The Chilbo Road Press

Chilbo Town Hall – October 2011

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Chilbo Town Hall decorated for Halloween

In Attendance: Maggie Larrimore, Polenth Yue, Corcosman Voom, Fleep Tuque, Rachel Corleone, Gem Blue, Kristine Kristan, Monarchy Republic, Silkorgi Farshore, MS Hawker, Mal Burns, Tara Yeats, Tomkin Euler, Skyeranger Pinion, Ra Deemster, Cecilia Delacroix, Kelp Parkin, Bacon Hellershanks, Chimera Cosmos, Lizzette Zenovka, Celestiall Nightfire, Chibi Lexenstar

The October 2011 Town Hall was very well attended and it was really terrific to see so many folks.  We managed to talk about quite a few things, renew and exchange friendship requests, and get the Town Hall decorated for Halloween.  Items on the agenda..

Chilbo Turns 5!  Celebration Planned for November 19, 2011

Members of the community are invited to dig in their inventories to find artifacts, snapshots, notecards, or other relics of Chilbo’s past to help us construct an exhibit on the second floor of the Town Hall.  We’ll be holding a special celebration Town Hall meeting on November 19, 2011 @ 11AM SLT with live entertainment and fun, so be sure to mark your calendar!  Some Party Planning notes:

• Leave your historical items on the 2nd floor of Town Hall to participate in the exhibit.
• Historical items that are stored outside of Second Life can be tagged with #chilbo5 and members are invited to contribute snapshots to the Chilbo Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/chilbocommunity/.
• Fleep Tuque asks if anyone remembered to beg MS Hawker to bake us a birthday cake for the celebration?
• We’ve added a 5th Anniversary Party Planning page to the Chilbo wiki for listing the details.

A very packed Town Hall meeting, discussing plans for celebrating Chilbo’s 5th Anniversary!

Update on Chilbo Community Land & Tier

Since our big downsizing in community land this spring, things seemed to be relatively stable and most folks are at a point where they feel more comfortable with their time and financial commitment to Chilbo.  Maggie Larrimore mentioned that she’s gotten requests for more rentals, and Kristine Kristan noted that several of the lofts are currently locked to renters.  Fleep Tuque will unlock some of the units and agreed a few more rentals should be manageable so long as the administrative overhead and technical support for the rentals remains low.  Monarchy Republic noted that the New Citizens Incorporated area on Chilbo’s Main Street is a great place to point newbies looking for help or rental information.

Maggie Larrimore also mentioned that she may be changing some of the style of buildings and architecture in the Education Village area since some styles seem more popular than others.

Mesh Rollout and 64m Prim Efficiencies?

Since Linden Lab rolled out mesh to the main grid, they also enabled the use of prims up to 64mx64mx64m.  We discussed if there are builds or areas of the Chilbo Community that might benefit from using these new larger prim sizes for greater prim efficiency.  Kristine Kristan noted that we’ve already replaced a lot of sidewalk infrastructure with mega prims.  All agreed to keep an eye out for areas in the community that might benefit from using the larger prims.

Rachel Corleone asked if all viewers could see the new larger prim sizes or if it was only specific viewers.  After discussing and testing it appears that ALL viewers should be able to view the new larger prim sizes, but not all viewers may be able to make them.  Tara Yeats reported that they can’t be made with the non-mesh Firestorm viewer, for example, though Fleep Tuque could rez them with the Imprudence viewer.

Rachel Corleone’s mesh church.  Users with a mesh enabled viewer
should be able to see it down by the ChilBowl Bowling Alley.

We also discussed the rollout of mesh.  Most in attendance at the meeting have not seen or used mesh so far, though a few people have tried it.  Ra Deemster , Tara Yeats, and Rachel Corleone reported that they picked up some mesh clothing, but Ra and Rachel had problems with the clothes fitting properly.

Rachel Corleone rezzed a mesh church down by the ChilBowl bowling alley for those wishing to test a mesh-enabled viewer.
SLurl:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/197/138/104

Tomkin Euler suggested a mesh sculpture garden for those creating new mesh items, Corcosman Voom identified land outside the Chilbo Museum Center that can be used if folks have mesh items to donate.
SLurl:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/139/39/96

Chilbo Sim in Reaction Grid to be Discontinued

The Chilbo sim in ReactionGrid will close November 18, 2011.

Fleep Tuque has noticed that the Chilbo sim on Reaction Grid has mostly not been used and asked the community if we should continue to pay for it.  Though the cost is only $25 USD per month, we agreed that most people are still not very familiar with Opensim and since it isn’t really being used we should stop paying for it.   Those who want to pack up their items should do so before November 18, 2011 when the sim is scheduled to be taken down.

Fleep Tuque to Give Opensim Workshop on October 22, 2011

FleepGrid is hosting an Opensim workshop on October 22nd @ 11AM SLT.

Fleep Tuque will be delivering a workshop to introduce Second Life users to the concept of Opensim – what is it, how does it work, how do I use it – all the basics!  The workshop will take place on her personal Opensim grid called FleepGrid on October 22, 2011 @ 11AM SLT.  To attend the workshop, follow these steps:

• Visit the FleepGrid website and click the link at the top to Create an Account on FleepGrid
• Download and install the Imprudence viewer if you don’t already have it installed
• Launch Imprudence, and click the “Grid Manager” button at the bottom, then click the “Add New Grid” button.
• Enter Grid Name:  FleepGrid  Login URI:  http://fleepgrid.com:8002, then click “Get Grid Info” and it should fill in the rest of the details.  Click “Apply” then “OK” to close the Grid Manager.
• Choose “FleepGrid” from the pull down menu and log into FleepGrid with the username and password you created.

The workshop should last about an hour and we’ll use Skype as a backup chat in case of technical difficulties.  Add Fleep as a contact on Skype, username “fleeptuque”, and send an IM if you’re having trouble connecting, or of course can always send an email to fleep.tuque (at) gmail.com.

Announcements

Chibi Lexenstar fixed the ChilBowl bowling lanes that were broken in a recent server upgrade – so the ChilBowl Bowling Alley is back in action.  Thanks Chibi!  SLurl:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/234/108/102

Please welcome the SLOODLE Project to the Chilbo Community!  Run by Buddy Sprocket and Edmund Edgar, the SLOODLE Project integrates virtual world platforms like Second Life with the course management system MOODLE.  SLurl:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/190/33/93

Praxilady Witt has just opened an educational center over the border into Kuwol from the ChilBowl.  SLurl:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kuwol/58/12/84

Integrating Technology for All is picking up the big building near the AZIRE on Route 9 and will be teaching classes there.  SLurl:  TBA

Kristine Kristan was recently part of the San Jose 48 Hour Machinima project, their film submission is called “A Model Solution” and stars our very own Kristine and a cast of other characters.  Check it out!

The meeting was adjourned.  Next Town Hall scheduled for November 19, 2011 @ 11AM.

Fleep @ October 15, 2011

Changes to Chilbo’s Community Model

Posted in: Chilbo | Comments (6)

The original Chilbo Welcome Center, circa 2006.

First, the Backstory:  A Brief History of the Chilbo Community

The Chilbo Community was founded in 2006 as a mainland community that sought to connect local landowners and help newcomers to virtual worlds like Second Life.  What began as a simple Welcome Center with helpful information and freebies for travelers eventually blossomed into a community of fellow learners and explorers.  The Welcome Center was transformed into a Town Hall and we went about meeting our neighbors and helping newbies with gusto.

By 2007, we owned a majority of land in the Chilbo sim, purchased from exiting First Landers, and by 2008 we owned part of the neighboring sim in Madhupak, and began offering “Starter Homes” for no cost  to help newbies learn in a safe space.

Greater Chilbo plot map, 2009

Over the next couple of years, the community continued to grow – at its peak, Chilbo Community members held lands in 11 sims, and the community group covered infrastructure and housing for over 50 Starter Homes.  We eventually began charging a nominal fee of $50L per week just to cover listing fees, but we remained committed to helping new users, educators, artists, and those generally interested in using virtual worlds to serve the public or to improve or enhance real world endeavors.

During the golden age of the Hype Cycle and for years after, thousands of newbies visited Chilbo and learned from our community members, and many hundreds of users lived in Chilbo for a time.  We always felt it was a tremendous success if a former Chilbo resident found their niche and moved on to explore their passions elsewhere on the grid, as our goal was not to make money or grow beyond our means, but rather to help people discover what virtual worlds could make possible, and to have a safe and welcoming place to learn.

Changing Times, Changing Perspectives & Needs

Many things have changed in the five years since we began, not the least of which is the position of virtual worlds in the ecosystem of social media and online games.  In 2006, virtual worlds were touted as  The Next New Shiny Internet and a panacea for all sorts of online interactions and everything in between.  We ourselves were still learning what was possible with platforms like Second Life, and we enjoyed helping others learn with us.

With time, however, it has become clear that virtual worlds have a place in the ecosystem, but at least in their current form, can’t and don’t encompass all of the wide variety of ways that people want to interact and engage with each other online.  Many of us still very much enjoy our projects and passions in Second Life, but for some of us, our professional work has moved on to other platforms or our personal time to spend in world is simply less than it was before.

Greater Chilbo on the Jeogeot (Southern) Continent Map, 2010

In addition, since Chilbo was formed all those years ago, many Resident help networks in Second Life like New Citizens Incorporated and the Builders Brewery have fulfilled the newbie helping mission on a much larger scale than Chilbo ever did or could do.  There are a plethora of tutorials and resources for newcomers, both on the web and in-world, and the need we once filled is better met elsewhere, these days.

Because of these changes, the interests and activities of the people in the Chilbo Community have also changed.  Most of us are now considered “Oldbies” and our time in-world is spent visiting with friends and working on the things that still inspire our passions.  Few of us are interested in continuing the level of management and administrative overhead that rentals and newbie-helping entails.

We began to implement some changes in the the last year with the goal to make the community more sustainable for its long term dedicated members – we scaled down our community owned land and began to ask members of the community to help pay the costs of their use rather than having most of the infrastructure subsidized by a handful of people.  We still offered Starter Homes, but asked for rent amounts that were at least closer to market prices (though still less than most).  But even with these changes, we still find that the community has not yet reached that sustainable point where everyone is comfortable with their level of financial support and time investment, and so we are moving forward with the goal of a sustainable and manageable community that meets the needs of its members.

Offering Group Land for Purchase, Removing Rentals & Some Community Project Locations

The next step in this journey is to remove the Starter Home rentals.  We will be phasing out all the newbie homes and offering those who rent in Madhupak the opportunity to purchase land from the group at discounted rates.  Those who still wish to rent should speak with Tara Yeats or Maggie Larimore, who offer rentals in nearby sims.

For those who are donating tier to cover land and prim use, you will have the option to remain as a tier donor or purchase the land you use in Madhupak sim as a full landowner.  We will work with each member of the group to find the solution that works best for you, but beginning on August 1st, we hope to have completed the removal of rental units and anyone who has not purchased a plot will need to donate tier at a level that fully supports your prim use.

Community projects that have been subsidized by group tier will also be phased out to make room for those who want to purchase land.  This includes the removal of the newbie freebie shops, the Community Annexes, the Community Home, the Chilbo Public Library, and other projects not directly supported by a community member.  We plan to better utilize the new Town Hall to consolidate some of these resources, including a smaller subset of freebies, library resources, and items from the Community Home that will fit well in the Town Hall.  We’ll also be portioning off part of the Town Hall to serve as a History & Museum Center to house artifacts from Chilbo’s history.  If you have items to contribute please contact Fleep Tuque.

Portions of the Freebie Stores, Public Library, and Community Home will
be moving to the new Chilbo Town Hall.

Finally, we will ask each and every member of the Chilbo Community to tally their prim use and fully cover the cost of their projects with tier donations only.  Rental units require time and effort to maintain, and we want to phase out their use entirely.  As much as we would hate to see long term residents and projects go, we’re no longer in a position to subsidize as many public projects as we once were, and it seems only fair to ask residents who have long since grown past the newbie stage to pay the full cost of their use, as many of us do (and then some!).

Future Facing, Community Minded

The future of Chilbo is no less bright than it was 5 years ago, our needs have just changed with time.  We continue to welcome new users and new members, though perhaps now we would seek more experienced and mature (as in seasoned, not “adult”) Second Lifers, and would rather point newbies in the direction of NCI or one of the many other helpful locations that exist on the grid.  We are still committed to exploring Second Life and using the platform to improve the virtual and physical world, and we still welcome artists, educators, students and the wide variety of people who find outlets for creativity in Second Life. If you are an Oldbie looking for a great community of passionate, experienced Second Lifers, there’s still no other place on the grid quite like Chilbo and we’d welcome you to buy land nearby and connect with us.

As we look forward, we intend to have many more years of enjoying each other’s company and the community we’ve created, but hopefully with a bit less overhead and administrivia, and a lot more time for fun.  :)

Fleep Tuque
Founder & Executive Director
Chilbo Community in the Mainland of Second Life

Tags: changes, Chilbo, community model, rentals

Fleep @ June 12, 2011

Chilbo Flower Hunt May 16 – 30

Posted in: Chilbo | Comments (1)

Announcing to the Chilbo Flower Hunt – Thanks to Polenth Yue for organizing it!

The hunt runs from 16th May to 30th May, 2011. There are 25 flowers (see the flower on the sign) hidden in the Chilbo sim. Each one has a gift made by a member of the Chilbo community.

~ Hunt Area ~

The hunt starts in the plaza outside the town hall:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/75/189/119

Flowers are only hidden on the Chilbo sim itself. Can’t find a flower? Check out the hints page:

http://polenth.blogspot.com/p/chilbo.html

Enjoy your visit and Happy Hunting!

kristine @ May 14, 2011

ChilBowl to Host Month-Long Fundraiser for Japan

Posted in: Chilbo, Community, Second Life | Comments (0)

The ChilBowl Bowling Alley will be hosting a month-long fundraiser to help the victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami. From today until April 15, the bowling lanes, (which are normally free for the public to enjoy), are set to collect Lindens for play. All proceeds will be donated to the international aid group, Doctors Without Borders.

“It is my hope that Chilbo and the SL community at large, can once again step up to help another community in a time of need,” states Chibi Lexenstar, co-manager of the bowling alley. “Much like our efforts to assist the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, I believe our individual measures can create a synergistic effect especially at a time like this. Let’s all contribute to the rescue and rebuilding efforts of a country that has seen immense tragedy over the past several days.”

To donate directly to Doctors Without Borders,
please visit http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

For a list of other organizations that are currently assisting rescue efforts,
please visit this page.

Tags: Fundraiser for Japan

Chibi Lexenstar @ March 15, 2011

All-ages concert series at ChilBowl starts tomorrow

Posted in: Chilbo, Community, Events, Events, Live Music, Second Life | Comments (1)

Saturday, January 29th, 2pm SLT – The Chilbo Community hosts Musician Hazideon Zarco at ChilBowl. [SLurl]

This is an ALL-AGES / Teen Friendly event!

As well as being a talented musician, Hazideon is also a first class organic sculptor and a machinima performer!

Check out the video for his original song, “Lucky Stars”

We’re looking forward to seeing you at the show, come early and stay late for free bowling and arcade games!

The main sims of the Chilbo Community have a G maturity rating and residents of ALL AGES are welcomed to all our events and attractions, and as residents too!

*Follow up*

Hazideon put on an amazing concert for a great crowd of music lovers and bowlers too!

We’d like to thank everyone that came out and hope to see you next week for the wonderful Starflower Orbit!

kristine @ January 28, 2011

Insight Virtual College Comes To Chilbo

Posted in: Chilbo, Collaborations, Community, Creating Spaces, Education, Real Estate | Comments (1)

One of the major changes in 2010 for Second Life was the elimination of private island discounts for education and non-profit organizations. One of several options that educators considered was establishing a presence on the mainland. Insight Virtual College now has a campus on the Kuwol sim in the Chilbo community.

Insight Virtual College is a “bridge between worlds” offering first life teachers the opportunity to teach to Second Life residents. IVC also offers Second Life skills classes such as building, scripting, role play, business, and new resident orientation.

The administrative staff of IVC are the dean of the college Stargazer Blazer, ReverendMathias Merit and Kee Llewelyn.

Stargazer told me, “We do offer opportunities for all teachers, from first life or second life, to share their knowledge with the community. We are always looking for dependable teachers who like to teach and can be self directed.”

The North entrance to Insight Virtual College slurl

To the right of the entrance is the Welcome Center and Lounge. You can get a notecard with a current class schedule on the front deck of the Welcome Center.

Looking South from the Welcome Center, the quad and classroom.

Standing on the classroom stage looking North to the Welcome Center.

Kee Llewelyn’s Weegee Gallery is currently exhibiting Xenophile Neurocam 2005-2010 A Retrospective

If you are a self-motivated teacher, IVC may be an opportunity for you.

In the NorthEast corner of the campus, a spot to sit and chat or spend a few quiet moments in the meditation garden.

The Chilbo community was established in 2006 as an association of mainland land owners determined to be good neighbors to each other. Through the years that ethic has continued to be the foundation for a diverse group of residents with a wide variety of interests, both land owners and renters. As such, it runs counter to the mainland stereotype of ‘anything goes and the heck with your neighbor’. A presence in the Chilbo community has the advantage of being a part of long term community.

Chilbo does have a small number of rentals available if your prim needs and budget are limited. Contact Maddog Easterling or Kristine Kristan about residential or office rentals. Chibi Lexenstar is the person to contact to see commercial properties fronting the Linden roads.

If you are looking for something larger, there are currently a couple of open parcels that can be sized to suit your needs.

Over 8000 sqm close to Linden Rt 10 slurl

Over 3000 sqm with Linden Rt 9 frontage slurl

Corcosman @ January 27, 2011

Op-Ed: Chilbo Welcomes Teen Grid Residents with Open Arms (and So Should You!)

Posted in: Op-Ed | Comments (5)

In the last few months, there has been much gnashing of teeth and angst displayed about the merge of the Teen Grid and the Main (Adult) Grid in Second Life.  Conversations in forums, on blogs, in group chats in-world and elsewhere have shown that a substantial (or at least very vocal) percentage of Main Grid residents have deep concerns about their ability to continue living their Second Lives without fear of reprisal or lawsuits if minors are permitted on the grid.

I say this is balderdash, making mountains out of molehills, and a very sad commentary on the democratic and civic nature of Main Grid residents who, I’m sure, were once teens themselves.

First, the teens have plenty of restrictions on where they can and can’t go, as Katharine Berry has tweeted; when you look at the map of which sims are accessible to teens, it’s clear that much of the world is off limits right off the bat.

SL World Map minus Mature and Adult sims.  Click image for larger view.

Second, there is no doubt that teens have always been on the Main Grid even if they were there in violation of the Terms of Service, and that has not posed significant issues up to this point even though those teens were indeed able to access Mature regions.  The teens who are coming over now are the ones who follow the rules and abide by the Terms of Service – the ones least likely to be finding ways to circumvent the rules and get into places they shouldn’t be.  The teens transferring now are experienced residents, content creators, and land owners, they have inventories and reputations at stake, just as much as we do on the Main Grid.

Finally, it is not only teens who find some of what goes on in Second Life offensive or inappropriate for public consumption, many adults have no desire to wander in on someone else’s adult activities either!  Adult regions are so designated to give everyone the ability to choose what kind of virtual experience they have – if you are violating the Terms of Service by not keeping your adult activities on Adult sims, you don’t just have the teens to worry about – you have me to worry about too!  Prudes of the world unite!  Ok, just kidding about that part.  But seriously, keeping adult activities in the proper place is the right thing to do for everyone – whether the teens are coming on board or not.

But beyond all those arguments, I guess what I find most disturbing about the noise and angst about teens joining the Main Grid is what it says about the kind of world those residents seem to want – a segregated world where your real world birth date is the single most important deciding factor about whether or not you can access the rich diversity of experiences and people that exist on the Main Grid, whether or not the huge marketplace of content and ideas is accessible to you, and whether or not you’re deemed “worthy” of being in mixed-age company.

That’s not the kind of virtual world that I want, and those residents definitely do not speak for me.

That being said, I work in education, so I am quite sensitive to these kinds of issues.   I fully understand that there is a certain amount of ill-informed hysteria that surrounds the issue of children’s online access.  But there are very real dangers that can’t be ignored, too – from predators who intentionally prey on the young and inexperienced, to accidental exposure of material that is more mature than a young person can handle.  Those issues are real and society has a legitimate reason to be concerned and to take steps to protect the young from that which they are unable to protect themselves.  Linden Lab also has a responsibility in this regard, and in my judgement, their policies are addressing the fine line between your (adult) freedom of expression, my (adult) freedom to avoid your expression, and their (teens) freedom to be a part of the metaverse.

And that, I guess, brings me to the crux of my point.  In the “real world” our various societies and cultures have made a complete hash of dealing with these issues – in the US at least, schools can’t use legitimately educational online services out of fear they might let kids stumble on something they shouldn’t, teachers get fired for posting pictures that adults in other professions wouldn’t think twice about, and in reality most kids have the ability to access any kind of material they want – without adult supervision at all!   The various laws, school codes, filtering policies, and every other attempt society has made to protect children are in reality often completely ineffective.  Nothing replaces parental oversight, involvement, and active engagement to monitor and facilitate a child’s safe interaction with the net.

That’s true of the web, and it’s also true of Second Life.

Hillary Clinton famously said it takes a village to raise a child, and I sincerely believe it is the responsibility of every adult Second Life resident to help us forge a metaverse that works for everyone – adults and children.  Those of us pioneering these new digital worlds have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeat them – to do better in the worlds we create than has been done in the real world we inherited.   That’s part of the magic that brought us to Second Life, why should that opportunity not be afforded to those born before a certain date?

We have an opportunity to do better, and I hope we will.

- Fleep Tuque, Founder & Executive Director of the Chilbo Community

. . .

The Chilbo Community welcomes residents from the Teen Grid with open arms.  We are excited to see the new content, energy, and excitement they will bring to the grid and we hope they find many resources available in Chilbo to help with their transition.  Please visit and if you’re looking for a place to settle, we have plenty of starter homes and land available to teens, opportunities to contribute your talents,  and many community resources we invite you to enjoy.

Suggestions for Teens to Visit in Chilbo

The Chilbo Town Hall

If you’re looking for a welcoming community to join, Chilbo caters to residents of Second Life who are civic minded and interested in pursuing activities that enhance the public good.  We welcome activists, artists, creatives, and engaged netizens who are passionate about the metaverse.  The Chilbo Town Hall has information about how to join our community and our next Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 12th at 11AM SLT.  Please join us!  Location:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/99/202/120

Main Street shopping in Chilbo

If you’re looking to open a shop (or to do some shopping!), Chilbo has several commercial properties available in prime locations on Route 10, the Main Street in the heart of the community, as well as other shops and kiosks throughout our town.  For more information, contact Chilbo’s Commercial Director Chibi Lexenstar for assistance or visit the Chilbo Rental and Real Estate Office to see all of the options available – teen shopkeepers are more than welcome!  Location:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/217/245/115

Land available for tier donation or possible purchase in Chilbo

If you’re looking for land, the Chilbo community has several large and small parcels available in prime locations.  Generally we prefer the tier donation model to support community infrastructure, but we also have parcels that are available for purchase to teens.  All land in the Chilbo Community is subject to our Community Standards, for both tier donors and purchasers.  For more information about donating tier or purchasing land, please contact Mayor Kristine Kristan or Residential Director Maddog Eastering for assistance.
Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kuwol/32/176/101

“The Haus” Coffee Shop & Mad Wax Records

If you’re a musician looking for a place to perform or network, be sure to visit Chilbo’s Music District, including Mad Wax Records, a resource and group for live musicians, and Germelshausen Coffee Shop & Bakery (affectionately known as The Haus) where live performances are scheduled every week.  Talk with Kristine Kristan for more info about resources for musicians at Mad Wax, or MS Hawker to get on the schedule to perform at The Haus!  They’re also planning a street party festival to welcome Teens soon, stay tuned for details!
Location:   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Madhupak/32/218/96

Chilbo Museum Center

If you’re an artist looking for studio or gallery space, visit the Chilbo Museum Center or speak with Chilbo’s Art Director and Museum Curator Corcosman Voom to find out more information on displaying your artworks!  Chilbo also has many fine galleries and studio spaces where we’ve hosted the works of some of Second Life’s most famous artists including Douglas Story, Desdemona Enfield, Misprint Thursday, and many more.  We’d love to host your art too!  Location:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/130/31/97

Insight Virtual College in Chilbo

If you’re looking for educational opportunities or interested in teaching, Chilbo offers a number of resources including Insight Virtual College, the Chilbo Public Library, and the Educators Village. Contact Dean Stargazer Blazer for more info about classes and teaching opportunities at IVC, or visit the Educators Village and Chilbo Public Library to network with professors, teachers, administrators and those who work in public education.  Are you getting ready for college and need advice?  Fleep Tuque can help you find information about colleges and universities who offer distance learning and traditional programs in Second Life, too!
Location – IVC:   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kuwol/104/49/89 Location – Chilbo Public Library:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/71/26/101 Location – Educator’s Village:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Madhupak/29/95/67

ChilBowl Bowling Alley

Looking for places to just have fun?? Chilbo offers tons of places to just hang out and have a great time with friends!  You’d be amazed at how fun bowling can be!  ChilBowl offers awesome bowling lanes, an indie music stream with occasional live performances, and fun playable arcade games too!
Location:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/225/101/100

Church of SecondLientology

Right down the street is the Church of SecondLientology, an irreverent homage to one of Second Life’s most famous Twitter pranksters, @SecondLie – who always tells the unvarnished truth about.. well, nothing, but everything Second Life related!  Location: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/205/42/94

There are more places than we have room for pictures even – can you find them all?  The Brouwerbunker Untergrundkino secret underground movie theatre and Belly Dancing stage, the Chilbo Community Home, our community hostel for the homeless, the Sandbox for building, Shrubbery Amphitheatre for presentations, and the towering Oracle Tree that holds the secret of Chilbo’s beginnings…

We wish every success to the Teens coming to the Main Grid and we look forward to meeting you in Chilbo!

Tags: Art, editorial, Education, locations in Chilbo, music, Op-Ed, real estate, teens

Fleep @ January 20, 2011

Chilbo Town Hall – January 2011

Posted in: Chilbo, Community, Events, General, Reaction Grid, Twitter, town hall | Comments (2)

The Chilbo Community held our first Town Hall Meeting for the year on Saturday January 8th.

Led by Kristine Kristan, members in attendance were Memorial Dae, Corcosman Voom, Bacon Hellershanks, Chibi Lexenstar, MS Hawker, Corky Myrtle, Maddog Easterling, Chimera Cosmos, Fleep Tuque, Polenth Yue, Mal Burns, and Ania Sapphire

We welcomed Corky and Chimera to their first Town Hall meeting. And later, new resident Ania Sapphire arrived as well.

Update on Land/Rentals

The new rental system is finally in place and the changeover went very smoothly. We did lose some residents due to the price changes, which was expected, but happily most folks understood the need for the change and chose to stay. We also already have new members and tenants. Kristine stated that the little bit of increased investment will hopefully keep members active in SL and the community. Big thank you to our commercial director Chibi Lexenstar and residential Director Maddog Easterling who worked so hard in the weeks leading up to the changeover to implement new move-in procedures and guides and also setting up the new Chilbo Rental and Real Estate office, a central location for the rental vendors as well as info on tier donation and private rentals and land sales.

Rental and Real Estate Office in Chilbo

One of the changes that came with the new rental system was the introduction of street names and addresses for those properties. This makes it easier to group nearby spots and locations. Some names are based on actual location (i.e., South Sandbox Way) and some are nods to our founders (Fleep Street, Cosimo Ave) . The main Linden roads that run thru the sims remain Route 9 and Route 10.

Map with Street Names 2011

Copies of the map are available at Town Hall, and the Chilbo Department of Public Works.

We’ll be taking suggestions for other street names in the future!

Looking Ahead for 2011 – What should Chilbo’s Theme be for this year?

What do you want for Chilbo, how can you help it get there? 2009 was a year of growth, 2010 was a year of outreach and partnership. Circumstances toward the end of 2010 began a period of contraction for the community in square meters but saw increased commitment from the core group of members both longtime and new.  The Theme of  “Sustainability” was suggested for 2011. Kristine Kristan hopes for a strengthening of the core of the community both in membership and geographically.[Planning a whole blog post devoted to that in the near future--kk]. Fleep also spoke about sustaining the community across the Metaverse/OpenSim by providing a Chilbo “starter sim” OAR file with opensource resources that anyone can load into their own or self-managed opensim install, and is building it out on Fleepgrid if anyone is interested in contributing.

Corcosman suggested folks put their suggestions for goals for 2011 on a notecard and submit to Kristine, which was agreed upon. It would be great if community members could format their card with not just suggestions for goals, but what plan or even what they need to accomplish them i.e., “I want Chilbo to become a more active community! To help accomplish this I’d like to learn how to host my own events.”

Kristine Kristan stated that her personal goals are to encourage a more active membership and mentorship, and also to stabilize tier to the point that we can reclaim the abandoned and “effectively abandoned” parcels in Chilbo and Madhupak.

Partial view of map showing abandoned parcels as well as parcels currently available for tier donation

Speaking of abandoned parcels, Fleep will be petitioning for the former Pyle and Assoc. property in Chilbo proper. While we are currently in “downsize mode”  the plot  was originally a community-owned parcel in addition to being both a prime location and having historic and sentimental value,  so it was agreed that Fleep should go ahead and petition to reclaim.

RP in Chilbo?

Members of the nearby community of Norcrest have visited Chilbo and met with Kristine, Chilbi and some other residents. Norcrest is an urban themed Role Play group and have various police and emergency services. There is a 911 call box currently placed at Town Hall Plaza (by the atms) that will contact their dispatch and be responded to in-character.

911 call-box near Town Hall

It was easily decided that it is a good idea for Chilbo to be RP-friendly, but to maintain some guidelines to limit disruption and to clarify that engaging is “Opt-in” so that community members don’t feel compelled to participate (as opposed to full RP sims where being in character is the default and sometimes even required).  Plans are to get with the Norcrest folks and perhaps plan some sort of ‘event’ that could include the RP aspect.

The Meeting concluded with a few announcements:

New Commercial Spaces at Chilbo Outdoor Market

Commercial Director Chibi Lexenstar installed two outdoor markets on Route 10 in Mangyeong and Kuwol that feature adorable market cart spaces for just 75L a week for 25 prims. Perfect for those looking for an outpost or not ready for a full size shop.

Street Dance Event

On Wednesday, January 19, from 10am-12pmSLT, we’ll be hosting a street dance on the street between Germelshausen and Mad Wax. The event will showcase artists from an indie label from Northern Ireland called Stampgevaard Digital. They’ll play mostly house/trance/dance music and will be selling songs and compilations. part of the proceeds from this event will go back to the community!

Community Partner Boards at Town Hall

The old Town Hall Plaza had quite an array of various info boards and kiosks and we wanted to have a space where community members and community partners such as Malburns and Tara Yeats’ Metaverse Week in Review can share information. Installed outside between the east entrance to Town Hall and the Chilbo Road Press building are new panels where info-giving posters can be placed.

Both short term events ads and general info can be posted by any community member.  Anyone needing help or an info-giver poster blank object, just contact Kristine.

kristine @ January 8, 2011

Chilbo Museum Seeks Community-Collected Works

Posted in: Art, Chilbo, Collaborations, Community | Comments (1)

The Chilbo Museum is currently looking for community art collectors who are willing to put on loan their collected works of art for display. The new exhibit, tentatively titled Selected Works From Chilbo Art Collectors, will run from Saturday, January 15th through March 31st. Members of the community are invited to put on loan some of their collected works to share in this new exhibit.

The museum is looking for about 18 works of art, including paintings, photos, and wall hangings. The space will also accommodate up to 8 sculptures, at about 20 prims or less.

For more information, please contact the Chilbo Museum Curator, Corcosman Voom.

Chibi Lexenstar @ January 7, 2011

Chilbo Town Hall – December 2010

Posted in: town hall | Comments (3)

The new Chilbo Town Hall decorated for the holidays.

In Attendance: Fleep Tuque, Kristine Kristan, Maddog Easterling, Polenth Yue, Corcosman Voom, ReverendMathias Merit, Stargazer Blazer, Chibi Lexenstar, Emru Rau, Lyn Navarita, PJ Claridge, Malburns Writer, Tara Yeats, Economic Mip, Monarchy Republic, Rah Rehula, Crap Mariner.  (Gem Blue and Rachel Corleone stopped by to help decorate following the meeting.)

First Time Attendees (please friend!): ReverendMathias Merit, Stargazer Blazer, Lyn Navarita, PJ Claridge

New Chilbo Town Hall Construction Complete

It took some time to complete, but major construction is finished on the new Chilbo Town Hall!  The new Town Hall features a more classic government building style with spacious interior and plenty of room for meetings and information about the community.  Upstairs are small offices for Chilbo administrators and a server room for hosting server objects.  The major construction was completed by Kristine Kristan, Chibi Lexenstar, Maddog Easterling, and Memorial Dae.  Corcosman Voom also contributed a lovely sculpture for the fountain outside.  Congratulations to the construction team!

Fleep Tuque Makes Important Announcements About Changes to the Community Governance and Financing Structure in Chilbo

Fleep Tuque gives a speech at the December Town Hall to announce important changes.
(Photo credit:  Crap Mariner)

Chilbo Executive Director Fleep Tuque gave a speech to announce several major changes to the governance and financial structure of Chilbo.  The speech is reprinted here with minor edits for clarity:

For the past four years, support for most of the land in the community has been carried by the group founders, myself and Cosimo Urbanowitz. This support has made it possible to have the things like infrastructure, public spaces and resources and subsidized housing and project spaces. We have worked very hard and tried to be as generous with financial support and time as possible to help build the foundation of the community we love. Chilbo has become something more even than we originally hoped and for most of us, we’ve called Chilbo ‘home’ for most of our second lives.

The time has come, however, for the Chilbo Community to move to a more self-sustaining model if it is meant to continue. Four years is a long time to subsidize the community at this level and both Cosimo and I are ready at this point to step back and help the community transition to a more self-sufficient system.

To help make this change a reality, we are going to be instituting a number of important changes.

First, if the community agrees, we’d like to appoint Kristine Kristan as the first “Mayor” of Chilbo to manage the day to day operations of the community. In the future, this position may actually be an elected position, but considering this is the first major change to Chilbo’s governance, we hope the community can agree with our trust in Kristine to continue to manage the community with the integrity and honesty everyone has come to expect. She has been filling this role for nearly more than a year, which a fine period of apprenticeship, and she’s now ready to sort of “take over the reigns”.

Second, in order for Chilbo to become truly self-sustaining, the majority of land and prims need to be supported by tier donation by each member for their actual use. For example, if you donate 512m of tier, you should only be using 117 prims.  Ideally, residents would also allow for a percentage of their donation to support infrastructure and public spaces, i.e., donating 1536sm for a prim allowance of 351 and then only using 300 or so.

It’s just simple math really, we want to do our best to continue to support Chilbo but over time more folks have joined and more folks are using more prims and..  So we need to make sure that the support for the community is as fair as can be.

Therefore, we’re proposing a change to the rental system. Unless there are strong objections, starting January 1, 2011, all residential starter homes and approved non-profits will have a new rental rate of 2L$ per prim per week.  All Galleries and Commercial spaces will have a new rental rate of 3L$ per prim per week. That’s not actual cost even still, but it’s a bit closer to actual cost.  And instead of going on a sqm model, it accounts for actual prim use. This would exclude the structures/buildings if we provide them.

In addition, residents who have been ‘given’ space in exchange for community service, etc., will be handled on a case-by-case basis, however unless a specific tier donor allocates to you, you will be asked to begin paying rent or to donate your own tier.

If you are a tier donor who donates more than your own usage and wish to sponsor a particular member, please contact Kristine with the name and amount (in sq. m)

Believe me when I say – This is not an easy policy to implement.   I am a terrible capitalist.  I would like to give the whole farm away for ever and ever.  Alas, reality.  ;)

Please remember that you do not HAVE to rent or reside in Chilbo to be a member and part of the community. All members are welcome to ‘set home’ at the community house, use the sandboxes, etc. And, in fact, if you are an infrequent user it is better to do so, so that we may allocate both space and prims to more active members and projects.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation as we move towards making Chilbo a truly sustainable community.

No objections were heard and the proposed changes will be in effect as of January 1, 2o10.  If you have questions or concerns about your tier donation or rental rate, please contact Kristine Kristan for assistance.  Note that on January 1st, all rent boxes will be reset, with outstanding days refunded. You will then have to RE-RENT your space within one week (by Jan 7) at the new rate to maintain your space.

Changing Group Roles/Permissions to Streamline Roles & Grant Event Hosting Permissions to All Chilbo Residents

All regular Chilbo residents will be granted the ability to host events.

As part of these changes, the Chilbo Community Building Project group roles are being revised to streamline the roles, reduce duplications, and make it clearer and easier for community members to do what they need to do.  For a full breakdown of the proposed changes, see the Group Roles page on the Chilbo wiki.  In summary, the new roles, in order from least permissive to most permissive, will be as follows:

• Role Name:  Everyone

This role is intended for anyone involved with or interested in keeping in touch with the Chilbo Community. Members of the group who do not wish to receive group notices can set that option in their viewer. This replaces the “Everyone” and “Potential Resident” roles in the previous system.

• Role Name:  Resident

This role is the default role for normal members of the Chilbo Community. Residents often rent group land or perhaps own their own land but are generally involved with the community.  Residents will now be able to host events on group land.

• Role Name:  Donors

Donors are members of the community who donate tier to support group land. They receive additional land and parcel powers in recognition of their contribution, and to help perform maintenance and other community services. This replaces certain functions of the “Contributor” and “Maintenance” roles from the previous system.

• Role Name:  Event Manager

These folks run and manage events that take place on community owned land. This role is reserved for people who need the ability to perform certain security functions such as freezing and ejecting troublemakers or returning litter or griefer objects. It is important to note that these powers should not be used for any other purpose than to manage events, classes, or workshops. This replaces certain functions of the “Maintenance” and “Public Safety” roles of the previous system.

• Role Name:  Communications

This role is reserved for members of the community who are authorized to send group notices and announcements. It is a fine line between promoting an event or cause and “spammming” our community members, so folks with this role are expected to use good judgement about how many and how often to send notices. In addition, notices to the community should always use professional language and be proofed for spelling and typos.

• Role Name:  Land Managers

This role is reserved for members of the community who are authorized to manage specific parcels of community owned land. It is important that a land manager only exercise these powers on land parcels they have agreed to manage. Even if a particular permission CAN be used on any group land does not mean it SHOULD be used on any group land. This role replaces certain functions of the “Contributor”, “Maintenance” and “Public Safety” roles of the previous system.

• Role Name:  Chilbo Admin

This role is reserved for administrators who are responsible for managing the Chilbo Community as a whole. This role also may enforce CCBP community standards by removing or banning Second Life members who persistently and egregiously violate them. This role replaces certain functions of the “Contributor”, “Maintenance” and “Public Safety” roles of the previous system.

• Role Name:  Owner

This role is reserved for the founders and owners of the Chilbo Community Building Project group, Fleep Tuque and Cosimo Urbanowicz.

The changes to Group Roles and Permissions is currently being implemented and it may take some trial and error to get everyone situated into the proper roles.  Thanks in advance for your patience as we transition to the new system.  If for some reason you are suddenly unable to do something you could do before, please contact Fleep Tuque or Kristine Kristan and we’ll be happy to assist you. Our goal is not to reduce anyone’s permissions from previous levels, but rather to extend permissions and flexibility for our residents where it is safe to do so.

Fleep Tuque to Focus Efforts on Extending Chilbo Community in OpenSim Grids

Fleep Tuque invites Chilbo members to check out FleepGrid (OpenSim)

One of the benefits of Kristine Kristan taking over the management of day-to-day activities in Chilbo in Second Life is that is will allow Fleep Tuque to focus her energies on extending the Chilbo Community in OpenSim Grid.  Fleep feels that the use of OpenSim has grown considerably in the last year and hopes to extend our community network beyond the borders of the Second Life world in a number of OpenSim grids.  Soon she hopes to add new pages to the Chilbo website and wiki to document our progress and explorations of the OpenSim metaverse.  She also invites members of the Chilbo Community to practice using OpenSim by visiting her private test grid, FleepGrid.

To create an account, visit: http://fleepgrid.dyndns.org:8002/wifi/
(Note that accounts must be approved so you should receive an email when your account is available for use.)

Then download a Third Party Viewer client that supports OpenSim, Fleep recommends the Imprudence/Kokua viewer.  Enter the following information into your viewer’s Grid Management options:

Name: FleepGrid
LoginURI: http://fleepgrid.dyndns.org:8002

You should then be able to log into FleepGrid and experience the wonders of OpenSim!  FleepGrid is HG 1.5 i6 enabled for those who want to explore HyperGriding.

Chilbo Welcomes Insight Virtual College

Insight Virtual College moves to Chilbo!

Though most of the meeting was taken up by the changes and announcements, we don’t want to neglect to mention a very warm Chilbo welcome to the faculty and staff of Insight Virtual College who have recently relocated their campus to the Chilbo Community.  Be sure to visit IVC in Kuwol and we look forward to taking advantage of the many terrific classes they offer covering both Second Life and other real world skills.  For more information contact the Dean of IVC, Stargazer Blazer.  SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kuwol/75/36/84

Public Flurbils Playground Opens @ Mushtopia

Polenth Yue opens public Flurbils Playground in Mindulle

If anyone is into Flurbils, Chilbo resident Polenth Yue has opened a public playground over at Mushtopia in Mindulle.  The tiny little furball Flurbils run around and do all sorts of cute things.  Be sure to check out all the other wonderful games and activities at Mushtopia, too, including 7 Seas Fishing, a giant chess board, and much more!  Thanks Polenth!  SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mindulle/181/93/120

Meeting adjourned, next meeting scheduled for:  January 8, 2011 @ 11AM SLT

Contribute an Ornament and Gift to the Community Christmas Tree!

Gifts and ornaments are already starting to appear on the Chilbo Community Christmas Tree..

Following the meeting, many residents stayed behind to help decorate the Town Hall for the holidays.  Thanks to everyone who helped!  As is our tradition, members of the community are encouraged to contribute a (low prim) ornament and gift to the Community Christmas Tree!

Happy Holidays to all!

Tags: Chilbo, christmas 2010, fleepgrid, governance, group permissions, group role, holiday, insight, Insight Virtual College, IVC, land, mayor, mushtopia, opensim, permissions, rentals, Second Life, town hall, virtual worlds

Fleep @ December 16, 2010