Below is an edited transcript of the 4/5/13 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Josephine Dorado (Josephine Junot in SL) talking on her recent work leading TechCamp international workshops and webinars for the US State Department on innovation, digital storytelling and leveraging games and virtual worlds for youth engagement.

• To view the full transcript, go to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d-b2YaEveF0_6-YtcVUM2lP4jg-9vj8-t39iQpXtY30/edit?usp=sharing
• Slides are available at: http://www.slideshare.net/funksoup

Bio:

Josephine Dorado is a social entrepreneur, strategist, producer, professor and Pilates instructor whose work focuses on innovation in hybrid online spaces. She was a Fulbright scholarship recipient and initiated the Kidz Connect program, which is a virtual cultural exchange program that connects youth internationally through creative collaboration and theatrical performance in virtual worlds. Josephine also received a MacArthur Foundation Award in Digital Media & Learning, and and continues to be involved with the Fulbright community as an officer of the Board of Directors in NY. She currently teaches at The New School and is the live events producer for This Spartan Life, a talk show inside the video game Halo. She balances her work in online spaces with her passion for teaching Pilates, combining a technology-infused life with a physical, embodied way of being.

Most recently, Josephine received the Selma Jeanne Cohen award for scholarly research in dance, recognizing her work using dance frameworks for online collaboration. Commissioned works include interdisciplinary productions for the ISEA and Romaeuropa Festivals as well as speaking engagements at SXSW, IgniteNYC, SIGGRAPH, PICNIC (Amsterdam), and IPZ (Istanbul). Her experience focuses on the convergence of physical with digital, arts with technology, and games with calls to action. She delights in architecting innovative transmedia experiences inspired by the collaborative methodologies behind games and theater. 

• http://funksoup.comhttp://funksoup.com
• Twitter: @funksoup

Below is an edited transcript of the 3/29/13 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Ale Bezdikian and Michael DeLong, who discussed the annual Digital Storytelling Challenge, the importance of storytelling and highlighted ways to get involved in this year’s campaign.

 - http://www.tsdigs.org

Bios:

Ale Bezdikian

After studying journalism and comparative religion at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Alexandra (Ale) Bezdikian moved to San Francisco and began producing videos forMotherJones.com, as well as fronting their outreach communications department. She has been writing as a free-lance journalist for a few years, publishing in the Armenian Reporter newspaper as well as pro bono for various other niche publications around the Bay Area. Most recently, Ale is the Global Content and Community Coordinator at TechSoup Global where she manages their annual Digital Storytelling Challenge.

Ale is a self-proclaimed non-conformist, and a huge fan of old books, great photographs, graphic novels and visual storytelling.

Michael DeLong

Michael is the senior manager of online community and social media at TechSoup. He enjoys connecting with folks — and connecting them to each other — online. He is particularly interested in how you or your org has used technology effectively. Michael's background is in communications and he considers himself "tech adjacent" more than a techie so his favorite thing is the story behind the technology. There's always a human angle behind the bits and bytes

To view the full transcript, go to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bfx7pCggZMcgyT3yWIiqhAXgRIElAT7twAoJF-bZG1M/edit

Slides are available at: http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/17877617

Below is an edited transcript of the 3/22/13 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Marnie Webb, CEO of Caravan Studios, a recently launched division of TechSoup Global, focusing on developing and marketing social-benefit projects and software solutions to NGO's around the world.

• http://caravanstudios.tumblr.com/
• https://twitter.com/caravanstudios
• http://slideshare.net/caravanstudios

Bio: Marnie Webb 

An experienced and passionate leader with a 20 plus year track record of using new technologies to help communities achieve their goals. Currently CEO of Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup Global. Webb has also played a pivotal role in shaping how the nonprofit sector uses social media and other new technologies as a way to more effectively meet their individual missions and empower advocates to work on their behalf of their collective goals.

Named one of the Top 10 Silicon Valley Influencers by San Jose Mercury News, Webb is a sought after writer and speaker on innovation, community, and the social web. She may be best known for launching NetSquared, an ambitious and evolving global experiment that empowers developers and organizers at the local level to build and share innovative solutions to social challenges. Now six years old, NetSquared has an active community of more than 24,000 individuals around the globe and hosts regional meetups in 23 countries. Webb also writes the blog, Caravan Studios, and is the initiator of the NPTech tagging experiment. In 2008, she won NTEN "Person of the Year" award and was included in to the Nonprofit Times' list of the 50 most influential leaders in the U.S. nonprofit sector.

Below is an edited transcript of the 3/15/13 NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting, featuring Jim Lynch.

Today for our featured presentation we have Jim Lynch, Director of GreenTech for TechSoup Global.

Bio: Jim Lynch, Director of GreenTech, TechSoup Global 

Over his long career at TechSoup Global, Jim Lynch has been involved in creating all of TechSoup’s environmental programs. Mr. Lynch leads TechSoup Global’s work to develop the computer refurbishment and reuse field in the United States and internationally. He has provided testimony on the humanitarian portion of the field to the U.S International Trade Commission. He has also participated in the creation and refinement of standards for the U.S. electronics recycling industry.

Mr. Lynch also directs TechSoup’s GreenTech program, which promotes technology and practices that reduce the IT environmental impact and carbon footprint of nonprofits, NGOs, and libraries worldwide.

Jim Lynch designed, in cooperation with Microsoft, the Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher Program for the Americas, which distributes low-cost Windows and Office software to recyclers and refurbishers. In 2005 he also started TechSoup’s Refurbished Computer Initiative, which supplies low-cost warrantied refurbished computers to U.S. nonprofits and libraries. His interest in computer recycling and nonprofit social enterprise began when he created and ran homeless education programs and computer training labs in the 1980s. 

Jim Lynch has been interviewed extensively over the years on computer recycling and related issues by the Wall St. Journal, National Public Radio, PC World Magazine, and many other news outlets.

This Friday, March 8th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Fred Fuchs who will discuss how to create engaging virtual projects.

Do people love your project? Do you have more participants than you could possibly want? Do people want you to stop talking and make them an avatar account so they can learn what you have to teach? Do people quickly lose interest in your project for some reason you can't fathom? Would you like to build a virtual world project with a lot less stress?

There's nothing magical about all this. Losing sight of the intended audience can reduce engagement and doom a project. The presentation presents ways to keep this from happening with a focus on projects in Starlight, Second Life®, and OpenSim virtual worlds, but is broadly applicable to many platforms.

Bio: