First for the fun: a new machinima and live mixed video by Drax that features the TechSoup Community team behind the scenes working on the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwAZ1-BstjE

And for the how and why of what we're doing in this community:
The people of TechSoup have been deeply saddened by the recent devastation in Haiti. We have been so inspired and impressed with the many ways folks are using mobile and other technologies to help with disaster relief. Together we have blogged about some of these relief efforts from the great folks at Ushahidi and the Extraordinaries as well as those of our donor partners.

Today, at the NetSquared N2Y4 Conference, The Nonprofit Commons faciltated the Health Panel Expo - an online event in Second Life to showcase recent developments in health care research, and to connect efforts in fighting disease and creating a cooperative and supportive environment for patients and their providers.

Read a great summary of the event on the Anita Borg Institute blog by BJ Wishinsky!

My name is BJ Wishinsky (avatar name Biji Mornington), and I'm the Communities Program Manager at the nonprofit Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. I had so much fun live-blogging the mixed reality at last year's NetSquared conference that I volunteered to do it again today. There are Health Panels all day today in Second Life, celebrating the launch of the new inworld Health Commons. The 11:15 panel on Mobile Health Information is mixed reality: Second Life and Real Life (here at Cisco's Vineyard Conference Center in San Jose, CA).

 [originally posted on NonprofitCommons.org by gooddogzbeth]

The Health Panel Expo planning is coming together and the event is right around the corner! Here are the details!

PRESS RELEASE

Originally posted by gooddogzbeth on Nonprofit Commons.

My avatar, Biji Mornington, has been attending Nonprofits in SecondLife (NPSL) meetings at the Nonprofit Commons (NPC; http://nonprofitcommons.org/) on Friday mornings. So when Megan Keane (Penguin Asana in SL) asked me to live-blog this mixed-reality event, I said yes. A lot of the buzz at NPSL meetings of late has been about the launch of NPC's second island, Aloft, and plans for this morning's mixed reality launch event. Our panelists are physically here at the Netsquared Conference and virtually inworld at Aloft. Here in San Jose, CA we can see avatars gathering at Aloft, and at Aloft the avatars also see our panelists by video. Evonne Heyning (In Zenzo) introduced our panel:

More photos here

This panel is a mixed reality event - taking place both in the room and in Second Life. It is also the launch of the Nonprofit Commons Second Sim - you can learn more about that here.

Description: Nonprofit Commons in Second Life Mixed Reality Event: Panelists discuss their work and the in the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life and the benefits of virtual worlds for social change. This mixed-reality event occurs simultaneously in Second Life and features interactivity between the two worlds.

Hi everyone--

I'm Megan Keane (aka Penguin Kuhn in Second Life) and I'm the Online Community Manager at TechSoup. I'm excited to be attending my first Net2 conference and have been overwhelmed already by the amazing people, interesting ideas, and innovative projects that are here!

I am excited to be at the NetSquared conference alongside several other non-profits actively using virtual worlds in their work. Global Kids ( http://olp.globalkids.org ) have a number of interesting virtual world and transmedia projects that I look forward to presenting to folks on Wednesday, along with my colleagues. And I can't want to hear about the other mash-up projects being proposed by others and meet other non-profit and tech industry folks interested in the social media space.

Now it's after midnight and I should get some rest before tomorrow's activities begin.

Join in the Celebration of the Launch of the Second Nonprofit Commons Sim! Nonprofits and their supporters will be hosting a mixed reality grand opening celebration in San Jose as part of the NetSquared conference and in the metaverse on Wednesday, May 28, 2008, starting at 10:00 A.M. PST/SLT (Second Life Time), in the new second Nonprofit Commons location.

Highlights: