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Proposals for Community Districts for the Terraform event
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Decentraland Conference Center #27

Open cfravel opened 7 years ago

cfravel commented 7 years ago

Title: Decentraland Conference Center

A Conference Center in the Decentraland.org Virtual World.

Description

A conference center in a natural, semi-forested setting.

A place where:

Participants are welcome to bring a wealth of diverse world views, including those of a spiritual nature. Conversations about the spiritual aspects of our experience are welcome. The space may be used for private or group worship, among other activities. But this is not a place of proselytization or religious debate, nor of disparaging the views of others.

A place where there is curiosity and openness to the exploration of the role of virtual reality in the development of civilization, in new paradigms of education and of governance, in the life of society, and in the development of the individual and community.

Conference Center meets TEDx Talks meets Town Meetings meets Spiritual Retreat meets Park.

Although this is not a Baha'i facility, we wish to acknowledge that its principles have been inspired by Baha'i teachings, and that the lotus temple is patterned after the Baha'i temple in New Delhi.

Project Lead

Carl Fravel

cfravel at fravel.net Serial Entrpreneur since 1977 Founded several companies, raised Angel investments and $14M in VC capital Trained mediator Software developer, development manager, Dir of IT, VP of Engineering, COO, CEO Educator, former member of faculty of University of California at Santa Cruz. Author of Sansar Creator's Guide Professional Experience: www.linkedin.com/in/cfravel Personal Website and Blog: www.fravel.net 10y experience in Second Life, cohost of weekly interfaith prayers and consultation in Second Life Second Life profile: https://my.secondlife.com/dearborn.carling Second Life site: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/UUtopia/133/37/24 Sansar experience "The Forum": https://atlas.sansar.com/experiences/carlfravel/the-forum

We are inviting others who have experience in developing or using such spaces before. You are welcome to contact me if you would like to be part of the planning of this space.

Team

Gretchen Krutz

gretchenkrutz at gmail.com Active contributor to Second Life virtual world design and interfaith communities Gretchen will serve as the Director of Design.

Lynette Wilson

Publisher and Senior Editor of http://AllThingsBahai.net and associated groups and blogs, and promoter of interfaith activities. Lynette will serve as the Director of Operations and Marketing.

Benjamin Snipes

Benjamin will serve as the General Counsel.

Rob Dixon

Rob will serve as independent board member.

Joy Grace

oldfartmom at gmail.com Secondlife healer, interfaith community, fae roleplay, backup mom Joy is an Adviser

Rev. Jeremy Nickel

jeremy at sacredvr.org www.sacredvr.org Rev. Jeremy Nickel is the founder of SacredVR, a project seeking to create spiritual tools in Virtual Reality. Prior to this project he led a Unitarian Universalist Church in Northern California for seven years. A life long tech geek and spiritual adventurer, he sees VR as a new frontier in immersive community and looks forward to seeing what Decentraland can add to his growing tool box. Jeremy is an Adviser.

Social Media

Twitter @DCLConf https://twitter.com/dclconf Twitter Hasthtag #DCLConf https://twitter.com/hashtag/dclconf

You can join the Conference Center community public chat by joining the Decentraland Discord server, and finding your way to the conference-center channel. https://discord.gg/XewRYdZ and you can join the Conference Center's Discord Server at https://discord.gg/fyChqEy

You can contact the project lead for the Conference Center via direct Discord message to Carl Fravel#3088

You can contact the Conference Center for more information via the Contact form on the Conference Center website at https://dclconf.com

Goal

To have a welcoming place in Decentraland where we can consult about its development and future, and about how our work, creativity and play in Decentraland can bring benefits both in-world and in the physical world.

Category: Public

We will be building cultural norms of respect and courtesy, of heart and mind. Of discussing principles and applying them in service to the community.

LAND Needed

There should be enough land to make it feel spacious, more like a place in a park than urban. More than 200 parcels of land have been committed for the Conference Center by over 20 contributors. We invite others to extend this district, or to be neighbors.

Vision of land use

A central or key structure for peaceful reflection, prayer, meditation in the form of a lotus-shaped temple (see concept art below). (This structure is patterned after the Baha'i temple in New Delhi) Build it out further with other facilities - an amphitheater, class spaces, meeting spaces. Surrounded by gardens, trees, or even forest, with other nearby spaces of a compatible nature. The plans are to locate it near or next to the Decentraland University.

I invite others who would like to either be a part of this, or would feel comfortable with extending the space in compatible ways, to join this district or to request to be neighbors.

Startup Costs

We will want to have some attractive, natural content -- trees, vegetation, paths, gardens, perhaps a fountain, park benches, and some limited amount of buildings or seating areas. I anticipate purchasing or making some of the content myself. I would also hope that much of the build would be contributed by participants, as I’ve seen done in another location, over time.

I can provide the lotus-shaped structure shown in concept art below, that could be used as one of the initial gathering and meeting spaces, but we may want to build out some more traditional meeting rooms, theaters, classrooms, and commercial spaces over time. We can use more open air meeting spaces, since we don't have to worry about weather.

How will funds be raised

I expect to purchase, make, or contract for some of the initial content, and anticipate contributions by the participants over time as the need arises. Voluntary donations could be accepted from those who use and enjoy the space. Fees for classes, trainings, talks, conferences, meetings. Other models of income generation to be developed in consultation with the district’s participants.

Why others would want to participate in this District

Contributors can use the facilities for events, classes, meetings, and, if they feel it is appropriate, arrange some sort of registration or participation fee. It will create opportunities for networking, new enterprises and endeavors, and increase its land value. Land within the district could be sold to others in the future, with some covenants about compatible development, governance of which to be worked out by those who contribute. Others may wish to build nearby adjacent districts of a similar nature, or build parks or mostly-open spaces, rural residences, be neighbors.

Physical World Analogs

Asilomar Chautauqua Greenacre

Some Concept Art

snapshot_001

snapshot_002

snapshot_003

snapshot_004

snapshot_008

snapshot_009

snapshot_135

Source of the above: Baha'i Temple and Gardens, and a few other similar places, in Second Life

image

Source of the above: The Forum, in Sansar

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Added Twitter account @dclconf and hashtag #dclconf. https://twitter.com/DCLConf https://twitter.com/hashtag/dclconf

yjj2017 commented 6 years ago

Hi @cfravel, I (cy2017) DMed you on slack regarding some collaboration effort. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

cfravel commented 6 years ago

?Let's discuss there in Slack. I gave some thoughts, quesitons.

Thanks!

From: yjj2017 notifications@github.com Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 10:58 PM To: decentraland/districts Cc: Carl Fravel; Mention Subject: Re: [decentraland/districts] Decentraland Conference Center (#27)

Hi @cfravelhttps://github.com/cfravel, I (cy2017) DMed you on slack regarding some collaboration effort. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you!

- You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/decentraland/districts/issues/27#issuecomment-336344096, or mute the threadhttps://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AUCsW5ILuYt62S3M8-mTrlkOjzqPONKSks5srt_6gaJpZM4PoPAZ.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Question: How will the Conference Center be governed?

Answer: Here are some thoughts on governance, but none of these ideas are cast in stone yet. I want the planning and decision processes for the Conference Center to be based on good consultation, creative ideation, respect, and enjoying working together.

Some things I may ultimately need to finalize, as district leader, especially early on. But I hope those are very few and far between, and over time some sort of board is put together, and voting is done by land owners on policies needing landowner support.

I want it to be possible for people to work together for layout, for land use, for deciding how to monetize, how to sell land later if they want without ripping a hole in the conference center land, etc.

The conference center may never be a big revenue generator, like a casino or mall might be.

But I do foresee being able to generate some income, e.g. from renting/reservations on its use for meetings, conferences, expos, trainings, corporate offsites, even perhaps TedX talks or the like.

I'd like there to be some space designed for such things. And some space reserved for thought, ad hoc conversations, meditation, rest.

I do think that the conference center could become more valuable with time if we generate value in how it is used.

I lean toward monetary decisions giving weight to land staked. I lean toward cultural decisions being weighted by individuals who are contributing land or other value.

There may be a place for smart contracts or decentralized governance of some specific things, like space reservations and payments. But I lean toward most of our decision making being by open consultation to create unity whenever possible.

I could see the possibility of collaborating with some of our neighbors, like the University in particular, when some activity needs more space than either of us alone has.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

As of today we have at least 20 people who have staked a total of 174 lands, or 17400 sq m. That could be 4 interconnected zones of over 40 lands each. If you have staked lands, be sure to PM me in chat.decentraland.org so I can include you in the planning discussion. We have also discussed with Decentraland University about being close neighbors, and that will very likely happen.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Now at 189 parcels and 25 supporters! Thank you!

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Now 26 supporters and over 200 parcels! Contact me PM in https://chat.decentaland.com to let me know if you want to be part of the district planning in the coming weeks.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Question: Why would people hold conferences or meetings in a virtual world?

Answer: First, for context, do note that one does not have to use a VR Headset to participate. People meeting together could use a mixture of 2D desktop/laptop mode and VR headsets. Also, note that headsets are becoming commoditiized. It is very likely that within a short time you can participate with gear costing under $100. Oculus Go is how list priced at $199. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/clp/oculus-go/pcmcat1507754157141.c?id=pcmcat1507754157141&ref=30&loc=KW-4322&ksid=02eeae99-a6a0-49ac-bcf2-1e148c9cec71&ksprof_id=8&ksaffcode=6764346&ksdevice=c

So, given that it isn't only about VR experience, there are a number of reasons people would hold conferences or meetings virtually.

  1. The ability to meet more "in person", around a table, or in a meeting, than is possible without 'telepresence'.
  2. The ability to gather people without the cost of travel, lodgings, food.
  3. The ability to gather people who cannot travel in the physical world - health, disability, age, dependencies
  4. Conferences about virtual reality and virtual worlds
  5. The people building and using a virtual world.
  6. Overflow from the University, if they need additional meeting space
  7. Live streaming of the VR experience to other media for even larger attendance.
  8. Recording a conference held there for redistribution, e.g. on YouTube.

I've been hosting group interactions in Second Life for a few years now, and the people that come together and benefit from it would never assemble in real life for the reasons of the travel cost and time outweighing the benefit.

I'll bet that Decentraland communities of interest, like those for some district, or common interest in some technology, or planning future work, would find meeting in world to seem exactly appropriate. I have already had one leadership meeting "in world".

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Question: How will the Conference Center generate economic value for its landowners?

Answer: For the most part, the focus of the Conference Center is providing a service to the community, a place for consultation, rest, conversation. I do imagine that we will host conferences, perhaps even as far as TedX conferences or the like as Decentraland becomes an important destination and opportunity eventually, and those should be able to generate some income for the district. After expenses, rents, if any, which would be distributed equitably in proportion to land ownership or other forms of contribution. The community will probably come up with additional ways that the Conference Center can generate income.

Also, I want to be sure that people who have staked land to the pool for the district will eventually have a way to sell some or all of their membership, without poking a hole in the land, to others who want to become more involved. The mechanisms for selling memberships from a pooled ownership is being worked on by Decentraland and the district leaders, but has not been fully worked out yet.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Question: How will the district be laid out?

Answer: Similar to the University district, I am leaning toward most or all of the land being "pooled", common space, whose ownership is shared by those who have staked to the district. Governance and monetization are addressed elsewhere in this thread.

With over 200 parcels now staked to the center, I rather imagine the shape being either square or perhaps better somewhat oblong, with several "centers" in the space.

One of these "centers" will have the the lotus temple that is seen in the concept art. It has been graciously contributed by its maker, and I have been given permissions to use it here. It will be a place for rest, contemplation, meditation, prayers, and, in some cases, conversation. I am inclined to have that space be open to the public, and have some trees and/or gardens around it. I hope that there is green - plants and trees, throughout the conference center land, and that, once water becomes possible, to have at least some open water space - pools/ponds at least.

Another "center" could be an amphitheater or conference-room-in-the-open space.

Since there is no bad weather in Decentraland, our use of space can benefit a lot from being more open, less cramped by walls and enclosures. Open space is a better use of space when space is scarce like it will be in DCL. Enclosed spaces can make things seem smaller and feel more cramped.

I envision some space for smaller meetings, or perhaps even some spaces used by various organizations for offices, meetings, or sharing of information.

In consultation with those who have staked land, it may make sense for some of the parcels to be owned by individuals for more specific uses, if compatible with the vision of the Conference Center.

I have increased my stake to make sure we have at least sufficient space to make the above possible. However, additional space contributions would make the conference center even more beautiful and open, which will likely make it distinct from the other spaces in DCL, which will tend to be more dense and urban.

The DCL folks have made offers to the district leaders to put some modelling effort into making things we need. I asked for trees and vegetation, an amphitheater, ability to put media onto a surface (e.g. a big screen monitor) on which we can put presentations. I've asked for pathways, grass, benches.

I've asked for Avatars, with some standards for rigging so that people can make avatars, animations, sit on things, and fly.

I've asked for in-world chat and voice support (people can use Discord or Slack voice in the meantime).

I've also asked for teleportation (so we don't have to waste land on vehicle roads and parking).
Teleportation should be available as a scriptable response to a thing like a portal being touched, and to use in handing someone an invitation to a place, or using in security scripts to eject a griefer or troll, or even make some places (like private residences) have whitelists/blacklists for security control.(edited)

I hope others will ask questions, raise discussions, in the chat's District_University channel or here. I just ask that our conversations be respectful, creative, collaborative. Let's try to leave ego at the door. Oh, wait, what door?

Incidentally, I'm in Central Time in the US, which is UTC-6 except during daylight savings time when it is UTC-5.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

11/30/17 Update.

Here's an update:

  1. I've been pretty busy working on content for the DCL Wiki, testing and documenting the alpha DCL Editor, and collaborating with James Ashton in developing plans and governance ideas for the University. I believe that the University will be "ahead" of us in such thinking and development, and so I think we can learn a lot about best practices from being involved in the University getting going.

  2. I'll want to have some 'town meeting'(s) for the Conference Center at some point, for those that want to be actively involved in planning. Maybe we can do that in-world soon. I'd also be happy to host a town meeting in Second Life initially, to have a more complete toolset for meeting, and also to let those who haven't seen a mature virtual world get a tour for ideas and possibilities. I imagine we'll form something like a board of directors or steering group or something, consisting of a mix of the contributors and the active and willing. I'd like to have at least 3-5 on the board by early next year, maybe growing to around 9 as the need may dictate.

  3. I welcome input about what we may need to do before districts are laid out around Genesis City, and close to or far from each other. But if I don't hear input from others, my thoughts are to try to be adjacent to both the University and the Forest, sort of on the edge of the city, and with room to grow outwards away from the city if possible. Generally I'd imagine the Conference center to be something like squarish or roundish, but possibly elongated somewhat, so that there could be several "centers" of activity. If anyone layout/design ideas, they are welcome.

  4. In general, I'm willing to be flexible, and not in a big hurry, in developing the Conference Center. I'll probably do an initial build with a first cut of the "lotus temple" (as seen in the concept art) roughly near the middle of our space, probably on somewhat elevated land if possible.

  5. I recently taught a friend, who is interested in participating and has joined the team above, how to buy crypto, use a wallet and an exchange, and stake land to the district. It was a pretty big learning curve, over 3 hours of instruction and assistance and explanation. But successful. Newbies who are just visiting will have some challenges to learn, but to go to the point of helping create content, they will have a lot to overcome to be successful. Maybe we'll have conferences and workshops for newbies?

  6. As I've mentioned before, we probably won't see a lot of either cost or revenue from the conference center early on, but eventually we will probably want to have a some sort of net proceeds sharing model at some point. One possible model for sharing that seems suitable for the Conference Center, balancing the rights of the original land contributors with the need to develop its value and incent development work could be as roughly as follows, subject to further consultation with the members. Landowners (50%) District Board and Staff (20%) District Operation/Development/Marketing/Fundraising (30%)

But this is just a possible concept. Details of governance and financial management will eventually live in a district members agreement.

Suggestions / comments welcome.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

I have created a first sketch of a possible layout of the Decentraland Conference Center. Things will be simplest if we can agree that all the contributed land is pooled, with the amount staked being counted as something like membership in the district. However, I'm open to some privately held land, but it would not participate in shared economics of the rest of the district, and the arrangements for that might look like a lease back or something, yet tbd. Best to discuss in the conference center channel in the Decentraland chat, where more of us are watching more of the time.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gKsgQJQUX9YN2shOWj6nSQe-f90N-boOu_ouyfNXNlo/edit#gid=1342583664

nathanthewise commented 6 years ago

Excited to jump on board with this district checked all the boxes in what I was looking for. Thank you for all your efforts so far @cfravel look forward assisting the team and sharing this world with all :)

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Attention District Contributors If you staked to the Conference Center district, we are inviting you to register your contact information, skillsets, and interests in the district registry.

This is optional. If you do not register, you may be treated as a passive investor receiving rents or proceeds in accordance with district governance and smart contracts.

Advantages to registering:

Here is the link to the registration form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHu5DfPPmrupC2ovE5Zo25UulWxTZN0OzLqv861uH2t_nT8g/viewform

cfravel commented 6 years ago

I've created updated layout concepts for the Conference center. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gKsgQJQUX9YN2shOWj6nSQe-f90N-boOu_ouyfNXNlo/edit#gid=1342583664

In either model we will need to work out district governance and financial plans.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Here is a draft of the initial Conference Center district development plan (building a prototype, not the governance doc) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jTuPowz9VTEQidM1UwDcUbBudrNtNZN6ev8m1EbBu-I/edit#

Here is a link to the work in progress map of the layout of the district. Each square represents 10m x 10m https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gKsgQJQUX9YN2shOWj6nSQe-f90N-boOu_ouyfNXNlo/edit#gid=1342583664

Comments are invited.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Here is a photo of the Long Beach Conference Center, contributed by Lynette Wilson:

long beach conference center photo from lynette

cfravel commented 6 years ago

The leadership team is turning some attention to coming up to speed on the 3D technology used by Decentraland so we can begin working on prototyping parts of the Conference Center.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Latest information can now be found in the Conference Center page in the Decentraland Wiki.

https://wiki.decentraland.org/index.php?title=Conference_Center

nathanthewise commented 6 years ago

Always been a big fan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedensreich_Hundertwasser

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Further thoughts in how his work could shape our vision and approach?

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Maybe we should take discussion to the public #District_Conference_Center channel in RocketChat, or even to the membership Discord channel now?

BlacksheepAries commented 6 years ago

Hey Carl I'm so sorry man I've been running around meeting with possible investors getting assets been crazy I will be I'll be there at the meeting which is in 30 minutes and then the hopefully you and I can spend some time together talking afterwards and then also all day tomorrow all focused on documentation and getting together

On Feb 17, 2018 10:35 AM, "Carl Fravel" notifications@github.com wrote:

Maybe we should take discussion to the public #District_Conference_Center channel in RocketChat, or even to the membership Discord channel now?

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/decentraland/districts/issues/27#issuecomment-366461867, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AgSHhRcoO6QNFc6sN-O93ehhhEAQyg3Dks5tVxvsgaJpZM4PoPAZ .

nathanthewise commented 6 years ago

I am all ears and eyes to you.

As an artist, I look for the visionaries. I have been fortunate enough to get in at the right time with the right people.

A lot of new art completed recently www.nathandfrench.daportfolio.com

Let me know when we can discuss further, skype would be ideal and I will accommodate to your busy schedule.

I know I've been in the shadows but just a personally intense last couple weeks which always leads us to be stronger.

Best, Nathan

On Sat, Feb 17, 2018 at 12:53 PM, BlacksheepAries notifications@github.com wrote:

Hey Carl I'm so sorry man I've been running around meeting with possible investors getting assets been crazy I will be I'll be there at the meeting which is in 30 minutes and then the hopefully you and I can spend some time together talking afterwards and then also all day tomorrow all focused on documentation and getting together

On Feb 17, 2018 10:35 AM, "Carl Fravel" notifications@github.com wrote:

Maybe we should take discussion to the public #District_Conference_Center channel in RocketChat, or even to the membership Discord channel now?

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/decentraland/districts/issues/ 27#issuecomment-366461867, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AgSHhRcoO6QNFc6sN- O93ehhhEAQyg3Dks5tVxvsgaJpZM4PoPAZ .

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/decentraland/districts/issues/27#issuecomment-366470579, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/Ag338AjBoEStBgSDyhQGIhqjoxrr4R4Mks5tVzw2gaJpZM4PoPAZ .

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Update:

We are within days of conducting the district vote on our startup plan.

If you contributed land to the Conference Center, and have not yet registered as a contributor, please do so we can be in contact about planning, voting, etc. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHu5DfPPmrupC2ovE5Zo25UulWxTZN0OzLqv861uH2t_nT8g/viewform

For the latest updates about the Conference Center,

You may also wish to

carlfravel commented 6 years ago

The Startup Plan has been shared with the registered contributors for review and soon a vote.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

Updated the chat and other URLs in the main article, and updated the leadership team.

cfravel commented 6 years ago

The voting on the Startup Plan runs through May 29 at 3:00 AM GMT (8:00 PM Pacific Time, May 28) If you are a contributor to the district, and have not registered, do so asap at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHu5DfPPmrupC2ovE5Zo25UulWxTZN0OzLqv861uH2t_nT8g/viewform Registered contributors are invited to the Discord server and informed about the voting process.

cfravel commented 3 years ago

The Conference Center is largely built out and functional. We have hosted a handful of conferences already over the last year. Check out https://dclconf.com as well as events in the Conference Center as listed in https://events.decentraland.org