Second Life Introduction,
Second Life Introduction
Become a Superhero
Brian Gray
(Brian Garfield in Second Life)
( )
Case Western Reserve University
bcg8@case.edu
OLSSI
August 3, 2009

What is Second Life?
• 3-D virtual metaverse entirely built
3D
and owned by its residents
• Began as 64 acres in 2003
g
• By 2007 was 64K+ acres
• Fully-integrated economy: Linden
Fully integrated
Dollar Exchange
• Linden Lab – Support & development
de ab Suppo t de e op e t
• Pacific Standard Time (SL Time)

Metaverse (According to Wikipedia)
• From Neal Stephenson’s 1992
Stephenson s
novel Snow Crash
• Widely used to describe the vision
behind current work on fully
p
immersive 3D virtual spaces
• Environments where humans
interact (as avatars) with each
( )
other (socially and economically)

http://secondlife.com
http://secondlife com

Windows Minimum
System Requirements
S R i
• Internet Connection: Cable or DSL
• Operating System: Windows XP or Vista
• Computer Processor: 800MHz Pentium
p
III or Athlon, or better
• Computer Memory: 512MB or better
• Screen Resolution: 1024x768 pixels
• Video/Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 2,
GeForce 4mx, or better
4mx
– OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better
– OR Intel 945 chipset

LindeX Market Data
2009 Jan ar
January
Total Customers Spending
Money In-World 442143
1 - 500 L$ 169809
501 - 2,000 L$ 79514
2001 - 5 000 L$
5,000 56438
5,001 - 10,000 L$ 40067
10,001 - 50,000 L$ 69643
50,001 - 100,000 L$ 14905
100,001 - 500,000 L$ 10062
500,001 - 1,000,000 L$ ~$4000 910
Over 1,000,000 L$ 795

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

Example of Use Fees
(Beyond Basic Free Account)
• US$9 95/month Premium
US$9.95/month
Membership, includes
512sqm and weekly stipend
• 1/128 region, 512sqm, 117
region 512sqm
prims, US$5
• Entire region, 65,536sqm,
15,000 prims,
15 000 prims US$195

1.4 million last 60 days
and 64k currently

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

Ohio University Video on SL
PLAY MOVIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuNFRie8wA

Avatars – Who do you want to
be?

Dress for the Moment

Recreating or Redesigning

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

CWRU Promotes Dorms

Try Before You Buy

Kelvin Smith Library (CWRU)

Alliance Virtual Library
• Partner: Alliance Library System
– one of nine regional library systems in
Illinois with over 250 member libraries
of all types
• Partner: OPAL
– Online programming for all libraries
• Public Blog: http://infoisland.org/
• Other links, including “working site”:
http://infoisland.org/links/

Examples from AVL
• Genealogy Research Center
• Library Gallery
• Mystery Manor
• Performance Center
• Science Center
• SF/Fantasy Center
• Health Info

Second Life Library:
Info I l d I C b
I f Island I, Cybrary City, etc.
Ci
By
B HVX Silverstar
Sil t
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/
511035937/in/pool-secondlifelibrary/
511035937/in/pool secondlifelibrary/

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

Collaboration Takes New
Format: My First Experience

Online Presentations
Example:
Presentation by R.
P t ti b 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

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

San Jose State University's School
of Lib
f Library & I f
Information Science
i S i
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADE0VSffgis
PLAY MOVIE

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

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 l
f i h learn, as well as explore, what
ll l h
it's like to be part of an online
community.
community ”
http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/features/second‐life_virtual‐classroom/

Educators Explore 'Second Life‘
Online (CNN.com)
O li (CNN )
• “The three-dimensional virtual world makes
it possible for students taking a distance
course to develop a real sense of
community,
community said Rebecca Nesson ”
Nesson.
• “Most people think online learning doesn't
require p
q participation or engagement with
p g g
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/

Negative Comments to Expect
• Only a game
• Diversion
• Only trying to be edgy
• Waste of time
• Lets do “first” life better instead
L t d “fi t” lif b tt i t d
• Fantasy, fake
• Unprofessional
• Porn, gambling

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

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

More Towards Education
• http://secondlife com/education/
http://secondlife.com/education/
• Second Life Best Practices in
Education: Teaching Learning and
Teaching, Learning,
Research 2007 International
Conference
– http://slbestpractices2007.wikispaces.com/
• htt //bl
https://blogs.secondlife.com
dlif

Directory of Libraries and
Organizations
• http://infoisland org/directory/
http://infoisland.org/directory/
• National Library of Medicine, Specialized
Information Services

Virtual Ability Island

Cleveland Public Library

Deep Sea Marine Aquarium
& S Lif C t
Sea-Life Centre

Second Life Science Center

International Spaceflight
Museum

Nature Publishing Group's Island:
Eukaryotic C ll
E k ti Cell

Texas State University – San Marcos

Texas State University – San Marcos

The Tisch Library and Wright Center Climate
Change Ed
Ch Education C t (T ft U i
ti Center (Tufts University)
it )

NASA CoLab

Piata Revolutiei - First Romanian city
accurately represented in SL
t l t di

Cultural Arts Museum's interpretation of
England during the Neolithic Period
g g
(James Madison University)

Team OKAPI and Berkeley archaeologists mirror
t e p e sto c age, useu and archaeology
the prehistoric village, museum a d a c aeo ogy
in action at Catalhoyuk, Turkey.

Museum of the African-
American Experience

Vikingecenter (Denmark)

Fenimore Art Museum in
Cooperstown NY

Abyss Museum of Ocean
Science

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Second Life Introduction
Introduction,
Become a Superhero
Brian Gray
(Brian Garfield in Second Life)
Case Western Reserve University
bcg8@case.edu
bcg8@case edu
OLSSI
August 3, 2009