Business Communicators of Second Life®

Reuters Brings Davos 2008 to Second Life

The World Economic Forum held each year in Davos, Switzerland will again be accessible, at least in part, to Second Life visitors and residents.  Reuters reports they will be there interviewing several business leaders from Davos next week, January 23 - 27.

I haven't found information as yet on any panel sessions that may be streamed into SL or on the web, although rumors are afloat.  The WEF blogs page has a note in the sidebar: "watch the discussions in Second Life" which links Reuters' SL coverage page.

This year the Forum theme is "The Power of Collaborative Innovation"  within five concept "pillars:"

Business
Competing While Collaborating

Economics and Finance
Addressing Economic Insecurity

Geopolitics
Aligning Interests across Divides

Science and Technology
Exploring Nature’s New Frontiers

Values and Society
Understanding Future Shifts

These topics will hopefully reach the broader ears of leaders and trigger discussions in every sector -  but admitedly collaboration + innovation happens to be a topic in which I am fully immersed in business and for an upcoming publication.

The blindingly rapid shifting market and civic power basis due to collaborative behaviors, expectations and technologies make it imperative that global communities begin to rethink and remodel themselves within that very context in order to successfully address global challenges. 

The pre-Davos press conference addressed how the WEF program of 240+ sessions embraced its own theme by tapping into  more than 1000 people and organization in shaping this year's program.  The Davos Question initiative using YouTube  is inviting questions for discussion (and voting on them) from the global community.

In addition, two new WEF collaborative projects will be launched during this Forum.  The first is WELCOM (World Electronic Community), which is a platform to extend Davos discussion into virtual space - "a virtual Davos" in the words of Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. And the second is a "global agenda council" - a series of panels each with 15-25 key experts who will collaborate on 100 issues WEF has identified for collaborataive discussion.

You can get more information on all aspects of WEF 2008 here.

A pre-Davos press conference is available on YouTube here.

You can submit your question or suggestion on the Davos YouTube channel here.

Watch the Reuters SL page for its schedule of interviews from Davos.

January 16, 2008

ACLU's "Close Guantánamo" SL Campaign Launching Jan 11

Today, Jan 11 at 11:00 a.m. SLT the American Civil Liberties Union is holding a launch event in Second Life related to their Close Guantánamo campaign.  The new SL space, called "Gone GITMO" is intended to focus attention on the detention of prisoners and the conditions at Camp X-Ray.   ACLU's program incorporates a virtual Guantánamo program begun last September by Nonny de la Pena and Peggy Weil, a joint effort of USC Institute of Media Literacty and Seton Hall Law School of Law.

This virtual launch coincides with the sixth anniversary of the arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo, and several real world demonstrations in Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia and Boise, ID; protests in San Francisco and Tampa; a discussion in Pittsburgh; a vigil in Raleigh, NC; and a rally in St. Louis, according to the ACLU press release.

Second Life location is Progressive Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Progressive%20Island/135/152/35/

More information and a schedule of events is at the campaign web site.

January 11, 2008

World Bank Presents Global Doing Business Report in Second Life

The World Bank presented their fifth annual global Doing Business report in Second Life yesterday.  It was a notable effort to expand knowledge and understanding about the work of the World Bank to end poverty across the globe. Case in point as to the need for that very effort:  Nobody Fugazi and Canuckflack (two very tuned-in people) wonder how the clients of the World Bank "many of them living in remote corners of the internet" were supposed to sign on to hear the presentation. The World Bank customers were not the intended audience - in fact, it was the exact opposite.  It was intended to inform those who know little about the role of the World Bank. The role of the World Bank is to finance states (countries), not individuals or companies - but to my point, it is a widespread misconception that developing countries are "unconnected."  Connectivity is in fact a driving force toward their overall economic development. 

The event was extremely well attended (gratifying to see!) and the presentation summarizing the 2008 report by Dahlia Khalifa, senior communications officer for the Doing Business project of the World Bank, was chocked full of the high-caliber information you would expect to come from such an institution.  Most unfortunately the session was also full of audio technical snafus and avoidable SL event-planning mistakes - but I for one found the session thoroughly engrossing and it upped my global economic market perspective quotient several notches. I am delighted to see the World Bank living up to their goal of innovation.  And Second Life can indeed be a most suitable communication platform - if sometimes tricky.

To learn more about Doing Business 2008, to review market data or to view a variety of videos on regional economies and reforms visit the Doing Business website:  http://www.doingbusiness.org/  For more information on market approaches to development and toward ending world poverty, check out the World Bank blogs:  http://psdblog.worldbank.org/.

On a related note, The World Bank is not only employing social media to distribute information on global ecomonies, but it is watching the space for its implications toward ending poverty, growing businesses, and providing peer-to-peer support structures.  They note in a recent blog post for example, a favorite site I reference in my social media "It's Sociology, Not Technlogy"© presentations, the peer-to-peer lending site Prosper.

Social media - and you thought it was just a new-fangled marketing or PR tactic.  Go figure.

October 27, 2007

USC Center on Public Diplomacy Simulcasting Virtual Worlds Panel in Second Life

Join in on September 10, from 10:15 am – 11:45 am SLT for USC's Center on Public Diplomacy panel discussion, From Global to Local: Virtual Worlds, Immigration, and Linguistic Diaspora while the RL version will hail from Mexico City.   According to USC's press release, the topic is meant to explore how virtual worlds can have an impact on making global issues local; and how immersive and digital environments are playing a role in cultural dialogue and interaction.

This panel is actually part of the larger event, Interdependance Day V, that brings together civic leaders, artists and thinkers for a series of discussisons on "the realities and possibilities of forging constructive interdependence in our troubled and divided world." 

The entire event will be simulcast in Second Life and will feature a mix of panelists participating physically in Mexico and virtually in Second Life.  USC's participation is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The USC panelists include:

• Peter Marx, Former Chief Technology Officer for Vivendi Universal Games;
• Jose Murilo, Manager of Strategic Information, Ministry of Culture (Brazil);
• Mark Wallace, virtual worlds journalist;
• François Bar, Associate Professor, USC Annenberg School for Communication;
• Gilson Schwartz, Academic Director of the City of Knowledge, Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil).

Join the group in Second Life "MacArthur Foundation SL Events" for detailed updates.

Get the complete event schedule for Interdependence Day V and details on the USC panel here.

And the PDF of the conference schedule is here.

September 4, 2007

Brand Happenings This Week: May 29 – June 4

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Intel Software:  Press conference
9:00 a.m. & 5:00 p.m. SLT
Opening of Intel’s newest initiative in Second Life
Intel Software Network 1(99/125/88)

Information Week
6:00 p.m. SLT, Tuesday kaffeeklatsch.  Dr. Dobbs Island

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Friday, June 1

Information Week
12:00 Noon, Friday kafeeklatsch, Dr. Dobbs Island

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Monday, June 4

Creative Coalition; Talking the Talk 
7:00 a.m. SLT
Political Roundtable Discussion, with leading pundits, media and politicos. 
InWorld Studios (73/70/29)

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ONGOING

May 22nd, until closed
McKinsey & Co,: Virtual Venture Competition

BMW Experience: 
BMW is prototyping something – but it is not a car.  You are invited to test it out.  IM Munich Express in-world and find out what it is all about!
BMW New World 2 (128/128/0)

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UPCOMING:
Mark your calendars!

June 15, 16, 17
iCommons 2007 Summit, USC Center for Public Diplomacy;
Durbrovik, Croatia & Second Life. 
An important mixed-reality summit on open education, open access publishing and free culture communications. 
Anneenberg Island (187/67/40)

August 2 – 5th
YearlyKOS Convention, Chicago & Second Life. 
Get more information on Progressive Island (133/74/25)  or on the web site here

May 29, 2007

Reporters without Borders Opens Second Life Office

Celebrating today’s World Press Freedom Day, Paris-based Reporters sans frontiers / Reporters Without Borders opened their virtual offices in Second Life.

Prominently displayed outside their offices are 34 world leaders dubbed as “predators of press freedom.”  You can access biography notecards of each. 

A stark reminder to those of us with so much access to so much information are two wall maps: countries that are “Internet black holes” and counties color-coded based on their press freedom.

The organization also inaugarated a journalists' memorial in Bayeux, France yesterday, commemorating the 1,889 journalists killed since 1944 while doing their job.  Twenty-four journalists and five media assistants have been killed so far this year.  RSF/RWB cites 163 media workers who have perished in the Iraq conflict since 2003.

Teleport over to Hangflame 43,91,91 to visit Reporters sans frontiers offices.

May 3, 2007

Infinite Vision Media Social Responsibility Initiative Offers High-End Services to Second Life Bound Non-Profits

By almost any measure, the gold rush in virtual worlds is here.  Infinite Vision Media is taking a step to ensure non-profits can stay with the pack with the introduction of their Social Responsibility Initiative.

Drew Stein, CEO of IVM tells me that the “IVM-SRI” is an end-to-end suite of services for non-profits and academic institutions to tap into the same enterprise-level creative and development services large brands can command.  IVM will be offering pro-bono services to structure the projects while assisting each non-profit to access and secure funding resources.

In conjunction with their Social Responsibility Initiative announcement, IVM disclosed they will be undertaking the pro-bono development of the American Cancer Society’s headquarters in Second Life.

As the demand for virtual world services heats up, so goes the retail prices for services to develop 3D content projects.  Developers will naturally be more than tempted to put greater attention and resources to easy-come, well-paying projects from corporate brands.

IVM’s initiative will level the financial playing field for their clients and help bring important and worthy projects into 3D spaces.

April 29, 2007