Second Life and Virtual Worlds – A Service Opportunity?

Second Life and Virtual Worlds – A Service Opportunity? Cathal McCauley, University Librarian NUI Maynooth Peter Clarke, Library IT Services UCD

See: Excellence and fairness: Achieving world class public services http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/publications/excellence_and_fairness.aspx Characteristics of World Class Public Services

What is Second Life?
A 3-D virtual world established by Linden Labs in 2003. Currently c16.5 million residents. Download the Second Life (SL) installer from: www.secondlife.com
Key concepts: Avatars, Objects, Linden Dollars
Communication by IM and Voice
More than a game…

Second Life and the early WWW
Content similar: sex, rock-n-roll and free stuff very popular (gambling was)
Issues similar: US-dominated, uncertainty, rapid change, moral issues, security issues etc.
Some ‘new’ issues too: virtual world protest groups and riots – but how new?
Key characteristic is the similarity

Second Life – “Imagined and created by its Residents”
You can:
Enter the Sistine Chapel and fly up to review the ceiling.
Train how to give emergency first aid to an injured person outside a busy nightclub.
Visit the Saltire centre.
Be an ‘in world’ reporter for CNN.
Go to the Blarney Stone pub in ‘Dublin’ in SL for pints and craic
Fight zombies, take the form of an animal etc. etc.
c.99% user generated content

VIDEO HERE

Education in Second Life
Many US universities (including Berkley, Harvard and Stanford)
More than 70% of UK universities
Universities from Australia and Japan ‘in world’ too
Small, but growing Irish interest e.g. UCD, DIT
Delivering classes, skills session, seminars and conferences
Key drivers: distance learning, media, technology, design and… Libraries

UCD Library in Second Life
Why? Many reasons including: Institutional & Library strategy, reader preferences, resources and PR.
Entered SL on 7 th March ’07. Part of US-based ALS’s award winning cybrary city.
Library-wide working group established in April ’07.

UCD Library in Second Life – Key Achievements to date
March ’07 First Irish academic library in SL
Sept. – Nov. ’07 hosted area aimed at new and potential students (repeated Autumn ’08)
‘ 07/’08 hosted lectures, tutorials and contact time for Prof. Mary Burke (UCD SILS)
Feb. ‘08 hosted talk by movie director Anne Seidl attended by 30+ avatars
March ‘08 hosted virtual venues strand of Library Ireland Week – 3 successful events
Oct. ’08 short listed for UCD Images of Research Competition

Second Life – The PR dividend

How It All Works
Five key elements make up Second Life
Physics
Scripting
Objects
Textures
Media

Second Life Challenges: Adoption
High-end technology requirements
Minimum Hardware Specifications
Broadband Internet connection
PC or Mac
1.5 GHz CPU
1GB memory
Video card
Not all graphics cards are compatible, Windows Vista/Linux still not properly supported by SL
User interface isn’t intuitive
Steep learning curve - most students digital natives

Second Life Challenges: Adoption
Poor introductory experience - Orientation Island, ineffective search tools
Cost - basic accounts are free but in order to buy land, a premium account is required. ‘Rent’ may also need to be paid
Accessibility - still not accessible to the visually impaired (SLim)

Second Life Challenges: Technical / Performance
SL downtime required every 2-3 weeks for Grid updates
Updated client software required at the similar intervals
Grid instability leads to unreliability and performance issues, notably ‘lag’ (sluggish)
Performance issues - inventory losses, difficulties teleporting, logging in, performing searches etc etc

Second Life Challenges: Platform Limitations
SL is not an open platform like the Web and does not currently run on open standards (Linux beta)
Not possible to host your own worlds locally on your own servers
Limit to the number of avatars that can occupy one area simultaneously (60-80)
SL cannot be exported to other virtual worlds
No backup facilities - everything can be lost
Very few tools for importing from other 3D applications

Second Life Challenges: Institutional Issues
Administrative (seen as a game rather than a teaching & learning resource) and technological (security) barriers
Legal issues for institutions - intellectual property rights etc
Authenticity - who is really behind the avatar?
SL is a proprietary service - some educators have issues with this
Exposure to unsuitable content - just like the ‘Net in general
Duty of care for younger students (under 18s)
Privacy and safety concerns

Future of SL at UCD
Remains undecided.
Continue to publicise and provide access to Library resources.
Continue with presentations and seminars in SL.
Examples of possible future development:
Access control for admission by valid students.
Link with Talis Keystone for access to library account.

Second Life and the Hype Cycle 2003 Launch Summer 2006 Anshe Chung & Business Week Autumn 2008 Reuters withdraws from Second Life

Avatars happy to play but not to pay? Source: http://taterunino.net/

Will there be “A Second Wind for Second Life”?
Second life facing many obstacles:
Technology issues (access, ease of use, reliability, interoperability)
Ownership concerns
Figuring out what users want
Business community uncommitted
Ambiguous economic and membership metrics
Digital nomads and growing competition

“ Our evidence so far suggests that virtual worlds have great potential…it is not clear that Second Life …is the optimal environment” Dr Peter Twining, Head of Dept of Education, Open University ( Source: A Spring 2008 “snaphot” of UK Higher and Further Education Developments in Second Life) Second Life is “not the only fruit”

Virtual Worlds: A Service Opportunity?
Growing market
Access to the ‘new’ economy
Opportunity for international co-operation
Another route to ‘hard to reach’ students
Particularly suited to some disciplines
Already estimated 100 million active users of virtual worlds.

StratAG Digital campus – sample building model 1. Terrestrial LiDAR scanning 2. 3D Wireframe model 3. Segregation of unique surfaces 4. Textured, lit and rendered model

Some comments to ponder…
“ Virtual worlds represent the biggest shift forward in learning since the focus on student-centred methods”
Simon Bignell, Centre for Psychological Research in Human Behaviour, University of Derby
“ It has taken about 15 years from the birth of the web for web-based e-learning to become thoroughly institutionalised (with ongoing pockets of resistance throughout academia). The 3D internet could easily take as long”
Dr Daniel Livingstone, School of Computing, University of West Scotland
( Source: The Autumn 2008 “snapshot” of UK Higher and Further Education
Developments in Second Life)

Worth the wait?

Go raibh maith agaibh Cathal McCauley [email_address] Peter Clarke [email_address]

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Second Life and Virtual Worlds – A Service Opportunity?

by Pete Clarke on May 17, 2009

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Second Life and Virtual Worlds – A Service Opportunity? — Presentation Transcript