Beta Technologies

In an effort to support more fund-raising events and to raise awareness of Second Life as a very good platform to deploy cultural and artistic events to raise funds, Beta Technologies was delighted to help to promote the CCV project to bring “Land of the Dreams” to Second Life.

Some of the facilities at the Beta Business Park will be used to help the promotion.

About Land of the Dreams

The Land of the Dreams is a not for profit organization of wish granting in Portugal, founded in June 1, 2007, International Children’s Day, by a group of 33 founding members.

Formally, the Land of the Dreams Association (LDA) is a Private Institution of Social Solidarity, which main objective is to fulfill the dreams of children and adolescents diagnosed with chronic diseases and/or in terminal phases.

We believe in the inspiring and transforming power of small unique moments, as a way of improving the quality of life of children, family and friends who live closely with these realities.

On Land of the Dreams we believe the fulfillment of the dreams of these sick children help them to overcome the painfull processes they live in. We believe that “impossible” is a word created by our mind in order to limit our spirit’s actions. We believe in People and in Life.

We believe that all dreams are feasible.

We believe in the transforming power of dreams.

We believe that one child’s smile is worth every effort.”

This is the basic information about the Land of the Dreams Association. For more details, please visit the official website at http://www.terradossonhos.org.

The VCCA (Virtual Cultural Community Association) is preparing its entry into Second Life®, and relies on the help of all friends and all Second Life® communities, not only Portuguese, to collaborate in this project.

About CCV

CCV is a group of people who joined to promote art and culture on Second Life and Virtual Worlds.

This year’s Hair Fair ‘09 — the largest trade and charity fair in Second Life, with an estimated attendance of over 15,000 people, and having the goal to raise US$ 12,000 for the not-for-profit Locks of Love, is being sponsored by Beta Technologies, which has provided four sims for this year’s event, logistics, and a metrics system to keep track of the visitors.

What is Hair Fair?

Could you believe that a sophisticated pompadour, a jazzy bobbed hair or gothic pigtails can become real hair for real childrens?

In the United States alone, 2 million children and teenagers are stricken with diseases that imply partial or total loss of hair.  Alopecia is an auto-immune disorder that causes the hair follicles to shut down and these children end up with partial or total hair less.  Add to these all kids undergoing radiation and chemo treatments, children suffering from ectodermal dysplasia, loose anagen syndrome, trichotillomania, telogen effluvium, and traumatic injuries – and what you get is millions of kids who are deprived of one of the marks of normality – having hair. This is terribly traumatic for a growing kid.

Most adult wigs won’t really do the job – they’re too big and too grown up. So there are specialized wigs for kids – but they cost thousands of dollars. This is where virtual hair comes in.

In Second Life®, the fastest growing virtual world which already counts with 16 million users, economy is brisk. One of the virtual economy motors is the creation of objects for sale. And one of the most desired items is… Hair!  Since you are free to change your appearance, it’s not uncommon that users feature a glorious mane of red hair one day and a short, cosmopolitan blonde the next.  There are hundreds of hairstyle creators in Second Life, and the virtual job has already become a virtual art form on its own.

This is the fourth year in which the hair designers unite in a common event for getting money to sponsor wigs for children – the Hair Fair 2009. The Hair Fair is a 2-week event that congregates all that is Hair! – in Second Life. Spreading over an area of more than 2 million square feet, Hair Fair resembles a business fair… only the theme this year is ‘Candy Land’ and so you will be able to visit a landscape of sweets in which the merchants’ booths are gingerbread houses… all is possible in Second Life!

Merchants donate the proceedings of at least one hairstyle to the Hair Fair. Hair Fair staff is totally volunteer, and all proceedings are amassed and given to charity. To take care of the costs, Hair Fair is sponsored by real life companies doing business in Second Life – this year the sponsors are Beta Technologies, an US-Portuguese multinational virtual developers company, IllClan, another US company that specializes in state-of-the-art virtual video – machinima, and mechanizedLife, who has sponsored some of the intricate programming that the event requires. IllClan has produced the official videoclip (Click here) and Beta Technologies is lending the virtual area and logistics for this event which has taken almost a year to organize.

Hair Fair will open its liquorice gates at Saturday, the 20th of June, and will carry on until the 4th July. Besides all the multitude of hairstyles to see and buy, the Fair will have several events – music, parties – and a special event day – the Bandana Day, in which Second Life users are invited, for a day, to try the traumatic experience of leaving their gorgeous hairstyles in their virtual pockets and pass the day using a bandana on their heads – so that they can experience something akin to the suffering of millions of young lives.

How to reach Hair Fair ‘09?

• http://slurl.com/secondlife/HF%202009/78/223/28
• http://slurl.com/secondlife/Beta%20Business%20Park/195/81/28
• http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hair%20Fair%202009/91/182/23
• http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hair%20Fair/166/135/28

I-Learning Workshops, Immersive Learning for the Classroom and Workplace, is DHR New Media’s division for hosting workshops and seminars using the Second Life® platform for job training.

As part of their extensive area in Second Life, Beta Technologies was assigned to redevelop a Coffee Shop to be used as a scenario for the Talent for Growth language classes. Supervised by professional educators, Beta Technologies’ creative team presented DHR New Media with high-quality, realistic content for this first setting.

Dolce Vita is an international shopping centre chain in Europe with a strong presence in Portugal. They’re launching a contest for the “Best Fashionable Avatar” in the Second Life® virtual world.

To register, you only need to go to a Dolce Vita kiosk and touch it to get an unique registration code. With that code you can now send postcards with pictures of your avatar and have them displayed on a voting site. The 10 most voted avatars until May 15th will be  invited to a fashion show (with live music) on May 16th, where a jury will pick their choice among the best. Contestants can pick up free clothes (up to a limit) from the Portuguese fashion designer Maria Gherardi on her MG Fashion shops in Second Life.

The winner will get a voucher to spend €500 on any Dolce Vita Shopping Centre in Portugal. There will be a second round of voting on May 23rd with another €500 to be won.

All design and programming were developed by Beta Technologies.