The Chilbo Road Press

Yesterday, the Chilbo community played host to a benefit concert and block party in an effort to raise funds for the victims of the January 13 earthquake in Haiti. The benefit raised over L$130,000 in funds with some 500 individual contributions made to the cause.

Ictus Belford plays to a crowd during the live music portion of the fund raiser.

The four-hour event was held at the Madhupak sandbox next to the Chilbo Museum, and was organized by MS Hawker, Chilbo Events Co-chair and Germelshausen Coffeehouse owner, with logistics by Chilbo Residential & Commercial Chair, Kristine Kristan. Kristine also owns Mad Wax Records and K2 Gallery in Madhupak. The Chilbo Road Press provided signage, and will oversee the transferring of funds to the organizations.

The first half featured music acts Kellee Blaylock, Ictus Belford, Avatar Quinzet, Untolerable “Bo” Bohemian and Johnny99 Gumshoe who performed 30 minute sets. DJ Chingy Chun of the Blackhearts Cafe played popular 80’s rock tunes for the second half. In addition to donating their time, all of the performers added their own contributions to the fund. Artist Tegan Jenvieve created a one-of-a-kind auction art piece that garnered additional money.

Artist Tegan Jenvieve creates auction art piece while Untolerable “Bo” Bohemian performs his set.

Several extremely generous contributions were made that ranged up to L$6,000, with event-goers continuously donating throughout the event. The set goal of L$100,000 was reached during the DJed portion of the event, and with 30 minutes left,  supporters dug deep and came through with an additional L$29K, easily surpassing the $L100,000 mark. Additional amounts were also donated after the event.

The L$100,000 goal was surpassed by the end of the show.

The donation heart will be left at the sandbox for the remainder of the long weekend and will be available for donations until Tuesday, January 19, when it will be moved to the Chilbo Road Press office for ongoing contributions. Those who would like to make donations can contact the organizations directly, or visit one of the many benefits that are being held this and next weekend around the grid.

All proceeds collected for the benefit will be split between the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders organizations. For the sake of transparency, documentation of fund transfers will be made available at the Chilbo Road Press office.

From Chilbo correspondent Kristine Kristan:

Chilbo’s own Alleara Snoodle and her team The Passionate Redheads have won the SL Spirit of Relay Award for 2009! She and her team collected more than 2.4 MILLION Lindens (over $9,000 USD)in the Relay for Life!!

Mission Statement from the team:

The Passionate Redheads Team for Relay for Life

Our team members are comprised of people from all over the world. Anyone in need of support and compassion may join. Those who cannot participate in fund raisers for any reason are always welcome to do as much or as little as they can, with a promise that they will never be judged. Some can build, some can entertain, some of us can create clothing or jewelry. Some can hardly bear to participate; it’s just too painful.

We are cancer patients and loved ones of cancer victims. A few have to leave for weeks at a time due to treatment or a death in the family. They are always welcomed home with arms wide open.

The Passionate Redheads team is here for anyone needing to feel a part of Relay for Life. We have given families and survivors a way to fight back, a feeling of empowerment in the face of helplessness.

We do not judge who is doing the best they can manage; people join us seeking hope and encouragement in a dark hour. We strive to take care of each other and any other team needing assistance. I am extremely proud to say that we have succeeded.

This the True Spirit of Relay for Life.

Yours in Service,

Sabine McGettigan, Captain
Passionate Redheads Team, Relay for Life 2009

Relay for Life is a grid wide fundraiser to support the mission of the American Cancer Society.

All of Chilbo wishes to congratulate Alleara and the Passionate Redheads team!

The award display, and Alleara’s own message to the Chilbo community can be visited in the Town Hall Plaza.

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Alleara and the Spirit of Relay award display

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

Residents of Chilbo joined Lizzette Zenovka as she celebrated the opening of the new SL HIV Prevention and Education Center Annex at Tethea.  The main center is located in Chilbo, but the new Annex will provide additional opportunities for outreach.  “We’re working to fight the stigma of AIDS in Second Life,” said Director Lizzette Zenovka, “we’re all at risk.”  Chilbo resident Krystale Bailey will be hosting a fundraiser for the Center on the Modus Vivendi sim on May 24th and 25th.   We hope to see you there and make sure to stop by and check out the new Annex!   posted by Fleep Tuque on Tethea using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]

Fleep Tuque dancing with Alanagh Recreant at the island opening of Virtual Africa!  Created by Uthango Social Investments, Virtual Africa works to create a gateway for Africans into virtual worlds, and specifically into Second Life, to advocate for their real world innovative programmes in sustainable development and establish linkages with like-minded pioneers.  See the Virtual Africa blog at http://slafrica.wordpress.com/ and make time to stop by and learn more about their work!  posted by Fleep Tuque on Robben Island using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]