• Alliance Virtual Library

  The Alliance Virtual Library(AVL) was started in April 2006 by the Alliance Library System in central Illinois. Since that time, it has become a collaborative international community of volunteer librarians, educators, non-profits and others working together to discover and develop exciting and innovative educational services in the virtual world of Second Life. From a small rented space, the AVL has grown to an Info Archipelago of over 50 partner islands featuring over 130 libraries, health information services, immersive historical environments, and resource centers like Emerald City which will provide information for libraries and other agencies on "going green". The Archipelago hosts an average of 5-7 events per week including book discussions, training sessions,conferences, non-credit courses, speakers, and immersive events. AVL also has a library collection, live reference service, and educational immersive environments such as Land of Lincoln and Bradburyville. Read more...

• American Cancer Society

  The American Cancer Society’s existence in Second Life is an ongoing project, just as the fight against cancer is an ongoing commitment. The strategy behind the project is centered around mobilizing the energy, dedication and passion of willing and able volunteers to plan events, share information, fundraise, serve those in need, and inform residents of Second Life about the mission of the American Cancer Society (ACS). For some time, the ACS Island has been a hub of activity for volunteers planning the annual fundraiser, Relay For Life, one of the most successful fundraising events in Second Life. Because Relay For Life has established itself as a mainstay in the virtual world, the ACS has recently begun to implement more services in an effort to provide for the residents of Second Life who are or have been affected by cancer. All activity, support, and fundraising is done in Second Life. Read more...

• Invisible Threads

  Invisible Threads is a mixed reality performance installation that explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies, and real life commodities through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in Second Life. Simulating a real life manufacturing facility that includes hiring Second Life "workers" to produce real world jeans sold for profit, the project provides an insider's view into current modes of global, telematic production. Using a just-in-time production process, customers in the real world are able to purchase their jeans directly from the manufacturer, Double Happiness. A microphone and web cam stream audio and video from the real world storefront onto a large screen in the factory, enabling SL workers to see and hear each customer place their order. On the assembly line, workers stationed at each machine are responsible for selecting the correct options based on the customer's order. The final machine is the "SL to RL portal", which sends the design to a large-format printer which prints on cotton twill. Customers watch their jean orders being produced in real time in the factory via a computer projection in the physical space. Once in the real world, the jeans require simple assembly before being worn. Read more...

• Let There Be Night

  Let There Be Night (LTBN) is a community-wide science experiment that asks, “How much of the night sky have we already lost?” To prepare thousands of students in one school district to measure light pollution in March 2009, the LTBN team created a structure in Second Life and filmed two interacting avatars. This effort was furthered by collaboration with the kind folks at CoLab, which is a model for start-up developments in SL. The video presentation we created in-world enticed other content providers to contribute their existing educational resources to a 2-DVD set, which was distributed to hundreds of plantetariums in dozens of countries and across the United States. Read more...

• NonProfit Commons

  The first, largest, and best-known nonprofit-specific community in Second Life, the Nonprofit Commons organizes networking events and offers free virtual office space, weekly interactive meeting, guided tutorials, and facilitated discussions about outreach, fundraising, activism, and volunteering in the virtual world. It has broad appeal with interest from organizations from 71 countries and a social network that includes engaged members ranging from large international organizations such as the humanitarian group CARE, national-focused groups like America's Second Harvest, and community initiatives such as the Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York. The overarching goals of our work in Second Life are to develop and implement immediate opportunities for nonprofits to tap into the existing potential of virtual worlds and to create a broader nonprofit understanding of virtual worlds as a new avenue for creating mission-based impact in the real world. As SL avatar, PCOSGurl Infinity from the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association writes about the Nonprofit Commons, “It enhances a nonprofit organization's ability to connect, network, and provide service. The opportunities are limitless and the ability to impact the success of our real life organization is amazing.” Read more...

• Skoolaborate

  Skoolaborate is a global education initiative. It uses a blend of technologies including, blogs, online learning, and 'virtual worlds' to transform the learning for students across the world. We aim to demonstrate to other educators how virtual worlds can make learning more meaningful, productive and engaging for students. The projects we create will integrate curriculum and digital technologies into collaborative global actions. We will use our experiences to develop skills that allow us to achieve our goal of improving educational outcomes for all students; particularly those who are disadvantaged. Our virtual learning space remains private and secure in order to meet the needs of secondary schooling security concerns. Students from schools around the world and organisations interested in exploring what can be done to improve student outcomes via virtual worlds are invited to participate. Skoolaborate now has over 30 schools and organisations from 10 countries. Read more...

• Studio Wikitecture: Open Architecture Challenge

  Studio Wikitecture is an open group, composed of a diverse range of individuals from varying disciplines, interested in exploring the application of an open-source paradigm to the design of architecture and urban planning. We have been using Second Life as a collaborative platform for conducting Wikitecture projects to work out the exact procedures and protocols necessary to harness a groups collective intelligence in designing architecture. In this pursuit, we designed and developed a prototype 'plugin' for Second Life that worked very much like a 3-dimensional Wiki. The Wiki-Tree, as we called it, served as a version tracking system that worked much like a conventional Wiki, but instead of tracking text documents in a linear history as you see in Wikipedia, the Wiki-Tree tracked versions of 3D models and saved them within a continually evolving 3D mind map. In addition, the interface allowed members to vote and leave comments around the evolving designs. Read more...

• The Space Between These Trees

  The Space Between These Trees is a Second Life experience which raises money for the Heifer International charity. Artistic, agricultural spaces, such as The Far Away, encourage visitors to donate Lindens via the purchase of virtual wheat. The wheat can be displayed and copied to beautify Second Life land with fields of wheat. The Linden dollars donated are converted into US dollars and sent to Heifer. Heifer International is dedicated to fighting hunger and protecting Earth. Heifer works with families, providing appropriate livestock and training. Each Linden dollar has a measurable and sustaining impact on the real world. The Space Between These Trees set an initial goal of 500 dollars USD in 2007. The initiative has since raised 7500 USD, with a current goal of 10000 dollars. In just 16 months the goal has increased 2000%. The Space Between These Trees has purchased the equivalent of 15 cows, 30 water buffalo, 62 goats, 125 pigs, or approximately 12 thousand chickens. Read more...

• The Tech Virtual

  The Tech Virtual is a project connecting science and technology museums worldwide with a collaborative design platform centered in Second Life. Together with a user-based website, Second Life provides an international meeting place where exhibit designs can be created and discussed. Through our program, the creation of museum content has not only been democratized to a more diverse group of creators, but it has also resulted in faster testing and development of exhibits. Our members can rapidly collaborate on a scale and speed never before possible, all for the purpose of realizing these designs in the real world. Recently tripling our capacity, our hopes are especially high for the teen grid. In this way, we are able to engage young designers and science enthusiasts and are on track to making this program integral to not only to the creation of exhibits for future exhibitions, but to their themes as well. Read more...

• Virtual Ability

  Virtual Ability helps people with RL disabilities gain skills and support needed to enter and have success in SL, improving the quality of their real lives. Our New Resident Orientation Course teaches SL skills in a way that supports people with disabilities, including those using assistive technology. Virtual Ability offers vital ongoing support: a community where people with disabilities can make friends with others like themselves who "get" what their lives are really like, and with non-disabled people, encouraging mutual learning and understanding. Many people with disabilities are isolated in RL. Virtual Ability uses SL as a tool to provide social interactions, crucial to emotional wellbeing. Other documented medical benefits of being in virtual communities are summarized on our website. Virtual Ability's training, support and virtual tools help even those with severe RL disabilities access a more level playing field where they walk, talk, dance, and fly like anyone else. Read more...

Special Mention

• Clinical Scenarios for increasing patient safety

  A major challenge in medical education continues to be the balancing of limited teaching resources with the delivery of engaging, student-orientated programmes that place patient safety as a central theme. In modern, time-pressured curricula there is often reduced clinical contact and limited ward-based teaching. In response to this and to important concerns over patient safety and the reduction of medical errors, leaders in medical education have developed a range of specialized simulation instruments that enable participants to develop their skills in key areas. The Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology at Imperial College London are world renowned for their work in this field. This project helped to validate the use of Second Life as a novel platform for medical device training in a simulated clinical environment. It enabled participants to learn and practice in a complex but safe environment where they could make mistakes, without risk to any real patients. In the first pilot of the scenario all of participants (who were nurses from a wide range of NHS specialities and mostly new to Second Life) stated that the scenario was useful for medical device clinical scenario training and 82% would recommend the scenario as training to nursing students and colleagues. Read more...

• Languagelab.com

  Languagelab is the largest and most established language school in Second Life.One of our goals is to bring high quality language teaching and the experience of learning in a real environment with native speakers to students globally. Languagelab has 25,000 users from over 50 countries and has sold over 1,000 subscriptions.Students are immersed in a virtual world where they learn and practice language skills in real-life settings with real teachers. They can build friendships and learn about other cultures- invaluable aspects of language learning. Students can study from the comfort of their own home and experience studying in an international student community. Read more...

• The NMC Campus Project

  The New Media Consortium is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit association of 300 colleges, universities, museums, and research centers that since 1993 has dedicated itself exploring and understanding emerging technologies and their applications for learning, research, and creative expression. The NMC Campus Project is a collaboration that includes more than 125 institutions. More than 14,000 individuals from 54 countries have registered to follow the work of the project. Launched publicly in June 2006 at the NMC's annual Summer Conference, The NMC Campus Project has always had a simple but clear vision: to comprehensively support colleges and universities who wished to experiment with virtual worlds. Among the very first educational organizations to enter Second Life, the NMC has by any measure had a profound impact on the adoption of virtual worlds by academia. Read more...