(This has been reposted from the Nonprofit Commons website. You can see the original post here.)

Written by guest blogger, MeiMei Fox, @meimeifox and cross-posted to TechSoup blog.

First for the fun: a new machinima and live mixed video by Drax that features the TechSoup Community team behind the scenes working on the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwAZ1-BstjE

And for the how and why of what we're doing in this community:
The people of TechSoup have been deeply saddened by the recent devastation in Haiti. We have been so inspired and impressed with the many ways folks are using mobile and other technologies to help with disaster relief. Together we have blogged about some of these relief efforts from the great folks at Ushahidi and the Extraordinaries as well as those of our donor partners.

Originally posted by gooddogzbeth on Nonprofit Commons.

My avatar, Biji Mornington, has been attending Nonprofits in SecondLife (NPSL) meetings at the Nonprofit Commons (NPC; http://nonprofitcommons.org/) on Friday mornings. So when Megan Keane (Penguin Asana in SL) asked me to live-blog this mixed-reality event, I said yes. A lot of the buzz at NPSL meetings of late has been about the launch of NPC's second island, Aloft, and plans for this morning's mixed reality launch event. Our panelists are physically here at the Netsquared Conference and virtually inworld at Aloft. Here in San Jose, CA we can see avatars gathering at Aloft, and at Aloft the avatars also see our panelists by video. Evonne Heyning (In Zenzo) introduced our panel:

More photos here

This panel is a mixed reality event - taking place both in the room and in Second Life. It is also the launch of the Nonprofit Commons Second Sim - you can learn more about that here.

Description: Nonprofit Commons in Second Life Mixed Reality Event: Panelists discuss their work and the in the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life and the benefits of virtual worlds for social change. This mixed-reality event occurs simultaneously in Second Life and features interactivity between the two worlds.

Hi everyone--

I'm Megan Keane (aka Penguin Kuhn in Second Life) and I'm the Online Community Manager at TechSoup. I'm excited to be attending my first Net2 conference and have been overwhelmed already by the amazing people, interesting ideas, and innovative projects that are here!

I am excited to be at the NetSquared conference alongside several other non-profits actively using virtual worlds in their work. Global Kids ( http://olp.globalkids.org ) have a number of interesting virtual world and transmedia projects that I look forward to presenting to folks on Wednesday, along with my colleagues. And I can't want to hear about the other mash-up projects being proposed by others and meet other non-profit and tech industry folks interested in the social media space.

Now it's after midnight and I should get some rest before tomorrow's activities begin.

Join in the Celebration of the Launch of the Second Nonprofit Commons Sim! Nonprofits and their supporters will be hosting a mixed reality grand opening celebration in San Jose as part of the NetSquared conference and in the metaverse on Wednesday, May 28, 2008, starting at 10:00 A.M. PST/SLT (Second Life Time), in the new second Nonprofit Commons location.

Highlights:

Hi Everyone! My name is Rebecca Wise and I founded and direct the Transgender Resource Center in Second Life. We've been invited to participate in the Second Life Mixed Reality event being held in the Kistler Room between 10:10AM and 11:30AM on day 2 of the conference. During this event I'll speak briefly on the profound impact that Second Life has had on my own life and how the success of the Transgender Resource Center powerfully demonstrates the potential benefit that immersive online communities can have in addressing serious behavioral health issues. As time permits, I'll also share a few of the key lessons we've learned while attempting to build and manage a rapidly growing community in Second Life. 

Since our time during the mixed reality event is limited, please feel free to chat with me at any time during the conference for a more in-depth discussion on any of these topics or visit me in-world where I'm known as Jani Myriam.