The Ubiquitous Librarian (Brian Mathews)

Second Life Revisited – are we ready to provide classroom support?

I attended an AIMA event this week about Second Life. The presentation, How Virtual Worlds are Impacting Interactive Marketing , featured an all-star panel with reps from major companies. Below are some highlights. Also, some thoughts about the role of the librarian within the virtual world.

InterContinental Hotels Group - Del Ross

• Real world hotel corporation that offers virtual rooms in Second Life. Just as you might have a business meeting in the real world, they can also provide space for virtual meetings.
• Right now it is free, but planning to charge in the future. 100 – 500 Linden dollars, which is a little less than 1 dollar real money.
• They provide rentable space that offers privacy, security, suitable space, and support (audio, video, PPT, etc)
• Online Room Reservation form and tons of other info.
• If you don't own land in SL, no place to meet, conduct business—they are trying to fit that need—their slogan is “the place to meet”
• Informal space, convention space, lounge, executive board room – space can be configured depending upon the need.
• SL showcases their “real” world value—virtual space mirrors the physical spaces that they make available to customers. They are in the business of “business environments” regardless of the location.

Weather Channel - Paul Greenberg

• Major theme of weather channel is to show how weather connects to your life—more than just the science, but also the psychology of how weather has an impact on us.
• Wanted to build a Second Life space that supports TV programming
• Stay. Play. Watch.
  (stay = community areas for shared experiences)
  (play = do stuff, interact)
  (watch = video programming)
• Hurricane environment – witness & experience what a storm is like, virtually
• Sports activities= surfing, biking, skiing – all with variable weather conditions
• Has improved the impression/perception of the Weather Channel
• The numbers are low, compared with TV/Radio/Print/Web—however SL provides an engagement experience that is more valuable and memorable

Turner - Rhonda Lowry

• Rethink spam = Socialization, Participation, and Motivation (SPaM)
• The “real” CNN has iReport, basically citizen reports. They started a Second Life iReport program—basically correspontants reporting on the news that happens in SL. CNN provides them with tools and training (one hour weekly training sessions in-world about taking photos, shooting video, interviewing, writing copy, etc) teach them how to be reporters—they report about SL, CNN provides them with a sense of legitimacy / authenticity -- in return, CNN gets to expand reputation as THE news provider. More info here.  

Kaneva - Chris Klaus

• Kaneva is a virtual world similar to Second Life, however they emphasize being yourself (as opposed to dragons or super models)
• Emerging trend is watching TV online in a virtual world with your friends. They have experimented with the show 10 items or less by having cast join fans in the virtual environment to interact, ask questions, and hang out.
• Also stream behind-the-scenes at tv sets / awards show. Screen Actors Guild Awards had extra cameras, could watch crew setup and take down set—and talk with others online while watching.
• Interior designers can work with clients –use virtual space to model rooms—see what colors and furniture will look life before purchasing.

Coca-Cola - Mike Donnelly

• Before Coke got involved they went to the “leaders” of Second Life—the major blogs, the virtual citizens with power and popular land, etc and talked with them about how Coke might fit in. When entering a new territory or using a new technology, need to listen and learn, don't think you know what they want—ask advice, council, and even permission.
• They didn't want to buy and build up an island. Lots of companies did that and are stuck with empty islands—Coke rented land, but ultimately try to embedded themselves within community (people wear coke clothing)
• Virtual Thirst contest – winner – objective was to design virtual coke machine—however not necessary a literal vending machine—but some type of experience that captures the essence of Coke. Design and build the vending machine of the future (not necessarily about bottles of soda though)
• Once Coke decided that they wanted to participate in Second Life—discovered that the brand already existed—people has used the logo
• Wanted to build on the idea of “quenching” thirst = knowledge, experience, entertainment, communication, inspiration

Second Life, Classroom Instruction, and the Role of the Library

Fittingly enough, I received an email the evening of this event from a Georgia Tech faculty member. He is an English instructor wanting to include a SL component to his course. This includes several in-world meetings along with virtual space and support for his students to develop a small project.

What's the role of the library here? I mean, if a professor asks for face-to-face classroom support we provide that. If they ask for web support via WebCT or via an online service like Horizon Wimba, we'd most likely provide that too. But what about Second Life? How many of us are ready to offer services there?

I feel that librarians can benefit from a basic understanding of virtual worlds for cases just like this… and this example is going to become more common. Imagine the possibility of say a physics class in which you have a lecture, a lab, and a virtual world homework assignment (3 distinct components.) Maybe an aerospace class conducts experiments in zero gravity. Maybe a class of civil engineers and a class of architects have to work together on building a structure, just like in the real world.

SL has a lot of info for educators . Are you ready to help them? If the classroom and the curriculum are heading into a virtual environment, shouldn't libraries follow? Or even better, shouldn't they lead the way? The idea of setting up a virtual reference desk and waiting around for patrons is preposterous, but collaborating with faculty and creating engagement experiences is the future of education.

Some of my other SL posts:

Augmented Reality – the Georgia Tech model

Second Thoughts – the Woodbury Model

Augmented Reality – a Second Life Experiment

I've teamed up with a computer science professor who owns an island in Second Life. We're inviting (recruiting) students to hangout, explore, and learn the basics of the software. Our rational is that if there is an interest, let's say 20 students or more, then we'll work toward purchasing an island for them. The idea is still in the very early stages, but ideally we're following this basic principal: just as a student can checkout a book, they can also checkout a plot of virtual land. In this framework it becomes a discovery experience.

The premise is that since so many of our students use digital design tools for class work, they can also benefit from exposure to Second Life. Maybe SL isn't sustainable long-term, that's fine, we can just move to another virtual environment. My personal feeling about technology is that everything you learn can be applied elsewhere, therefore the more you know the better.

Some benefits:

•  Students will have the opportunity to explore and experiment within a large virtual world.

•  Students will have the freedom of self-expression and an outlet for creativity.

•  Students will collaborate with others, fostering leadership, project management, critical thinking and planning, team-building, and communication skills.

•  Students will apply design principles, engineering mechanics, problem solving, physics, geometry, and aesthetics within a 3D modeling universe.

•  Faculty will have virtual space and resources for instructional purposes.

That's it in a nutshell. We've set a few dates aside to see if anyone shows up. User interest and participation will guide this project. It could be a total bust, and that's fine. I have found SL very interesting, but so many educational (and corporate) efforts end up ghost towns. I want something more interactive and popular. A lot of the library stuff I've seen out there seems to be by-librarians for-librarians, and that's not the direction I want to go. I am more interested in something that targets my patrons, something that inspires the imagination.

Another unfortunate trend sprouting up are “no access” islands. (UT-Austin, Stanford, SJSU) I think it's fine if people want to buy private land, but don't place it in the middle of other open access educational environments. It's a country club mentality that doesn't belong there.

Here is our main flyer (front & back), courtesy of Dottie Hunt.

Unaccredited: The Chronicle disses the Ubiquitous Librarian (again!)

Back in June I posted about Woodbury University in Second Life.  Long story short, the hypocrites at Linden Labs destroyed the campus because of misbehavior. The Chronicle of High Education reported about it here: The Death of a Virtual Campus. The online version of the article does not include photos, however if you look at the print version: July 13th (2007) p. A22, you’ll see something like this:

(thanks Tara!)

Nice layout, but hmmm, those screenshots look familiar. Where have I seem them before? Oh yeah, they’re mine. On July 3rd The Chronicle’s photo editor emailed me:

"A reporter has requested that we get some images of the virtual Woodbury University to run with an upcoming story about Second Life. I’d like a variety, but specifically, one of the dorm rooms and some of the campus. I am on a very tight deadline, so the sooner you can get back to me, the better."

I suggested that she take a look at my Woodbury blog post and see if that was sufficient. Since the Woodbury U campus had been “removed” by the Second Life folks, those were all that remained. I followed up with a second email stating that I had found their new location (the Woodbury - North Campus) and could provide additional images if needed.

I received no response from either of my emails. So I guess the question is: do screenshots fall under copyright? Every editor I’ve ever worked with has sought permission from content providers in order to publish screenshots. I don’t mind that The Chronicle used my images, but it would have been nice if they had credited me, or at least cited the blog post from which they’d ripped the graphics. I feel a bit disrespected. You can see from the email that they were snappy toward me – we need this now! – and it wasn’t even from someone I knew.

If you've read my original post you’ll see that I worked like an internet anthropologist: I spent several weeks observing the Woodbury crew in order to gain that level of access. The reporter might have learned something by talking to me, someone who actually spent time on the virtual campus with these "griefers." What were they really like? What did I see? What's the real story?

I guess The Chronicle has it out for me: they steal my shots and paint me as the anti-reference reference librarian. Oh well...

Second Thoughts on Second Life: Lessons from Woodbury University

I’m still not sure how I feel about Second Life in terms of patron interaction. Everyday it seems some new library, college, or corporation is setting up a presence… but so what? I fly around and see islands filled with ghost towns. I think it is a creative environment for librarians and liked minded individuals (artists, teachers, museum and history folks) to gather and chat, but as a branch location, I have some skepticism.

One thing that bothers me is the concept of “banning” people from our premises. I guess this happens in real life too, but the other day I saw someone acting ridiculous during a lecture. That person was swiftly banished from the entire Info Island region. Was that really necessary? This doesn’t seem to embrace the 2.0 philosophy of the user-directed experience. Just because librarians create sexy avatars doesn’t make them any less stodgy. Proper rules, proper behavior, proper etiquette… that sounds more like my grandmother rather than the next generation of library services.

Speaking of which… some unfortunate librarian who has to write peer-reviewed articles in order to make tenure should do a study on the level of service quality at the Second Life Reference Desk. Maybe compare it with email, chat, and in-person services if you’re really ambitious. I was hanging around the Info Island Ref Desk the other day and a patron asked a scientific question. The librarian on duty responded: You should search Google Scholar. And the patron flew away. You can place the librarian into a new location but you can’t get rid of that “go look at those books over there” or “it’s in Academic Search Premier, of course!” attitude.

Everything aside, I was inspired by a recent discovery. I was hovering around several different University islands, beautiful campus environments that are relatively unpopulated, when I noticed a crowd at Woodbury University. I dropped in but could not find anyone. My map picked up at least 15 people, so I wandered around. You can see that it looks pretty straightforward: buildings, roads, trees, a campus.

Then… I came across a secret door that took me underground. Beneath the main campus was an entire second world—the world for students, by students. A handful of them were playing a game, others were uploading photos, and another was looking at a news headline feed. I had found their sanctuary. This is where they hung out. This was their home, just as all the librarians like to hangout together around the Ref Desk.

Dorm rooms:

A large workshop/office space:

A large commons area:

KFC:

It’s very geek-chic.

This was truly user-generated, user-centric, user-designed--- unlike our massive fortresses. Woodbury got it right. On the surface they have the “campus” entity, but down below is the space for students. I spoke with one of the principle designers and he said that the University purchased the island to support the School of Media, Culture, and Design and specifically a course on the study of virtual worlds.

This has recharged my thoughts about the potential of Second Life. I think there is definitely an opportunity to offer compelling, interactive, creative environments for users, but it starts by leaving out all of our preconceived notions of “libraries” and building something unique. I hope to get the chance to demonstrate this, but time is limited these days—maybe next summer?

Oh and if you plan to visit Woodbury U, you’d better come strapped; the place is infected with zombies!