Week+Six

http://slurl.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/74/129/51

This week, we'll be touring two sites related to the American Cancer Society and their efforts to use Second Life as a means of education, outreach and fundraising in their efforts to find a cure for this deadly disease.

Each year, ACS and SL join forces in a major fundraising campaign otherwise known as the Relay for Life. While it may sound odd to have a virtual relay, the results are nothing but amazing. This year, even though early estimates (due to the economy) were that funds raised would be down from last year, SL residents raised a whopping $275+K USD to go towards cancer research activities. That puts the SL RFL at number two in terms of worldwide RFL efforts. And as a side note, Jaguarland was well represented as two of its builders (Aevalle and Wrath) finished in the top ten for the 2009 Relay.

For more information about ACS's work in SL, see [|this website].

Our first stop is the American Cancer Society island, itself. You should note that, because of their ongoing efforts inworld, the island is in a fairly constant state of flux. Only the Memorial Wall and main buildings stay constant. Everything in the buildings change, depending upon the programs going on at the time.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/2/192/2002

After touring the ground area of the ACS site, we'll go to our second destination, Anatomica. Anatomica was originally conceived of and created for the 2009 RFL campaign. Instead of being deleted along with the rest of the RFL sims, it was salvaged and found a home above the ACS island. Anatomica uses interactive gaming (players blast cancer cells) as a means of delivering education and understanding about cancer. Hopefully, it is a fun way to end our tour. Blast away!

A few things to consider: How did you find the access to information? What methods did you notice that ACS uses for outreach, support and education? Which method do you think attracts more attention? Which method do you think educates the public more?