Haiti relief from kid virtual worlds

As we mention in our VW safety tips, some worlds offer opportunities for charitable giving in the "real world" – even for up-to-the-minute relief efforts like Haiti's. For example, Sony's FreeRealms.com offers $10 donations for Haiti with purchases of specific virtual goods in-world; GaiaOnline.com "is matching up to $10,000 in donations to the Red Cross and setting aside a dedicated forum for discussing and coordinating relief efforts by its users"; and Sanrio's HelloKittyOnline.com "is gearing up for a guild-based event asking teams to craft virtual goods in a race to build up a donation to Doctors Without Borders and an aid effort to Haiti," VirtualWorldNews.com reports. Other charitable teen and kid worlds are MyYearbook.com (whose users have donated $250,000 so far), WiglingtonandWenks.com, and Xeko.com. Meanwhile, Haiti's only film school, Cine Institute, is now rubble, but its "young filmmakers have been tirelessly been documenting" the earthquake's, tech education pundit Derek Baird blogs. They've been using social media to share eyewitness reports via Twitter, Vimeo, and the institute's own site, Baird adds. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, N.Y., this Friday, there will be a very "real world" Haiti Solidarity Benefit organized by students at Global Kids and the High School for Global Citizenship.