The Chilbo Road Press

Chilbo Group members have all seen the notice from Kristine Kristan about the Fourth of July celebration. I was in the sandbox with Kristine and Monarchy Republic as they were making plans for the party. Kristine contacted Alleara Snoodle to find out where she could get the best fireworks on the grid. Here are a couple of photos of what she came back with to whet your appetite for the party this Saturday.

Looking from K2 gallery toward the sandbox

Looking from Gann McGann's toward the sandbox

Some time ago I settled down in Greater Chilbo, in the far away Noru region. We (Violetta Leshelle and I, Olando Decosta) tried to civilize the place, and we even have a cinema there, next to a deli.

In the cinema we feature videos about social media and their impact on the society, the economy and businesses.It is a non-profit venture, and I feel inspired by the social media library in Chilbo. In consider our place in Noru to be an in-world extension of my blog MixedRealities.

I started out with Clay Shirky (from the documentary Us Now). Please come and have a look!
(Just enter, and click the screen)

We’d like to organize discussions about social media in Noru, and I hope the video can be inspiring.

K2 Gallery next to Kristine Kristan's house

Chilbo resident Kristine Kristan has opened K2 Gallery presenting original works of her own and of other artists. Kristine is an artist working in fused glass and that experience is evident in her Second Life stained glass and etched glass works.

Kristine is interested in presenting works of artists that make their work available through sites such as etsy.com. So a Second Life resident that finds a piece they like at K2 gallery might also obtain a complementary piece for their real life home or office. If you would like to keep up with the news at K2 Gallery, Kristine has created a Subscribe-o-Matic Group so that you do not have to use one of your 25 SL Group slots, simply touch the sign at the gallery to join the group.

Kristine is a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The Cubs are off to a fast start in the 2009 season, so the fans are encouraged this year. Kristine is also a cat lover. She says that she hopes to create some avant-garde videos starring cats to show at K2 Gallery just as soon as her cats learn to take direction. This, of course, could be a very long term project.

If you would like to visit K2 Gallery, Kristine is located near the Chilbo Museum complex at Madhupak/170/234/91.

Violetta Leshelle and Olando7 Decosta are building a living&meeting space in the far away Noru sim. The land is part of Greater Chilbo.

Right now you will find at Noru a box with the invitation for a French language virtual law seminar in Second Life, and if that is not weird enough, also a plane wreck.

The plane crashed nearby the main building without causing fatalities. No bodies were found and it remains a mystery who the pilots were.

Maybe you can find out? Visit the crash scene and tell the true story of what happened! More pictures are available on Flickr…

a plane wreck nearby the main building of the noru meeting place

Fleep on a previous episode of Metanomics

This coming Monday, January 26th, the weekly Metanomics show will feature a topic of interest to educators.

Kids Building Digital Bridges
Metanomics, Monday, January 26, Noon to 1 Pacific Time

Virtual worlds transport young people outside their neighborhoods and offer them chances for creative collaboration across physical, generational and cultural boundaries. Metanomics host Robert Bloomfield investigates the novel ways that kids use virtual worlds to break down barriers with Barry Joseph of Global Kids and David Klevan of the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum. On the Spot, Daniel Voyager discusses the future of Teen Second Life, fresh from his graduation to the main grid, and educator Chris Collins provides closing commentary.

(Hey, Chris Collins, that’s me! Come hear me get on a soapbox!)

See the Metanomics website for more information, and Chilbo residents can join us at Malburn’s MetaHub to watch the show in-world with friends. Or, if you can’t come in-world, watch on the web!

Chilbo Residents Celebrate the Holidays

Chilbo residents Lizzette Zenovka, Telmea Story, Alleara Snoodle, Monarchy Republic, Fleep Tuque, Tara Yeats, and Malburns Writer decorating the Chilbo Town Hall & Plaza for the holidays.

(Chilbo) -  A new tradition was born when Chilbo resident Tara Yeats suggested a Holiday Tree for the Chilbo Town Hall & Plaza.   “I was thinking Town Hall needed a Christmas Tree, and then it occurred to me that maybe we should put one up with no ornaments on it,” said Tara, “and then invite everyone in Chilbo to add an ornament and a freebie gift.”  Tara’s idea caught on like wildfire and following the last Town Hall meeting of the year, residents helped decorate the Plaza amid falling snow, Christmas carols, and the occasional snowball fight.  Residents still have a few more days to grab copies of the gifts and ornaments from this year’s tree - get ‘em before they’re gone!

Fleep makes snow angels in the plaza.

Asked about the festive new look for the Plaza, resident SkyeRanger Pinion was deeply concerned, “I do not know what all this white stuff falling out of the sky is; but I see it wherever I go.  Apparently it eventually covers the whole ground… I hope someone is talking to the Lindens about it.”  Several newbies and visitors to the Plaza seemed surprised by all the fanfare.  “I didn’t know people celebrated holidays in here,” said a two-day-old newbie, “I love the snow!”

Lindens Give the Gift of Reclaimed Land, Residents Step Up With Tier Donations

Reclaimed parcels on the Chilbo sim’s eastern edge

The holiday spirit seems to have traveled far and wide, including the folks at Linden Lab.   Early in the week, the Lindens in charge of reclaiming abandoned land cleared off several parcels in the Chilbo sim proper and set them for sale at a very reasonable price.   “I’m thrilled!” said Fleep Tuque, “These plots have been abandoned since the very beginning when the Chilbo sim was all First Land.  We’ve been afraid they would get auctioned or flipped when they were reclaimed, but I’m very grateful that Linden Lab heard our petition.  Our entire community appreciates their support - what a wonderful holiday gift!”

The reclaimed Stargate and vacant Yost Lane parcels are in a prime location on Route 10.  Emru Rau may expand the Tai Chi Garden south into Chilbo sim, and the remaining land is likely to be developed for commercial use.

There were some concerns about taking on the additional tier to cover the new parcels, particularly in light of the economic downturn in the terra world.  Fortunately, several residents donated additional tier to help acquire the land for the community, including Margarette Fouroux who will be expanding her art gallery and studio on the west side, and Emru Rau who hopes to expand his garden down from the Mujigae sim.

A new monument at the Town Hall honors those who financially support the Chilbo Community

In honor of their contributions, and to all those who help financially support the community, a new monument was added in front of the Town Hall.  “The holidays are certainly a time to be thankful for our blessings, and Chilbo simply wouldn’t be here without the generosity of all those who support it,” said Fleep Tuque.

Linden Lab Department of Public Works Paves Route 10 in Chilbo

Rachel and Fleep discussing the newly paved Route 10

And just when it seemed that 2008 would head out on this high note of celebration and good spirits, resident Rachel Corleone came home the night before New Year’s Eve to discover an even bigger surprise.   “Holy cow!  Route 10 through Chilbo has been paved!” she wrote.

The section of Route 10 (green) that runs through the Chilbo sim was paved with
cobblestone bricks on December 30, 2008.

The strip of Route 10 land running through the north side of the Chilbo sim has been owned by Governor Linden since the Southern Continent (Jeogeot) was first created in mid-2006.  Residents long suspected that the Lab would eventually put in roads like those on the Northern Continents (Sansara and Heterocera Atoll), but after several years had gotten used to the bumpy path strewn with towering pine trees.

Route 10’s two-lane highway turns into cobblestone near the Chilbo community

Upon further exploration, resident Tara Yeats discovered that not only had the road in the Chilbo sim been paved with a lovely cobblestone texture, it also seems to end near the borders of the Chilbo community, transitioning to a more traditional two-lane highway/macadam texture near the western edge of the Mangyeong sim.

The newly paved Route 10 in front of the Chilbo Town Hall

Resident Valentino Tendaze had recently contacted Mighty Mole from the Linden Lab Department of Public Works when he noticed that the road parcels had been named Route 9 in Achado and Madhupak, and Route 10 in Mangyeong, Chilbo, Kuwol, and Mindulle sims.   Apparently, his request that they choose a texture suited for the village/small town theme of our community was honored.  All hail the Mighty Mole and Valentino!

So Long 2008…

Fleep updates the Chilbo Planning Map at the end of 2008

In the waning hours of 2008, Fleep Tuque spent a few quiet moments updating the giant Chilbo Community Planning Map in the Town Hall with the latest texture hot off Rachel Corleone’s map-maker press.   “This year has been a hard one for many, with the economy, work and family stresses, the political season.  But Chilbo has had a really great year, look how far we’ve come!” said Fleep, “All the new people who have joined Chilbo, the things we’ve accomplished together, Linden Lab’s efforts to help us sustain our community…  it’s a pretty good feeling.”

Not a bad way to end the year…  Cheers to all for a happy and healthy New Year in 2009!

Earlier this year Fleep asked me to take over curating the Chilbo Museum. Having no idea what that meant, I said “Okay” then realized I had to learn how to find artists to exhibit at the Museum and learn how to promote the exhibits. I called on a couple of old acquaintances, Carl Metropolitan and Scarp Godenot, for the first two exhibits.

Currently Scarp Godenot’s Flower Worlds is on exhibit through December 28, 2008. During the month of November, aside from Chilbo and Chilbo Connect members, there were over 130 visitors to Chilbo Museum. I have no idea if that is a “good” number, but getting some exposure for Chilbo seems a good thing to me. Scarp reported that he has had some sales from the exhibit, so there has been a bit of benefit for him also.

On December 6, Scarp held a workshop on creating atistic images using a flatbed scanner, the technique he uses for the images in the current exhibit.

The turnout was fairly good and Fleep blew the crowd away by producing a scanned image and uploading it as the workshop was in progress.  She has promised a future blog post on her artistic adventure, so  we will look forward to that.

For the future, I anticipate the next exhibit will be by Misprint Thursday and open some time in January. After that, the calendar is open. If you or someone you know would be interested in exhibiting at Chilbo Museum, please feel free to contact me. I am open to any suggestions, but these are what I would consider “bonus” points:

1. A Chilbo or Chilbo Connect Group member

2. Little or no previous experience exhibiting in Second Life

I did have one person contact me and I thought I had written her name down correctly, Odessa Oliphone. But when I went to Search for her later, no Odessa. Odessa, if you are out there reading this, please don’t think too poorly of me, get in touch and let’s take a look at what you would like to exhibit.

- Corcosman Voom

Chilbo Town Hall - November 2008

In Attendance: Monarchy Republic, Gem Blue, Fleep Tuque, Leslie Forager, Malburns Writer, Alleara Snoodle, Tara Yeats, Tommy Brouwer, Margarette Fouroux, Economic Mip, Sine Rennahan, Corcosman Voom, Lizzette Zenovka, Emru Rau, Rachel Corleone, Kim Link, Dno Vale, Ra Deemster, Telmea Story

1.  Welcome new members! Please friend new residents and first time Town Hall attendees:  Telmea Story, Sine Rennahan, and Leslie Forager

2.  Reminder - All Chilbo residents should complete the annual Chilbo Resident Census Survey 2008 located at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pHSojRbSnGxfHtk1IccQ5Jg&hl=en

We will be reclaiming community property currently in use by residents who do not complete the census by December 13, 2008.

3.  Community Resource Management - Committee System

Folks were a little overwhelmed with the graphics from the last meeting, so Fleep broke things down into smaller bite size chunks for easier digestion. 

Chilbo Executive Committee posters in the Chilbo Town Hall
It was determined that the best way to begin implementing the new committee system for managing community resources is to have members of the community volunteer for the committees they are interested in, and then each committee will meet prior to the December 13, 2008 Town Hall to determine the Committee Chair for that group.   The Committee Chairs will serve a term of 6 months, at which point we will revisit the issue and determine how to proceed.

To volunteer for a committee, visit:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pHSojRbSnGxeW73gUwPzwUw&hl=en

More information will be forthcoming about when the committees will meet for the first time, but the committees should meet and determine who will chair the committee prior to the December 13, 2008 Town Hall meeting.

Also, three other executive positions have been filled to assist with the overall management of the community.  These positions were appointed by Fleep Tuque, and will serve an indefinite term.

- Rachel Corleone, Director of Prim Management & Public Safety
- Malburns Writer, Director of Communications
- Tara Yeats, Director of Technology

These folks are available to assist the committees with planning, publicizing, and organizing their work.  Thank you to Rachel, Malburns, and Tara for volunteering!

Tommy Brouwer will also continue to serve as the European Ambassador for Chilbo, and if anyone is interested in serving as an Asian, South American, or African Ambassador, please contact Fleep Tuque.   The Ambassadors are simply good will agents to help welcome new Chilbo residents from these Real Life geographical areas.  Due to language, time, and cultural differences, we want to ensure that everyone feels welcome in Chilbo.  Please consider volunteering if you live in one of these places!

4.  Announcements/Other Business

- Fleep Tuque will be giving a talk about the “Women of Chilbo” at an upcoming conference on Saturday, November 15, 2008.  Anyone is invited to attend, and more information about the “Virtual Praxis: A Conference on Women’s Community in Second Life” can be found at:  http://events.jvwresearch.org/?p=49

- Gem Blue continues her experiment with the Time Wall in the Soyeonpyeongdo sim.  She has identified a bug in her time graphing tool and is continuing to debug it, and invites anyone who is willing to be a guinea pig for her testing to let her know.  (The Time Wall simply tracks the hours you spend in Second Life, it’s quite interesting to see how often you are logged in!)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Soyeonpyeongdo/13/240/121

Corcosman Voom curates a new exhibit in the Chilbo Museum Center

- Corcosman Voom invites the community to check out current exhibit in the Chilbo Museum Center.  There are several new artists represented in the exhibit, with a number of gorgeous new pieces.  Check it out!  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chilbo/128/19/96

- Tara Yeats is about to have several rentals available in the Mangyeong sim, these could be either residential or commercial spaces.  If you know anyone looking for a rental, please contact Tara for more information.

- Lizzette Zenovka announced that she has had over 100 visitors to the SL HIV Education & Prevention Center in the past two months!  Rachel believes the Center might be one of the most active installations in Chilbo.  Congrats to Liz on this terrific milestone!   Liz has also opened a new Annex to the center in another sim, you can find more information about that at the main center in Chilbo (Madhupak sim).  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/44/201/90

5.  Additions, Expansions, & New Developments in Chilbo

Following the meeting, we visited two new developments in Chilbo.

Visiting Tommy Brouwer’s new Industrial Area in the Mindulle Sim

- Tommy Brouwer is in the process of creating a new Industrial Area in the Mindulle sim, including a new theatre and bar area, and a new store.   The decor is quite gorgeous and we look forward to hanging out in the new theatre and bar!  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mindulle/102/24/113

Residents visiting Sine Rennahan’s new Nature Preserve area in Mujigae
- Sine Rennahan has purchased a largish plot in the NE corner of the Mujigae sim to develop a presence for the Arc of Appalachia Nature Preserve - http://www.highlandssanctuary.org/.   They are building a new museum for the center in Real Life and hope to model the facility in Second Life, as well as provide information and resources for those interested in nature and wildlife education, preserving the last temperate broadleaf forrest in North America, and living an ecologically sustainable life.  Congratulations to Sine for this exciting purchase!  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mujigae/221/185/139

Meeting adjourned.

NEXT TOWN HALL:  Saturday, December 13, 2008 @ 11AM SLT

(A complete transcript of the meeting is available in the Town Hall.)

Meeting Summary for October 18, 2008

In Attendance:  Fleep Tuque, Foxnsane Ceawlin, Tara Yeats, Gem Blue, Malburns Writer, Babel Ballinger, Corcosman Voom, Alleara Snoodle, Economic Mip, Rachel Corleone, Oronoque Westland, Jez Braveheart, Birdie Newcomb, Tommy Brouwer, Krystale Bailey, Emru Rau, Gann McGann, Dno Vale, Valentino Tendaze, Lizzette Zenovka

Fleep Tuque gave a speech on the 2nd Anniversary of the beginning of Chilbo. In the speech, she discussed the tremendous progress Chilbo has made in the last year, nearly doubling the land holdings of the CCBP group, doubling the number of members, added a large public meeting space and a number of public resources and infrastructure projects like the sidewalk megaprims, increased tier contributions,  increased the number of community events and synchronous meetings, and held more Town Halls this year than we did in the first year.

Given this tremendous growth, Fleep laid out a vision for the community and suggests that in 2009, growth should not be the top priority, but rather we should focus on capitalizing on the resources Chilbo already has - great people, generous land and prim resources, and the capacity to work together to do good things, for ourselves, for the people who visit us, for Second Life, and for the real world.

To that end, she shared the results of the Chilbo Community Building Project 2008 Annual Land Census. The total square meters of land owned by the group nearly doubled to 80,448.  In terms of prim use, 23% is Residential, 19% is educational, 16% is Community Service, 13% is Art, Music, or Entertainment, 11% is Parkland or Unused, 9% is Commercial, and 9% is Public Infrastructure.  She also shared comparison charts with 2007 data showing the growth and allocation of prims and land.

In addition, the rapid growth of the community - both in terms of land and people - has resulted in an increasingly complex workload to manage all of the resources of the community.  Fleep proposed a committee structure to help engage more residents in the decision making processes and resource management tasks associated with running the Chilbo community. She provided a proposed organization structure and a workflow process diagram to delineate areas of responsibility and tasks associated with several key components of running Chilbo.

These documents are all available on the Chilbo wiki at http://chilbo.wikispaces.com and the community is asked to provide comments and suggestions prior to the next Town Hall Meeting scheduled for November 8, 2008 @ 11AM SLT.

Fleep has a draft prepared for the Chilbo Community Building Project 2008 Resident Census located at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pHSojRbSnGxfHtk1IccQ5Jg&hl=en - please review and send any suggestions or comments to Fleep.  Survey will go out in a few weeks, anyone who doesn’t respond in a reasonable time period will be removed from any community property they are using.  Exceptions for folks on vacation, having health issues, etc. will of course be considered.

Gem Blue announced the creation of her Time Wall beta project, in which she has created boards that track a person’s time spent in Second Life in a visual form.  Anyone interested in participating in the beta should contact her, and you can visit the Time Wall at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Soyeonpyeongdo/20/244/86

Full transcript and meeting notes have been sent to the group and are archived in the Chilbo Town Hall.

Following the end of the very successful Chilbo Summer Fair, we said goodbye to the Ferris Wheel and fabulous rides, artworks, and projects and made way for a new three month project in Chilbo.

Connectivism Village in Chilbo

The Main Gate of the Connectivism Village down in the south Madhupak area of Chilbo.

This month marks the start of the Connectivism & Connective Knowledge course, a Massively Online Open Course.  From the course info:

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is a twelve week course that will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. It will outline a connectivist understanding of educational systems of the future. George Siemens (SL: Whatever Russel) and Stephen Downes – the two leading figures on connectivism and connective knowledge - will co-facilitate this innovative and timely course. The course will run from September 7, 2008 to November 29, 2008 and will be fully delivered online.

Over 2000 participants from around the world have signed on to take part, and several members of the Chilbo community are fellow students, including Gann McGann,  Olando7 Decosta, Samuel Sputnik, Sine Rennahan, Tara Yeats, and Wainbrave Bernal.  The Chilbo Community is hosting the Second Life cohort of the class, and Cosimo Urbanowicz has also joined some of the early discussions and helped with the construction of the Connectivism Village down in Madhupak.

SL Cohort Wiki: http://chilbo.wikispaces.com/Connectivism+Course+in+Chilbo
SL Cohort Googlegroup: http://groups.google.com/group/connectivismSL
SL Cohort Tag: CCK08SL

Second Life Cohort Weekly Meeting Times:
Tuesdays at 11AM SLT (-7GMT)
Thursdays at 6PM SLT (-7GMT)
Sundays at 5PM SLT (-7GMT)

Purpose of the Connectivism Village

Initially, the impulse was simply to see if other students in the course who also had Second Life accounts were interested in meeting weekly in-world to discuss the Connectivism course.  Though there are many communications tools used as part of the course structure, I’ve begun to feel I haven’t really “met” someone until I’ve “seen” them - even if that meeting and seeing takes place in avatar form.  Psychologically, it seems as if I don’t feel the same level of engagement with another person through their blogs, tweets, or discussion board posts unless I’ve “met” them first, and I was interested in meeting other students in the class.

Thursday is ladies night?  Members of the Connectivism course discuss the first week in Chilbo’s Shrubbery Amphitheatre.

But as I began to read more about Connectivism, I started to think that it might contain concepts that could be better visualized in 3D, and for SL building, the Second Life cohort would need land and prims.  After talking with folks in the community, we cleared up the Fairgrounds area and made room for a temporary Connectivism Village project that would last three months and house members of the course who needed a home base in Second Life.

Small mini-homes and offices are available for members of the Second Life Cohort of the Connectivism course for the duration of the class time.  Some students are interested in finding roomates!

The Fairgrounds area is also large enough to host some central facilities and resources for the course, to help make sense of the plethora of web based feeds, tools, readings, and course media.  The Connectivism Second Life Cohort Office will simplify the process of folks joining the cohort, and the Connectivism Reading Room contains all of the assigned weekly readings and some introductory materials for the course.

The Connectivism Reading Room can help students visualize course readings and discussion archives, as well as provide a place to discuss readings ad hoc through the week.

The Connectivism Course Tools Sundae Shop is a whimsical take on the somewhat overwhelming nature of the course structure.  With several websites, communication mediums, RSS feeds, and course emails, Moodle forums, Facebook, and on and on, it’s a little rough trying to figure out which tools will work for your particular needs.  The Sundae Shop is a metaphor for taking the flavors you like and sampling some of the others, not putting every choice on the sundae!

The “Menu” of various course tools in the Connectivism Sundae Shop.

Beyond the few buildings near the plaza, however, I think it will be the Connectivism Sandbox that will hold the most interesting content of the course.  Here we can play with models, particles, sets, artwork, media.. whatever strikes our fancy as we play with the concepts of the course and learn more about Connectivism.  For those who are new to building in Second Life, visit the Ivory Tower of Primitives for a walk through, self-paced building tutorial.  The Ivory Tower is a cultural institution of Second Life and shouldn’t be missed even if you’ve learned on your own!

An overhead view of the Connectivism Village in the Chilbo Community (Madhupak sim).

I look forward to seeing how the Second Life cohort of the course progresses, and I encourage anyone from Chilbo to participate or check it out!   If you have time to wander down, please say hi to any students you see too!   They are members of the Chilbo Community Building Project group and have the group tag “Chilbo Connect!”   ~  Fleep