second life and virtual worlds

Second Life and Virtual Worlds21 Oct. 2009, Week 7IS20090 (Web 2.0 and Social Media: An Introduction)

Cathal McCauley

University Librarian

NUI Maynooth

What is Second Life?

A 3-D virtual world established by Linden Labs in 2003. Currently c16.5+ million residents. Download the Second Life (SL) installer from: www.secondlife.com

Key concepts: Avatars, Objects, Linden Dollars

Communication by IM and Voice More than a game…

Second Life and the early WWW

Content similar: sex, rock-n-roll and free stuff very popular (gambling was)

Issues similar: US-dominated, uncertainty, rapid change, moral issues, security issues etc.

Some ‘new’ issues too: virtual world protest groups and riots – but how new?

Key characteristic is the similarity

Second Life – True of False? Enter the Sistine Chapel and fly up to review the

ceiling. Train how to give emergency first aid to an injured

person outside a busy nightclub. Visit the Saltire centre. Be an ‘in world’ reporter for CNN. Go to the Blarney Stone pub in ‘Dublin’ in SL for pints

and craic Fight zombies, take the form of an animal etc. etc.

ALL TRUE!

Education in Second Life Many US universities (including Berkley, Harvard

and Stanford) More than 70% of UK universities Universities from Australia and Japan ‘in world’ too Small, but growing Irish interest e.g. UCD, DIT, DHO

and others Delivering classes, skills session, seminars and

conferences Key drivers: distance learning, media, technology,

design and… Libraries

UCD Library in Second Life

Why? Many reasons including: Institutional & Library strategy, reader preferences, resources and PR.

Entered SL on 7th March ’07. Part of US-based ALS’s award winning cybrary city.

Library-wide working group established in April ’07.

UCD Library in Second Life – Key Achievements to date March ’07 First Irish academic library in SL Sept. – Nov. ’07 hosted area aimed at new and potential

students (repeated Autumn ’08) ‘07/’08 hosted lectures, tutorials and contact time for Prof. Mary

Burke (UCD SILS) Feb. ‘08 hosted talk by movie director Anne Seidl attended by

30+ avatars March ‘08 hosted virtual venues strand of Library Ireland Week –

3 successful events Oct. ’08 short listed for UCD Images of Research Competition 2009 revamped and made more suitable for other uses

Second Life – The PR dividend

Second Life and the Hype Cycle

2003 Launch

Summer 2006Anshe Chung & Business Week

Autumn 2008Reuters withdraws from Second Life

Avatars happy to play but not to pay?

Source: http://taterunino.net/

Will there be “A Second Wind for Second Life”?Second life facing many obstacles: Technology issues (access, ease of use, reliability,

interoperability) Ownership concerns Figuring out what users want Business community uncommitted Ambiguous economic and membership metrics Digital nomads and growing competition

“Our evidence so far suggests that virtual worlds have great potential…it is not clear that Second Life …is the optimal environment”

Dr Peter Twining, Head of Dept of Education, Open University (Source: A Spring 2008 “snaphot” of UK Higher and Further Education Developments in Second Life)

Second Life is “not the only fruit”

Virtual Worlds: Fad or Future-proofing? Growing market Access to the ‘new’ economy Opportunity for international co-operation Another route to ‘hard to reach’ students Particularly suited to some disciplines Already estimated 100 million active users of

virtual worlds.

Worth the wait?

Things to remember!

October 23rd (this Friday)2009 essay due no later than 5pm SHARP!

Next week (28th Oct.) – online video – class back to D114 in Health Sciences Building

Next blog assignment due end of week 10 (13th Nov at 5pm).

Check out delicious links for this week!

Go raibh maith agaibh

Cathal McCauleycathal.mccauley@nuim.ie