Second Life

Coordinates for the UF Library in SL: 97,15,24.

Laura's blog about the UF Virtual Worlds Group: http://laujord.wordpress.com/

Current Happenings

Laura W. and Sara G. are holding reference hours in Second Life. This is running on many computers in Marston and West, so people will know about it. Based on the use and response they get through this reference time and through queries about SL from those interested in using it for any purposes, we'll see how to best pursue this further.

Recommendations for Library 2.0 Report

Please add more!

Based on the technical issues with SL (needing a new computer, frequent updates) and on the professional development possibilities, as well as service possibilities, our thoughts and recommendations for using SL in the Libraries are:

• Install SL on two computers in West, and have the systems liaisons for those computers check weekly to install updates. Make sure a liaison is generally available to help if updates needed when someone is logging in.
• Select [how many and who] to be SL librarians. 

  These folks will be the experts or at least the becoming-experts on SL for libraries. They will help others set up conference meetings in SL, be able to install updates on the dedicated SL machines, and will even hold a few reference hours in SL each week to help patrons, researchers, and library staff.

• Develop a reference page on SL that offers a disclaimer on issues, and then points any new SL users to the Libraries SL experts for help.
• Future plans for using SL and virtual worlds would be coordinated with the SL experts and this would be an even greater technological knowledge base for  virtual worlds and other projects.
• Future plans may include holding additional information sessions with researchers and patrons specifically to show how SL can help their work.
• SL also ties into the Facebook presence: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2466

Notes on Using SL 

To meet within Second Life, first sign up for an account by going to the Second Life website: http://secondlife.com/ and clicking the orange "signup" button on the top left. Once you've created an account, download and install Second Life on your computer. The sign-up page will redirect you to the download page, but it's here if you need it. Installing will require administrator rights since it is software, so your system liaison may need to install the software for you.

If your office computer won't run SL or crashes while in SL, see if your Systems Liaison can find a video driver update for the computer at http://support.dell.com/.

Group members

• Laurie Taylor - Beelzebub Dagger
• Laura Woodruff - Leda Docherty
• Merrie Davidson- Alynn Greenwood
• Sara Gonzalez - Sara Athens
• Betsy Simpson - Uggli Boucher
• Laurie Brennan - Lululaurie Michalak
• Chris Youngblood - Saimias Freck
• Stephen Williams -  Lews Wiles
• Stacey Ewing

Other Library SL Folks

• Bill Covey - Dam Saiz
• Dan Reboussin - Mwalimu Rotaru
• Matthew Daley - Laudrup Axelrad

Activities

Online Live Discussion via The Chronicle of Higher Ed, Thursday, October 11, at 12 noon, Getting an Academic Life in Second Life

Description: Colleges around the world are opening virtual campuses in Second Life, a three-dimensional, colorful environment that can be accessed via a computer. One of those campuses is New Orleans Island, which was built by Merrill L. Johnson, an administrator at the University of New Orleans. What is the appeal of Second Life, and what kind of classes does the university hold there? Is Second Life a useful distance-education platform or just frivolous entertainment? Mr. Johnson will answer those and other questions.

Past Meetings:

• 3:30pm 10/10 in SL or in Marston L308, Second Life is installed and functional on computers (the first 2 rows) in Classroom L308 Marston for the meeting.
• Meeting inside of Second Life on Friday, September 21 from 2-3pm and in LW 211 was planned, but the computers in 211 were too old to play SL.
• 12-1 SL brown bag on Thursday, September, 20.
• Meeting inside of Second Life on Friday, September 14 from 2-3pm.