Second Life: Pick-up Team or Major League?

1
Second Life Pick-up Team or Major League?

• Donna Bourne-Tyson
• Krista Godfrey

2
Overview

• Intro to Second Life
• What do administrators think?
• Whats Info Island all about?
• What are academic libraries doing?
• What about government libraries?
• General considerations

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About us

• Krista Godfrey Danu Dahlstrom
• Born July 31, 2006

• Donna Bourne-Tyson Laken Burns

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Second Life Pick-up Team or Major League?

• Donna Bourne-Tyson
• University LibrarianMount Saint Vincent
  University
• OLA Super Conference 2008

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Overview

• Basics. . . What is Second Life?
• How does one join?
• Why would a librarian want to join?
• An administrators perspective

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What is Second Life?
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What is Second Life?

• A 3-D online meeting place for people
  world-wide a complete community with society,
  culture, economy, buildings, goods, services
• Created by San Franciscos Linden Lab in 2003
• Open source in early 2007 added VOIP capability
  summer 2007
• Over 7 million users registered daily financial
  transactions total between 1.5 and 2 million US
• Lori Bell, presentation October 23, 2006,
  Monterey, California

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Not about gaming

• It does include gaming and gambling cultures, but
  many SL residents are not game players
• It is a low-cost (but not free) environment for
  developing new products, prototyping, test
  marketing, learning, experimenting
• It is unstable, proprietary and lawless

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Alternatives to SL In-World

• Croquet (open source) www.opencroque.org
• Hipihi (Chinese only) http//www.hipihi.com/
• Entropia Universe (mostly a MMORPG)
  http//www.entropiauniverse.com/en/rich/5000.html
  
• The SIMS Online http//www.ea.com/official/thesims
  /thesimsonline/us/nai/index.jsp

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http//www.opencroquet.org/index.php/ImageMachupi
cchu.jpg
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Dryad Stanford Virtual Worlds Group
http//dryad.stanford.edu/gallery.php
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Metaverse One of Many

• 3-D environments just another medium, like music
  or videos
• Metaverse provides tools to build worlds
  usingFlash and basic skills
• Users should be able to stage up a basic world
  with chat functionality and a map within about
  five minutes. Raph Koster, President, Metaplace
  http//www.metaplace.com/
• Multiverse and Forterra similar sites
  http//www.multiverse.net/ and
  http//www.forterrainc.com/MIT Technology
  Review Friday, January 11, 2008 Creating a Web
  of Worlds Metaplace builds a different
  architecture for virtual worlds. Erica Naone,
  accessed January 13, 2008 http//www.technologyrev
  iew.com/Infotech/20048/?nlid800

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pecial/12show.html?ex1207022400enbb463f3ea289e6
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The Immersive Web

• Virtual worlds today are walled gardens.
• "Human cognition was designed to function in 3-D,
  and our computation eventually has to have a 3-D
  interface to maximize the match up with the human
  brain as it evolved.
• People will need to find a way to combine a
  concrete, 3-D spatial understanding with the
  connective power of the 2-D Internet, says Jaron
  Lanier, Center for Entrepreneurship and
  Technology at the University of California,
  Berkeley . MIT Technology Review, Monday,
  October 29, 2007 Moving Freely between Virtual
  Worlds Players hope to connect their separate
  domains to form a 3-D Internet. By Erica Naone
  Accessed January 13, 2008 at http//www.technology
  review.com/Infotech/19629/

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Alternatives This World

• Instead of becoming immersed in an online world,
  or in addition, the online world is reaching out
  to have a physical impact
• With a new vest, players can feel the impact of
  video games.
• Nintendos Wii incorporates the
• RL movements of the players
• Gaming chairs provide surround sound and
  vibrations
• By Erica Naone, Technology Today, October 30th,
  2007

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Companies in SL

• IBM owns 32 islands, dedicated to in-house
  training and communications
• Companies in SL include Adidas, BBC, Dell,
  Reuters, SirsiDynix, Talis, Toyota, American
  Apparel
• Swedish Embassy has a branch

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Recruitment Training

• State of Missouri CIO has set up SL space to
  recruit IT professionals
• IBM conducts corporate retreats up to five days
  in length, staff from five countries participating

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How does one join?
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How does one join?

• No charge for a basic account, 20 minutes to
  create an avatar then customize your avatar as
  time and funds allow www.secondlife.com
• While a basic account is free, it is possible to
  spend a lot of money in world
• Second Life currency is called Linden dollars
  one US dollar is equivalent to 250 Linden
  dollars
• There are recommended minimum system requirements
  for a good reason

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Exceeding predictions
Posted by Pixeleen Mistral on April 26, 2007 at
0830 AM in News from Second Life, Stats, Virtual
Business, Finance and Economics
23
Exceeding Predictions

• In 2004 the CEO of Linden Labs predicted that
  there would be 2 million residents by 2007 there
  are now over 7 million
• By the end of 2011, 80 percent of active Internet
  users (and Fortune 500 enterprises) will have a
  "second life," but not necessarily in Second
  Life, according to Gartner, Inc.
  http//www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/busines
  swire/2007/04/24/businesswire20070424006287r1.html
  

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GMI SL survey findings

• 65 have a college degree or higher nearly 40
  earn 90,000 or more in annual household income
• 70 are married or co-habitating nearly 60 have
  one child or more
• Most respondents are relatively casual users,
  with 68 in-world 10 hours or less per week
• Almost exactly half say their moral behavior
  in-world is slightly different than it is in real
  life.
• Nearly a quarter play as another gender, and as
  another race or nationality only 11 have an
  avatar of a different political
  orientation.Posted by Wagner James Au, Second
  Life Reports, Monday, April 30, 2007,
  http//nwn.blogs.com/

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Why would a librarian join?
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Why would a librarian join?

• There are more than 200 educational institutes
  using Second Life including Harvard, Yale,
  Berkley, SUNY Empire State College, McMaster,
  Mohawk, UBC and MSVU
• Any librarian interested in optimal service
  delivery, specifically for millennials and
  distance students, may want to investigate SL it
  is a platform for service delivery -- one of
  several tools at our disposal

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Learning Faster. . .

• What if the online environment offered you MORE
  freedoms than the real world, in just about every
  way. . . . . .we might therefore actually
  behave better in such a place. We might learn
  faster, interact more deeply, and therefore
  become better people, at least on some levels.
• Philip Linden aka Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden
  Labs, interview
• June 21, 2004, The Second Life Herald
• http//www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2004/06/interv
  iew_with_.html

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Constructivist Learning

• Virtually all college students have had
  experience with games. Games represent active,
  immersive learning environments where users
  integrate information to solve a problem.
• Learning in this manner incorporates discovery,
  analysis, interpretation, and performance as well
  as physical and mental activity. (Antonacci
  Modaress 2005)
• http//www.educause.edu/Games/1008

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Best Practices

• Georgia State University setting up SL island to
  provide tutorials and best practice case studies
• Focus on architecture, fashion design, business,
  climate modeling
• Students gain real world experience without the
  danger or the costSecond Life to Offer
  Tutorials. London Free Press, Monday December
  10, 2007 http//lfpress.ca/newsstand/Business/Busi
  nessMonday/2007/12/10/4716448-sun.html

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Scenes from Second Life
Photo by Jillianna Suisei
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Libraries and SL

• We have seen a frustration with the low
  resolution graphics, and SL is not as popular
  with millennials as it is with older adults
• Social networking sites such as MySpace and
  Facebook are vastly more popular with younger
  students however they do not offer the
  possibilities as a learning space which are
  available in SL

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MSVU Library Storefront at http//slurl.com/secon
dlife/Cybrary20City/29/10/24
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MSVU Library in SL

• Since March 2007 Mount Saint Vincent University
  Library has had a storefront space in
  CybraryCity
• This space costs the Library 100 US a year at
  first it was free in exchange for two hours of
  volunteer service by a librarian at the reference
  desk at the Second Life Library on InfoIsland,
  and it is thanks to Denyse Rodrigues that we have
  this space.
• We are still intrigued by the possibilities but
  under whelmed by the take-up rate

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An administrators perspective

• Supporting library colleagues as they identify
  new environments or projects
• Providing the time and the freedom to play
  creating an atmosphere that encourages risk
  taking
• Communicating with senior administration
• Talking up trends, opportunities for the
  institution, pilot projects

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Whats Info Island All About?

• Alliance Library System - April 2006
• Info Island donated in May 2006
• Info Island archipelago
• (over 14 library islands, nearly 40 total)
• Over 500 librarians volunteering
• and exploring
• 3000-4000 visitors/day

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Libraries in Second Life

• Main Library
• Mystery Manor
• Sci-Fi Library
• Bell Library Tower
• (academic/subject based)

• Health Library
• Science Library
• Genealogy building
• Peace Park
• (religious resources)
• Caledon Library

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Whats being done?
Virtual Reference
Guest Speakers/Lectures
Book Talks/Discussions
Exhibits
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What are Academic Libraries doing?

• Nearly 30 academic libraries in Info Island
  Archipelago
• Exploring potential services
• Access to Resources
• Reference Service
• Information Literacy

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Accessing Resources

• - Link to existing digital resources
• Online catalogues
• Databases
• Digital Collections
• - Create 3D exhibits for digital collections
• Create 3D simulations

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Reference Services

• Info Island International has main reference
  service
• over 6500 questions (over 186 rl questions. 2292
  sl ref)
• over 80 hours of service
• McMaster pilot
• Started May 2007 (6 hours of staffed service per
  week)
• Over 90 questions in person
• Reference buzzer for off hours
• Continuing project with increased hours (8
  staffed hours)

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Information Literacy

• Mount Saint Vincent University
• Traditional (ppt) and immersive

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Why are Academic Libraries Here?

• Estimated over 150 educational institutions in
  Second Life
• Meets learning needs of students
• immersive learning and simulations
• multiple learning styles (constructivist,
  kinesthetic, visual learning)
• collaborative
• creative
• New powerful platform for distance education

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Education in SL

• Do and create what can not be done in real life
• Virtual Hallucinations (schizophrenia)
• NOAA Island (tsunami, global warming)
• Renaissance Island (Globe Theatre)
• ROMA (ancient Rome)

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Considerations

• Need
• Classes?
• Students?
• Distance education?
• Cost
• staff
• monetary
• Whos leading - institution or library?

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Government Libraries

• Still not many government libraries
• Canada
• Embassies
• NOAA
• Lots of issues
• U.S. servers
• Privacy
• Language
• What services can and should be offered
• Liability

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Should Libraries be in SL?General Considerations

• Is it for your library?
• What are the needs of your patrons?
• Is it for you as a librarian?
• great networking opportunities
• easy collaboration
• lots of volunteer opportunities

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Advantages
- reach a new user group - point of need
assistance - meet the learning needs of some
user groups - great place to think outside the
box - give back to the community - great
international collaboration - things
accomplished faster (not as much administrative
tape) - direct the future of library services
in virtual worlds - be proactive!
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Caveats

• high technical requirements
• lag issues
• high learning curve
• not for everyone
• multitasking
• no end goal
• griefers
• implications of voice
• poor resources
• No in-world browser
• only free online resources

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Despite Some Issues

• - stats show there does seem to be a need for
  libraries
• in this virtual world
• it is important to be proactive
• Garner Group says that 80 of internet users will
  
• have an avatar by 2011.
• something will replace SL
• important to be prepared for what is coming
• exploring now, we can help direct the future

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Government Libraries