Virtual Worlds & Libraries: By: Lori Bell, Shawn McCann, Jeremy Kemp
Hello, Todd Reporting here:
During this presentation we received an overview on the growing popularity of Virtual Worlds, for example Second Life. Second life, is a 3D virtual community that you can travel around in with your avatar (online character). There are more than 10 million active avatars in second life, doing all kinds of things; shopping, talking, dancing, relaxing, visiting all types of locations; anything you can imagine. We watched an interesting clip on how you can use the second life platform with your avatar to make social contacts and share information. People spending time in second life, will have questions; libraries should get involved and provide (virtual) reference. Some Librarian groups have already purchased space in the world and have set up virtual reference facilities. Info Island- virtual librarians answering questions, book discussion, education and training; all of this information being delivered 24-7, worldwide!!! We also learned that some major universities use the second life platform to hold their distance education classes. The idea is to transform distance learning from a mainly 2 dimensional, highly textual service to a more interactive, 3D, highly visual, global experience. There is definitely a place for librarians in the virtual world. Libraries should be proactive. It’s where people are; it’s where people will be.
For More Information:
http://www.simtech.com/
http://www.secondlife.com/
http://www.sloodle.com/
