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Send in Your Nonprofit's Digital Story by this Wednesday, Win Awesome Prizes!

As you should know by now, this month TechSoup is sponsoring the Digital Storytelling Challenge . I'm challenging all groups active in Second Life -- whether your are an official 501(c)(3) or not, wherever you are in the world -- to send in your digital story before the February 29 deadline.   We will be hosting nonprofits and the public to the Nonprofit Commons in March for the award ceremony, so it would be great to see our community represented wll in the submissions and the winners!

While you could spend a lot of time creating the perfect video or slide show, all really only takes as little as an hour to create a digital story for your nonprofit. It can be as little as 5 images that you stitch together to tell a narrative about your group, or a quick video you create with your phone.

The best and the brightest submissions will be rewarded with fabulous prizes donated by our our partners, including:

  • a Cisco Flip digital camera
  • a 1 terabyte portable hard drive by Seagate
  • Adobe video production software
  • an Apple iPad
  • and more!

So what are you waiting for?

What’s your organization’s story? Share it now!

Widget Whiteberry of "Virtually Speaking" at the NPC this Friday

This Friday, February 24, Widget Whiteberry, producer of the long-running virtual talk show "Virtually Speaking" will be the featured guest at the Nonprofit Commons weekly meetup. "Virtually Speaking" presents live, in-depth, conversations with "authors, bloggers, publishers, scientists and educators, pundits and public officials before a lively, well informed and chatty virtual studio audience." Learn more about how this innovative talk show uses different social media and a virtual space to outreach to different audiences. Join us at the Plush Nonprofit Commons amphitheater.

As usual, we begin news from the NPC sponsor Techsoup, get some knowledge at Mentors Central, and close with an open mic for announcements.

See you this Friday starting at 8:30am PT!

Send in your nonprofit's digital story to the TechSoup Digital Storytelling Challenge by February 29!

As you might have heard through our various channels, this month TechSoup is sponsoring again the Digital Storytelling Challenge . We'd like to issue a special appeal to you as one of the members of the Nonprofit Commons to submit a digital story on behalf of your organization. The bad news is that the deadline is fast approaching: February 29th! That’s in just two weeks, but it really only takes as little as an hour to create a digital story for your nonprofit. I can not emphasize enough how important it is to me that as many groups as possible from the NPC submit their stories.

We’re in the midst of an exciting challenge with learning opportunities and a chance to submit your one-minute video or five-photo slideshow to win excellent award donations from our partners. This challenge is open to all social benefit organizations regardless of 501(c)(3) status or location, anywhere in the world (or the virtual world!).

How to get involved this year:

  • Submit a one-minute video or five-photo slideshow to win prizes
  • Encourage everyone you know to participate! Spread the word: www.tsdigs.org
  • Subscribe to our Google group to stay up to date on all of these exciting happenings

Remember that video is the content people are spending the most time with online these days, and digital stories are a powerful way to share the passion and hard work your organization has for its mission! The video is yours to keep and use after the challenge is over.

What’s your organization’s story? Share it now!

Arch Virtual and Tipodean at the Nonprofit Commons this Friday February 17

We at the Nonprofit Commons are delighted to welcome two innovators in the virtual world space this Friday, February 17, Jon Brouchoud of Arch Virtual and Chris Collins of Tipodean Technologies. They will talk about the cool technologies they have developed to bring virtual worlds to new audiences and markets, like a senior retirement community and an Iowa city. Join us for this very interesting conversation about virtual architecture, customer-created design, and virtual / real cities.

That's this Friday February 17, starting at 8:30am PT at the Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater.

More details....

Games for Change at the NPC this Friday February 10

This Friday, February 10, we are happy to welcome Mr. Jeff Ramos, community and content manager at Games for Change. Games for Change is a nonprofit formed in 2004 to "facilitate the creation and distribution of social impact games that serve as critical tools in humanitarian and educational efforts." Jeff will update us on the field of social impact games and tell us the news about the 9th annual Games for Change Festival happening in June in New York. If you are interested in how games can be used to change the world, this is the NPC meeting for you.

Join us this Friday starting at 8:30am PT at the Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater. See you there!

The 2012 TechSoup Digital Storytelling Challenge Has Begun!

TechSoup’s annual Digital Storytelling Challenge (also known as #TSDigs), powered by Lights. Camera. Help., has launched for 2012!  The Digital Storytelling Challenge combines professional instruction and friendly competition into a hands-on media-making project. Organizations participate in a series of short, interactive online trainings, apply that knowledge to create their digital story, then submit a one-minute video or five-picture slideshow to the #TSDigs Challenge by February 29.

A panel of expert judges selects the very best entries to win terrific prizes consisting of tools and resources to take their digital storytelling to the next level. Organizations also keep and can use their digital story as a vital resource for promoting their work and connecting to constituents.

Several Nonprofit Commons members participated last year, and we hope many more will do so this year.  Second Life is such a compelling storytelling medium with rich images, video, and characters.  So get cracking on telling the digital story of your organization today!  Remember the deadline is February 29.

Fearless Nation featured at next NPC Meeting, February 3

This Friday, February 3, we are following up on our talk with Spoton3D to bring you a nonprofit that has recently moved their operations from Second Life to Spoton3D, Fearless Nation PTSD Support. We have invited Colleen Crary, founder and ED of Fearless Nation, to talk about their work to support Post-traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers and their loved ones using virtual tools. Should be a very enlightening session.

About Fearless Nation:

 

Colleen Crary is the Founder and Executive Director of Fearless Nation PTSD Support, a 501c3 NonProfit dedicated to providing education and support to all PTSD sufferers, their spouses, children, family, friends and communities. Fearless Nation also focuses on raising public awareness about PTSD to banish misinformation and stigma concerning the condition. Fearless Nation uses the latest technology in social networking to share educational information and provide group support, and is the first PTSD organization to leverage the power of virtual world technology to empower participants to recover from trauma and PTSD.

 

Also come for Mentors Corner, TechSoup updates and the ever popular Open Mic Announcements. That is this Friday, February 3, at the Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater in Second Life. See you then!

SF Online Community MeetUp with Bill Johnston of Dell and guests February 1 at the NPC

The SF Online Community MeetUp is the free monthly gathering of online community managers, enthusiasts, and innovators to meet and discuss tools and strategies for building and managing effective communities. 

This month, join Bill Johnston, Head of Global Community, Dell;Thor Muller, Chief Technology Officer, Get Satisfaction; Rachel Luxemburg, Group Manager, Community at Adobe; and Gail Ann Williams, Community Director at Salon / The Well to hear about their “secret sauce” tips to help build thriving and valuable online communities. The session will start with a panel discussion, followed by an invitation for participants in person and online to provide their own tips and anecdotes. Our goal is to leave the meetup with a long list of valuable ingredients to allow everyone to add to their own secret community sauce.  The meetup will be on February 1, beginning at 7pm PT and last about one hour.

Here are all the ways you can take part in the event: 

Join the San Francisco Online Community Report MeetUp group on Facebook. The Online Community Meetup is sponsored by TechSoup.org.

Transcript of NPC Meeting with Spoton3D January 27, 2012

We had a great Nonprofit Meeting on January 27, featuring Philippe of the Spoton3D virtual world platform. And the Mentors continued their survey of third party Second Life clients.

The full transcript follows...

Nonprofit Commons Meeting
January 27, 2012, 8:30am PST
Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/88/126/26

AGENDA

8:30am Introductions

8:40am TechSoup Announcements

8:45am Mentors Corner

8:55am Spoton3D

9:30am OpenMic/ Announcements

INTRODUCTIONS

Spoton3D at Nonprofit Commons this Friday January 27

This Friday January 27, the Nonprofit Commons welcomes the folks from Spoton3D to our weekly meetup. Spoton3D is a new virtual world platform that combines several of the advantages of client-based 3D worlds like Second Life and web-based social networks. Nonprofit groups like Fearless Nation and RockCliffe University have been using Spoton3D for meetings, conferences and classes. So if you are curious about this virtual platform, come on by.

Also this week, the Mentors continue their lessons about third-party Second Life clients, TechSoup updates us on opportunities for nonprofits, and the ever popular open mic! See you at the Plush Nonprofit Commons amphitheater this Friday starting at 8:30am PT.

 

Many thanks to Brownrice Internet for hosting the NPSL site.

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