We are looking for other social networkers with a social agenda, interested in using Web 2.0 for Peace, multilingualism, democracy, freedom, improving Europe. We may create an informal association (for example here on http://www.unieurope.org/) to link together agents of change with different expertises, in different European countries. There are several opportunities available in Europe for cross-national partnerships.
If you like to have your projects/sites featured on http://www.blog.mypacis.com/ just contact us, providing an overview, and we may blog about it. Looking forward to learning from your experience and share our opinions about present and future of Web 2.0, and especially what it can do for societies.
An overview of some of the projects we are working on.
*** Second Life 2.0: Social Network For Social Experiments ***
http://hybridlife.mypacis.com/ social network is free and not affiliated with Linden Lab; it is localized in English, Danish, German, Italian and Russian, with new languages coming soon and automatic translations in other 30 languages. In addition to its Web 2.0 tools, HybridLife.net is also a platform for social experiments open to Second Life residents. The developers of the site are currently refining its variables and point system, and you are welcome to contact them to provide your feedback on the project. To summarize these social experiments: Second Life avatars can join a “tribe” (each tribe is made by ten citizens) by paying an entry fee or for free as a sponsored entrant. The entry/sponsorship fees are pooled together and awarded to winners, after an administrative fee has been deducted. Also, a share of general sponsorships revenues are offered to winners, to make the prize more attractive.
As a social experiments, and loyal to the philosopy on which Second Life has been built, this is not a one dimension game with one unique final goal. Similar to our first life, there are different categories of “winners”: top individuals, top gild, top tribe, etc. Point are awarded based on decision taken by players (as tribes and individuals) and experiment-specific objects owned by partecipants. Decision are expressed by votes.
For example, if a tribe is an open society, all its members gets a percentage increase in their points. So, that does not change how they rank against eachother, but it changes how they rank compared to other tribes. At the same time, being an open society means a higher percentage of consensus need to be achieved before taking decisions. Another example: once a gild achieve a certain number of members (its “critical mass”), all members get a percentage increase in their points. SL residents are motivated to take part in these social experiments, not only with financial rewards, but also for the desire to make a difference by taking part in a social event which can be studied and reported in the press etc.
*** European Social Network with a social agenda ***
http://www.mypacis.eu is the first European Social Network with a social agenda: promoting peace and multilingualism by linking Europeans together. This Web 2.0 service for Europe is already localised for English, German, Danish, Italian, Russian and Spanish speakers. All European languages will be available by early 2008.
After years of social networks used only for entertainment, it was time for mainstream social networking to come of age with a social agenda. Users can register as female, male, NGO or social entrepreneur. Many benefits make http://www.mypacis.eu unique: it is the only multilingual social networking site which aims to bring together both agents of change and recreational users of social networks, to foster peace and dialogue about European enlargement, European Neighbourhood and other policies; it has a social agenda, it has been built to contribute to a better society and not to sell eyeballs to advertisers; it makes a honest effort to make easier and more effective communications among Europeans; it mixes the recreational side of Web 2.0, with funny videos etc, with informative resources.
MyPacis.eu team is working on integrating an automatic translation tool into the personal messenger. “While we are aware of the current limitations of automatic translations” says Frank, community leader, “they can be useful in connecting Europeans. We aim to offer a range of solutions to promote multilingualism and communication, from localization of the site, to automatic translations to the use of auxiliary languages as Esperanto”.
Young Europeans are the ones who will benefit the most from a prosperous Europe, and a social network is a media effective to reach them, but still accessible to more mature users. “We can now talk about a Generation-E(urope), made by young Europeans for whom a peaceful Europe is not a goal to achieve or a recent accomplishment, but luckily the only reality they saw since they were born,” says Frank. “Their age span varies based on their country’s accession to European Union. Our services are designed to serve all Europeans, but also flexible to meet the expectations of Generation-E. Previous generations moved from the Guthemberg Galaxy to the Global Village, now we are going to make the P2P Continent prosper”.
*** Social network for Russians at home and abroad ***
http://www.smilevich.com/