Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

Last session we were divided into the groups of our specialities or choices to work on the movie. I was put into Second Life and we went over which props we will need for the middle of the movie. We made great progress and are about finished with pre- production.

Yesterday on 5/20 there was a movie festival at the Museum of Moving Images! Nafiza, Idan a friend of mine and I went to see it. They had fake snow/blizzards, fake rain, and stuntmen! It was tons of fun . Here are some pics I took

Nafiza, Idan, Griffen standing in the supposed "snow"

some stunt actors showing off the stunt bag

jump from approximately 4 stories high

stuntmen coreographing a fight on the stunt bag

Nafiza testing the stuntbag by throwing me (I'm in mid air but it's hard to tell)

Posted by VVP Joe at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last Thursday in Global Kids we were put into our own groups depending on what we chose to be a part of. I chose to be in the script writing group and I was working with Idan. Progress was good. What we did was we were deciding the time limits of each scene of our video. We were also able to resolve the problem in which we were able to determine the battle field.

Posted by VVP Armando at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Latest issue of the Global Kids comic features UNICEF's A World Fit for Children program in Teen Second Life.

You can access the comic in a variety of formats below:

You can view:

• Download the pdf file here.


• Click through the pages on the web

Posted by joyce at 1:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last session we went over what we wrote in groups the session before, and we divided into groups once more and wrote scripts and threw storyboards to the scenes we depicted. We got in a bit of an argument about the end of the movie (the last few scenes) but we fixed them in the end.

Posted by VVP Joe at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday was the day we further developed our scripts in our groups and then we all spoke together and presented our work. I guess today is gonna involve more of that as well as storyboarding. It should be intresting, although there is much frustration and in some cases hostility but we are progressing and will do better.

Posted by VVP Idan at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Past Tuesday on the workshop we continued on our major project. The next step that had to be taken was storyboarding. In my group we had to figure out how many scenes had to take place and what kind of camera shot that had to be taken. What the group also had to do was figure out the props that were needed such as a small house for the cabin, a school, and necklace as a symblol, etc. The progress was going great for the group since we had a little scare earlier about losing some information. In the end we were able to organize most of our ideas so now we are very close to filming.

Posted by VVP Armando at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by joyce at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of taking two of the VVP students, Ting and Nafiza, to the Council on Foreign Relations to hear Ishmael Beah, author of "A Long Way Gone," speak to youth about his experience as a former child soldier in Sierra Leone. During his conversation with former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw, Ishmael talked about life before, during and after his time as a child soldier, his thoughts on the differences between the United States and Sierra Leone and the importance of being a global citizen, and even about his love of hip-hop music.

At the end of the talk we met Ishmael, and Ting and Nafiza were even able to describe their child soldiers machinima project and ask for his advice on what would be important to include in the film. We're looking forward to sharing our experience and Ishmael's feedback with the rest of the VVP GK leaders in our next workshop!

Posted by smejias at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The MySpace blog by Haiti Nation makes mention of our program Playing for Keeps and our game Ayiti: The Cost of Life.

Read the post here.

Posted by joyce at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our very own Rafi Santo has a new article published entitled Engaging Youth with a New Medium: The Potentials of Virtual Worlds, that is part of the online journal Youth Media Reporter's month long showcase on ways youth media professionals can use blogs, virtual communities, and Second Life.

Engaging Youth with a New Medium: The Potentials of Virtual Worlds
By: Rafi Santo
Published: May 14, 2007
Category: Trends

Part of what makes working in the field of youth media so interesting and engaging is the process of exploring different media. Observing how youth act and react in relation to different media and supporting their investigation into the possibilities of new expressive media forms has been a rewarding experience as a youth media professional at Global Kids. For the past five years, Global Kids (GK) has been exploring what it means to bring youth media projects into the online world—with fascinating finds.

GK began with online dialogues and helped produce and run a website where youth around the globe could dialogue and share opinions on current events. Soon after, GK began working on a serious gaming initiative, giving teens the opportunity to produce issue-based online video games. We soon discovered the virtual world of Second Life, which brought together the strengths of so many different online technologies impossible for us to ignore. Second Life (SL) is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by approximately 6,240,600 people from around the globe. SL provides a rich virtual environment for teens across the globe to commune (Teen Second Life), which rolls together 3-D object creation, programming, social networking, gaming, chat and multimedia. For educators and media practitioners, Second Life is a playground with limitless possibilities.

Looking to understand where these possibilities could lead, we launched Camp GK, our pilot program in Teen Second Life, in the summer of 2006. Over four weeks, 15 teens from around the world spent three hours a day, five days a week, participating in interactive, experiential workshops about pressing global issues—all in a virtual space. Over the course of the program, the teens picked a topic of concern—in this case, child sex trafficking—and built a maze to educate their online community to inspire them to take action on this issue. In its first eight weeks, the content-rich maze was visited by 2,500 teens, of which 450 donated money to an international organization committed to eradicating this global crime against children.

After Camp GK’s success, we felt we had learned a good deal about virtual media and using Second Life and wanted to share this knowledge with other educators entering this space.

When wrapping up the project, we spent time documenting what we thought were best practices in various areas, from general program structure to workshop design and everything in between. We’ve since distributed these practices to those in the Second Life educational community and beyond, and continue to spread these practices to youth media professionals through publication and outreach opportunities (download a PDF here: http://www.holymeatballs.org/pdfs/GKguidetoSLpresenting.pdf). The practices that follow outlines ways youth media professionals (especially those from a distance education perspective) can use virtual spaces such as Second Life in their work.

Best practices for working in Second Life
General tips that apply to work in the space

- What happens in Second Life stays in Second Life
Especially in the non-profit arena, it is critical to show your work to other programs and funders. Unless you document your virtual work, no one outside of Second Life will ever know your program even existed. However, SL offers a myriad of methods for digital documentation. You can capture chat logs, blog, take photos, and record video and audio. If you’re working with teens, in Teen Second Life (the dedicated 13-17 year old space), this becomes even more important as other adults can not visit your online space because it is restricted to background checked adults and teens.

- Create multiple places of meaning
In the real world, a Global Kids program always meets in the same classroom and the setting does not vary. Second Life, if you have the space, allows you to create a myriad of locations each with their own purposes. A workshop in SL can start in the GK Clubhouse, move to the factory, shift to the cloud platform, transfer to the dance club, and conclude at the campfire. Each location can be associated with different types of activities, norms and behaviors. For example, in the Global Kids second life program, youth start at the GK Clubhouse. Teen visitors expect interactive activities in the factory section, fun and interaction in the dance club arena, and processing and closure around the campfire. Establishing an association between each modality and a specific location offers both structure and signs for work, activism, and play.

Best practices for bringing a youth development model into Teen Second Life
Global Kids employs an asset based youth development model in the real world, and found that Second Life allow this kind of progressive pedagogy to manifest in new ways

- Build, build, build!
Create as many opportunities as possible for teens to express themselves through building. Second Life is all about building so it is almost hard not to do this. Encourage youth to “build” the facilities and material required for the program (the meeting rooms, the workshop materials, t-shirts for the program, for example). Incorporate youth to build the activities (e.g. build and act out a scene in a life-size diorama, create a billboard about injustice)—since forming items they can use creates a sense of ownership, which increases retention. Use these “builds” as a way for teens to centralize and demonstrate what they are learning, and as a way to share their knowledge and skills with the wider community around them.

- Don’t just build; design and manipulate avatars
Create opportunities for identity play and self-expression through avatar creation and manipulation. Avatars are an internet user’s representation of oneself, whether in the form of a 3-D model (easily made in Second Life) or a 2-D picture used on internet forums and on-line communities. Explore existing avatar choices in SL to bring up issues of gender and racial representation, or use non-human avatars to address issues of discrimination.

- Think globally, act locally
If you’re structuring your program as a distance education model that draws from the larger Teen Second Life (TSL) community, the teens will be from diverse global locations. However, they experience TSL as their shared community. Strategizing approaches for effective education and advocacy will challenge teens to think creatively and critically. It will appeal to their desire to have their voices heard, make a difference, and develop their leadership abilities. Doing this also means the programmatic impact moves outside the scope of just the participants to a larger community.

Best practices in workshop design and facilitation in Second Life
No matter what kind of pedagogical approach you’re taking, there are a number of things that can be done to strengthen session-based learning in the virtual environment

- Use real world content when addressing real world issues
Discussing substantive issues in a place that feels surreal can make these issues feel distant. Use photos or a guest speaker, anything “from the other side,” that feels real to give real issues weight in the virtual community.

- Don’t fear multiple communication channels
In a distance learning program structure, multiple channels can be used to add social nuance, organize various modes of communication in a more manageable form, and leverage teen abilities to multi-task. Use a public IM chat for group conversation and private IMs to communicate one-on-one with participants in SL.

- Make your space have its own culture
Just like the Web, Second Life—in both its teen and adult versions—tends to be shaped by a libertarian, anarchic culture which cuts against the grain of Global Kids’ organized, substantive, and deliberative activities. In essence, we challenge this larger culture by creating a counter culture. We establish clear guidelines, boundaries and expectations in SL, which has led to a very high retention rate and a strong sense of ownership in the virtual community.

- Be flexible!
Flexibility is the name of the game in the SL environment. Be prepared to change directions or adjust goals by paying attention to what works. As the tools, social practices and creative uses in a space like this rapidly evolves, it becomes more critical to be reflective and realistic with goals.

The above list of best practices is a result of reflections from Global Kids’ first extended project in Second Life. Since then, we had another year of holding two full scale in-person after-school programs that utilize SL to create machinima (animated film made using a video game engine) and other socially conscious games, as well as additional distance education programs and youth led workshops and events. All of these experiences are important learning processes and as youth media professionals, we must continue to share best practices as our project experiences grow and develop.

There’s no doubt that the learning curve for working with Second Life is a steep one. But so much groundbreaking work is already being done, and there’s a lot that can be learned from using virtual on-line communities such as Second Life.

I encourage anyone interested in experimenting with this new, exciting and powerful medium to sign up for a free Second Life account (http://secondlife.com), attend some of the educational and arts related events, and engage the incredibly dynamic individuals that work in the space.

Rafi Santo is the Online Leadership Program Associate for Global Kids. To learn more about Global Kids’ work in Second Life, please visit www.HolyMeatballs.org or contact info@globalkids.org.

Posted by joyce at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, Sam, Nafiza, and I went to meet the author of the a memoir A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah. It was a conversation between Beah and Tom Brokaw, a journalist. Tom Brokaw was asking questions about Ishmael's experience of being a child soldier, and how did he get out of it. The audience also got the chance to ask questions during the conversation. After the conversation, Nafiza and I lined up to wait for Ishmael to sign on my copy of A Long Way Gone. Fortunately, Nafiza got chance to ask for advice from him on something that he thinks should be in our film. However, he didn't really answer our question. He said it's going to depend on us. Despite the disappointment of his answer, it was a great time to be there to meet him and to hear about his experience. He is a very nice and gentle person, and humorous too. One thing that I like lot about what he was saying is that many people in this country are always looking for more, and not caring about what they've have already, but in contrast, people who live in Sierra Leone, they are happy about what they have; even though what they have are very little. A lot of time, I felt the same way. In my school, we are so lucky that to have so many new books and laptops each year, and yet, I still heard people complaining. Sometimes, I saw books were being ripped and drawn on. I felt very angry about that, I was thinking all these kids need a lesson, they need to learn to appreciate things happen and given in their life. Kids here who own so many things like Ipod, cell phones, computer, PSP, Xbox, all these things are extremely lucky! We are living in haven comparing to kids who live in a third world country. I think every single thing in this world that is given to us deserves our appreciation.

Maybe, I'm kind of off topic, it should be child soldier, but any way, another thing that I remember he talked about was about trust. It took him 8 months to heal, and start to trusting people again. I also remember that he wrote in the book about the normal civilians, how they were not trusting people because of the war. People stop trusting people including little kids, since the tragedy of the war begins. It all because of the child soldiers, the sharpest weapon of both union army and rebels. The entire community collapsed. People were running around with blood on them, rivers dried up because of too much blood flooding. People avoiding or capturing kids who wandered around. All kids without their families are suspicious. What a traumatic situation! The war killed people mentally and physically at the same time. Their weapon was the only thing that they can trust. They completed relied on their AK-47. They either kill or be killed. In order to survive in their world, the only way is to have other people bleeding and die. It is a hell comparing to the "peace" here and other countries. Aren't we living in the same world? Isn't the land that we live on spinning with the same globe around the sun? People, comparing to the distance between earth and sun, the tragedies are much much closer to us! Why is there no voice about what had happen at the beginning of everything? If only everybody shared some part of their love, and cared, the world would be much more beautiful. Maybe the world is really sick, and the problem is we can't find the right doctor for it.

Posted by VVP Ting at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today at Machinima we worked on both scripting and storyboarding, and it was pretty...chaotic. However, I did not get to stay until the end to see how everything turned out because I went to see Ishmael Beah with Ting at the Council on Foreign Relations. It was really great to get a chance to see him and talk to him. But what made the trip especially funny was that people kept mistaking Kevin from GK for Ishmael. Anyway, the place was beautiful and very well organized and we got to meet Carole Artigiani from Global Kids, along with more staff/global kids trainers. So overall, it was a good experience, I got to take some great notes on what Ishmael Beah had to say about his experiences. I think it was really useful information and I think we can really put it to use in our Machinima on Child Soldiers. I asked him what would be the one thing he could suggest to us to put in our film on Machinima and he said that he would want to show that there is hope and that they can go through rehab and IN TIME they can improve and come out of it. So I guess, we are showing that or we are suggesting it through showing him in front of the I.C.C. at the end. So, hopefully we can start filming soon!--and hopefully, we got the script and storyboard done today!

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

Last class we divided into groups and wrote/outlined scripts for the beginning middle and end of the movie. I was in the middle group and we had a fun time describing what plans we had in mind for the movie. We gave a pretty detailed description of each scene for the middle of the movie, which basically contained the storyline from when the two children are kidnapped to a descripition of their training, and ending on them going to war.

Posted by VVP Joe at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last class we started scripting/outlines for the different parts of the short based on the guidelines that we established over the last few days. I got put into the beginning section so we outlined the opening of the machinima. After the work was done we saved what we wrote and so far everything is going ok. The only thing that bothers me is how the end group plans to film the ending scene, in specific the killing of the brother scene. They want the two brothers to flee the battlefield and have a short dialogue leading to the older brother saying kill me. I think this takes away from the effect that the battlefield has and is unneccessary to the scene. The camera angles they plan to use were long shots and alot of zooms. In my opinion zooming to much gives the effect of a home made film and about the long shots I dont think that long shots will give the intimacy needed for the brother to brother scene. I think close ups and mid shots would be better suited.

Posted by VVP Idan at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology and Virginia Tech’s Institute for Connecting Science Research to the Classroom hosted "Innovate 2007" at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on May 8, 2007. The event is Virginia’s first exposition devoted to new and emerging technologies for education and is modeled after the nationally acclaimed WIRED NextFest.

"Innovate 2007, modeled after the WIRED NextFest expo, will showcase the innovative technologies and products that could transform education. The expo is organized around the five major components of Virginia's long-range technology plan: integration, professional development, connectivity, educational applications and accountability."

Innovate 2007 featured:

* 65 plus interactive exhibits located in five pavilions
* Hands-on opportunities to use new and emerging technologies
* Lively discussions—led by prominent thought leaders and
futurists—about the promises and limitations of the technologies and products

The expo is said to be an invaluable experience for educational leaders, policymakers and community members charged with planning the future of education in Virginia. Global Kids was invited to talk about our work in Teen Second Life by Professor Rich Ingram, James Madison University.

Major sponsors of this event include Cisco Systems, Dell, and the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE). Other exhibitors include Microsoft Research, Celestron, Vantage Learning, identiMetrics, AnthroTronix, and many others. The event also provide an opportunity to see the latest technologies from founding sponsors Cisco Systems and Dell, unfortunately, I was too busy talking to people that I barely got a chance to leave my booth.

All presentations and exhibits focus on the five major components of Virginia’s long-range technology plan: technology integration, professional development, connectivity, educational applications, and accountability. This was a unique opportunity for all educators to try out cutting-edge technology that could be commonplace within the next few years.

I hope to see more classrooms from Virginia in Teen Second Life, private or public.

For more information on the expo, go to www.innovate2007.org

Photos!

Our booth space with James Madison University

Spectators at our booth

Tabitha riding the segway!

Tabitha with Professor Richard Ingram, James Madison University

Posted by tabitha at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This just in!
For 2 weeks, Nik385 Doesburg along with Jay Clostermann, two of our GK TSL intern, will be hosting an avatar contest for a special guest who is expected to come on GK Island for the first time on May 31, 2007. The rumor is that the special guest - who is actually an alien from another planet - is looking for an avatar outfit to "put on" so he can "fit in" on Tee Second Life. Something suitable for earth and will not scare human beings away. So now, teens are busy creating avatars for this special alien guest, and everyone is wondering who the mysterious guest is. Here is a hint: His name is James Paul Gee. That's all we can tell you!

As the contest draws closer to his arrival date, we have all the avatar outfits displayed in a line, each with their own voting box, and each cube contains image of the avatar front, back, left, right, top and bottom (or in some case, more angle than others). Participants are encouraged to spread the word out and get their friends to come and vote for their favourite avatar! At the end of the contest, the avatars with the highest votes will be selected to get "tried on" by the visiting alien - and get this - not only will the alien walk around in the new outfits selected, he will be talking on an audio stream so teens can listen to his embodied experience live! What's more is that we will invite adults to particiate to listen in and chat in Q&A along with teens on Sloodle! So stay tuned on how you can chat along and listen in on the event, it will be on May 31st, 2007, 2pm SL time (5pm EST). Good luck to all the avatar contest participants!

I will announce the audio stream and the sloodle link in a few days, be sure to check back next week so you can participate without being in Teen Second Life.

Here is a picture of avatars submitted thus far on our island, more to come!

Posted by tabitha at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ON THRUSDAY WE STARTED TO LOOK OVER THE SCRIPT OR STORY BOARD IN WHICH WE HAD TO AGREE ON THE PARTS WE WOUL LIKE TO ADD TO OUR STORY IN WHICH WOULD LEAD TO OUR VIDEO PROJECT ON CHILD SOLDIERS. WE WERE DIVIDED IN TO 3 GROUPS. EACH GROUP HAD THE RESPONSABILITY TO TAKE EACH PART OF THE MOVIE: LIKE THE BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END. IN THE GROUPS WE HAD TO CREATE DIFFERENT SCENES, AND THE IMAGE. HOPEULLY BY THE END OF THE WEEK WE MAY START FILMING IN SECOND LIFE.. I HOPE

Posted by VVP Angela at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought that on Tabitha's behalf I would put that as my title; before beginning the workshop we were asked to repeat "today is the day we will finish the story!". I guess it's one of those things that help build enthusiasm and we did get most of the story done, although we did have some blanks left that we need to fill in. Anyway, we got divided into 3 groups, each one represented either the beginning, middle, or end of the story. My group was the middle and we had some difficulties with it; the problem we had was that our content was so vague that we really did not know where to take it, I guess in the world there are people who like the freedom of choice and then there are people who like specific directions, and we just happened to be those that liked the specifications.
Nonetheless, we came through at the end and we got together three scenes for the middle. The first scene would be when the younger brother is taken away along with other kids in an army vehicle, and the next was the two of them in training, and the last is when the younger brother gets a flashback to when the two brothers were together and happy. Of course, the scenes were a little more in detail than when we wrote it out and broke the scenes into "Image" and "Action". But yeah, overall it was a fun class, and I learned some new things about the people in machinima (for example, Joe and I both have horrible vision, Alex likes to say "listen", and Jack just gets really nervous when he’s supposed to present). I hope we make some more progress tomorrow! It's strange, but we only have a couple of days of machinima left, the year went by all-too-quickly, but everything good must come to an end eventually, no? Oh and I would like to clear something up for Sam's sake, a couple of posts ago I noted that "Sam left early...again" or something similar to that--I just wanted to set the record straight and say that he has been leaving for a class =) We were not told this until I posted that little side note to my blog!

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The TSL PSA's have been spotlighted on various blogs lately.

The PSA's were picked up on Rik Panganiban's blog, Rikomatic, here.

Also on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's blog (who knew they had one?) here.

Posted by joyce at 4:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A recent document entitled 'Play: Second and First Life'. Which outlines research about the meaning of playing, Second Life and donations.

Project target | Play: Second and First Life

Based on the game/environment “Second Life“ the participants had developed enhancements, additions, applications, services or products. Those were developed for Second Life itself, for the real world or for references and connections between those worlds.

For a better understandingf of the aspects of communities and the Social Web, an elaborated analysis phase took place at the beginning of this project with a closer look on the meaning and importance of playing.

Some UNICEF ambassadors already created some buildings and a surrounding on Second Live. The community organizes workshops, inform other Avatars about their work and the organisation itself. There is also a Global Kids institution which cares also about the kids, their needs and they also try to help to get people interested into children problems all over the world — give them another platform to discuss some things and in the best to do also something in real.


Competition by Global Kids and UNICEF on Second Life Global Kids and UNICEF teamed up to host the „World Fit for Children“ contest on the island. Groups of teens met up on the online island to attend a workshop covering a diverse array of global issues that UNICEF addresses, such as hunger, education, child sex trafficking, and genocide in Darfur. Then Global Kids teams each built an exhibit in Second Life that addresses one or more of the issues. Entries were judged by a group of teens selected to represent UNICEF.

This contest was just one way that Global Kids is engaging with teens in Second Life, and they are getting rave reviews from the participants. Teens who take part in programs on Global Kids Island are encouraged to blog about their experiences and provide feedback through online surveys. Many participants express real excitement about exploring social issues, a sense of empowerment, and a realization that they can affect social change. One teen wrote, „I am going to make a difference in the world, and I will have all of you to thank for giving me that big push!“

Download the pdf of the full paper here.

Posted by joyce at 3:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On May 11th, I (Jay Clostermann) held a Human Barometer debate on gun control policys.

The debate was a simple thing to participate in. There were 3 platforms (shown above), one saying Agree, another saying Not sure, and another saying Disagree. I said a statement (this statement was not necessarily my direct opinion), then the teens went to the platform that suited their opinions best and pretyped their answer. When their name was called, they would answer with their opinion. This created a good debate.

Many views were discussed and debated, and statements coincidentally rolled on to the next statement.

The statements were thought provoking and on topic, which made the event go well. The statements which were said:

>1. It should be more difficult for people to obtain handguns in the United States.

>2. There would be fewer school shootings if gun control laws were stricter.

>3. There would be fewer school shootings if there were more efforts made to prevent bullying and other forms of abuse in schools.

>4. When a school shooting occurs, the parents of the guilty student
should be held criminally responsible.

>5. Colleges should be more careful not to admit students with a history
of threatening behavior or mental illness.

>6. Violent video games desensitize young people to violence IRL.

>7. Weapons should not be allowed in any part of TSL. (Or, weapons should be strictly limited to specific, clearly-designated areas for
"games" involving weapons).

>8. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution was meant to allow all
citizens to own handguns.

>9. People need handguns for self-defense against criminals.

>10. A gun is a terrible gift for a parent to give to their child.

Many thoughts and views were expressed. On number 10, teens thought that it would depend on the maturity of the child. On number 5, most of the teens agreed. There was a good heated debate, but moderated to not go off the deep end.

The discussion of opinions, gun control, and alot of other safety issues went well. The entire event in my opinion was very well played out.

Thank you to Lucky Figtree for being a co-moderator for this event, and taking pictures of this event like the one at the top of this post.

You can see more pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luckyfigtree/sets/72157600205689283/

Jay Clostermann.

Posted by Jay - SL Intern at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Across the battlefields the warriors prepared for batt- Alright, maybe not ‘quite’ that.

Imagine a world free of segregation, a world without discrimination – A world that we live in? Not quite, but the goal is within our reach. Grid Unification is the first step – one to remove unneeded censorship and age discrimination. A movement that benefits everybody. Not long ago, Saturday, April 28th, Grid Unification was discussed on Global Kids’ Teen Grid Island in a two-sided debate – Those Pro to the Unification, and those Con to it. Both sides stated their opinions and the debate was underway!

[Extended Entry]

Note: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily officially reflect those of Global Kids, including but not limited to Global Kids the title, those working at the Global Kids organizations, nor are these views shared (officially, of course) by the coffee-stained servers in the basement

My name is Alex Harbinger. I was recently accepted into the Teen Grid’s Global Kids intern program. A little background information – I’ve been on Teen Second Lift since late 2005 after being introduced to the idea of ‘do what you want’ by my older brother. It was not too long into my Second Life experience that I felt something was missing – Something crucial, something critical. That something was unity.

Imagine a world free of segregation, a world without discrimination – A world that we live in? Not quite, but the goal is within our reach. Grid Unification is the first step – one to remove unneeded censorship and age discrimination. A movement that benefits everybody. Not long ago, Saturday, April 28th, Grid Unification was discussed on Global Kids’ Teen Grid Island in a two-sided debate – Those Pro to the Unification, and those Con to it. Both sides stated their opinions and the debate was underway! Many residents showed up (~30-50), some staying the whole length of the debate, others just dropping in to ask a question or two, or just to listen.

An event everybody wanted a part of!

Many topics were covered during the course of the debate, for example: Mature Content on the Main Grid, Pedophiles, and its effect on Teens, how Adults feel about living with Teens, how Teens feel about living with Adults, the Teen Grid economy, et cetera. All the topics were intensely debated, like two battleships firing back and forth.

At first, those Con to the Unification were sorely out numbered, luckily, we all managed to scrounge our friends list until we found people with valid negative points!

Lucky Figtree: But what about the ones that are over the age of eighteen, and sneaking on this grid?
Innokentiy Umarov: A [malicious] adult who wants to harm children will gravitate towards the TG, because people here tend to have a false sense of security.
Alex Harbinger: E-mail Quotation: "An adult, a pedophile - for the sake of arguments, lets make this person a male. This adult decides he wants to ‘attack some teens’, so he makes a Teen Grid account. Fact - Teens are more likely to have open contact with their peers. The adult would be most quickly accepted as ‘part of the group’ under a Teen alias then had the adult tried to same thing on the Main Grid if teens were present there. The teens would most likely instantly report a ‘freaky old guy hitting on’ them then ‘a possibly cute boy from So-Cal’."

As you can see, there is a lot of debating regarding exposing Teens to mature content, but is that even a valid excuse, after all, Abuse Reports are here to help.

Telk Zelmanov: I have, in fact, been attacked by a giant flying penis on the TG. It was horrible.
Telk Zelmanov: Horrible, *and* proof that there is mature content here.
Innokentiy Umarov: Steven, teens can get porn elsewhere.
Jay Clostermann: The sex beds, the sex chairs, I've seen a far too large amount of mature content here.
Jay Clostermann: I've seen teens having sex virtually in homes they don't even own.

We pointed out the problems, and then sought fixes.

Steven Fermi: We should be able to see if the person is registered as an Adult.
Alex Harbinger: Agreed, Steven - In the profiles, there [should] be tags to deter Teens whom don't want to be near adults from [accidentally] venturing over, and vise-versa.
Steven Fermi: If Adults knew we were teens, then they could try to have sex with us.
Steven Fermi: That is a problem.
Andrew Montagne: The we report abuse and get their [butt’s] banned, Steven.
Alex Harbinger: Steven, since its obvious we are teens, one report would give them an insta-ban - They'd have no "I didn't know!" excuses.
Jay Clostermann: Yes, but remember teleporting, muting, and Report Abuse.
Lucky Figtree: So, you're all saying that the Liasions need to create a better system of security/
[Everybody agrees =-P]
Alex Harbinger: From the original Proposal: "It may be needed that Teens on MG would have a tag in their profile alerting others that they are, indeed, teenagers. In order to counter-balance the problems that may come with this, teenager abuse reports against adults should take top priority, or teens should have their own ‘support team’ (Ex – The current ‘Teen Grid Support’ team becomes ‘Teen Support’, working with all Teen reports, regardless of Grid."

Wicked Loudon brought up an excellent point which sparked quite a few new ideas.

Wicked Loudon: The only thing I [don’t] understand is: If anyone has seen a MG profile, it has a [gazillion] informational options, If LL cant even let us have the puny [privilege] of having advanced profile options, why would they let us to the land of [the tyranny] of weakness?
Steven Fermi: True Wicked.
Steven Fermi: But the 1st Life tab would allow us to give information.
Steven Fermi: RL information.
Andrew Montagne: How is a text box in our profile going to lead to us being raped?
Alex Harbinger: Having us on MG makes up no more [susceptible] to giving out -more- RL information then we do already

‘The Walk for Intergrid Commerce’ was also present at the debate, both in words and signs ^.^

Steven Fermi brings up a good point here – The fact that the Teen Grid is much smaller then the Main Grid: Grid Unification is a joint effort, adults and teens working towards a common goal.

Steven Fermi: Also, because we bring in so [little] money, we mean almost nothing to them.
Alex Harbinger: You need to remember - We're LL's future. They -HAVE- to pay attention to us.

We managed to find ourselves in a few moral implications.

Alex Harbinger: Teens would be unable to buy[/access] items from Mature sims/parcels
Wicked Loudon: Also, what if Mature sims change their status to PG to raise sales. Nothing LL can do about it, its the owner's sim
Steven Fermi: True Wicked.
Steven Fermi: But then they would be liable to banning because of the ToS.
Steven Fermi: Exposing Teens to Mature Objects is a bannable offense.
Merrc Harbinger: Lindens hardly monitor [what’s] mature and [what’s] not, so i doubt if a teen wanted to come in [possession] of a nicely scripted penis, an adult would get him one from a mature sim for the money.
Alex Harbinger: It would be residents' job as residents to report illegal activities.
Alex Harbinger: You must also remember that Teens on MG-PG sims would FORCE LL to step up their game
Alex Harbinger: Adults would be able to report it also - While there are a lot of immature adults out there, there are many that would not allow the illegalities to continue

And we have more ideas ~.^:

Wicked Loudon: Also, how come LL lets Adults come on to the TG? [Wouldn’t] it be way more [educationally] enriching if we got approved to go to the MG ? I mean, with all the [tools] the MG has

Shortly after, the event comes to an end, and everything gets packed up. The event comes to a close.

A wise man once said, “Nothing in this life that’s worth having comes easy” – Dr. Robert Kelso, M.D. Scrubs. Nobody said Grid Unification will come easily, but it’s definitely worth having.

Are you for Grid Unification? Keep your eyes peeled here and @ http://www.AlexHarbinger.com! More updates coming soon! (Know all the Pros and Cons – Knowledge is power; Be informed)

A special thank you to Global Kids for making this all possible, and Lucky Figtree for her dedication and hard work – Happy Rez day ^.^

Posted by Alex - SL Intern at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tuesday's class was pretty frustrating, there was a lot of back and forth and finally after a long time we came to a consesus. Now we had to nominate ourselves for the positions that we feel we would be best at. I applied for Director and considering that it's what I do, it's what I'm going to do over the summer in film school. Hopefully I'll get that position.

Posted by VVP Idan at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last session we went over different ideas for the storyline. WE WERE VERY FRUSTRATED because we could not come to a common ground for the story. GRR! We also chose our roles for what we will work in. I chose to work in second life, and cinematography! Today we will find out what roles we will fall in.

Posted by VVP Joe at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Global Kids was invited to present on a Games 4 Change panel at this year's Non-Profit Technology Network (NTEN) conference. However, we could not attend in person. Luckily they were game (pun intended) to have me present via Skype and Second Life. We are told it went really well and the audience of 45 received it well. Maybe if other venues are up for it, this can be a new way for Global Kids to present at more conferences.

Below, Benjamin Stokes from MacArthur on the left showed his SL screen at the conference, Moo Money on the left watched, and Susan from TechSoup (who was at the conference) stood by my side.

Update April 19, 2006
What nice feedback from the conference organizers to me and the others on my panel! "Thank you for the outstanding job you did at the NTC! We have honestly never heard such positive feedback from attendees about sessions. It seems that you've all done an outstanding job of teaching and inspiring, and we hope that you got as much out of the experience as the attendees did."

Update May 9, 2006
Okay, the strange keeps getting stranger. As Woody Allen said, "80 percent of success is just showing up." Well, apparently not any more.

The NTEN conference released all the evaluation results from the conference, not just the one for the panel I was on. This included "Speakers with the highest rankings and at least 10 evaluations." Recognize anyone we know?

• Barry Joseph / Global Kids / Video Games for Social Change: a New Movement / 4.96
• Mark Bolgiano / XBRL US, Inc. / The Great Open API Debate: Should we or shouldn’t we? / 4.93
• Madeline Stanionis / The Watershed Company / Email...Still the Best Way to Raise money Online / 4.92
• Steve Daigneault / Amnesty International / The Age of YouTube: Using Video Online to Reach the Masses / 4.89
• Ben Stokes / MacArthur Foundation / Video Games for Social Change: a New Movement / 4.88
• Charles Best / Donors Choose / New Approach to Social Change / 4.86
• Laura Quinn / Idealware / Branding Through Websites: Building Your Brand From the First Click / 4.85
• John Wall / M Show Productions / Podcasting: Nonprofit Applications and Practical How-to’s / 4.85
• Deborah Strauss / Lumity / Wireless Everywhere: How will it change the way you create social change / 4.83
• Tim Fullerton / OxFam America / The Age of YouTube: Using Video Online to Reach the Masses / 4.83
• Jamey Frank / STOP AIDS Project / Wireless Everywhere: How will it change the way you create social change / 4.83

Yup. I didn't even show up at the conference and I received the top ratings. What are we to make of that? Is this a next step in the old Nixon vs. Kennedy debate? Did the audience only experience an idealized form of me, through Second Life, and thus were not distracted by my warts and all? I feel honored to get such high ratings but what about the next time I am asked to appear at a conference - will I feel insecure doing it in person?

Benjamin Stokes from the MacArthur Foundation - who played a key role in "showing" me in Second Life at the conference, has this to say about it:

Funny stuff – at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in DC last month attended by Craig and I, there was a games panel convened by Suzanne. Barry wanted to stay home with his kids, so instead he and I did a joint effort to showcase his work using a combination of Skype, his Second Life avatar, a slideshow in Second Life, and videos in Second Life (all with my impressive in-world camera work, of course).

The survey results are now posted… and Barry ranked out as the #1 speaker for the whole conference (see below)!!! I can’t stop laughing. Their #1 speaker was never there in person. (Looks like my presentation also made the top 10, but I used no visuals at all, so either our audience was strangely friendly, or I don’t know what.) I’m going to tell Barry to blog about his success. Not sure what this proves, exactly, but it’s amusing...

Maybe Ben, who came in fifth overall, would have beaten me in the ratings if he had not been so distracted helping me out.

Posted by Barry at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today in Machinima, we spent most of the time discussing the plot, and I spent most of the time looking for names. Of course, we had not yet decided on a place or location so looking for names went back and forth because the country kept on changing. But yep, I think everyone (including myself) liked the name Akiki (isn't the sound "kiki" adorable? ^-^) but the problem is that Uganda has 43 different languages! So, the only name in Ankole (also called Nkole) was Akiki, and as Sam pointed out - if we want it to seem authentic we should get both brother's names to be in the same language. So yes, I decided that I would put together all the male names that are used in the East African region of Uganda.



I found the names on http://www.namesite.com. But yeah, I don't think we can use Akiki, but the second name I gave Sam was Balondemu--which means "the chosen one" which made perfect sense for the little brother and that is in Musoga and the only other name in that language was Mulogo, which means "wizard". I guess we do not have to choose a name in Musoda...many of the names are in Ganda (Luganda) so we can pick from those names. But yep, I hope these names are helpful - and keep in mind that the names on the chart are all male names from Uganda.

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today, with the generous support of Betsy and Frank, I went today, for the first time, into a formal presentation setting within There, the virtual world. I am the fellow on the right:

After sharing details about Global Kids programs, I asked them what they like about There and the educational potential they see within that environment. It was a nice start exploring if Global Kids can move beyond Second Life to have a presence in other virtual worlds.

Posted by Barry at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday the students in Brooklyn in the Playing 4 Keeps program met with the students in Washington, D.C. at McKinley High School. Using TSL and Skype, The P4K students shared their plans for the upcoming game with the McKinley students and together they brainstormed about how to take it into Second Life.

Posted by Barry at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last session we split up into groups to focus on different parts of the script. I was very enthusiastic but it seems everyone else wasn't. I just "love!" the fact that everyone else spent the class visiting Myspace and taking pictures in Photobooth. I won't state names because I dislike squealing. I would rather have Barry or Sam pay attention to the kids when we are using computers next time.

Posted by VVP Joe at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Thursday's class was cool because we divided up and began working on different sections of the script, what wasn't cool was the lack of work that occurred. I will not say names but several people and not only in my group did not work whatsoever. To me this is no big problem because if these people do not want to have an input on this project then I'll gladly do all the work with the few who decide to work. What I do know is that Sam and Tabitha would not like to see that so I guess something will have to be done.

Posted by VVP Idan at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Thursday in the Global Kids workshop we continued with making ideas for the grand video on child soldiers. It was good to see that there are still many considerations for how the video is to be presented. We were also divided into groups so we can work on the specific part. I got to work on the middle part, which mostly is about how life is in the camps in which the child soldiers are to stay in. Idan got some good ideas such as the representation of lunch in the camps and lunch within the homes in which the child soldiers would be in. The flashbacks will play an epic role because it shows the audience what the child soldiers went through as compared to back in their former prosperous homes.

Posted by VVP Armando at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The lastest podcast, Episode 59, from the Second Life focused show SecondCast features interviews with TSL resident and GK Leader Lucky Figtree discussing her work with Alex Harbinger on the Teen Grid Unification Project. The interview begins at 18:50 and continues until the end of the episode. There are also some great comments posted in response to the episode.

Download the episode or listen to the entire podcast below.

powered by ODEO

Posted by joyce at 4:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After spend the school year learning the basics of creating machinima in Second Life, this week the youth leaders have completed their five 30-second long Public Service Announcements.

Each of the five teams selected a different issue related to digital media around which to create their PSA. Working on their own and with other teen residents of Second Life, they created their avatars, costumes, sets and props. Post-production was done on computers provided by the Museum of the Moving Image, who helped develop and teach some of the program.

The videos below are the students first attempt to create Second Life-based machinima around important social issues.

View it on YouTube here.

Also available for download and to be podcast:

• For pocasting on ipods


• For general use

UPDATE:

We have also been getting in some great comments on the PSA's read some below.

All of you keep up the great work. We look forward to your future input on the Main Grid. :) - KorbinKing

YAY! Well done, guys!!
Great PSAs!
And the DDR thingy is amazing, hehe.
- FaerieDevilish

Great work guys! Can't wait to see more from you!
- BlueLinden

Absolutely inspirational! I plan to take the first few minutes of each class in SL today to view these with my 8th grade students, and to pass the URl on to all the other teachers in my district!! Kudos!
- Peggy, Ramapo Junior High

I watched it this afternoon. Really great. Tell the teens I love what they're creating.
- Claudia Linden, Teen Grid Manager

Posted by joyce at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

The latest issue of ISTE's Learning & Leading with Technology features an article, entitled Real-Life Migrants on the Muve: Stories of Virtual Transitions which includes interviews from both Peg Sheehan from the Teen Grid Ramapo Islands project and our own Barry Joseph of Global Kids. Below is an excerpt.

As director of online leadership for Global Kids, a non-profit organization located in New York City, Barry Joseph works with teenagers in various public schools to provide them with opportunities for civic and global engagement. Joseph describes an “Aha!” moment from the summer Camp GK 2006:

Mercury Metropolitan was our summer intern. He was a member of Teen [Second Life] like anyone else, we just put him in a different role. He actually helped us run the camp. What he did was take what he learned about using the development model in [Second Life] from us and applied it in the setting, then took it in [directions] we never would have imagined … he knew how to use digital media. And it was a great experience for us to see that not only could he have such a powerful learning experience as an intern, and learn to do what we do, but then he, as a young person, who is native to this digital world could then leverage to use it as a medium for education in ways that only natives would identify.

Six months after the end of camp,Joseph and his team asked the participants to reflect on what they learned. “Lucky Figtree” wrote, “Since the first Camp GK in Teen Second Life, I can say with confidence that I have gained many social skills. I can hold out a meaningful debate, and I learned tons about important world causes ... I think I can type A LOT faster!” Another student wrote, “During my time in Camp GK, I learned so much about the world around me that I never knew about. Using the knowledge given to me, I was able to educate my peers and even teachers about issues around the world.”

Download the full article here.

Posted by joyce at 1:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey everyone! I had a wonderful time being interviewed on Friday and reflecting on some of the memorable times I had as a Global Kids Intern. You can read the chat transcript from my exit interview here: http://www.holymeatballs.org/2007/05/sl_exitinterview_with_mercury.html

Currently, I am on vacation in Palm Springs, California, visiting my uncle for the entire month of May. Not to fret, though! I will still be around Global Kids Island often, and may even make a surprise appearance in terms of working for Global Kids again in the future. I look forward to it. Thanks to everyone who has made my time as an intern such a fulfilling experience. See you in Second Life!

Feel free to check out my Flickr page here and add me as a friend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercurymetropolitan/

Oh, and the same goes for my Twitter updates, which can be found here:
http://twitter.com/MercuryMetro

Posted by Mercury at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beginning, Middle and End. I think those basically tell the whole story. Tuesday in Machinima we as a group tried to come up with the beginning, middle and end of our story. Tabitha was sick so she couldn't be there, but Barry was there. We did not have many people come to Machinima though. We were missing a lot of people but it went fairly well anyway. We started off with one basic idea and expanded on that. First, we looked at whether we would end with a happy or sad ending. We decided that we had to do something that inspires hope in people, or rather, something that will make people feel as though they can do something about the issue at hand.

Machinima was a little different though - it was because I was distracted since my AP exam is coming up soon. But anyway...the whole workshop was basically people arguing over different storylines that would work best. I think that the narration part would be a good idea because it does add that touch of reality to it, but then again...there is the whole issue on not actually getting the right accent. I really did not know how to contribute to the storyline, especially without distracting ourselves from the actual storyline. I think we have a general idea on what the beginning, middle and end of the story will be, we just need to work out the details and make ends meet. Nonetheless, the story is pretty interesting, and I want to see how it turns out! (along with all the difficulties we will face!)

Posted by Nafiza - TSL Intern/VVP at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last session we went over expanding our story. I really was interested in the story! We left off with a story line of having two brothers coming upon a conflict of killing each other, or making sacrifices to save each other which results in a death. So far the story is coming out really well and I can’t wait to finish it.

Posted by VVP Idan at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday's class involved deep discussion on the story that we wanted to show in our final videos. The group decided on the idea I had proposed as well as the idea of the setting contrasts between families and child soldiers. I think this project has great potential and I think to do this idea justice I really want to be a part of the team that writes and further develops this script and story. I feel very enthusiastic about the story that can be represented and I look forward to working on this project. When I presented this idea I had a vision of my desired outcome and I think that my classmates saw this vision as well and that is why they liked it. I hope that the script will come out well and that I’ll be able to contribute and help write it.

Posted by VVP Idan at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three of our favorite Global Kids videos are up on the Education section of SecondLife.com and that that makes us smile.

Posted by joyce at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We presented our research on child soldiers. My group did research on the percentages of child soldiers, like how many of them there are in what region, etc. We discovered a lot of startling information, and we had encounter a story of a woman who was a child soldier. (based on her interview). We learned a lot of shocking information.

Posted by VVP Joe at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is time we divide the class up and I really can’t begin to imagine what group I'm going to be in. I'm used to being on top of everything so now I got to get used to just doing my part and letting others do with it as they please. I can't imagine which job I'll be doing. I think it would be easier if I let others choose my job for me based on what they think is my strength. Hopefully maybe that is what will end up happening.

Posted by VVP Idan at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On April 27, 2007, I had the pleasure of hosting an informal exit-interview with Mercury Metropolitan, who has been a part-time Teen Second Life Remote Intern for the last five months on Global Kids Island, to talk about his experience and to allow him to share his thoughts with the residents in Teen Second Life and the public in general. Mercury provided many suggestions for the future and insightful tips for future interns. Below is a summary of the dialogue we had with Mercury.

Tabitha Gkid: Thank you Mercury for taking the time today and share about your role on Global Kids Island. To begin, please tell us about yourself and how you became a GK TSL intern…

Mercury Metropolitan: Okay, well, I am a male in real life for those of you who didn't know..haha, big shocker, I know! I'm 17 years old and live in the USA. I don't actually work in the GK Offices in New York. I work here in the comfort of my bedroom.

Mercury Metropolitan: I didn't know what to expect at first, other than what the initial application stated. It seemed to cover a number of diverse roles that I had to play. Most of them involved duties such as designing and executing the GK Camp program.

Mercury Metropolitan: At first, I had my concerns about Global Kids being on the Teen Grid. The idea of adults invading our teen space irked me to say the least. So, I wanted to confront the issue first hand..

Mercury Metropolitan: I wanted to learn what the purpose of Global Kids was about and what they were planning on doing here on the Teen Grid. After I was chosen to be the sole teen intern, I learned very quickly that Global Kids was not trying to encroach upon our personal slice of the metaverse.

Mercury Metropolitan: I came to the conclusion that GK is all about allowing teens to formulate their own ideas and opinions through interactive and immersive experiences.

Rafi GKid: Well, you were successful, especially in letting us know how little we really knew about the teen grid when we started out...

Mercury Metropolitan: Well, I expected to have some sort of positive impact on Global Kids, and I definitely feel I have. I really couldn't have asked for a better team to work with though. As Rafi said earlier, I did help to enlighten GK on aspects of the TG that were alien to them and helped to integrate them with the rest of the teen grid…I've acted as a liaison of sorts between teens outside the island, and the adults that are stuck here.

Tabitha Gkid: how did u feel being this "middle person" between GK and the rest of residents in TSL?

Mercury Metropolitan: It has been a pleasure really…In the earlier days however, when I was recruiting teens to sign up for camp GK, it did prove difficult though…Some people were uncomfortable with GK because they didn't trust them. This is partly why I made it a goal to reach out to my personal network of friends. They trusted me, so they did apply. The ones who were chosen to participate in that particular program trusted GK once it was over.

Mercury Metropolitan: Word of mouth definitely plays a role in the trust factor. So, once those teens trusted GK, they told their friends and so on. GK's reputation went up over time. =)

Tabitha Gkid: Absolutely =) Can you elaborate more on some of the highlights or challenges of being the manager/leader in many of our past events?

Mercury Metropolitan: One of my highlights was when I coordinated the Child Sex Trafficking Awareness and Activism Event as one of the final projects for Camp GK. I felt really proud after executing it successfully outside of GK Island with the help of many campers involved in the program.

Mercury Metropolitan: I thought that was the best event I've ever held here on the Teen Grid. It was excellent! We also raised a lot of Lindens for the Polaris Project that day.

Mercury Metropolitan: The most challenging was definitely the FINAL project for Camp Global Kids! THE MAZE.

Tabitha Gkid: Can you give some examples of your daily duties?

Mercury Metropolitan: Sure - my top responsibilities are probably event preparation, organization, and facilitation. I also am in charge of promoting anything happening on the island and managing various GK groups.

Tabitha Gkid: And how was your time management with everything?

Mercury Metropolitan: At times it can be difficult, but I've become a better multi-tasker and have juggled it all.

Tabitha Gkid: You sure have! Any advice for future interns/volunteers?

Mercury Metropolitan: Hmm, to them I would say - make sure you know your audience. This isn't hard, because you are a teen yourself. So, plan events that you yourself would like to attend.

Mercury Metropolitan: When I facilitated events in the past - the Child Sex Trafficking Awareness & Activism one as en example, I kept everyone engaged by making it FUN and rewarding teens. We had trivia throughout the entire event, so my fellow campers and myself would type a couple statements and then ask the audience a question about those statements. If they answered correctly, they would receive a freebie gift.

Mercury Metropolitan: I think they enjoyed that a lot.
Rafi GKid: Ah the freebie's... sooo essential!

Mercury Metropolitan: Also, on a more technical side of things - brush up on some building skills.

Rafi GKid: Merc, you'd said you thought it was important for teens that might want to intern to brush up on their building and graphic abilities, is there anything you made that you're particularly proud of?

Mercury Metropolitan: In terms of graphics - I was very proud of the advertisement I made for Camp GK…It was pretty popular on Tin Bling's ad server

Rafi GKid: For sure. It was one of the best methods we had of getting the word out, aside from just word of mouth of course.

Rafi GKid: What else do you enjoy doing most here in SL?

Mercury Metropolitan: I really enjoy helping other residents.. When I'm not here, I'm usually in the Freebie Bazaar or Welcome area. So, I volunteer on my spare time too.

Markorn Jun: Merc, do you see SL as a game or as a daily task?

Mercury Metropolitan: Markorn, Second Life is where I work and play. I don't see it as a task, because I'm not forced to be here

Rafi GKid: Mercury, what kinds of things do you want to see more of from GK in the future?

Mercury Metropolitan: I would like to see more programs similar to Camp GK that are open to the public.

Tabitha Gkid: We will work on that =)

Thank you Mercury for all that you've done for us, enjoy a happy vacation and see you when you come back!

As closing, Jay Clostermann, a new GK intern, gave Mercury Metropolitan a copy of an egg avatar, along with Rafi and myself, here's the four of us as eggs! Thanks Jay!

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