World Builder

This video (9:15 min.) has been called "This is what Second Life® should be like, (and sometimes is)." This is beautiful, inspiring, and sad...and worth watching.


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Presentation: Virtual Worlds

Today I did a webinar for the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) on "Virtual Worlds." The slides are below.

AIIP Webinar: Virtual Worlds

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: aiip second life)

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Technorati tags: Second Life, Virtual Worlds

Article: Second Life Bluesman Gets First-Life Recording Contract

Quoting:

Nashville bluesman Von Johin learned the art of Mississippi Delta-style blues the old fashioned way: by playing small venues across the country. But despite the traditional nature of his music, Von Johin plays weekly shows in Second Life, as you can see in the video to the right. His determination has paid off handsomely, with a record deal believed to be the first ever given to a Second Life performer.

Read more...

And you still think that virtual worlds are just for fun?

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Technorati tag: Second Life

PR Junkie says " Virtual worlds will never catch on"

Never? With...

• eight-year olds using virtual worlds like Whyville, BuildaBearVille, and WebKinz
• teens using virtual worlds for fun and gaming
• students using virtual worlds for classes (even college classes)
• businesses and governments using virtual worlds for meetings, trade shows, and training

...virtual worlds are not going away. We're still learning how to use them. Therefore, I'm not concerned about organizations that jump in and fail. I bet they learned from the experience and will do better the next time.

One thing is for sure, virtual worlds will continue to improve and change. What we see now is a foretaste of the worlds (and uses) that will come.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Remodeling a real world kitchen and hiring a builder in Second Life

When you remodel a kitchen, it is likely that you have some idea about what you want, but still have a lot of work to do. There are so many decisions to be made. If you're lucky, you'll find someone who understands the process and can make helpful suggestions. So far in our kitchen remodeling process, we've been fortunate.

The same is true when thinking about building in Second Life. Here the choices are much more numerous. It is easy to say "this is what I want", when really you haven't considered enough possibilities to really know what you want. (You might just know what you don't want!) While there are a number of builders in SL, like in real life, it is important to find a builder who has some understanding of what you are trying to achieve and can make helpful suggestions. For me, that occurred last night.

I am working with a group that is developing a real world project and wants to do something "similar" in Second Life. The vision is being developed. My job has been to find possible builders, which has not been an easy task. Builders have been busy with other projects and I suspect some see our project as being too small. Interestingly, last night the builder I spoke with got me thinking about the project differently (and so perhaps it won't be small after all). That reminded me of when we had a new porch put on the house and someone suggested a porch three-times the size as what we had planned. Now while we decided not to do that, it expanded our thinking about what the porch could be.

And now my thinking is expanded on what this SL project could be. I can't wait to talk to other members of the real life project and get approval to move forward. The vision is now more complete and cooler! And we've made contact with someone who can make it happen.

Life is good!

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Technorati tags: Second Life

How big is Second Life?

In January, I constructed a handout for my Second Life workshops that included information on the number of islands as of December 2007 and the number of acres. I had SL at 11,873+ islands or 65,000+ acres. Both numbers came from Linden Labs, but the second number wasn't evidently for all of SL. If I had done the math, I would have realized that the acres number was wrong. Each island is 16 acres, so 65,000 is very low. So...here's the recalculated size based on mid-April 2008 statistics. SL has 13,976 + islands or 223,616+ acres. For comparison purposes, Manhattan is 14,478 acres and New York City (total) is 206,000 acres. Generally, there are approximately 50,000 avatars in SL at anytime. That is one avatar for every 4.12 acres. While some avatars may be grouped together, others may be working on an island or touring about. That leaves much of SL feeling void of activity.

When people say that they've been in Second Life and no one was there, this is why.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

When your virtual world life merges with your real life

Normally we think of taking ourselves into a virtual world, so that our avatar has aspects of our real world personality. However, the reverse is occurring for some. They are merging aspects of their avatar or in-world existence with their real lives. For example:

• Having an email address that using the avatar's name
• Setting up meetings/events using the time zone for the virtual world
• Answering to their avatar's name
• Having business cards for their avatar
• Owning a blog in the avatar's name

Will blurring the lines between real life and virtual life end up being confusing? Will it actually allow the person to have one life that spans two realities? I don't know the answers...do you?

BTW you know someone has got to be studying this!

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Technorati tag: Second Life, Virtual Worlds

Article: IBM Project Aims to Put Second Life Inside the Firewall

Embedded in this article about the work IBM is doing with Second Life is a quote from me.

As virtual worlds continue to grow in popularity, "government should be aware of virtual worlds and how they are impacting business, education and general society," said Jill Hurst-Wahl, a social-networking consultant, in an e-mail. "With all of that activity, governments should be aware of virtual worlds, understand how they are being used, and then look for ways of interacting with their citizens through those worlds."

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Social Networking Tools and Second Life

Last week, I did a presentation at SUNY Cortland on Social Networking Tools and Second Life. Gail Wood, library director at Memorial Library at SUNY Cortland, wrote a blog post about the event that includes the five trends I discussed.

What truly pleased me about the event is that there were staff, faculty and students there. The students even asked questions, which means they were engaged.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Ironic: IBM Unveils Healthcare Island on Second Life

IBM, who has an anti-Second Life commercial, has opened a new island in Second Life. (story)

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Article: Classes explore UK Island, use digital world for research

The University of Kentucky has an island in Second Life. This article from the campus newspapers gives an overview of UK's efforts. Why invest in SL?

The university wanted to offer students cutting-edge education and a new way to interact with an international population, [political science professor Christopher] Rice said, which made the investment worth the price.

UK purchased their island in November, which means they have been able to get their island up and running in just over two months. Good for them!

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Email discussion list for educator in Second Life

I mentioned this today in the workshop, but did not have the URL handy for the group. You can join this group here. I would describe this group -- called SLED -- as a noisy and informative group. Lots of emails!

Notice on that page that there are pointers to other groups that might also be of interest to some people.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

CNN is following what's going on in SL

CNN has I-Reports on its web site from Second Life. Since these are I-Reporters, the news may seem "soft", however, it will give you an indication of what people are doing in SL. In addition, it may be a way for you to find events and locations, that you might not know of otherwise.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

My avatar looks like she goes to the gym

I did a workshop today on Second Life ("Introduction to Second Life") in Ithaca, NY. Someone asked if people made their avatars look like the way the look in real life. The answer is "yes", some people do. However, for many of us, our avatars look about 20 years younger than what we do in real life, and a bit thinner. One gentleman -- whom I've known for a long time -- remarked that my avatar looks like she goes to the gym! mmm...I prefer to think that she looks like me in my 20s.

From the interaction I had with graduate students last fall in SL, I know that some people do take great pains to make their avatars look exactly like themselves. Other people like to experiment with a totally different look. And while some may not have tried to make their avatars look like themselves, they may have taken names in SL that were meaningful to them. So although we see this as a different world, we do take "our selves" there in many ways.

Experimenting with different looks and genders is something sociology professors may have their students do in SL, in order to see/understand how other people react to them. [We do take our biases and prejudices with us when we're in a virtual world.] For example, what if you made yourself large (tall and wide) and gave yourself blue skin? How would people react to you? Would people see you as threatening? Attractive? Would they talk to you or avoid you?

BTW blue skin in evidently a turn-off. So if you want people to leave you alone, change your skin color in SL to blue.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

Follow-up to Second Life workshop in Rochester, NY

I have been doing Introduction to Second Life (SL) workshops for months and on Tuesday ran into a situation that I feared would one day happen. SL went down for maintenance. Thankfully, I use videos in the workshop, so people can see a bit of SL before I do the live demo. With SL "down", I then went to Flickr and showed some of the SL screen shots. Actually having SL down meant that I got through all of the information that I needed to include, but "seeing is believing" and the participants didn't get a chance to see it live today. (I'm following up with them all, though, to see if personal tours can be done.)

Below is information that I want the participants to have. Some was said during the workshop and some is new -- and will help to answer questions asked.

• CNN is now reporting on SL events on its web site (link). With so much happening in SL, this is just a glimpse of the activity.
• Anshe Chung became SL first millionaire in U.S. dollars in fall 2006. Below is a screen shot from her press conference held in SL on Nov. 28, 2006.
• Librarians jumped "whole hog" into SL during early 2006, just when the SL "buzz" was increasing.
  
• Many people are interested in working in Teen Second Life, but adults are not automatically allowed on that "grid." In fact, all of the adults who work on that grid with teens must pass an FBI background check.
  
• Large parts of Teen Second Life are private areas. For example, a school might have an island specifically for its students (and which no one else can access). There are public areas in Teen Second Life, one of which is the Eye4You Alliance Island run by librarians from the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County (NC). The Eye4You Alliance blog is here. Notice that they have letter and application that explain how adults can become involved in their project.
  
• How do we know that adults don't disguise themselves as teen and get on Teen Second Life? Librarians who work with the teens say that they (and the teens) keep an eye out for for avatars that seem suspicious and "too adult." Those that seem un-teen-like are reported to Linden Labs, who can ban adults who should not be in Teen Second Life. (Linden Labs can also ban anyone who violates the community rules.)
• Linden Labs has been modifying the user agreement (terms of service) for Second Life and when it is modified users are asked to read the new version and agree to it. Basically Linden Labs is putting in place an agreement that protects them (and hopefully you). For example, although many people are making money in SL (yes, real money), Second Life should not be considered a bank. Money in SL is not guaranteed by Linden Labs or any government agency. Therefore, what money people have in Linden Dollars (which can be converted to U.S. dollars) could be here today and gone tomorrow.
• Second Life is changing how some people operate.
  
• Some people are placing their avatar names on their business cards, especially if they are working in SL.
• Some are creating business cards (or likely Moo cards) specifically for their avatars.
• Some people are better known in real life by their avatar names and may have email accounts, etc., that are based on their avatar names.
• Some people use Second Life Time (SLT) -- which is equivalent to Pacific Time -- all the time for everything.
  
• One video that I've been showing is not on the handout. It is "Exploring Virtual Worlds," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R1SrZua5ww [Added 1:49 p.m.]
  
• Where should people go in-world to experience Second Life? Here are a few suggestions. For each, I'm giving you the Second Life URL. Put the URL in your browser address bar and it will open SL for you and take you to the location. (You must have SL installed on your PC and must have an SL account.)
• Info International Island, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20International/125/240/35
  Info International is in the midst of the Info Island Archipelago, which is a growing number of partner/allied islands focused generally around information and education. If you are interested in visiting libraries, there are libraries on several of the adjacent islands, including Info Island, which is "next door." The area where you will land on Info International Island is the Welcome Area, which contains a reference desk. This area is generally busy around 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. SLT) since many people are in SL in the evening.
  
• Globe Theater on Renaissance Island, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Renaissance%20Island/195/46/27
  This was built to be exactly like the theater as it existed, except that the stories are taller since our avatars are taller than people were in that era.
• HealthInfo Island, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/65/141/22
• Genome Island, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Genome/127/129/49
• Caledon (idealized Victorian island), http://slurl.com/secondlife/Caledon%20VictoriaCity/48/202/23
• NOAA, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Meteora/177/161/27
  
• Why should your institution be in SL?
• With children using virtual worlds, they are not going away. In fact, they will become normal. We need to become familiar with virtual worlds now before they are ubiquitous. Since Second Life is free for a basic account, getting involved with it is a good way of understanding what virtual worlds are.
• If you are an academic institution, many are building virutal campuses. Your may soon be involved, so it would be good to gain some experience now before you are asked to support its virtual world efforts.
• Many businesses are using virutal worlds to create virtual trade shows or to host meetings. This is a growing area, so it is likely many businesses will have some sort of virtual world presence in the future.
• Although your institution may not be in the position to use SL now, you as an individual can either at work or at home. Yes...you may need to do this at home, just as you do some professional reading at home. Consider that you're investing in your long-term professional future.
  
• Finally, an updated version of the PowerPoint is here. The handout given to the participants is here. I already have SL workshops schedule in 2008 and I can guarantee you that both the PowerPoint and handout will be changing! The more I do these workshops, the more information I realize that people need to know especially since the audience generally includes people whose focus is quite different.
  

In my talks, I always mentioned a few negatives about Second Life. Two of them are:

• Residents can make SL change quickly, yet as humans we like stability. The landscape (buildings, etc.) can change quickly and without notice. That can be disconcerting.
  
• The infrastructure is unstable. The grid can go down (crash) unexpectedly. Maintenance seems to take a long time. Those things make SL hard to count on.
  

That's it for now. If anyone has questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment.

Anshe Chung's press conference on Nov. 28, 2006. She was SL's first millionaire (in U.S. dollars).

People dressed as their avatars on Halloween (2007).

This is a photo of the exhibit mounted by the Alzheimer's Society of Ontario (Canada). Unfortunately, this photo was taken before the exhibit was completed (and when it contained more stuff/information. Medium Helvetica did an excellent job putting it together.

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Technorati tag: Second Life

IL2007: Tour of Second Life

I did a 15 minute cyber tour of Second Life to a standing room only (SRO) crowd in the exhibit hall on Wednesday. I showed people part of Info International Island and even interacted with a couple of people there. Yes, the tour was live! For some, this was their first look of SL running in real time. (BTW there is no other way of running it, although can see videos -- e.g., videos on YouTube by Ohio University and NOAA -- and pictures of SL.)

During the cyber tour, I told them five things I thought they should know:

1. A basic Second Life account is FREE. It is amazing how much you can do if you have a basic account. However, you cannot own land and cannot buy/sell things. Is that a stopper? No, not for many of us. I'm on a free account and have done presentations in SL and taught classes in SL.
2. The residents are making SL what they want it to be. Linden Labs, who created SL, aren't building it. It is people who have SL avatars that are building the places, products and services.
3. There are no formal governments in SL, but there are simple rules to keep things civil. Really "the rules" try to get us to play nice consistently and to "do unto others as we want others to do unto us." Other than that, Linden Labs is following the rules of the U.S., which is where the company is located. For example, gambling is no longer allowed in SL, since gambling for money on the Internet is not legal in the U.S.
4. In order to run SL, you need a computer with lots of memory, a good video card, and a high-speed Internet access. Some people find that they cannot run other programs when they run SL, and that is something they had to figure out for their setup.
5. People from all walks of life, socio-economic status, physical abilities, interests and time-constraints are active in SL.
   

Afterwards, several people stayed and asked questions. SL seems to always generate questions! I suspect a few people will contact me later with even more questions, especially as they begin to think about using SL in their organizations.

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Technorati tag: IL2007, Second Life

IL2007: Second Life, part three

The final session on Tuesday at Internet Librarian concerning Second Life had Kelly Czarnecki and David Lee King talking about working with teens on Teen Second Life. Some thoughts included:

• Teens and adults need to know the basics before taking on a project
• Projects may take longer than expected
• Teens can get very engaged when working in a virtual world
• Projects can be focused on a specific school or activity (e.g., teen digital bookcamp)
• how do you assess your work?
• Who handles the money in SL?
• Hands-on learning creates engaged students

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Technorati tag: IL2007, Second Life

IL2007: Second Life, part two

More notes from the Second Life track on Tuesday:

• Micki McIntyre talked about health/medical resources/sites in Second Life, e.g., Center for Disease Control, National Library of Medicine, and the American Cancer Society. There are also support groups in SL. In addition, there is the Support for Healing Island and Healing Island.
  
• Some people with disabilities are using SL and finding it beneficial. [related blog post] People with disabilities find camaraderie and a place where they can do things there that they cannot do in real life (RL).
  
• There are spirituality sites in SL. There are recreations like the Mosque at Chebi and Sistine Chapel. there are places that have real congregations like Wings of Hope and bFirst Unitarian Universalist Church.
• Micki's handouts are at www.healthynj.org/sl.html. Additional resources at http://slhealthy.wetpaint.com.
  
• Derry McMahonElisabeth Marripodi talked about virtual training hospitals.
• Why?
• Immersive environment
• Interactive
• Controlled environment
• Can be scripted
  
• What do they do? e.g.,
  
• Case presentations
• Discussions
• Patient scenarios
• Drawbacks
• Unreliable Internet connection
• Unpredictable problems in-world
• Other
• Combine virtual and real resources
• Can do disaster preparation training (without a real disaster)
• Can create custom designed learning environments

Updated 11/03/2007

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Technorati tag: IL2007, Second Life

IL2007: Second Life, part one

This morning, there were two sessions on Second Life and virtual worlds.

• Lori Bell spoke about what virtual worlds are, why we (librarians) are in Second Life. She also talked briefly about librarians getting involved in another virtual world geared for children called Whyville.
• Shawn McCann spoke about being an Immersive (Gaming) Librarian.
• Jeremy Kemp gave a presentation about the work San Jose State University is doing in SL.
  
• I (Jill Hurst-Wahl) spoke about the tools needed to build virtual communities [presentation]
  
• JJ Jacobson talked about supporting communities in a virtual world and specifically groups were role-playing is important (e.g., an idealized Victorian community). [presentation]
• Kate Fitz, a law librarian, gave an interesting presentation on the work she is doing in SL as well as some of the legal issues that have been raised about SL. [presentation will be here]
  
• Rosemary Arneson is an academic librarian who talked about the work her library is doing in SL and what she'd like to do in the future. One thing she wants to build is a virtual wetlands/swamp to highlight that type of environment and teach why they need to be saved.
  
• Michael Sauers talked about some of the issues/problems/concerns with SL. We tend to say that it is all "rosey", but it isn't.
  

The audience asked good questions, both publicly and privately. I think people got a lot out of the presentations and hearing from people who are using SL (and who are willing to point out concerns).

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Technorati tag: IL2007, Second Life