THIS IS SOMETHING! United Nations Use Second Life to Fight Poverty

Our lovely AW have done it again.... have a look!

--->>> United Nations Use Second Life to Fight Poverty

http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/200...fight-poverty/

You want to do more? Contact Aimee Weber or Iumi Cline in-world........(cont)

DO IT!

/Tina

/If this is wrong placed or not allowed please move it or take it away... I liked the thing I have not find any about it at the official ways in forum so.. I want to share this.. please.. please.. let it stay.. its a heartbraking feeling.../

from Services to Resident-Run Websites.

hard to find the correct place for this one, but due to the link going to a 3rd party site it should fit best in here. (and thanks for the heads up on this.. very cool!)

Link was damaged in the move or something.

Correct link is http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/10/01/united-nations-use-second-life-to-fight-poverty

The Secretary-General of the United Nations called, he said he can't log in either. The UN gets to, "Waiting for Region Handshake" then "Login Packet never received by Login Server." Soooo, they're switching to 'THERE'.

How is wearing a wristband in SL fighting poverty? I'm not betting on all those millions starving people around the world thanking those who have fast enough computers and buy clothing for avatars for wearing a bloody wristband.

Thanks for the comments! Luth, I can certainly see where you are coming from.

Since I started with this project I have seen a lot of concrete thinking regarding how our efforts will make any sort of difference. That is to say, if you don't have a spoon in your hand, you couldn't possibly be feeding the hungry. But the big picture is more complex than that.

Grassroots efforts where people take it upon themselves to raise money and supplies have always been very important. But also important is the need to get our governments to fight poverty. The governments of the world have massive resources that, if mobilized against poverty, could create enduring changes for the better.

Compelling our governments to use these resources will require different kinds of actions than carrying supplies to the poor or raising money directly. Instead we need to inform and motivate the public so that they can voice en masse our desire to make these goals happen.

So down to the nitty gritty. The UN Millennium Campaign to "Stand Up against Poverty" is intended to inform the populations of the world about eight promises their governments made at the Millennium Summit 2000 to end extreme poverty by 1015. These promises include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality, a reduction in child mortality, improved maternal health, aid against AIDS and malaria, ensured environmental sustainability, and the creation of a global partnership for development.
(http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=138312)

So our governments already agreed to do this! The fear is that come 2015, these promises will be slid under the rug and forgotten. The only way to prevent them from doing this is to make sure the citizens of each of those governments are aware of these promises and make it known that shirking this responsibility is not acceptable.

So the Stand Up campaign is educational in nature. If you weren't aware of the promises your government made until this project came to Second Life, then that's a success. I'm with you 100% that clicking on a pixellated wrist band isn't going to order a hungry person a pizza.

But every person who clicks on the wrist band this 15-16th, or "Stands Up" at the real world UN events will be counted as individuals who are aware of our government's promises and want them to keep them. If the number of people turns out to be very large, then governments are going to feel more pressure to follow through with the promises they already made to end extreme poverty in the world.

I hope this helps! And thanks to everybody who has been helping out so far!

As a huge U2 fan dating back to around 83-84 (Hey.. I was young! this doesnt make me old!!) I cannot resist quoting Bono here.

"We don't want your money, we want your voice"

That doesnt make sense to many. Many people balk at this thought. But as Aimee said up there the idea is to raise awarness. Keeping the governments of the world reminded that we WILL hold them accountable for the promises they made will do more to help with this stuff then sending five bucks to famine relief. These thoughts of using voice and showing support can help make more change.

I think it is a pretty cool thing to bring to SL. As she said if you hadn't been aware of the promises made before then the standees and the wristbands have done the job.

Sometimes something like this will speak to someone and get them wondering what else they can do. People who never saw themselves helping with famine relief all of a sudden begin to wonder how they can change things in whatever way they can.

At the very smallest one must ask themselves how it is bothering them? So what if X amount of people support this? It really isn't hurting a thing, right? Though it could be the spark that begins something even bigger.

I'm a little skeptical that the United Nations actually know what Second Life is, or have specifically requested the help of any members of Second Life, which is very much the way that article reads...

If you want to get behind a UN established scheme then great, but saying the UN has come knocking on your door and formed a partnership with yourself to achieve X, Y and Z? Well, Second Life IS the place where all your dreams can come true...

I've spoken about Second Life with a member of a UN committee, IRL and inworld. I met him at Strong Angel III, in which I participated and where I gave a Second Life demo. So yup, Jsecure, the UN knows about SL.

Anyhow, Aimee probably didn't get a phone call out of the blue from some guy saying, "Hey, Butterfly Girl, I'm from the UN, and we want you!" It was more likely an emailed request for a proposal from a marketing company hired to run this campaign. That's more often how these things go.

BTW, your campaign is looking really slick, Aimee. Nice work.

Mr. Hanks, maybe not everyone at the UN knows what sl is about... but, trust me there are those of us who have had great interest in using sl for sometime now, as a training ground for conducting disaster response workshops and using it as part of crisis management.

of course thanks to the red tape and the blasted bureaucracy, we've had some "issues" ... but.. there are many relief agencies within the system who have begun to show keen interest.. considering that NOAA are now in, it wont be long before ECHO and joint logistics start to crawl in.

Is it really about, patience or red tape.. i dont know.. i enjoy working around the red tape as most of us have been doing. Currently, grid scalability is a huge thing.

I was skeptical that this was a grey goo Trojan, but a google search turns this up.

http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/action/sl

The WhoIs database has a email referance to http://www.undp.org/
So I would say it's legit.

PS:
I’m not just paranoid, They ARE out to get me.

Edit: To prevent anyone taking advantage of this, you should get your wrist bands at the places named in the above link.

Midnight City, Spaceport Alpha, Emerce Een Abbotts, Hawthorne

Hi. I hadn't anticipated concerns over the legitimacy of this project's affiliation with the United Nations, but you raise some valid questions! I hope I can set your minds at ease...

The official Stand-Up website is here that describes their involvement in Second Life:
http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/action/sl

You can find a link to this site at the United Nations Millennium Campaign page here:
http://www.millenniumcampaign.org

The UN.org page that describes the Millennium Project (link on the lower right side of the page):
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Finally, if you are still not convinced of the legitimacy of this project, you can contact Amil Husain (amil.husain@undp.org) at the United Nations Development Program. He is my contact at the United Nations and can confirm my involvement and the legitimacy of of our Second Life presence.


Today was a fantastic kick-off for this historic project. The rock band Sugarcult played for Second Lifers as well as real lifers to help promote the Stand Up project!
(Photos of the event can be found here: http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/Default.aspx?Search=sugarcult)

So tomorrow is the big day. If you are in support of these efforts, please please please drop by Midnight City and grab a wrist band! Remember when you click the wrist band, stay in the "stand up" pose for one full minute!

Thanks SO much for your support!

<3 <3 <3

It is a lot more complex then that.

1. If the last US elected president stands up and says that he's going to get more done lobying the private sector to help stop poverty instead of the usless government, that's saying something.

2. I asked this before, but was never answered: when was the last time the US government did anything that the people asked them to?

3. How are the current foriegn aid policies going to help stop the widespread issue of HIV in Africa? Where any health clinic mentioning the word birth control or abortion gets all funding stopped.

4. The current US government has no issue cutting funding to assistance to its own residents. Has no issues with keeping the people living on minium wage technially below the poverty line. They are doing these things to their own voters, yet they don't care.

All this is going to do is make people feel better about themselves while drinking their coffee grown by slave labour and sitting in their 'made in the us' but really in a group of islands between here and china where people go into debt thinking they are buying a trip to the actual states. A nice little place where women have a 50/50 chance of ending up as sex slaves.

Everyone knows there is poverty. My entire generation were scolded about not finishing dinner because there are starving children in China. I'm just tired of hearing how great someone is for doing something that will not make one bit of difference with the current state of US politics.

Then again you can just flame me because I'm an a dirty liberal expat. Who cares.. its 5am GMT and I probably won't read it.

It's a real dilemma. I've had this conversation with people with regards other issues too (eg. recycling.) On the one hand, making an empty gesture that doesn't directly address the problem is, yeah, going to make people feel let off the hook so they don't have to do something real. On the other hand, raising the issue to public consciousness is better than having people sit around not thinking about the problem at all.

You can't just jump straight from nothing to activism. First you have to get people thinking about the issue to build momentum to do more.

Nope. I won't

I am convinced there is a real UN project, and this is an event and/or thing affiliated with that.

I don't like particularly the way the article at the top gives the impression to the reader that the UN has come in session and asked that Aimee Weber and/or Second Life do an event for them.

I think Second Life has a lot of serious stuff going on in it, like the BBC actually hiring an island for a year to transmit from, and real established artists in the pop and rock world coming into SL to perform. SL has a lot of credibility. I don't want someone to take away SL's credibility by exaggerating the scope of current or future projects - it's not necessary. I think it's great that a UN project is also being run here in SL. But I'm not comfortable with people implying that the UN has officially requested that Second Life do something. Not only does that take credibility from Second Life, it undermimes the UN as an organisation. People might wonder why a body as powerful and important as the UN are in session debating an online world, especially at a time such as the North Korea nuclear test, and with all the conflict still in our world.

Just say it as it is. I mean, the fact there's a UN project going on and people in SL have got involved with it, that's a good thing. There's no need to exaggerate the scope of it. It's enough as it is.

That original article says the UN with Aimee Webber. That's just bad journalism. Here's how the BBC might write it.

The UN (filler stuff here) has launched a project which aims to (filler stuff here)... Several organisations and people from around the world are answering the call and getting involved in the project, including Aimee Webber of online world Second Life (filler stuff here)...

See the fact Aimee is being a part of this project is a good thing and you can call it what it is, no need to pretend she is a partner organisation of the UN or that they came in session and summoned her. That's overkill.

Jsecure,

I'm not entirely sure what you are looking for, but I will try again.

Amil Husain (amil.husain@undp.org) from the United Nations Development Program contacted me (not the other way around) to bring the Stand-Up project into Second Life. I went to the United Nations offices on the east side of Manhattan for planning meetings. I have been in telephone contact with him about four or five times a week for the past two weeks. I say again, they contacted me and asked me to do this. They are funding it. When I bill them for expenses, I'm billing the "United Nations Development Program - UN OPS".

Now you are expressing concerns about SL's credibility, but you should know that Amil and I are working with Catherine Smith (Catherine Linden) from Linden Lab's Public Relations department. She has been working with us to get RL exposure for this event and helped to get the story in last week's issue of Wall Street Journal. I mention this because Linden Lab's public relations department believes this program will aid Second Life's credibility, not harm it.

Regarding your comment on other people's work with established artists in the Pop Rock world ... we just did an in-world concert with rock band Sugarcult (www.sugarcult.com). Once again, I was working with Amil from the UN and Sugarcult's management and engineering team to organize the event, avatar creation, stage creation, effects, and with the help of my dear friend Rob from the Exploratorium, we got streaming servers set up for them. The event was yesterday and it was a great success!

I don't know what else to say. You can contact Amil and Catherine if you still believe I am trying to deceive, but at this point you may decide not to believe them either. You sound irrevocably convinced of what you are saying.


On a lighter note...TODAY IS THE DAY. Read the literature, Click the wrist band and hold the pose for a full 1 minute, and spread the word! Thank you so much for your help so far!

And just an d FYI really, on a sidenote ... various aid agencies which falls under the UN and other relief organizations and non profits will be officially requesting SL and those within to host campaigns... in the upcoming months.

maybe i should also say that this is for now.. unofficial info and that the stand up against poverty campaign inside SL has kicked off to a great start.

Thank you Ms. Weber, folks at undp and ocha and everyone else in SL.

cheers!

Aimee,

Mostly I wanted people to not state that "the UN" is coming to SL to ask for events to be done for them, cause that's a pretty frivilous activity for the UN, organising events in a virtual world.

Following your comments, I can see I can't possibly fault the writer of the original article (or yourself, though I didn't intend this). Even if it was only one employee working within the UN, it would seem the contact was from them.

On an aside, that does harm the reputation of the UN in my opinion, cause I always had this vision they were out there, trying to make the world a better place.

It seems they have time to organise events in virtual worlds though, which in my view dents my impression of them considerably.

Maybe Kofi Anan is in his office now playing World of Warcraft and thinking if he should organise an event in that virtual world.

There's no fault with anyone in Second Life. I just stopped believing in the UN.

Ha ha in the new found spirit of believing the UN is in fact a big money wasting boil on the world's ass which doesn't actually do that much good work, I remember now a Simpsons reference which is appropriate.

The children are doing a model UN, with each of them representing a nation. They all start a squabble, and Principal Skinner says "Come now children... Do you want to waste your time in petty squabbles, or do you want to be like the real UN".

I guess if I think they're wasting time and money on side shows, I'm certainly not the first to make the point.

That's fine. It's not my intention to convert you. Only to correct any false statements, and I think we are all set with that now. Thanks!

P.S. here is more info about yesterday's Sugarcult concert:

http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/10/15/sugarcult-stands-up-against-poverty-virtually/

Aimee,
Someone, somewhere along the line in talking about this event made a comment that this UN group is not THE U.N. (United Nations). Is this the U.N., a element of it or something else entirely?