« NYT future of libraries article given big play on Boing Boing | Main | So much, I just don't know where to begin »
May 16, 2006
Kicking around the Second Life Library 2.0
Greg Schwartz and I were on Skype last night having a conversation about something completely different. Somehow, the conversation wandered off into his recent work with the Second Life Library 2.0, a virtual library inside the virtual world of Second Life.
This I had to see. While I've been generally avoiding anything that could become the "time vortex" that Greg proclaimed Second Life to be, I really just needed to know. I mean, think of MySpace taken to a whole new lever of interactivity. The environments have existed for quite some time on a gamer level, but Second Life is like the Sims in a way, and way more accessible to people who may not be of the character-based adventure-hack-and-slash crowd. So I went to the Second Life site, signed up for a free account, and told Greg he had to show me the joint. So, still talking on Skype and walking around in Second Life, I got a nifty tour of the library.
Those of you familiar with MMORPGish (massively multiplayer online role-playing game-ish) environments who have not tried Second Life would find it very familiar. The one difference between, say, EverQuest and World of Warcraft, and Second Life is that Second Life has a vaguely Seinfeld-show-about-nothing feel to it. In Greg's words, "it's not a game." Really, you are living a strangely realish life, complete with money, clothes, friends, and places to visit. There are no real missions to accomplish, or goals to achieve. You just... are. Online. Oh, and the added benefit of being able to fly.
For those of you not familiar with this gaming environment, think of a 3D virtual world being built from scratch by the people who "live" in it. You are represented by an avatar, a 3D model of yourself (that you can customize in very infinite detail), walking around in this online world. It's not the most intuitive interface for newbies, but the cute little tutorial you go through at the beginning does give you some of the basics you need to know. The rest is really best learned by experience.
Luckily, I had Greg to point out handy tips as we wandered about, and give me the skinny on stuff they don't teach you in the tutorial at the beginning. After getting through the setup bits, Greg literally transported me to the library, which is a complex of buildings surrounded by lush gardens. On the roof of the main building is a rooftop garden with a screen, where PowerPoint (yup, *PowerPoint*) presentations can be shown to a group of attendees. On the second level is an area where you can request "books" (collections of text kept on bundles of digital cards), a seating area with music, a Hot Cocoa Latte machine, and a suggestion box where you can leave comments. Greg showed me around while we listened to Irene Cara singing the theme song from Fame (and Greg and I did a little mumbled karaoke here and there ;D).
Down the stairs and outside, we visited the gardens, which lovely benches, gazeboes, trees, flowers, and even a donated piece of art. The nearby buildings house classrooms with more screens for presentations and meeting areas for the librarians working on the library, that we accessed by way of clicking on a teleportation button.
All told, Greg and I spent 3 hours on Skype, with at least 2 hours devoted to tooling around Second Life and the library tour. We're toying with the idea of making our little walk and talks into a program of some sort, which would be ultra entertaining and nifty for just about everyone, and give librarians especially a better sense of the Second Life world. Who knows, you may find me taking a shift at the *really* virtual reference desk in-world.
If you're interested in learning more about the Second Life and the library, check out the Second Life Library 2.0 blog, and their upcoming *free* OPAL webinar on Wednesday, May 31.
Keep an eye on Greg's Flickr photostream for a very interesting photo from our visit to the garden...
May 16, 2006 2:37 AM
Comments
I haven't tried Second Life but your post gives me more insight into it. I can appreciate your reluctance to engage a huge time suck that doesn't seem to have a great deal of entertainment value, it's like Waiting for Godot online. I once read a review of the Sims where the writer said that he plays video games to avoid taking out the garbage...why play a video game that makes you take out the garbage?
Posted by: Safety Neal at May 16, 2006 9:38 PM
Hi Neal,
it's like Waiting for Godot online
For some users, that's precisely what it feels like, for other users, it's opens a world of possibility. It's really a testament to how different online communities have different personalities, and attrack specific people.
why play a video game that makes you take out the garbage?
Yeah, I know what you mean. However, for the folks who do like that kind of thing (I don't know how much of the everyday practical stuff is involved in-world on Second Life, I've only been there once so far), I can see the kind of niche the Second Life Library fills. Greg and I were chatting about how the library could provide different workshops on in-world things (even though there are places that kinda cover that already), much like a library in real life would offer workshops on life things. It's a way to reach another community of users that might be encouraged to visit a library in real life if the in-world experience with librarians was positive.
Posted by: Andrea at May 17, 2006 9:44 AM