Learning Group in Second Life The Learning Group has become the first organization of its kind to utilize Second Life. Second Life, created in 2003  by Linden Lab, is the premier virtual community, currently inhabited by over 8,500,000 residents. It is both a software, technology and virtual space that  offers a global framework for connecting, learning and organizational development and that links geographically dispersed persons in a way that permits social and emotional connection not available in other means of communication. The official opening of our SL Clubhouse, shown above, took place on June 18, 2008. This virtual facility can hold up 45 persons, has separate areas for breakout groups, and projection capacity and other facilitation aids. The Clubhouse is open to members of the ODLG SL Group. Members can join the ODLG SL group by participating in our customized orientations, which use phone conferencing to connect people and walk them through downloading and installing the software, learning SL basic skills, and visiting the Clubhouse. Nonmembers may find joining ODLG worthwhile simply for this benefit, and we are now offering members at $50 per year to those residing outside of New England, primarily on the strength of our virtual offerings, though such members will in fact have the whole package of membership benefits. Our special orientations are being conducted not at the Linden Labs official Orientation Island but at a special orientation site created by Virtual Ability. This new resources allows members more privacy and greater learning ability. For more about the work of Virtual Ability, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A22uIdwvT1c. By designating it as their SL home location, members can use the Clubhouse as a safe place to enter and exit Second Life. In addition, subject to ODLG policies and Clubhouse scheduling procedures, they can use it to connect with other members for informal discussions, networking, and their own presentations.  Are you trying to connect with other members for career change advice? Are you having a work issue concerning which you would like to compare notes with other practitioners? Is there an OD topic that you would like to learn but is not conveniently represented on our program calendar? Do you have an idea or presentation that you would like to test out? All of these possibilities are now afforded to ODLG members at no cost via our Clubhouse. ODLG SL members need only check the calendar, provide two weeks notice to schedule it, and draft a message in order to use this resource for their own Learning Group meetings.  In addition, we hope to use Second life for follow-up session to our regular program calendar. This will permit participation by those unable to attend and continued learning on the program topic. Our first such meeting was  on "OD and Sustainability" (a section at our June “Broadening the Scope of OD Practice” meeting), held on October 16 (see report below). A similar follow-up to our May 21 “Applying Intercultural Concepts” program meeting, with presenter Jaime Wurzel, is in planning. Second Life provides a new to create new and supplement existing ODLG special interest and local area groups group. We are working to revive our Dialogue Group in Second Life and to SL meetings of our Jobs Group. New SL-based SIGs on sustainability, intercultural OD and leadership development have also been proposed. Our Worcester Local Area Group holds bimonthly meetings in Second Life. Using SL to create new local area groups has been suggested. Coordinating Committee meetings have been held the Clubhouse for some time. These are open to all who are interested in the operation of the Learning Group and phone conferencing is use to accommodate those not in the SL group. We are offering a series of SL open houses for shared member learning on SL skills. Sessions on “Getting Around in SL,”  “Presenting Yourself in SL” and "Communicating in Second Life". The last open house was "Using the Learning Group Clubhouse" on January 21 (see notes below). Future open houses will cover “Doing Business in SL,” "Doing Presentations in Second Life," and whatever other such topics members would like and each of the prior sessions will be given again. We also expect to repeat our previous open house offerings. Finally, we are hoping to develop a calendar of SL programs, analogous to the RL one, and invite proposals from those who would like to present. RSVP’s are still open for our first virtual program meeting, “Presencing and Theory U,” which will conducted one we have a sufficient number of members in the ODLG SL Group. Illustrating another benefit of Second Life, we expect to replicate this program to accommodate those not able to make the date selected.   Information Sources on Second Life For some more information on Second Life, see the video at http://light.vpod.tv/?s=0.0.135897 from a presentation made by Steve Nelson of Clear Ink at the TED 2007 conference. Linda’s interview in our October 2007 newsletter gives a good description of relevance of Second Life to OD practice, and her presentation piece on Second Life at September 2007 meeting is another good reference.   For an interesting Boston Globe article on the use of Second Life for Conferencing, see http://tinyurl.com/6m9qh3.  For the official statement on SL by its originator, Linden Labs, which gives "organizational development" as one reason for its creation, see http://lindenlab.com/pressroom/general/factsheets/sloverview. For a Fast Company piece on why businesses are coming back to Second Life after their initial experimentation, see http://tinyurl.com/9s7p74. For information on institutions and organizations in Second Life, see http://tinyurl.com/yctt5c. The include Harvard, MIT, the City of Boston, PETA, American Cancer Society, IBM and CareerBuilder. To learn about the Second Life Grid and how business, schools, and nonprofits are using to integrate virtual and real-world activity, see http://secondlifegrid.net/. Past Learning Group Meetings in Second Life OD and Sustainability Our first presentation in Second Life was October 16, 2008 on "OD and Sustainability". Linda Kelley led this follow-up to the section on that topic at our June "Broadening the Scope of OD Practice" program. Linda explain why sustainability is an OD issue and how it may represent the future of OD practice. For her presentation piece, click here. - - - Reflection in Second Life Our first Second Life discussion meeting was December 4 on "Reflection on Second Life," offered by our Worcester Area Local Group.  To some extent this was a follow-up to our September "Reflection on Practice" program meeting and a preview of the January 2009 WLAG meeting. Those attending found a valuable way to gain shared learning and to connect with members whom they never previously met. For some notes on the meeting, see the Worcester LAG web page. - - - Yacht Cruise Our December 10 "Open House" was the first Learning Group Yacht Cruise, attended by fourteen members. Indeed, illustrating the power of Second Life, we suspect it must have been the first December Yacht Cruise of any area organization. In part, this was a skills building session. We began in the Clubhouse, where, under facilitation of Linda Kelley (Delia Lake) and Jim Murphy (Jem Morales), we reviewed SL skills needed for this event: sitting, teleporting, environmental settings, and flying.  Sitting skill was needed for taking one's place in the yacht. Teleporting was required to get to our destination - and to rescue anyone who might fall overboard. Environmental settings allowed those participating between a sunrise, sunset or other time of day cruise. Flying was relearned "on the fly" as members had to embark or leave the yacht. We then teleported ourselves to Cedar Island. This is a private community (Linda is a member) of researchers and artists who agree to share their learning. Here we were met by two volunteer yacht captains. Linda also has a boat here. We cruised, visiting some of the nearby islands. Linda noted that one of these has a public access canoe; there are also free public concerts at Music Island. Following this enjoyable (even for those who fell into the water - not a painful or dangerous experience as it would have been in real life) experience, some stayed to take a look at the Cedar Island Library. Here are some photos and participant accounts: Convening in the Clubhouse Getting on Board On Linda's Boat Returning (Cedar Island Library shown) "It was great fun and it packed a lot of learning into a short time. This medium has such great potential for leaders and educators - it makes a lot of sense to get on board and learn the ropes (so to speak)! I look forward to more Learning Group meetings in SL to avoid traffic and parking and RL hassles and still be able to learn, interact, and have a well-rounded visual, auditory, and "neo-kinestheic" experience. It takes the "teleclass" or phone conference to another level!" - Mia Corinha (Meg Morgwain) - - - "The cruise was fun. Not only did tears come to my eyes as people fell into the virtual water, over their heads, but many of us also 'missed the boat.' If we learn through play and making ourselves vulnerable, then learn we did.  "One simple command from my skipper was to turn daytime into night for a more beautiful cruise. My embarrassment about not knowing how to turn day into night forced me to ask the question, 'How do I do THAT?'  "From success to failure to success again, I along with other ODLG SL neophytes laughed and eventually, with great trepidation branched out and explored a beautiful world that Delia Lake had generously planned to share with us and take us to. "Second Life is different, unknown and becoming more clear as my graphic card in the computer and the gentle tutelage of Jem and Delia helped each of us succeed in this new and different 'world'. Thanks to all my fellow travelers.  "One side note: Prior to leaving my office for dinner that night, I decided to branch out and change the clothing on my avatar so that I would be dressed appropriately for a cruise. My chosen T-shirt with a volcano on the front seemed perfect. I even shortened my suit pants to resemble shorts. Did anyone notice? Nah! We were all too busy trying to either find the boats, get into the boats or stay in them once on the journey." - David Ehrmann ("Alistaire Seamon") - - - Using the Second Life Clubhouse Linda Kelley and Jim Murphy facilitated this meeting on how members can use the Clubhouse to conduct their own meetings. Three types of meetings were noted: networking, discussion, and presentation. Of course are possible; for example, and doing field trips could be either part of one of those or a meeting in itself. The rules for use of the Clubhouse are pretty simple. They require advanced notice of at least two weeks, not creating time conflicts with any other ODLG meeting, and sending a Second Life notice.  The convener also needs to have requisite skills. For networking and discussion meetings, that means no more than how to get to the Clubhouse, how to sit down, and how to talk. (Actually there are various ways to communicate. We've set up phone conferencing for all of our SL meetings, but microphones and speakers can be used and chat is an alternative.) Presentations obviously knowing how to use the Clubhouse aids for that purpose. Slide show and videos may be easily imported into SL. It was suggested that we could make a slide show on "how to do a slide show presentation" that could be available in the Clubhouse for members to consult and to prepare for their own meetings. The idea for a handout on "Tips for Using the Clubhouse" was put forth and that could be made available as an SL book and/or notecard. It was also pointed out that such ideas need volunteers for implementation! Planned ODLG SL Meetings Note: For upcoming scheduled ODLG meetings, see above. You can use our Calendar page for quick reference. Presencing and Theory U When: Date to be scheduled, 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM (first 30 minutes networking) Where: ODLG Clubhouse Parking and Transportation: Not needed - just sit down at your PC. RSVP: programs@learninggroup.org (members only, limited to first 70 to apply) We will be following up our September 2007 program meeting with Otto Scharmer on "Learning from the Future As It Emerges" with a meeting on "Presencing and Theory U" in Second Life. Facilitating the program will be Linda Kelley (SL: Delia Lake) of Trans-Form, who is also leading the ODLG Second Life group.  A long-time Learning Group member and presenter at our April 2000 “Cross-Cultural OD Interventions” and October 2002 “OD Meets the New Economy” programs and will be presenting on "Leadership for Sustainability" at our July 2008 "Four Views of Leadership" program. She co-facilitated the sections on "Virtual OD" at our November 2007 "Six Ways to Do OD" program, on "OD and Sustainability" at our June 2008 "Broadening the Scope of OD" program, and on "Globalization and Virtual Worlds" at our November 2008 "Six Challenges" program. Linda was a member of our former Steering Committee and now serves on our Coordinating Committee.