Over the next 24-48hrs, jokaydia (inSL) residents will start receiving special (and super exclusive) invites via their Second Life avatars. The invite box will include the note above (larger version for your viewing pleasure here), and some extra information on how to join us in our latest virtual worlds adventure… the jokaydiaGrid!

Please follow the instructions that are included in the notecard you receive everyone! … I can’t wait to share the fun with you all!

What is the jokaydia Grid?

I’ve setup a new grid for the jokaydia Community so that we can fully explore the uses of opensimulator for education, arts and social change. It is designed to extend the work we’ve been doing since 2006 in Second Life and allow us to truly immerse in virtual worlds creation, research … and most important, FUN! Some of our early goals for the grid include:

• Exploring ways to ‘multi-grid’ – eg. creating strategies, techniques and best practices for creating presence across a range of virtual worlds, and learning how to best use each environment for and to its best advantage
• Engaging kids in our virtual worlds adventures – the jokaydiaGrid gives us the freedom to create a PG environment which is much more viable for k-12 educational use
• Learning about Opensimulator – we are excited to be joining the opensource virtual worlds community and look forward to both learning about and contributing to the development of opensource virtual worlds options for education
• Developing new 3D educational resources – Leveraging off the flexibility available to us on the opensim platform for public and private delivery (without the scary pricetag!)
• … and post importantly t0 Play! We aim to continue to create a community that learns, inspires, explores and shares.

The jokaydiaGrid is hosted by the lovely people over at ReactionGrid, and we are very pleased to be extending our working relationship with such a fabulous team. For more info, check out their website.

Anyway, I thought I’d answer the two questions I’ve been asked most since we started exploring and creating new options for jokaydia…..

“But What About the Islands of jokaydia in SL?”

I’ll say it again…. jokaydia IS NOT leaving Second Life. The Islands of jokaydia continues to live on in Second Life. and will always be an important part of our suite of virtual worlds platforms and tools. In fact!….check out my OTI@jokaydia Flickr set to see groovy pics from our OCTIA visit to the new Online Therapy Institute Campus on jokaydia, held just yesterday!

We particularly value the connections jokaydia has built with other members of the educational community based in Second Life and will continue to provide events and activities to both jokaydia Residents and our extensive networks. Keep an eye out for our next jokaydia Unconference in SL which will be happening in May.

“Dont you already have a space on ReactionGrid?”

Yes! Our recently launched jokaydia@ReactionGrid sim allows us to learn and share with the fabulous people forging new business and education communities over there in the ReactionGrid universe, and is an important part of our suite of tools.

Our jokaydia@ReactionGrid regions will remain a community space (for regular meetups and discussion), with simple tools (sandbox, events space, tutorials) and resources (landmarks library, tutorials, newbie packs). It will also provide us with a space to explore hypergridding the possibilities for sharing, connecting and collaborating across virtual worlds.  To find out more about how to come and visit us at jokaydia@ReactionGrid click here.

So What’s Happening Next?

To celebrate this great new challenge and adventure, I’ll be releasing lots of new info, tools and resources throughout the week across all of our homes in the metaverse – so stay tuned as it all starts to unfold!

To kick things off – today I’ve kicked off a new @jokaydiGrid Twitter account – which you can follow for news, updates and information about our exploits in a brave new virtual world!

For our extended jokaydia community of family, friends and colleagues – we’ll be inviting you to join us at the end of the week for a grand opening party – details will be revealed shortly!

Let the new virtual worlds games…. BEGIN! 🙂