Virtual Worlds for the Humanities Arts and Social Sciences Richard Urban (aka Aethalides Kukulcan) Graduate School of Library & Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign http://isrl.uiuc.edu/~rjurban

Growth of Virtual Worlds: From…

To… International Space Flight Museum

Subscriptions to MMOG Courtesy mmogdata.com

Second Life Demographics http://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com Residents Logged-In: Last 7 Days: 458,592 Last 14 Days: 637,010 Last 30 Days: 1,031,293 Last 60 Days :1,682,527 Total Residents: 8,350,979 http://www.secondlife.com

So what is it? 3D Multi-user Virtual Environment (MUVE)‏ Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE)‏ Proprietary Based on open standards (OpenGL)‏ Open-source Client AJAX Life - Browser Based AJAX client https://ajaxlife.katharineberry.co.uk/client/login.kat Open-source server?

3D Multi-user Virtual Environment (MUVE)‏

Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE)‏

Proprietary

Based on open standards (OpenGL)‏

Open-source Client

AJAX Life - Browser Based AJAX client https://ajaxlife.katharineberry.co.uk/client/login.kat

Open-source server?

So what is it? Convergence Culture (Jenkins) Web 2.0 Social Computing Participatory & user generated Video Audio Immersive interfaces

Convergence Culture (Jenkins)

Web 2.0

Social Computing

Participatory & user generated

Video

Audio

Immersive interfaces

Museums in Second Life Through early 2007 most museums are created, built, and maintained by SL Residents This is changing quickly ‘ Sploland (Exploratorium) Science Center (UK)‏ Newseum NASA CoLab Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden Design Museum London Holocaust Museum Image courtesy Taran Rampersad

Through early 2007 most museums are created, built, and maintained by SL Residents

This is changing quickly

‘ Sploland (Exploratorium)

Science Center (UK)‏

Newseum

NASA CoLab

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Design Museum London

Holocaust Museum

Science

International Space Flight Museum

International Space Flight Museum

NASA CoLab

‘ Splo (Now Open! Sploland)

Art

Second Louvre Museum

Bolinas Art Museum

Fantasy

Sci-Fi Museum

History/Archeology

Second Life Historical Museum

Xibalba: Maya Museum

Jewish Historical Center

Virtual Morocco

Literature

St. Michael - Jules Verne Museum

Globe Theater

CHASS and Second Life

Stanford Humanities Lab Life to the Second Power

New Media Consortium Aho Museum

NMC - Dante’s Inferno

UCB - Okapi Island

Vasser - Sistine Chapel

SDSU - Virtual Pow Wow

EduServ (UK) - Artsplace

EduServ (UK) - SLashup

EduServ (UK) - Opac

Sculpty Builder

Second Life as Serious Leisure Casual Leisure Immediate No obligations Project-Based Leisure Occasional, infrequent Short-term obligations

Casual Leisure

Immediate

No obligations

Project-Based Leisure

Occasional, infrequent

Short-term obligations

Second Life as Serious Leisure Serious Leisure Frequent Requires acquisition/development of specialized knowledge/skills Need to persevere Receive durable benefits Development of a unique ethos - a social world Participants create identity through serious leisure Long-term obligations Development of a leisure career

Serious Leisure

Frequent

Requires acquisition/development of specialized knowledge/skills

Need to persevere

Receive durable benefits

Development of a unique ethos - a social world

Participants create identity through serious leisure

Long-term obligations

Development of a leisure career

Serious Leisure and Lifelong Learning Liberal Arts Leisure (Stebbins) Genealogy Railfans History buffs Collectors Museum volunteers Re-enactors Living History Arts/Crafts Many of these serious leisure communities turned to the Internet to build social networks - through bulletin boards, websites, and now Second Life

Liberal Arts Leisure (Stebbins)

Genealogy

Railfans

History buffs

Collectors

Museum volunteers

Re-enactors

Living History

Arts/Crafts

Many of these serious leisure communities turned to the Internet to build social networks - through bulletin boards, websites, and now Second Life

Amateurs Professionals Museums

Citizen Science

CI Framework Accessible as a public good It will be sustainable It will provide interoperability It will facilitate collaboration It will support experimentation

Accessible as a public good

It will be sustainable

It will provide interoperability

It will facilitate collaboration

It will support experimentation

CI Framework Develop public and institutional policies that foster openness and access. Promote cooperation between the public and private sectors. Develop and maintain open standards and robust tools. Create extensive and reusable digital collections.

Develop public and institutional policies that foster openness and access.

Promote cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Develop and maintain open standards and robust tools.

Create extensive and reusable digital collections.

Citizen Humanities? How does Second Life measure up to CI Framework? What about alternatives? How do we engage residents of virtual worlds in the co-creation of humanities content? Can this be an opportunity for education/learning about humanities methods and their purpose (e.g. The London Charter?)

How does Second Life measure up to CI Framework? What about alternatives?

How do we engage residents of virtual worlds in the co-creation of humanities content?

Can this be an opportunity for education/learning about humanities methods and their purpose (e.g. The London Charter?)

Showtime! Let’s watch some videos while we discuss… http://youtube.com/musebrarian If you have a Second Life account you can find the museums in this presentation through my Gridmarks http://www.gridmarker.com/gridmarks/aethalides

Let’s watch some videos while we discuss…

http://youtube.com/musebrarian

If you have a Second Life account you can find the museums in this presentation through my Gridmarks

http://www.gridmarker.com/gridmarks/aethalides