e x o t e r i c a

• 15:52 making the impossible look easy- but first, tamales and pupusas. #
• 19:21 @rikomatic did you see wired's image from SL? tinyurl.com/6xm8vv #
• 19:22 @missrogue I need a good poprocks and vodka recipe for Popstars and Rockstars night in Hollywood, sounds like fun! #

oh and by the way, I love you!

I love building new worlds; it is the most provocative challenge for a mixed media artist in today's horizon.

Community building in virtual space has risen to the level of an art form with the advent of multiplayer worlds with real world challenges embedded within our games. We have learned to move beyond the screen and into new lives through avatars and words typed on a page and this extraordinary new type of remotely connected community has grown to maturity in less than 50 years; less than 30 years in a mode like our current incarnation of internet with basic chat and filesharing.

Our communities are not monolithic; we are as diverse as our imaginations will let us be. Through the USC Network Culture Project we were honored to give out awards this week for the Second Life and the Public Good Community Challenge. We awarded a million lindens to five great groups building out real world solutions that benefit many, having an opportunity to touch millions more with their unique work. Ability Commons, one of the award winners, takes the ideas created in the Nonprofit Commons and extends them to create a gathering point for all living with challenges and disabilities that are looking for support.

Native Lands is a project that I am personally very happy to see win an award in this challenge. We will keep land for them at the Annenberg Archipelago and they will have an opportunity to crosspollinate with communities at Justice Commons, Aloft Nonprofit Commons, Virtual Gitmo and the Wallsickness team, Interactive Accessible Home, Texas Obesity Research Center and Ability Commons. We are thrilled that these groups are coming together to reside and grow their work around the world.

This week I had the pleasure of visiting Great Strides equine therapy organization in Maryland, one of the first nonprofits that I got actively engaged with through Second Life. They have raised quite a bit by expanding their profile beyond their local region and building a beautiful horse farm on Aloft Nonprofit Commons. Brad from GS described how Second Life allowed his regional nonprofit to go international and meet new supporters around the world who would have never otherwise encountered their work. There is a history of dynamic engagement in these spaces tracking back as far as our chat.

I'm looking forward to new adventures in community building with some of my favorite projects, environmental causes coming together for a new Nonprofit Commons and the opportunity to share a new vision of collaborative building at major virtual world conferences this fall, including State of Play in Chicago this October where we will change the way we view working together.

A good summary of the carbon footprint of flexible virtual worlds containing advanced design control and persistent identity can be found in The Content Economy's look at Carbon-free living and energy use through virtual meetings and business engagement. In this case, I think it's easy to be green....but I do love Kermit's thoughts on the topic:

<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/37996610752@N01/2631845552"><img style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/2631845552_29132d10fa.jpg" /></a>It's not easy, being green<br />Having to spend each day the color of the leaves<br />When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold<br />Or something much more colorful like that<br /><br />It's not easy being green<br />It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things<br />And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're<br />Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water<br />Or stars in the sky<br /><br />But green's the color of Spring<br />And green can be cool and friendly-like<br />And green can be big like an ocean, or important<br />Like a mountain, or tall like a tree<br /><br />When green is all there is to be<br />It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why<br />Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful<br />And I think it's what I want to be<br /><br />

• 07:59 Still impressed by how many conversations about mysticism and modern media we had on the dance floor last night, interspersed with hugs. #
• 08:41 @halcyon I <3 the blog image of you as the Statue of Liberty! Let Love Live! tinyurl.com/6oetfa #
• 09:25 Why must the interwebs be broken? Fail fail fail fail fail, please someone fix this. #
• 10:36 New IAMAMO intern 8 year old Solomon is down testing new video games, reporting back on his favorites. Taught him how to work dual screen. #
• 10:49 Looking for your best recommendations for a backchannel provider for interactive conferences. What do you like to talk on most? #
• 11:28 Grrr, laptop monitor dead again, hinge is off. Never was fixed right. Will pay someone food and $ to come over and make it work right! #
• 12:06 Finished and submitted Creative Capital application. Wish ManorMeta luck! #
• 22:01 Inspiration for my first theremin lessons from local LA thereminist Randy George and EtherAether: tinyurl.com/2rbz4k #

oh and by the way, I love you!

ManorMeta Mash at http://inkenzo.blip.tv

Originally posted on inkenzo.vox.com

• 09:54 Played the new theramin @toyshoppe made for us for a half hour, but gotta run to work, announcing Public Good Community Challenge winners @4 #
• 09:56 Yeah, that's right! At four PM pacific linden flower time we will give away one million lindens to change-making virtual communities. ;-) #
• 12:19 @Jharyaconel Welcome ghost dinger! Follow @techcrunch, @mashable and @socialmediaclub, along with @bbcworld and @nprnews for useful stuff. #
• 13:07 @hrheingold OK, no more enhancements for you, I want to keep @barackobama around for awhile please! #
• 13:17 Getting ready to announce awards for Community Challenge today! 4PM PST at tinyurl.com/6qu2yf #
• 15:24 Sorry to miss the currency conversations in Chicago but glad to be giving away philanthropic awards virtually today. Big hugs to all of you #
• 16:05 starting the community challenge award ceremony! tinyurl.com/5qsrpj #
• 17:03 Just gave away awards to Ability Commons, Native Lands, Texas Obesity Research Center, Interactive Accessible & Mauerkrainkheit/Wallsickness #
• 18:22 My handsome @toyshoppe surprised me by building us a theremin while I was away this week! Can't wait to play it thru the tesla coil. #
• 18:23 Iran built a tesla coil theremin as their Weapon of Mass Distraction, but the US should have no fear, we have one now too. Peace thru music. #
• 18:30 @girlgamer Perhaps you have some great interactive play ideas for our arcade at State of Play in Chicago? Planning for October. #
• 21:09 Going to $2 Tuesdays at Zanzibar to see my favorite DJ on the planet, thank you Jesse Wright for making me a happy woman. #
• 01:49 @genocideolympics, Team Darfur and Dream for Darfur, a look at what we can be: inkenzo.vox.com/ for blog/image. #
• 01:50 Goodnihgt new moon, goodnight stars, goodnight night light shining bright. Much dancing + godiva chocolate = happiness with mystic friends. #

oh and by the way, I love you!

A message for the six billion of us sitting on the sidelines, and the few thousand who will take on the challenge of competition.

Apparently I overheat on the dance floor quite often.  Shot by MaeMae in Mexico this year.

hot love - tribe.net

Sometimes green fairies like things that are red, blue and yellow too! Taking the leftover icing from my sister's cake decorating adventures, I got my first lesson in cupcake icing 101 around midnight a few nights back. The cake underneath is a gluten free spice cake, and the icing is a sweet almond flavor. I ate this one myself and it was DELICIOUS.

Next time I'll make you one!



And this is the little girl who inspired such fun, my two year old niece Sara! Happy Birthday Sara!

• 06:09 mmm...caribou chai. Good morning DC metro center! Going to talk the future of social media with the govt service learning specialists. #
• 09:20 11th street btw H and I streets, Haad Thai. Stop by and say hi! #
• 12:15 DCA > ATL > LAX > HME! (the best destination.:) #
• 16:28 @egradman sorry i missed your EDC show, and the naked man on acid on top of the 15ft. Dinosaur! #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 14:39 Got to check out Great Strides equine therapy with SL friend Veri Oddfellow, met the horses and volunteers! Nice to be on the farm. #
• 15:30 Welcome @girlgamer! I put your sticker on my desk to keep me focused on the important things, like feminine playfulness. ;-) #
• 16:25 Finishing up a grant application while waiting for sushitime! Time to rock the funding for ManorMeta. #
• 20:11 @twit2art Dreaming soon, have been wearing the dreamcatchers in my heart all month, feathers and stones in the breeze, feeling all of you. #
• 03:39 DANCE! Thanks @renzephyr for Hot Chip w/Habbo machinima: Ready for the Floor! tinyurl.com/5c34w4 #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 19:49 Has anyone ever heard of surveymonkey being hacked before? Account seems to be.....gone....... #
• 04:14 last of my childhood memories now covered in guano. Decided not to disturb the bats in the attic. #

oh and by the way, I love you!

Imagine rebuilding the real world from the ground up, prim by prim.  What would you change and how would you create public good?

Five finalist projects are realizing their revisions with the Second Life and the Public Good Community Challenge.  Now through June 30th you can vote for your top three of these five amazing endeavors to be awarded a total of almost one million Linden dollars! 

On July 1st at 4PM the University of Southern California's Network Culture Project will award the top three with L$100,000 a month for three months to build their dream of public good from the virtual world.  Avatars can take a minute right now to determine who will win the big awards to be given out at the International Island amphitheater on Monday afternoon.

The projects currently up for awards:

Texas Obesity Research Center
Native Lands Cultural Outreach
Mauerkrankheit/Wallsickness
Interactive Accessible Home
Ability Commons

Any avatar can vote for their top three projects and offer resources to these endeavors; volunteer to help them build out a new community or reach out and partner with these projects to grow real world impact from Second Life.  Voting ends June 30th so send in your feedback today and visit these projects on the web or on International Island to explore new ways to rebuild the real world through virtual efforts.

This community challenge is part of ongoing philanthropic research by the USC Network Culture Project at the Annenberg School for Communication based in Los Angeles, provided with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, cosponsors of the State of Play conference where awardees will present their new work in October 2008. 

Thank you for participating through your votes and feedback and by helping us build vibrant communities in virtual spaces.

For more information contact Resident Annenberg inworld or email networkculture@gmail.com. 

Originally posted on inkenzo.vox.com

• 06:24 @seethruskeleton If everyone stops watching the television news (and other shows) they will have to change the current. No eyes = no $$. #
• 06:26 Enjoying listening to my two year old niece watch my machinima (happy birthday Sara!) while we listen to the new utero baby heartbeat. #
• 07:35 @itsthomas Hopefully your kids aren't reading twitter yet, or they'll know your fairy secrets! It's fun being a fairy sometimes.... #
• 11:19 Have free time for lunch in DC on Sunday, wheeee! send d msg to me, as replies here still aren't working well, and let's do lunch. #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 16:49 Hey! Time to vote for the Community Challenge: tinyurl.com/5mawlm #
• 16:54 Oh, and big surprise....Get Smart is quite funny. Rule #1 for making a good action/comedy: hire Mel Brooks to punch up the script. #
• 17:53 Happy that my 13 year old cousin loves TSL. He can't decide between being mech, a dragon or a dinosaur, so why not all three? #
• 19:25 Pulling metrics, writing reports, reading sweet quotes. Not enough time for work + family, rough timing in the middle of our reunion! #
• 20:11 Ben Affleck does a guest stint on ABCNews on 4million+ dead in the Congo: tinyurl.com/5nyewh #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 16:32 enjoyable day at maymont park, showing my 13 year old cousin how to be a good delinquent (don't get caught!) #
• 20:23 missing home. Selling two Elysium tickets. Looking to go deeper into energy innovation, starts within. Focus. #
• 20:27 and yes, no burn this year. Going further, new challenges. We have so much more ahead. #
• 20:58 missing home. Selling two Elysium tickets. Looking to go deeper into energy innovation, starts within. Focus. #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 11:04 On city #2 of 4 today, getting an hour of work in on airport wireless. Sad to see George Carlin is gone. #
• 11:05 Next to DC and Virginia....see a few of you in Richmond! Looking forward to offline time with family and my sister's graduation. #
• 12:28 @rikomatic good luck with Metanomics with the good doctor Ludovico! Sitting on tarmac in milwaukee, no wifi to see the show. #
• 14:23 diverted to dayton, make that 5 cities in one day, hopefully. DC airspace is full. #
• 19:35 finally with my family, stuck in traffic. Longest travel day punctuated by rather depressing conversation. #
• 22:38 the worst traffic seen in years was on I95 in rural virginia at midnight. Sat on highway for 3 hours with screaming niece. #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 10:56 going out on lake wonona #
• 14:14 Last dinner in Madison before the Milwaukee-DC-Richmond run tomorrow. Cooking a fabulous gluten-free Italian meal for the family tonight! #
• 18:54 @rikomatic Don't worry, twitterflirting is half the fun! Just don't tell my hotties that I said that. <3 #
• 19:00 @bettinatizzy anytime, especially on the sustainability questions, ask @greengurus for any questions... @jediwright and others know TONS. #
• 19:37 Thanks for posting the Tibetan torch story @PamO...Inside Potala with the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jamesreynolds/ #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 10:17 Finishing SL demos at the National Women's Music Festival; surprised to meet so many social media newbies here in Madison. Brave new worlds. #
• 10:20 @keystone Can we meet up for gluten free pizza or tea while I'm in Madison? Want to hear more about your studio wikitecture project! #
• 13:49 Looking forward to the new cirque berzerk show under the big top in downtown LA, July 24-27! cirqueberzerk.com/show/index.html #

oh and by the way, I love you!

• 08:50 hard to do a workshop or meet with #nonprofitcommons with no internet working at convention center #
• 08:55 sorry ladies, i know you've waited a long time. Nice to be at a gathering with so many curious lesbians- we'll have to start with talking! #
• 11:16 Glad to find that every town I've visited in the US this year has roller derby teams and out-and-happy lesbians. Go girls! #
• 11:16 Time to vote for your top three virtual projects/communities: tinyurl.com/5mawlm #
• 13:10 Following #pdfdebate with @mikenelson and @lizmair, @anamariecox moderating. www.techpresident.com/blog/ #
• 15:57 sorry ladies, i know you've waited a long time. Nice to be at a gathering with so many curious lesbians- we'll have to start with talking! #
• 16:00 good music on tonight here in Madison, the gorgeous ladies of rock await! #
• 17:26 listening to Paprika at the national womens music festival; all women worldbeat acid rock. Genrebending awesomeness #
• 17:41 a big room of lesbians, some with canes & wheelchairs, all doing the chacha. Best guitarist i've heard all year. #
• 18:52 sonia is singing in arabic, hebrew, spanish and english. The sign language interpreter is so confused but the music needs no translation. #

oh and by the way, I love you!