My take on the meeting with Madori and Elli

[Sudane Erato]

I attended the meeting today with Madori and Elli, and I offer here my opinion about the project after listening to them.

I am more positive than ever that the CDS should join up in this project. Here is why.

From Madori's comments, it's clear that LL is very little involved with this project. But they offer two essential functions, and she made it clear, I thought, that they WILL INDEED carry through with those functions. (1) They have reserved an area which cannot be moved into without being passed upon by the group of Eduverse estates. (2) They will perform moves into, out of, and even within this region for the admitted estates for free.

I consider the provision of a free hub region less significant, but very nice and certainly something that will get used.

Next, we heard from Elli, who is apparently a member of the organizing group. The concept of the organizing group, we heard from her, is a loosely organized consortium of estates which will set basic guidelines for the coordinated functions of the area, but basically allow each estate to operate in its own interest.

Why do I find this interesting, and especially interesting for the CDS? Because these are EXACTLY the dynamics which caused the formation of the the United Sailing Sims (USS) perhaps 15 or more years ago. We were a consortium of private estates which came together to join up to improve the desirability of our estates, and we were subsequently invited by LL to become the founding private estate element of the Blake Sea region. I cannot emphasize strongly enough the value in the strength in numbers when estates manage to work cooperatively... and in this case, with the tacit support of LL from the outset. Today, the USS estates on the eastern boundary of the Blake Sea are among the most valuable areas in SL, and certainly hugely visible.

Some will say... yes... but we are not planning on connecting the estates, except through these portals.

I am going to say here something that some might feel is uncomfortable, and maybe unsettling. The future of this project will see the connecting of the estates. I don't know how exactly... but it will involve the development of relationships among the project members, and the creative use of growth and the map. Sooner or later, the members of this project will find ways to connect their regions, and this area will slowly grow, much as the USS has.

And eventually... keep in mind here, that the focus of this project is EDUCATION, a cultural value theme, which LL themselves will want to see grow... eventually, LL will propose to move the whole thing to a more prominent place on the map. This is not just a desirable and fun place for family-friendly recreation (i.e. the Blake Sea). LL facilitated the Blake Sea because they considered it a positive structure that they could point to for attracting new residents. EDUCATION is even loftier, and if this project is successful then LL has another focal point for attracting new interest. As VW begins again to possess the RL metaverse, and Facebook/META pours in its billions, the restored Philip Rosedale will definitely "get it". If he hasn't already.

So... yes... I strongly urge the community to not only join this project, but plan on taking an active role. I think that CDS could well be a dominant force in its evolution.

Sudane..................

[Almut Brunswick]

I fully agree with Sudane's analysis and share Kyoko's and Wordsmith's enthusiasm for the Eduverse project. It will be a good thing to get rid of the quite isolated existence of the CDS in favor of a more connected and "networked" future along with other regions/communities which all have this general interest in educational matters in common.

Despite some fears in advance that Madori's visit could become a somehow cramped ceremony when one of the Lindens descents to the ordinary SL mortals, so that we had to submit prepared questions beforehand to a nominated moderator, Madori turned out as a friendly and pragmatic person to talk directly to. Same applies for Elli who is - by the way - accidentally a friend of mine since our common MachinEVO workshop in 2014. I was very pleased to see so many of us showing up to the meeting and contributing actively with thoughtful questions and ideas. Therefore, I'm quite sure that the CDS as a potential member region of the Eduverse is seen as a real asset by Madori and Elli, though we are not explicitly an educational sim like for example Caledon Oxbridge. We have, however, a number of active or potential educators and creators, and even some more or less "hibernating" NGOs like The Guild which could be revived when there would be more interest from outside the CDS. Bottom line is that the Eduverse project will likely work as a catalyst for unleashing our existing potentials in many ways.

This return of the Lindens to their original roots from the heydays of SL to give education a special focus (after many years of just looking on generating profits at all costs), makes me smile with a bit irony. But of course, I appreciate this change in mind, because SL can be a perfect learning machine, but you need to learn how to use it best.

My experience in the past especially with RL educational institutions as well as with RL teachers participating on SL educational workshops is that they often lack a concept how to use this virtual environment for their purposes in an optimal way. That comprises both the chances and the limits of virtual learning environments. Sadly, this lack of experience, imagination and stamina often causes a premature abandoning of educational projects as soon as the first problems occur. An often heard argument against using SL as a learning platform is: "Though it is fascinating, I cannot spend so much time in learning SL techniques beside my daily RL teaching tasks." At that point, an impressive number of our experienced CDS citizens could reach a helpful hand to overcome such problems and to seek for feasible, realistic solutions - not to mention our capabilities in setting up and maintaining several models of democratic management structures which have proven as effective for many years.

On April 9, 2022, the RA has received and approved the Chancellor's request to hold a referendum for connecting the CDS to the Eduverse. The RA has immediately established a collaborative working group consisting of Kyoko, Tor, Jerry and me which will prepare a referendum ballot paper that can be approved by the RA in the next couple of days. Our goal is to couple the referendum with the regular elections in May in order to bring forward the Eduverse project quickly, so that the administrative part of the connection can be done as soon as possible.

Almut

[Kyoko]

Thank you Sudane and Almut for you feedback. A good summary of the discussion and future possibilities.

I will be posting the edited chat log from the April 9 meeting with Madori Linden and Elli Pinion later today.