Are you Trained for a Library
Transaction with an Animal? It
Happens in Second Life
Brian Gray
(Brian Garfield in Second Life)
Case Western Reserve University
bcg8@case.edu
ALAO Annual 2007
October 25, 2007

What is Second Life?
• 3-D virtual metaverse entirely built
and owned by its residents
• Began as 64 acres in 2003
• Today, 65,000 acres & growing
rapidly
• Fully-integrated economy - Linden
Dollar Exchange
• Linden Lab – Support &
development

Metaverse (According to Wikipedia)
• From Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel
Snow Crash
• Widely used to describe the vision behind
current work on fully immersive 3D virtual
spaces
• Environments where humans interact (as
avatars) with each other (socially and
economically) and with software agents
in a cyber space, that uses the metaphor
of the real world, but without its physical
limitations.

Alternatives to SL
• World of Warcraft (WoW)
• Sims
• There
• Entropia Universe
• Active Worlds
• Home on Playstation 3

http://secondlife.com

PC Minimum System
Requirements
• Internet Connection: Cable or DSL
• Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack
2)
– OR Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4)
– NOTE: Second Life does NOT currently support
Windows Vista
• Computer Processor: 800MHz Pentium III or
Athlon, or better
• Computer Memory: 256MB or better
• Video/Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 2,
GeForce 4mx, or better
– OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better

I wish someone told me…
• Pacific Standard Time (SL Time)
• Complete tutorials for new members
• Downtime on Wednesdays
• “Friend” people or keep track of
names, as appearances change
• For classroom settings, have people
join before class – Multiple account
creations all at once can lock down
an IP temporarily

LindeX Market
Data
Monthly Spending by Amount (2007 May)
Transaction Size Residents
1 - 500 L$ 129,593
501 - 2,000 L$ 45,300
2001 - 5,000 L$ 37,592
5,001 - 10,000 L$ 23,273
10,001 - 50,000 L$ 38,995
$3700+
50,001 - 100,000 L$ 8,793
100,001 - 500,000 L$ 7,760
500,001 - 1,000,000 L$ 962
Over 1,000,000 L$ 834
Total Customers Spending Money In-World 293,102

Retain ALL IP Rights
Linden Lab's Terms of Service agreement
recognizes Residents' right to retain full
intellectual property protection for the digital
content they create in Second Life,
including avatar characters, clothing,
scripts, textures, objects and designs. This
right is enforceable and applicable both in-
world and offline, both for non-profit and
commercial ventures. You create it, you
own it – and it's yours to do with as you
please.

Ohio University Without Boundaries
http://www.ouwb.ohiou.edu/

Ohio University Video on SL
PLAY MOVIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuNFRie8wA (2:33 length)

Avatars – Who do you want to
be?

Dress for the Moment

Video Tutorials:
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Video_Tutorials
Example: http://youtube.com/watch?v=N787M2WOb24
Building with Prims (21 seconds)
PLAY MOVIE

Recreating or Redesigning

Virtual Recruiting
http://admission.case.edu/secondlife.asp

CWRU Promotes Dorms

Try Before You Buy

Kelvin Smith Library (CWRU)

SL Library 2.0
• Alliance Library System
– one of nine regional library systems in
Illinois with over 250 member libraries
of all types
• Public Blog: http://infoisland.org/
• “Behind the Scenes” Blog:
http://infoisland.org/drupal/
• Best Overview:
http://infoisland.org/drupal/reference/SL_ready_ref

• InfoIsland 1
– Libraries, Alliance Library System building,
ICT, WorldBridges, TechSoup
• InfoIsland 2
– Science Center, Fireball Express, Museums,
Galleries and more...
• Consumer Health Island
– Medical and Health Care Information
• Cybrary City
– InfoIsland's community of individual libraries.
• Cybrary City 2
– The expanded library community.
• EduIsland
– InfoIsland's community of educators.

• Imagination Island
– Rachelville comprises half this island with
resources for children's literature, beautiful
gardens and a maze.
• Vendor Village (coming soon).
• Arts/ALA Island
– Arts - Coming soon a Grand Opera House
where there will be performances of opera,
music, plays and more.
– American Library Association - InfoIsland will
soon be welcoming the American Library
Association.
• Commonwealth Island
– Commonspace for Organization
• Echoditto
– An event center for progressive web political
and environmental organizations.

Second Life Library:
Info Island I, Cybrary City, etc.
By HVX Silverstar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/
511035937/in/pool-secondlifelibrary/

Renaissance Island
By HVX Silverstar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/
527404571/in/pool-secondlifelibrary/

Info Island, by avatar Rik Riel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTQkzfz5osQ
(3:22 length)
PLAY MOVIE

Collaboration Takes New
Format

Online Presentations
Example:
Presentation by R.
David Lankes, PhD, is
Director of the
Information Institute of
Syracuse (IIS) and an
Associate Professor
at Syracuse
University’s School of
Information Studies
http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/blog/

Socialize Online

Deep Sea Marine Aquarium
& Sea-Life Centre

Second Life Science Center

International Spaceflight
Museum

Nature Publishing Group's Island:
Eukaryotic Cell

New Course: Virtual World
Librarianship - Your Second Life
• University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, The Graduate School
of Library and Information Science,
& Illinois Alliance Library System
• Six 2-hour synchronous sessions
will meet online in Second Life
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cpd/Second_Life.html

San Jose State University's School
of Library & Information Science
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADE0VSffgis
(4:09 length)
PLAY MOVIE

Mukwa Dibou (ALA President-Elect, Loriene Roy)
and Jeremy Kemp (arriving) on SJSU sim
chatting with SJSU students and librarians.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/511014362/in/
pool-secondlifelibrary/

Owning Land
• Islands are priced at US$1,675 for
65,536 square meters (about 16 acres).
Monthly land fees for maintenance are
US$295.
• Offer a 50% discount to verified real
world educators and academic
institutions (e.g., universities/schools) or
501(c)3 non-profit organizations that will
be using the regions to support their
organization's official work.
• Smaller “pieces” for less money

Brand Map of Second Life:
http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=430

Avatar Academics, UCLA Magazine
(4/07)
• Esther Grassian, an information literacy
outreach coordinator at UCLA's College
Library; her avatar - Alexandria Knight.
• “Ball State University's students discuss
their assignments on SL”
• “Students of a Pepperdine University
distance-learning course meet every
fortnight to learn, as well as explore, what
it's like to be part of an online
community.”
http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/features/second‐life_virtual‐classroom/

Avatar Academics,
UCLA Magazine (4/07)
“Charles Reed, California State
University’s chancellor, recently said at
an education and research conference in
San Francisco that he would like
students to telecommute more, meeting
with faculty and peers one day a week
on campus and using the rest of the
work week exploring virtual worlds and
downloading information to complete
their course work.”
http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/features/second‐life_virtual‐classroom/

Avatar Academics,
UCLA Magazine (4/07)
• Last fall, Harvard University offered its
first course on SL - \"CyberOne: Law in
the Court of Public Opinion“
• 40 students (50 more in physical class)
• “Professor Charles Nesson, who taught
the course in the real world, and his
daughter, Rebecca, a computer
scientist at Harvard and instructor at the
university's Extension School, who
conducted CyberOne in SL”
http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/features/second‐life_virtual‐classroom/

Educators Explore 'Second Life‘
Online (CNN.com)
• “The three-dimensional virtual world makes
it possible for students taking a distance
course to develop a real sense of
community, said Rebecca Nesson.”
• “Most people think online learning doesn't
require participation or engagement with
course material, he said. But in \"Second
Life\" there's real-time interaction, which
means students need to engage in the
discussion -- much as if they were sitting in
a brick and mortar classroom.”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/11/13/second.life.university/

Educators Explore 'Second Life‘
Online (CNN.com)
• “While it remains to be seen how much of an
impact \"Second Life\" will have in the long run,
there is immense interest within the
educational community to find ways to
harness its potential, said Mechthild Schmidt,
a professor at NYU-McGhee, a division of the
School of Continuing and Professional
Studies.”
• “Schmidt, who learned about \"Second Life\"
from her teenage son, integrated the virtual
world into a course she teaches on digital
communication to give students a new avenue
for collaboration.”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/11/13/second.life.university/

Activities within SL
• Collaboration
• Streaming real time events
• Art shows
• Book discussions
• Office hours
• Social
• Conference & poster presentations

Uses of SL
• Create movies (Machinima)
• Create tutorials
• Alternative to architect or consultant
• Experimentation before the “real”
• Stage setting or directions
• 3-D educational objects
• Brainstorming

Negative Comments to Expect
• Only a game
• Diversion
• Only trying to be edgy
• Waste of time
• Lets do “first” life better instead
• Fantasy, Fake
• Unprofessional
• Porn, Gambling

Signs of Growth & Acceptance
• Sweden to set up embassy in
Second Life
• ALA Washington Opens Virtual
Office
• Reuters has dedicated SL reporter

• Teen Second Life:
http://teen.secondlife.com/
• Eye4You Alliance Island is
sponsored by the Alliance Library
System, PLCMC and SirsiDynix:
http://www.eye4youalliance.youthtech.info/

More Education
• http://secondlife.com/education/
– SL Education Mailing List (SLED)
– Global Kids videos
• Proceedings of the SL Education
Workshop at the Second Life Community
Convention, San Francisco, August 20th,
2006
– http://secondlife.com/businesseducation/
education/slcc2006-proceedings.pdf

More Education
• Second Life Best Practices in
Education: Teaching, Learning, and
Research 2007 International
Conference
– http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/
• SL Blog, Education Category
– http://blog.secondlife.com/tag/education/

Print Resources

Recent Changes or Coming Soon
• SL was chat based with sound
effects and streaming media
• Voice is newest edition (optional)
– Works good for small group
discussions
– Is directional (i.e. things get louder as
you approach)
• People are exploring crossovers
with other virtual platforms

Extras: Librarians in Action
By HVXSilverstar
Librarians of Second Life: Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
9fYnplBHSpo
(4:50 length)
PLAY MOVIE

Extras: Librarians in Action
By HVXSilverstar
Librarians of Second Life: Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
SYHcXsaQdv4
(5:24 length)
PLAY MOVIE

Are you Trained for a Library
Transaction with an Animal? It
Happens in Second Life
Brian Gray
(Brian Garfield in Second Life)
Case Western Reserve University
bcg8@case.edu
http://www.squidoo.com/library2point0/
http://www.slideshare.net/bcg8
ALAO Annual 2007
October 25, 2007