My Second Life

I began my "second life" in early May and have been a member for almost three months now. I began Second Life in order to explore possibilities and opportunities to enhance my librarianship. I still consider myself a "newbie". Second Life is a virtual world conceived by artist Philip Rosedale at Linden Labs in San Francisco, and in June, 2003 it went live. Second Life was originally called Linden World. It is a virtual environment where residents can create the world in which they would like to live and be. It is not a game. One can join for free or pay for different levels of membership. There are over 8 million residents with 30 to 40 thousand residents on line at any one time. One can buy Linden dollars to purchase or rent land, islands, houses, apparel, hairstyles, art and just about anything one can imagine being sold with real life credit card accounts. One US dollar is worth about 300 Linden Dollars and the exchange rate fluctuates. One can travel around second life by teleporting to different simulations. Second Life is for adults with a separate Second Life for teens. You can get to Second Life by logging on via the internet.

There are introduction instructions on Help Island that you can work through and get note cards with instructions when you first join Second Life. In the beginning, I was obsessed with my avatar’s appearance and spent a lot of time in the "Appearance Castle" trying on hair styles and facial features and shoes and skin texture. I would be whirling around changing appearances in front of other avatars (avatars that I didn’t know) who would begin chat conversations with me. Weird! I finally learned to look at my inventory for help and with a lot of help from avatar Penney Theas, my friend and coworker, I became properly dressed and could move on to other experiences. By the way, my name in Second Life is Jude Sicling. You can see a photo of my avatar at the top of this report.

I then started exploring Info Island where the libraries are located. It felt safe to me there and I had confidence that I could safely approach other avatars and engage in chat. At the time I enrolled in Second Life there were only nature sounds, you could not hear speech. The reference librarians answered my Second Life questions and offered tours in a "flying chair’. I rode in a bubble to a library rooftop and danced to great music. I learned how to walk and run and fly and jump and climb stairs and go through doors by using key controls on my computer. Most useful of all, I learned how to stop and not walk into water areas over my head and how to get out. It’s a good thing that avatars can’t drown!

I had the good fortune to be able to enroll in the University of Illinois Grad School of Information Science, Second Life class—Virtual World Librarianship—Your Second life with two other staff (Penny Theas and and Laurel Zenovka.) The class topics were: Introduction to Libraries in Virtual Worlds, Second Life 101, Collections, Resources and Exhibits in Virtual Environment, Reference and Information Services in Virtual Worlds, Managing and Working in a Virtual Library or Department and Skills needed by 21st Century Librarians in Virtual Worlds. This was a very interesting experience taking a class virtually and participating through chat by reading the lectures, discussions and comments. We met for two hours in various locations and buildings on Info Island . In one of the classes we spent the two hours dancing and leaping into the air while chatting about how to manage a library in Second Life. We had homework assignments and asynchronous discussions, posted our comments to a forums on Moodle, the course management system used at GSLIS. We each were required to shadow a reference librarian for two hours. We were given a Babbler for our avatars so that we could have instant language translations through chat.

Avatars from all over the world are residents of Second Life. We took a virtual tour of Morocco wearing a fez that supplied information to us, we toured the info island libraries, attended a Browning exhibit, received note cards with all kinds of useful information and given free tee shirts for our avatars. Class attendees wore everything from Dragon suits to Goth outfits to business attire. Some avatars wore a different outfit each week. We learned who our classmates were, how long they had been in Second Life, what Second Life groups they belonged to, where their favorite Second Life spots were to visit and who they were in real life. Avatars appear on screen with a bubble over their head that includes the avatar’s name. When you click on to the bubble you can read their profiles and even make notes about your experience with that avatar. The notes are for your eyes only.
By participating as a librarian avatar in this virtual world, I have a heightened sense of uses for this medium and possibilities for reference information service beyond web searches for librarianship in the future. I think that libraries will be developing virtual library worlds in the very near future. Libraries could have virtual tours, offer e books, conduct classes, have virtual exhibits and offer programs virtually.

On another level, as a form of social networking with people with disabilities, this medium offers unlimited possibilities. Virtual friends can be made without real world risks, cities and neighborhoods can be created with only the boundaries of their imaginations. One can take classes, visit virtual worlds, participate in chat discussions, go to a pub or club, dance, see art. Avatars can participate in a sport, attend live shows and concerts and shop. Almost anything can be done virtually that could be done in real life. One can find avatars that have your same interests. All this can be done on a computer.

This experience has been extremely interesting. I think that the more time put into exploring and living in Second Life, the more one can get out of it. There many possibilities, socially and educationally. I think that virtual worlds are the future and becoming a resident of Second Life is the beginning.

-----Jude

ALA in Second Life

The American Library Association established a presence in Second Life back in February of 2007. Since then, they have been experimenting with a variety of ideas of how librarians can play a role in this virtual world. It' serious food for thought: just today, I read on a blog that "Orientation Island" (the first stop for new avatars) was functioning improperly, and that dozens of "noobs" were being hopelessly left wandering among the grassy knoll. Where can they go? Who is there to help them? Librarians to the rescue?
This article from RUSA discusses some of the steps that RUSA is taking to play an active role in Second Life. They are experimenting with a reader's advisory course in SL, which I think would be very interesting and perhaps an appropriate setting for such a class. As Second Life introduces SL Voice (the ability to talk while using your Avatar), the possibilities really expand as to where libraries might be able to go from here. Second Life is already being largely used as a performance space, and many musical artists are catching on and playing sets for large crowds of diverse avatars. Suzanne Vega was one of the first. Check it out here.
Penny Theas

Worlds Colliding

What happens when you mash up Second Life and Google Earth? I found this article mentioned in the current (July 4, 2007) issue of American Libraries Direct . The article is available in the July/August 2007 issue of Technology Review. You do have to register to be able to read the article. It just takes a minute and the article is worth it.

Universities and libraries are appearing more and more all the time in second life. The following article is courtesy of a fellow class member. The article is about the University College Dublin (UDC) which just opened its 6th library location, which is branch housed entirely in second life.


-Laurel Zenovka

My Reference Experience at Info Island

I provided service on Information Island on a recent Saturday. My shift was scheduled from from 5 pm to 7 pm EST. Because of confusion as to what time zone the volunteer schedule is in (SL in one time zone, the school is in a 2nd, and I live in a third zone), I arrived at the service point when no one was scheduled there. I also did not leave my shift as scheduled at 7 as no one came to revieve me and a number of customers showed up at that time. When I arrived and no one was there for me to shadow, I imed for assistance and two greeters, Rolig Loon and Ankt Remblai took turns making sure I was on the right track. Rolig gave me a number of note cards on basic SL questions such as Making Money in SL, Changing your appearance and Moving the Camera. As in RL, questions tend to come in clusters. For awhile we are not busy and then there are multiple people to assist and then it is quiet again. From 5-6 I offered assistance to 6 avatars. At 6:03 I crashed and tried repeatedly to log in unsuccessfully until around 6:30. After I crashed I no longer kept track of the number of people to whom I offered assistance. I had one opportunity to use Babbler to translate to Portuguese, so it was beneficial that we had just covered this translation tool in class.

The potential is there for service to be as sound in SL as it is provided in RL. Our experiences with Chat at OCLS show us that great service can be given, but that it may take a longer time to provide the same level of service. Also, in chat service we have the option to co-browse which we can not (yet) have the ability to do in SL. I found that in SL, instead of quoting sources, I typically used my own SL experience to answer many of the questions. Since going to the Linden Knowledge Base would delay avatars getting their answers, I started qualifying my statements with “In my experience…” With experience perhaps I could be quicker to use Note cards for answering questions.

100% of the questions I was asked related directly to SL. How do you earn money, how do you know what language avatars speak before you speak to them, what is Info Island and what can you do there and my most complex question about setting up exhibits in SL. My first inclination is to say no the questions are not the same in SL and RL. However, while the specific topic of SL is not a typical subject for RL reference inquiries, the questions I encountered are similar to RL questions in the range of needs being met. Some result from simple curiosity, such as “What can you do on Info Island?”; others from basic needs, such as “How can you earn money on SL?” to some questions that are to meet more complex needs, such as how can my nonprofit set up an exhibit in SL that could include a documentary film as well as other resources on our environmental topic?”

The level of knowledge and experience needed to field these questions also varied depending on the complexity of the question. It was most fortunate that I had recently attended the class and completed the assignment on Exhibits as I could describe and give addresses for a number of exhibits which the customer said was exactly how she would like to get started on her search. This last question on exhibits was the least straightforward request that I received and the only one that required a true reference interview to determine the exact need.

After my SL reference experience was completed, knowing that 100% of my questions were related to Second Life, I wondered about the existing and future relationship of roles between Linden Labs and Libraries. It is good that we have an opportunity to practice reference in SL and explore what our role is and our potential and limitations are in virtual worlds. And it appears that we are totally free to answer questions about SL without any requirements or standards imposed from Linden Labs. So we have an environment in which we can learn. But in the long run should librarians be volunteering their time to fill the role of SL employees or should SL contract with libraries to fill this role? I also question, how can we market the presence of librarians in SL so that we can receive inquiries on other topics as well? What can we proactively offer that will draw SL users to us? For example, since a number of people on second life are interested in content creation and there are already classes available in SL and on YouTube, we could create and promote an exhibit on this topic and gather together the resources available on SL, YouTube, blogs, websites, blogs, and so on that cover this topic. That would enable us to reach other SL users and get them to start thinking of the library presence in SL as something that would have an ongoing role in meeting their information needs.

So,what are the most important skills for a reference librarian in SL? The skills needed are similar or the same as for traditional service with the added component of comfort in an online environment.
--Flexibility, acceptance of a diversity of avatars, welcoming towards a wide range of requests from serious to the seemingly silly, flexibility to the nature of SL in which there may not be a source about SL readily available to cite, and flexibility and tolerance towards the antics of SL characters.
--Knowledge of Second Life; not just the information resources, but the basics about inventory, profiles, clothing, money and travel.
--Access to note cards on common SL topics
--Chat experience
--Knowledge of Translation tool, Babbler
--Experience with the use of online resources-anything from SL Knowledge Base to databases
--Welcoming, friendly, good interview skills,

I have always considered a professional appearance an asset. You want to dress in a way that makes you both welcoming and credible. It was quite a challenge to build a small professional wardrobe in SL, and I wore what would be an appropriate RL outfit. About half way through my shift, however, I changed outfits because I was concerned that the more professional attire stood out in SL and that something more casual might be more welcoming.

I have to say that on my first visit to Info Island I was disappointed by the traditional desk in the non traditional virtual world. I realize you have to start somewhere and it is better just to get started. I also understand that we want people to know they can ask a question, and that this is an appropriate place to do so. But I think with some creative thinking we should be able to come up with something that has a less traditional flavor and sparks the imagination of both information seekers and of libraries and librarians.

Should there be continuous staffing at Info Island or should some people be on call in case needed? I would want to look at the statistics to make decisions about how to staff the service in SL. Without access to the statistics I would say that the busier hours should be staffed. If volunteers are available to cover the slower hours it would be more welcoming to have an avatar ready to help. As far as the suggesion that a buzzer be added to the des, if it was more practical for staffing purposes to use a buzzer and to have someone on call, I would like to see something that was much more exciting and high tech looking than a buzzer. Let’s not replicate the RL with this. What would be something that would perform the same function but would be interesting enough by its own right, have enough of a cool or wow factor, that it would be remembered as part of the service experience?

I think we would also want to consider how to market this service. By getting more customers would their be a greater number of non second life requests? I would like to see an experiment with mobile or roving librarians. The group name for these avatars could read “Ask me-Librarian” and each person encountered in SL with a request would be given a landmark to Info Island. Perhaps, since we are answering so many SL questions, Linden Labs would partner with us by providing Info Island staff a customized group name (color, lights, highlighting) that would really make the group name for Librarians stand out when service is being made available.

According the class presentation, 90% of requests at the Info Island Reference Desk are related to SL. If that remains to be true it seems unlikely that it would be cost effective to participate in either the plan in which you can make referrals to other libraries or the plan in which you would subscribe to have 24/7 reference services provided to SL residents. If a virtual world is an environment in which questions are being asked about topics other than about SL, and depending on funding , having a a service group such as Question Point provide the actual information service on an ongoing basis, may be the simplest way to set up and maintain daily service .

--Laurel Zenovka

The SL Lingo

Greetings!
Yesterday, Laurel, Jude and I attended our fifth class in Second Life Librarianship. As the lecture was being conducted, it got me thinking about Second Life "lingo", and how some common SL words get tossed around without any meaning attached to them. So, for those of you just starting out in Second Life, allow me to offer some definitions.

Simulator
The primary SL server process. Each simulator process simulates one 256x256 meter region. As the viewer moves through the world it is handled off from one simulator to another. Multiple simulator processes run on each server host, currently 2 to 16. Someone told me this means the same as an "island", although I'm not sure if that's technologically true.

The Grid
A collection of sims. Linden Lab runs several grids for internal and external testing. I hear a lot of people refer to Second Life as "the Grid".

Primitive
These are the building blocks of Second Life. Every object or item is built in "prims", and every "sim" contains a certain amount of allowable grims. So, when you're buying furniture in SL, be sure to check the "prims" to make sure they are not too heavy. Otherwise, you may only be able to fit a lamp in your living room! When I first entered SL, I purchased a yacht. However, it was so prim-heavy, that I couldn't dock it anywhere. It's still sitting in my inventory.

A couple more helpful abbreviations for when you're "chatting" in SL:

RL = Real Life
SL Time = Pacific Standard Time
AFK = Away from Keyboard
ROFL = Rolling on Floor Laughing (I get this a lot, since I often accidentally take off my hair)

I encourage those of you with helpful abbreviations to post them to the comments so that our "Noobs" (new people in SL) can feel comfortable with their lingo.

Cool Blog Post on presenting in SL:
http://www.jeff-barr.com/?p=707

Cheers!
Penny Theas