Sheila Webber/
Sheila Yoshikawa
Collaborating in Second Life
EBSLG Conference, May 2009

Presented at the European Business
School Librarians Group conference,
Ashridge Management College,
May 2009
Sheila Webber
Department of Information Studies,
University of Sheffield, UK
s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk
With additional notes added for Slideshare version. Title picture: Sheila Yoshikawa,
relaxing after a hard day of conferencing

Second Life
• 3-D Online Digital world, owned by Linden Labs
• Most things created by SL residents: SL fashion
designers, architects, bakers, animal makers ….
• Avatars- 3D representation of yourself – free to
signup and can live on freebies, but need Linden
dollars if want to own land, buy clothes etc.
• Communication through text chat, Voice and Instant
Messaging
• 40-80,000 people online simultaneously
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Collaboration …
Sheffield
student & Staff learning about SL
Canadian
student
Planning teaching
Part of a panel talking about
libraries and SL – this was
integrated into a real life
Sharing conference session
experiences
with the
On a panel for SL
Educators
TV discussion
Coop
Sheila Webber, May 2009

My students and I:
show and tell
Education
My students and I:
virtual Hajj
• Only 18+ on main grid: separate Teen grid
• 90% UK universities with some presence
• Many disciplines: English, Psychology, Chemistry,
Biology etc. etc. Practice
• Role play, simulations interviewing with
my students
• Discussion, communication
• Problem solving, inquiry Sheila Webber, May 2009

http://www.mydebitcredit.com/
Dr. Steven Hornik / Robins Hermano
Kenneth Dixon School of Accounting
University of Central Florida
900+ accountancy students
Tour of the Testis
Biology learning &
exploration
Peter Miller/ Graham Mills
Liverpool University
http://tidalblog.blogspot.com/
Sheila Webber, May 2009

The following slides use the “10
techniques for business in SL” that I
outlined in my article
Webber, S. (2008) \"Second Life for Business:
Ten Techniques.\" FUMSI, October.
http://web.fumsi.com/go/article/use/3326
I give some suggestions about how
these might be applied to libraries

Promotion and relationship
management
• Alert people to new products
• Keeping in touch (e.g. messages in inworld Groups)
• There for people who use SL
A Departmental
exhibition for a visit
Inworld (SL) group –
from the VC – and Add library example keeping in touch
any visitors
Bonding with my students on
Kansas State Library
a teaching tour
– topical information
Sheila Webber, May 2009

\"Manchester Business School has
always been interested in the “the first cohort to complete BP’s prject
possibilities that virtual worlds management course at Manchester
offer. They wanted a Second Life Business School will be awarded their
certificates in the virtual world, Second
presence that could develop in a Life ... The student controlled avatars will
modular fashion, becoming sticky climb the stage to receive their
enough to encourage long-term certificates and scripted handshakes will
enable them to be congratulated by the
interaction. The space has Dean, as in real life.”
evolved from a place to share
ideas, to a location for training The Drum (2009) “Corporation Pop gives
BP executives a Second Life.” The Drum,
courses, and now a place for 16 February. http://www.thedrum/news/
students to take part in award
ceremonies.\" Dom Raban
(developer) Inworld
Group for
MBS
students
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Training and professional development
Conferencing
Attending a conference
held in Oxford in RL
I chair a session by Professor Jackie
Marsh at the Virtual Worlds Best
Practices in Education conference
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Members of the
Educators Coop
plan a team exercise
Professional
development
One of the many discussions held on our
island, Infolit iSchool. Robin Ashford (a
librarian from the) talks about her experience
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Cross selling and building
brand Promoting existingSL onesservices
library
Stanford University Libraries
and creating new
Stanford Uni here!
Librarians will want to have control of
their brand, rather than leaving it to
others ...
“The library has
developed the island
Solent Life 2. This is a
library skills island …”
Emery, in Kirriemuir
(2009) Sheila Webber, May 2009

Knowhow island
Visit to Infolit iSchool led by
librarian Robin Ashford (GFU)
Purple OR orange
Nottingham Library Garden Sheila Webber, May 2009

Product testing
Virtual focus group
3D plan of a new library –
getting feedback before it is
finalised
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Making money from sales of virtual
services and products
• For educational institutions: E-learning, Online
Distance Learning …
New markets or increased attraction,
with activities or whole classes offered
in SL
Virtual
workshops
in GIS Ashridge Island (private)
Also – new online products
e.g. MBA e-commerce at
Coventry University
(private)
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Developing VW infrastructure
• If you develop expertise in VW design (whether
technical or “set dressing”) then could be
marketable part of your institution’s portfolio
My own expertise:
landscaping / “set dressing”
and simple builds on
information literacy
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Developing a low-cost international
presence
As in all other Strath Business School
channels, can International
you cope with lecture series at
Strathclyde
queries in Business School
other
languages,
from other
time zones
etc.?
Toulouse Business Sheila Webber, May 2009

Modelling and monitoring operations
Virtual reference desk – with
international rota of librarians
Training medical students &
health profession The Open University – using
role play training, in a virtual
office
Island = Imperial College London
http://www.elearningimperial.com/SL/BT
S_poster.pdf
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Recruitment “I’m using SL as
a marketing tool
giving visitors a
sense of the
• Students University [of
Sussex] and its
– SL demographic means may be more campus…”
Hudson in
valuable for recruiting mature students Kirriemuir, 2009
– Increasing use of VWs by children/teens
• Staff
– Could be part of selection process
– Establish whether distant candidates
worth the expenses
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Networking
• Short informal
meetings
• Planning meetings
(e.g., right, planning
for our LILAC
session)
• “Hanging out”
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Sheila Webber
s.webber@shef.ac.uk
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
Sheila Yoshikawa
http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/

References
• Corporation Pop. (2008) Manchester Business School in
Second Life.
http://www.lindamacaulay.com/upload/resource/mbs-doms-
presentation.pdf
• Kirriemuir, J. (2009) The Spring 2009 snapshot of virtual
world use. Virtualworldwatch.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12459921/The-Spring-2009-Snapshot-of-Virtual-World-
Use-in-UK-Higher-and-Further-Education see also
http://virtualworldwatch.net/ (including my podcast at
http://virtualworldwatch.net/wordpress/wp-
content/uploads/2009/03/vww-16th-mar-2009.mp3)
Sheila Webber, May 2009

Other material
• Flickr set on Infolit iSchool:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23396182@N00/collections/7215
7604063164433/
• Infolit iSchool (SL island) wiki:
http://infolitischool.pbworks.com/
• Video of presentation on: Inquiry and Information Behaviour in
Second Life (my activity with 1st year UGs)
http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?whichevent=1248
• Delicious bookmarks on SL and libraries/education
http://delicious.com/LILACSL
Sheila Webber, May 2009