ABC FRIENDS FORUM

Thursday 20 March
8:30 pm AEST

The Amphitheatre, ABC Island

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the ABC sim. A number of things have caused this sudden upsurge of active debate, not the least of which was a feeling that ABC island didn’t really represent what it started out as.

It came to light that ABC was also in the process of assessing it’s position with the online presence in SL – one way or another.

Whatever the ABC position – it seems timely that the SL ABC Friends have become a little more vocal . A request has been made through Gary Hazlitt for suggestions as to what can be done on and with the island to more faithfully reflect 1) the ABC, 2) Australian culture in all it’s diversity 3) the associated needs of the Australian SL community in direct relation to points 1 & 2.

It is understood that the ABC has legislative and ethical constraints placed on it, and that working within those may sometimes be frustrating to everyone concerned – especially where the expanded possibilities and potential of the digital environment is concerned.

With that in mind, and given the current desire by ABC Friends members to contribute gainfully to the ABC vision – we propose to call a forum of ABC Friends and any of the management/admin staff of ABC who would like to be in attendance.

An agreed timing is 8:30pm AEST Thursday 20 March, at the Amphitheatre on ABC island.

The agenda for the meeting has one single point:

To raise and explore ideas that can fit within the ABC legal parameters, and to then collate those ideas into a form that can be presented to ABC management.

This is not a replacement for the ideas box now present on the island – it is intended to take the concept one step further. The group can formulate, expand and refine ideas together, presenting ABC management with as complete a suggestion as possible, with possible implementation and operational details and the names and skill sets of people who are prepared to assist in some way.

In this way:

1) suggestions will be clearly defined and purposed.

2) potential volunteers can be identified with specific projects.

The content of this forum will be available to everyone who requests a copy, as the entire session will be recorded into text files and collated into discussion threads.

The outcomes will be fed back to the group.

It was decided in a chat that no Chairperson will be necessary, however Angsty Rossini and Shai Khalifa will co-facilitate the discussion.

The format for discussion will be initially based on a number of ideas already forwarded through the group chat facility. This list will be made available to all group members prior to the forum.

Discussion will be constrained to one idea only at a time. Any new ideas that are generated as a result of discussion will be added to the list and discussed in their turn.

There is to be no accusation, blaming or finger-pointing – this is a forum for constructive suggestions that will enhance the ABC presence and usability.

There is to be no constraint on what projects are presented – but expansion of ideas will necessarily need to be viable within current ABC legal and ethical guidelines. In this way, all projects will be presented to ABC management for their assessment. This having been said, ideas which are clearly in contravention of the LL Terms and Conditions or other legal and ethical structures will not be part of discussion, although they may be included in a list of potential ideas where the concept may have merit, but the subject matter questionable.

Should the ABC management/admin staff wish to participate, we would ask that they be available to answer the forum on operational, policy and legal issues. This includes where as part of a discussion, a policy formulation is required of ABC.

In this way, the discussion can concentrate on what CAN be done, and not just what people would like to SEE done. Final projects presented to ABC would therefore already have built in applicability.