Looking forward to 2016

We're so pleased to report that 2015 got Ethnographia off to an extraordinary start! The sim is now in full swing with a sandbox, a few cozy places for meetings or casual conversation and most important, 20 residents from all around the world! We created 20 parcels and invited people living with disabilities to use these places to express their experiences of living both in the physical world and the virtual world in whatever fashion they chose. Already, the results are breathtaking! Please feel free to come visit the sim in Second Life and wander through the often uplifting, poignant and enlightening builds!  

Likewise, we invite our residents to post stories or images here! We welcome our community and those interested in following our community to visit the sim or this blog often to see the stories unfold. 

With that, we wish you a Happy New Year!

Tredi and Tom

Welcome to Ethnographia!

We have a home! Ethnographia is our official sim in Second Life. While the sim is currently nothing more than a lot of sand and water, we are working on plans to build a space to showcase the creations of people involved in this project, to create a safe space to hang out and share experiences of digital lives, and to call home for the next three years.  Over the next few weeks and months we'll be exploring ways to use the space that fit the needs of our community. 

We'll be sharing a landmark soon so that folks who want to come by for a visit or to learn more about Ethnographia and the project in general can wander through. In Second Life, we are known as Tom Bukowski (Tom) and Tredi Felisimo (Donna). We can be reached via IM in SL or leave us a note here and we'll be sure to get back to you. 

Virtual Ability, Inc.

We are pleased to be working with Gentle Heron and the wonderful people at Virtual Ability, Inc. (VAI). VAI is a non-profit 501C(3) organization that has been serving the disability community in Second Life since 2007. 

VAI's mission is "to enable people with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds." They achieve that by serving individuals with disabilities or chronic health conditions, their families, friends and caregivers, as well as medical professionals, through a number of outreach activities. The staff and volunteers at VAI also provide assistance to people who need help with assistive technologies and/or who may simply want a compassionate guide in learning how to use the virtual world. 

Today, VAI is a vibrant support community of individuals from around the world who have come to depend on VAI as a safe place, full of people who enjoy the adventures open to them in the virtual world. You can learn more about their good work and upcoming events at their website at http://www.virtualability.org/. You can also check out their incredible sims, complete with Sojourner Auditorium, home to a number of international educational events, as well as a New Resident Orientation Course, art galleries, and information kiosks representing a number of global organizations that serve the disability community.

Look for more about VAI as our work continues!

Creations for Parkinson's!

As we conduct this research project, we are incredibly lucky to be able to work with a number of organizations by and for people with disabilities. In Second Life, people with disabilities, along with caregivers, friends, and allies, have created groups for support, advocacy, and community since the early days of this virtual world. In the weeks to come we will do short profiles on these groups just to spread the word about all the good they do.

Creations for Parkinson's is a groundbreaking organization that has been raising awareness about Parkinson's Disease for many years. Founded by Barbie Alchemi, her brother, and her amazing mother Fran, this organization holds fundraisers, hosts a weekly support group, and overall inspires us in a hundred different ways. And their beautiful sims must be seen to be believed! (Here's a link to get there.)

Here is a wonderful short video about Creations for Parkinson's. Here is their webpage, and their Facebook page. If you read the new edition of Tom's book Coming of Age in Second Life, you will see that the new Preface has some wonderful stories to tell about this group.

Enjoy learning more about this wonderful organization!

Welcome to Our Digital Selves

Hello everyone! We hope this website will provide some basic information and updates as to what we're doing, and help stimulate conversation. We're very excited about this project! 

A note on the "our digital selves" url for this website. It's amazing with all the cybersquatters out there—many ideas we had for a url were already taken. "ourdigitalselves" was not taken, and it fits pretty well the broad themes we are interested in, so that's what we're using! It has the benefit of being pretty easy to remember and spell out.