Tuesday, February 5, 2008

VALA. Day 1, Session 2b

Kathryn Greenhill, Murdoch University, WA. Do we remove all the walls? Second Life librarianship.

Second Life is overhyped and it's growth is levelling off.

virtuallibrariesinteract.info

Advantages of having a presence in Second Life
  • learn a new interface
  • understand users who game
  • breakdown professional isolation
  • increase coding skills (creating objects)
  • fun creative expression
  • collaborative learning community
  • network about real life library topics
  • expert professional support
  • nimble thinking and adaptable

What works in Second Life

  • events
  • reference desk
  • casual get togethers
  • outdoor settings
  • friending and using network
  • collaborations around subject matter, not geography
  • volunteers working on their own interests

What doesn't work

  • static collections, no people
  • closed off buildings
  • clickable objects
  • solo exploration

_____________________________

As stated elsewhere Kathryn has my dream job title (Emerging Technologies Specialist) and it's easy to see why her bosses would want her to have this title. She gave a great presentation, introducing us to Second Life librarianship, and showed us a lot of the 'trial and error' type experimentation they went through when building their second life presence.

I've been on Second Life for a while but this presentation energised me into going back to 2nd life and exploring it in more depth than I had dones previously.


No comments: