MEL Talks - Dave Bloch

The Community Virtual Library -- Dave Bloch has a long career in education, nonprofit work and video production for local cable TV. Dave jumped into the early Internet, was online when it was just dialup and raw text, started on the Web in its infancy, created independent Websites and became the Webmaster for a rural county in California.

He discovered Second Life in 2007 and created the Gold Country Library, a 3D virtual space where visitors could view photos and information about the Gold Rush and download scans of original documents from the era. Fifteen years later, Dave joined the Board of the Nonprofit Commons, a community of representatives from nonprofits, informal groups, educational institutions and libraries who share and support each others' innovative projects in the metaverse.

Dave also runs Summer Sailstice in Second Life, the virtual event of Summer Sailstice, the annual worldwide celebration of sailing. Although very much a real-world outdoor event, in 2020 Dave saw the need for sailors drydocked by COVID to participate, and "SS in SL" has several hundred participants around the world each June.

Dave and his wife Speranza Avram bought their first Yucatan house in Progreso in 2002, moved there permanently in 2014, and just completed building a new home nearby. Dave is the Webmaster, tech guru and general volunteer for the nonprofit Progreso Apoyo Program A.C. and Speranza is the President of the organization.

See the entire season lineup of MEL Talks here.