Blogging Section of SLA-IT

Librarians in Second Life

Have you heard of Second Life?  Second Life is an online digital world that it is being created by its residents.  Currently, there are more than 1.3 million residents (avatars) in Second Life (SL) who are going to lectures, attending classes, hanging out in dance clubs, meeting people, buying and selling goods, and making money.  Access to SL is free, but a fee-based subscription is needed for some activities.

As SL attracted inhabitants, it also attracted librarians who have set up libraries and are offering library services to other residents of SL.  You can read about some of your colleagues' activities at http://www.infoisland.org.  It you skim down through the blog postings there, I think you'll be amazed at what is happening in SL. 

Second Life is getting a lot of press coverage (including me being interviewed on local TV), so likely you can search any news source and find articles about it.  Several well-known companies are creating offices in SL, including Talis (a library management system vendor), IBM, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Coca-Cola, and Reuters.

Finally, one more tidbit.  Yesterday there was a news conference in SL with a woman Anshe Chung who is now worth more than $1 million in SL based on the property she owns, etc. She is being heralded as the first virtual world millionaire.  Amazing!

How to write a blog post

Seth Godin has eight short tips for writing a good blog post.  Worth reading.

Article: Calif. court says bloggers can't be sued

Of course the law could be changed, but at the moment, this is good news:

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that bloggers and participants in Internet bulletin board groups cannot be sued for posting defamatory statements made by others.

The complete article is here.

Blog post: A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto

Laura has written more than a dozen statements in her manifesto including:

• I will educate myself about the information culture of my users and look for ways to incorporate what I learn into library services.
• I will become an active participant in moving my library forward.
• I will recognize that libraries change slowly, and will work with my colleagues to expedite our responsiveness to change.

Check out her post to read more.

Second Life & InfoIsland.org

Have you been reading about Second Life?  Have you tried out Second Life?

What is it? Second Life (SL) is an online digital world that is being built by its residents.  Currently there are more than 1.3 million people inhabiting SL.  If you have not seen it, you might envision it as a large city that contains many of the same things as a real life city -- stores, universities, libraries, restaurants, exhibits, clubs, parks and more.  Reuters has opened a news bureau there.  Talis is building offices and will soon offer services to librarians through SL.  And Harvard is already holding college classes in SL.  It is not a game.  It is life.

You can read news stories about Second Life here. (Google News)

And there are librarians there. Librarians have taken up residence and are building libraries, answering reference questions, doing training, providing books and other content, and leaving a real imprint on this digital world.  InfoIsland.org is the blog for the Second Life Library and place to read about some of the library happening in SL. 

If you know nothing about Second Life, take some time to read a few news stories and check out the InfoIsland blog.  Then if you are truly curious, sign-up for a free SL account and go exploring.  Caution, though, you may liken it to exploring a new city and find yourself wanting to see everything (which can take time)!

By the way, Second Life is for adults and, yes, there are some mature content.  There is a parallel city ("grid") for those under 18 called Teen Second Life.  You can read about the library services be built there through this blog.

Blog post: 11 tips for managing a good blog entry

Vincent Maher gives 11 tips, some of which are good tips for web writing in general.  Definitely worth skimming, if only to remind yourself of what you are doing right (and then realizing where you could improve).