below. I've shortened it from 38 pages to 15 by taking out conversations not related to the debate and everyone's (SL) surnames have been removed.

The three main statements that are debated are:

• Global Warming is a problem that is too challenging for the global community to deal with.
  
• Reducing carbon emissions to safe levels won't be possible because it will hurt the economy too much.
  
• It is the responsibility of governments, not of individuals, to make sure that the global climate crisis is solved.

  FYI Rafi, Tabitha, and myself were the only adults in the conversation.
  

Rafi: On the main grid there's an organization called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and they have a whole sim dedicated to looking at all sorts of stuff related to the environment. This year’s Global Kids annual conference is on the topic of the environment, so in honor of that, we thought we'd ask NOAA if they'd help us to move this massive glacier from the main grid to the teen grid! And they agreed, because they love each and every one of you. :D and think that it's important for you all to learn a bit about the environment. So, that's story of how the glacier got here. But now that it's here, what of it?
Rafi: Can I ask one of you fine teens to hit the animation on this puppy? and show us a bit of what it does? There we go!
Rafi: So, using /me raises hand, can one of you tell me what happened, and what it's illustrating?
Elgion: wow
Daniel: wow
Jay raises hand
Rafi raises hand
Elgion: /me
Rafi: Jay?
Ryou: Oooh.
Elgion: /me
Jay: Global Warming has affected ice glaciers just like this in real life, even to this extent!
Demon raises hand coz they all did
Ryou: o_o
Tas: I got a great snapshot
Rafi: So what happened when the glacier melted?
Rafi: Demon?
Jay: This is an illustration of the damage this is doing.
Jay: Flood!
Rafi: Gereat Jay!
Elgion: Polar Bears are dieing because they are losing the Glaciers they have they're homes on
Rafi: Yup, the water levels rose.
Tas shouts: When the glacier melted the water level rose quite rapidly
Rafi: This is true Elgion.
Daniel: wow
Rafi: But there are also other things that contribute to rising sea levels
Rafi: Take a look at the sldie to my left
Rafi: your right!
Rafi: This slide here offers some reasons why the sea level changes.
Elgion: Also people have said that the World Sea Level can raise up to 20ft of water
Rafi: So, fkrom the slide what are some other reasons that the sea level changes?
Jay: Pollution?
Rafi: Indirectly, yes. as it adds to CO2 which increases atmospheric temperature and melts sea ice
Rafi: Anyone have any idea what happens to water once it gets warmer though?
Elgion: it evaporates???
Rafi: When it boils, yeah, but when it warms, it expands.
Rafi: And when it expands....
Rafi waits for a clever teen to finish his sentence...
Jay: IT FLOODS.
Elgion: when it expands it rises
Rafi: About right jay, when water expands the sea level rises
Rafi: Exactly Elgion!
Storm: when it rises it floods!
Rafi: So we know that sea levels are rising....
Rafi: But what was one of the things that caused rising?
Rafi: Jay Mentioned it...
Rafi: Begins with a P.
Jay: Pollution.
Storm: Pollution
Rafi: Totally.
Daniel: o.k
Rafi: Anyone know what some different types of pollution are?
Storm: I know a few
Rafi: Go for it Storm.
Storm: Carbon Dioxde and Carbon monoxide
Storm: erm
Jay: Well, we are ripping up the ozone layer with our waste.
Storm: let me think, they are green house gasses that cause global warming, and the green house gasses are
Rafi: You got it.
Elgion: What if they had a way to throw waste into Space??
Daniel: wow
Rafi: So as Storm said, when greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere
Jay: They pollute.
Rafi: it causes the temperature to rise.
Storm: As they cant escape
Daniel: right!!!
Storm: :)
Elgion: Also Bomb testing and Automobiles recks the Ozone
Tas shouts: It would take a few centuries for the tempurature to stabalize
Rafi: Can anyone looking at the slide tell me how long it will take for the temperature to stop rising if we stopped emitting greenhouse gasses right now?
Tas: a few centuries
Quert: 1000 years
Storm: 100-300
Daniel: a long time
Jay: More than 1,000 years.
Daniel: wow
Daniel: is that true?
Storm: Yeh
Storm: maybe 1000+ years
Rafi: Yup, temperature will stabilize in a coupe of centuries...
Tas: Long time
Daniel: scary
Storm: 100-300?
Storm: Like i said?
Daniel: so what can we do about it then???
Rafi: And the see level will continue to rise after that for thousands of years, potentially.
Jay: *sea
Tas: So theres no way to stop it rising?
Rafi: Ah... that's what we'll talk about next.
Storm: Stop giving out green house gases
Rafi: Storm makes a great point, and he's created the perfect bridge to the debate we'll be having.
Rafi: Before we move into the debate though,
Storm: :)
Rafi: I encourtage you all to take a free crab!
Tas: omg
Tas: yay
Rafi: and snowsuit!
Storm: I love crabs :D
Quert: select the crab
Rafi is prepping for the debate...
Tas: got it
Mercury: It moves fast..so try to select it if you can
Storm: :o Kate you got your snow sute on :D
Tas: i got it
Tas: just
Tas: :)(
Storm: :o
Kate: if you can catch it ;-)
Tas 's sister wants to go on the computer :(
Blind: dont let her xD
Blind: :P
Tas: I hate it when events r on weekdays
Quert: me 2
Blind thinks that tas's sis should learn to wait XD
Tas: she needs to do homework
Rafi: okay folks... so as you can see the human barometer boards have mysteriuously appearred from the sky! Can folks join me up on the main panel?
Tas: ok
Tas: sure
Rafi: Come on up everyone!!!!
Quert: come
Storm: Quick folks
Storm: hehe
Storm: This is fun
Tas: es hurry i gtg soon
Storm: :)
Tas: ok
Tas: QUICK QUICK
Tas: xD
Daniel: can i have a jacket please
Storm: You need to get it from below
Daniel: where
Jay: On the end of the bridge.
Ryou: Do I have to wear a jacket?
Tas: no
Ryou: I'm quite warm already
Tas: but its warmer
Ryou: Sweet.
Tas: xD
Rafi: lol, no, just helps you stay warm!!!
Tas: yup
Rafi: So okay everyone....
Tas: im warm
Kate: not if you forget to put shoes on!
Jay is warm in his tuxedo.
Rafi: We're going to play something called the human barometer...
Tas: Ok
Rafi: has anyone here ever heard of a barometer?
Tas: no
Storm: Nope
Quert: no
Storm: But ive done somthing like this before
Storm: To advertise Camp Gkid
Storm: With mercury
Rafi: Okay, let's see if I can pull up a definiteioon...
Tas: ok
Rafi: /define barometer
HUD Thingy whispers: This system is currently down. Please try again later.
Rafi: oh well, no go there.
Jay: RAGE AGAINST THE SYSTEM.
Rafi: A barometer is a device used to measure pressure.
Mercury: /wiki barometer
Tas: Oh k
Rafi: Anyone have a clue what a human barometer would be then?
Quert: oh. yes
Jay: Humans measuring pressure?
Tas: where we are used to see the presure?
Rafi: What do you think Quert?
Quert: measuring humans
Rafi: The pressure of what Tas?
Tas: the pressure of water?
Storm: the air i beleve or the water
Rafi: lol, nope. In this case we'll be measuring the pressure of opinion!
Tas: Cool
Quert: oh
Storm: Argh ok
Quert: cool
Rafi: So...here's how it will work,
Quert: agree.. dunno or disagre
Rafi: I'm going to say a statement. And then each of you has to choose a board: agree, disagree, or not sure
Tas: ok
Rafi: Once you're on the appropriate board begin to type up your reason for why you chose to go there and be prepared to share it with the group.
Tas: then u ask us 1 by 1?
Rafi: That's the idea.
Tas: This will be fun
Daniel: o.k
Rafi: But have your statement prepared in advance to save time!
Tas: ok sure
Rafi: Also---
Rafi: YOU CAN CHANGE BOARD ASFTER SOMEONE ELSE SPEAKS
Tas: ok
Rafi: If they managed to change your mind. :)
Tas: :)
Tas: ok we starting now?
Rafi: yup,
Rafi: Is everyone ready for the first statement?
Daniel: yes
Tas: YES
Jay: Yes.
Quert: yh
Quert: yeh*
Rafi: w00t!
Rafi: here we go!
Tas: lol
Kate: yup
Rafi: Global Warming is a problem that is too challenging for the global community to deal with.
Rafi: Everyone find your board and start typing!
Rafi: What do you think Ryan?>
Ryou: >_>
Rafi: Okay, so first, can everyone 'hear' me?
Ryou: Yeahup.
Storm: Yep
Jay: AHH!
Jay: I need to go eat!
Jay: afk
Tas: ok
Rafi forgot that he shouldn't ask questions when everyone is typing up their responses.
Ryou: I'll vouch for Jay.
Storm: hehe
Ryou: By imposing my opinions.
Rafi: Jay, do you have a quick statement ready that you'd like to share before you go?
Storm: I've typed mine.
Rafi: lol
Tas: hes gone
Daniel: whats next then
Rafi: Oop, looks like we lost him!
Tas: lol storm
Tas: me
Rafi: Do we have a volunteer from the disagree side that wants to share their statement first?
Storm: I will!
Rafi: Great, so just to remind about the statement:
Rafi: Global Warming is a problem that is too challenging for the global community to deal with.
Rafi: Tas, then storm.
Rafi: Tas, whatcha got?
Tas: ok
Tas: Global Warming Can Be Stopped By Anyone, They Just Have To Put All Their Effort Into Research And Facilities. They Also Need Statistics And With That And Everyones Help, Global Warming Can Be Tackled By Anyone :)
Quert: hmm
Rafi: Okay, so Tas thinks that research and study are the keys.
Ryou: Nobody want's Ryou's opinions. Yeah. I see how it is.
Rafi: Quert, you hmmmed, do you have a respoinse to that?
Rafi: We'll get to you Ryou! Promise! : D
Ryou: I'll hold you to it! :O
Rafi: Ok, Storm, let's here what you came up with.
Storm: Okie Its not to challenging at all. Its becuase most people cant be botherd or they think why should i help save the planet if no one else is bothering!
Tyguy: Let's pay attention.
Tas: Yeh True
Daniel: true
Storm: If everyone puts some effort into this we can save the planet!
Tas: WOOOO
Tas Claps
Storm: We just need you guys to help and NEVER give up
Quert: i changed idea
Rafi: What do you mean, no one can bother with it Storm?
Storm: Well Some people say Why should i bother if no one else is
Rafi: Just a minute, I want to hear form some of the unsures.
Rafi: So Storm thinks there's a problem with 'group-think"!
Kate: Its too expensive and difficult for politicians to deal with. They're only elected for a few years - why worry about the future? But we will have to start dealing with it soon
Rafi: That if nobody takes action, other people feel less inclinded to take action too.
Storm: Yes indeed
Storm: Thats right!
Rafi: Katharine, so you feel like our political systems might be something that can prevent action on Global Warming?
Kate: yes
Ryou: That if political figures don't take action then petty people such as ourselves are less inclined to.
Tas: yup
Kate: politicians want to be popular and let people drive nice cars
Ryou: Or be the ones driving the nice cars.
Kate: they can't say "stop flying and driving 4x4s"
Tas: thats stereotypical..
Rafi: Anyone have any thoughts on that? Agree? Disagree? You can do this popcorn style.
Ryou: Agree with what?
Daniel: are you enjoying this event peoples???
Tas shouts: i am
Daniel: i am
Rafi is too, and glad you all came!
Rafi: With the idea that our political systems might be part of the problem.
Ryou: Oh, totally. That's mmy biggest problem.
Ryou: Agreeeee.
Rafi: So Ryou thinks politics is the problem.
Lucky: Agree. Obviously. Many important leaders in todays society are aware of Global Warming, and some are trying to stop it. But the majority of them are too involved in money, and power; that they don't take the time to realize that they're hurting the earth.
Rafi: Okay, anyone else want to share what their statment before we move on to the next one?
Quert: me
Daniel: nope
Rafi: Thanks Lucky!
Lucky: =]
Ryou: About politics being the problem? Or can it be something completely irrelevant to politics?
Quert: no
Rafi: Okay, it sounds like people are generally agreeing on one thing, that politics has to change to find a solution, with some feeling it's more grim than others.
Tabitha: niow now guys
Tabitha: no pushing off the boards
Tas: i fell accident
Lucky: -sticks out tongue- Can't push me off, nananana!
Tabitha: oh LOL
Kate: to change it we need to rock the vote
Tas: :)
Rafi: Lucky doesn't think we can fully adress it, Storm ahs faith that if enough epople put in effort, things can change.
Storm: :) they will and can
Rafi: Ok, let's regather on the main platform, and I;m going to get the next statement ready.
Ryou: I seriously think the only real problem IS politics and restrictions on what we are allowed to help, or prevent.
Rafi: Ok next statement:
Rafi: Reducing carbon emissions to safe levels won't be possible because it will hurt the economy too much.
Rafi: Take your places!
Rafi: Okay, is everyone typing up their statementS?
Daniel: yep!!
Rafi: People on the far boards, can you move closer to the center so that we can all hear eah other type?
Quert: im not on a board cause i dont know what to answer
Rafi: Quert, you can go in the not sure then. Thanks!
Storm: I've done mine
Rafi: Ok, I want ot hear from someone on thew agree side first this time.
Tas: Me
Rafi: Tyguy or Daniel? We haven't heard form you guys yet.
Tas: oh ok
Storm: Im on not sure
Daniel: yes i agree
Rafi: How about you Tas?
Tas: I got a statement can i share with you all?
Rafi: Go for it.
Tas: If you had to reduce carbon emissions then companys would not be able to produce enough of their product if it entails emitting Co2. Therefor they would not gain a profit and would probably come out of business. Their company would be no more :(.
Daniel: cool
Tas: yup
Daniel: nice one
Tas: thanks
Daniel: anybosy else
Rafi: Tas makes a good point. There's no question that reducing emissions will cause some businesses to be hurt.
Daniel: ???
Tas: yup
Daniel: thats true
Lucky: Our economy has grown custom to the technology we have today. Asking the world to cut down on driving cars that run on gas, and heating homes with oil; isn't going to work. Plus, many major companies would go out of buisness; people would lose jobs.
Rafi: Let's hear something from the other side though....
Apple: gradually reducing the carbon emissions will not affect the ecconomy because the economy will get used to it if we reduce the emissions slow enough
Ryou: Jay, statement is, "Will reducing C02 hurt economy?"
Apple: no
Rafi: Thanks Lucky, so yeah, much of our current economy is dependent on systems that create CO2 emissions
Ryou: Can I state my opiyunn now?
Tas: My mind is changed
Rafi: Apple makes a great point 0
Rafi: maybe gradual change is the answer
Storm: Dont forget the other green house gasses
Rafi: Ryou?
Apple: we can reduce the co2 emissions gradually over time so that companies hay time 2 gt used 2 it
Ryou: I'm pretty sure that planting many trees, and developing cars that aren't as wasteful and polluting will not harm economy. If they have enough money to find out why ridiculous things like, "Why kids like the color blue?" (Example) or just eliminating some unnessacary things will not harm the economy. Trees will absorb the carbon dioxide, and help the enviorment. Planting trees shouldn't be a problem for countries nations that have enough money to build bombs to kill each other with.
Rafi: Nice statement!
Lucky: Global Warming has been an issue for a few years now. I respect the projects to spread awareness of it, and I support them fully. But how long have they been trying to make a change? A few, and little has been done so far. Sure, we have cars running on electricty; but honestly, how many of them do you see a day?
Ryou: Thanks.
Tas: I love navy blue
Tas: :)
Storm: I've never seen an electric car before Ive need a milk man one
Rafi: This is a pretty healthy debate we've got going, does anyone want to respond to these statements that pople have put out there?
Tas: lol
Apple: u do no their building archs 2 send 2 space becoz the world mite cum 2 an end in the nxt 100yrs coz of global warming
Storm: Its longer than 100 years
Apple: we need 2 reduce co2 emmisions now
Ryou: Yes. I would like to respond to the one about electric cars.
Tas: Well All I have to say is that both agree and disagree are right
Tyguy: The economy may be hurt if we cut C02 emmisions, but the environment is more important than economy.
Storm: I'm sure
Rafi: Tyguy, are you saying that something has to give?
Apple: no its not if we carry on burning co2 @ the rate were burning it @ da mo
Tas: without the eniroment there would be no economy
Rafi: Either the economy or the environment?
Jay: I'd say the economy has to give.
Tyguy: I would too.
Tyguy: We can print more money.
Storm: I dont hink it will harm the envoroment that much becuase im sure we can cope without 4*4s leaving your pc on all the time, leave your light on and things like that
Apple: yes if the economy doesnt giv then our granchildren and us will suffer
Tyguy: WE can't make another earth.
Tas shouts: well there is a moon near jupiter that has signs of a beach
Ryou: How do we respond to statements?
Tas shouts: and lifer
Ryou: True that.
Storm: People do un neccssery things to waste resorces
Apple: we will n ot survive by doing that all the time
Rafi: Ok, I'm hearing a lot of great thoughts and idea, and think that they tie in well to the last statement....
Rafi: Can I ask everyone to come to the center platforms once agian?
Tas: phew i gtg soon
Rafi: This will be the last statement.
Tas: gr8 i wont miss nothing :)
Apple: we also need 2 find a bakup 4 coal and oil or were gunna find us selves unstuk wen they run out
Lucky: =[
Storm: Woops
Lucky: I wanna play again.
Kate: yup - no plastic when oil runs out!
Tas: samre
Tas: but we can have virtual plastic ;)
Rafi: Okay everyone... here's the last statement:
Rafi: It is the responsibility of governments, not of individuals, to make sure that the global climate crisis is solved.
Rafi: Find your squares!
Apple: individuals make a difference
Storm: Humm
Storm: Ill go here
Tas: hmmm
Lucky: GAH
Rafi: Start typing up your initial statements everyone!
Tas: got mine
Jay: I do not believe this statement is true. It is a fact that the goverment has WAY too much power over the situation, but individuals make a big difference too.
Apple: individuals make a load of difference!!!
Storm: There aint realy a square wher i can go so i choose this one. It's upto the goverment and the indervidual to amke sure as the planet is changed.
Apple: it is a group of individuals that make the government
Rafi: Hold your horses on your statements everyone!!!
Rafi: Jus a minute,
Rafi: give people a chance to formul;ate their thoughts.
Tyguy: Both the government and individuals should help.
BenSp: ahh cool
Tas: can I say mine?
Rafi: Just a minute Tas. I'd love for someone new to start off....
Tas: ok
Ryou: It is never the responsibility of the government to solve problems such as these. It's the individuals the government rules over. People think their government will refuse them, and a lot of the time, they do, but what people need to understand is that a lot of governments nowadays give people a voice. Capitalist, Communist, and others give the people power to speak forth and express opinions and change the world. People simply believe that without a government's intervention, they are powerless in a matter. This is not true, if we wanted to stop caring if the government allowed us and just acted the way we saw fit, we'd set rules for our governments again.
Tyguy: The government can help with policies, but there are many ways that individuals can help.
BenSp: global warming is something that the government DOES need to help solve etc. But, if the people wont do anything nothing will get done
Rafi: Tyguy - tell me more!
Tyguy: There are more individuals than the government.
Rafi: What can individuals do?
Apple: government can help but so can individuals
Ryou: The government! The government may own the money, but we as the people own the many resources that fuel the government. It may seem a little cruel, but if governments don't do something about world problems and are too busy worrying about how they should kill their fellow man, and use them for their own benefits, we should take the matter into our own hands. It's our world, and we deserve to shape it the way the individuals see fit.
Tyguy: The government can pass policies.
Tas: Am I allowed to say mine now?
Apple: we hav 2 live on this world 2getha so we need 2 work 2getha rather than leev everything 2 the government
Rafi: Go for it Tas
Tas: ok thx Both, Everyone must work together in order to stop all of this. Without Everyone there would be no way to stop the global climate rising. Individuals have a better chance on their own other than the government because there are more individuals
BenSp: something people dont realize is that the government cant solve everything
Ryou: True that.
Tas: ya
Apple: that is so true
Jay: I do not believe this statement is true. It is a fact that the goverment has WAY too much power over the situation, but individuals make a big difference too.
Rafi: Okay - so I'd like to shift it for the last part to go deeper into this question:
Ryou raises a fist. "Power to the people!"
Kate: lol yeah!
Rafi: What's the role of the government? And what's the role of the individual? What does each need to do?
Tyguy: There are many things individuals can do to cause global warming, and many people in the world.
Tyguy: So there are many things to stop it too.
BenSp: exactly
Tas: well the government has the money indivduals have the will power
BenSp: people cause global warming people need to stop it
Rafi: So what can indivuals do specifically to stop warming and carbon emmissions?
Jay: Role of the government: To take part in creating this economy and country. Individuals: To take part in shaping the entire world.
Apple: people think that because the government rule da country they can do nething. thats not tru we NEED to work 2getha
BenSp: hybrid carbs etc
Ryou: The government needs to regulate money and give people a general law to follow. The people need to shape the government according to what will do the world better in the end, and what will make us more prosperous as a human race. The government needs to give people justice according to crimes such as murders and other obsceneties.
Alpha: ok, thats officially cool
Rafi: Okay, so using technologies that use less fuel and emit less carbons, great! : )
Tyguy: Everyone is to blame for global warming, both the people of the world and the government.
Lucky: May I add my opinion?
Tas: They can group up create projects and take statistics which can be sent to the government so then they can use money and the information they got from individuals and stop this problem
Tyguy: To making the C02 emitting cars to driving them.
Rafi: Tyguy, I thinkwe're past blame at this point,
Rafi: what i'd like ot hear is how to stop it.
Lucky: *coughs*
Rafi: What are some small things that individuals can do to stop warming?
Tas: To stop I think we need bans
Tyguy: Use cars less.
Tas: small things
Jay: An individual can help stop global warming by using less wasteful and un-efficient waste uses, e.g using un-recyclable products.
Kate: turn lights off
Rafi: And lucky, I'm coming to you, I promise!
BenSp: stop it? i dont know
Tas: They can use persil 30oc and light up to 1000 villages save energy and carbon emissions :) they can also switch lights and things of when not needed
Alpha: dont use incandesent bulbs? (I know, thats probably not how you spell it)
Rafi: So yeah, recycling, turingin out lights, less use of things that emitr carbons like cars.
Rafi: Great alpha
Apple: u can se gases 2 reduce the amount of co2 emissions in ure cars so u can drive just as much and u dnt create andy co2 emissions. the problem is the enviromental groups wont let us use these gases
Tyguy: Use a power source that doesn't run on coal, oil, or anything else that emits greenhouse gasses.
Kate: stop playing Second Life! (avatars use more electricity (from servers running) than the average resident of Brazil!!)
Alpha: hehehe
Rafi: Kath - I've actually heard that the numbers on that study were pretty iffy.
Alpha: use a black and white avatar to preserve energy from your LCD Monitor :P
Rafi: Who here's got a bike?
Jay: In real life? Yes. SL? No.
Tas: not me
Lucky: *coughcough* You actually gave me another point, Rafi.
Kate: Just jump in Lucky :-)
Lucky: What about those who can't ride bikes, or walk?
Kate: good point, but what can each of us do to help?
Tyguy: Turn off everything electric that you don't use.
Ryou: Hydro Carbons. They exist, but the government limits research for them because there is so much money already invested in Oil, and our feeble economy would fall without it. Hydrocarbons are created by using.. air, or something. Only emissions are a little bit of water.
Tyguy: As I already, we can print more money, but we can't make another earth.
Rafi: Yeah, go fir it Luckster!
Alpha: whats the oppinion Im voting on
Apple: y dont we use the gases that reduce co2 emissions in ouor cars. its more expensive but wots more important money or the earth
Tyguy: We can recycle. So we don't cut down trees and mine resources.
Rafi: Was there something else you wanted to add Lucky?
Tyguy: We can preserve the economy and the environment by recycling.
Lucky: Alot, but I don't think we're on the proper topic anymore
Apple: recycling newspapers is bad 4 the earth because u hav 2 use chemicals 2 get the ink out of the paper and that chemical is bad 4 the earth
Rafi: Hmmm... yeah, we have drifted a bit...
Alpha: my aunt is a NOAA weather spotter or something.. shes pretty cool :)
Kate: Tyguy we can print more money, but the value of it goes down. Pretty soon a pint of milk will cost 300US$ not linden $!
Rafi: Awesome!
Alpha: inflation for kidz
Rafi: This is true.
Rafi: Ok... so it looks like we've gotten a good groundwork laid for further conversations here.
Tas: Rafi I have a question, well 2
Rafi: This was a bit of a teaser, but we hope to do much more on the topic down the line!
Apple: i hav a question nas well
Rafi: If there are people that want to do more study and debate about the issue, let me know, and we'll see about doing more events!
Rafi: In the meanwhile, definitely visit NOAA's website!
Ryou: I love ripping on the government. It rules.
Kate: lol
Lucky smiles
Kate: which government?! ;-)
Rafi: Finally, some Q's!
Tas: Rafi can I ask you something?
Rafi: Apple, Tas?
Tas: How long will the glacier be staying for?
Rafi: Until further notice!
Tas: ok thanks. Is this debate going to lead to creation of a building or monument of carbon emissions? like with Hiv Aids? To learn from? :)
Rafi: We haven't thought about making a contest yet, but if people are really interested, we can certainly think about it!
Rafi: or monument I mean.
Tas: ok gr8 Well I must go now
Rafi: Thanks for coming Tas!
Jay: Alright, Rafi, I'll see you later.
Tas: Np its been fun
Mercury Metropolitan: Thanks for participating everyone!
Rafi: This was great everyone, you're all really proving the TSL residents DO care about the issues!
Lucky: Rafi, you guys need to host these more often.
Lucky: I don't think I've seen one since what, September?
Rafi: Yeah, It's been a while. Thanks Lucky, we are looking into doing more stuff like this.

Posted by Rafi at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I think I realized something very important about second life today. Every time when we decide that we have to get something done in one day, there is always some kind of net issues. Thankfully the rest of my team did a lot of the filming when I was out last Tuesday. So all we had to do was get a good beginning shot and we were set!

Problem was....second life was lagging. First, I couldn't log into second life at all. Then, when I finally got on, I couldn’t teleport to the location where our set for the PSA was. When I finally got to the set area I found that the house I had set up disappeared and everything in it, as in the computer table and the DDR machine was floating on open air because along with the house went the walls and the floor. Anyway, I got the house back and edited it a bit to suit the surroundings and then we got the shot we needed. Then Sam showed the group how to edit, or the basics of editing and I helped the discrimination group a little but not much. I technically couldn't help much because second life made an "actor" invisible on my computer, and since I was going to do the filming, that did not turn out to be too helpful. But Ting did get to make the T-shirt with the flag on it ^^~ which was good and useful.

Anyway, the day wasn't so bad. We did have a lot of issues, but everything came together at the end and we did get to finish what we needed to finish, of course, then again, we need to do a lot more when it comes down to the editing. I think we need to do more in the editing process than we did in the filming process since we relied a lot on editing when we made our storyboard, and we have long clips that we need to cut down from. Over all, it was a pretty interesting day ^^~

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This post is kind of late since this is the post referring to what happened last Thursday when Jack and I did our workshop with the Machinima group!

I think it was a good workshop overall because I got the experience of what a real audience/crowd of people may act like. Although I have seen people get training in my school, I think we all got a little over-board with making it very difficult for the person up there presenting the workshop. So it was kind of nice to just run a normal workshop, where...everyone was corporative and typical. Although I can't say that we didn't meet any challenges. First, Manpreet asked a question about o.o cockroaches x.x~ and why they were significant to the environment, that was an interesting question actually. Since Jack and I didn’t know the answer we opened up the question to everyone else, and had a slightly weird but short conversation on it, so we all decided to go home and look into it. Technically I haven't looked into it, not because I'm not curious, it's more like I'm afraid to see some pictures of cockroaches while I'm doing research O-o~.

Anyway, one situation I did not know how to manage was when we were going through sustainability indicators and the economic indicator group said that chopping down trees was what was necessary to sustain the economy. I don't think we really took care of that situation well, and the only thing I could come up with was asking everyone else if they would like to add anything to the group’s list of indicators. But besides that, I think the workshop did not go too horribly...especially since that was our first time doing it ^.^~! Everyone at Machinima was great and we got some really good feedback from everyone~!

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)