Information Literacy, the Big6 and Second Life (eNews 9.4, 1)
Have you met Elaine Tulip or Sheila Nakayama or Corinne Fleury or Blue Skunk Johnson? If you have, then you have probably been in Second Life. Elaine, Sheila, Corinne and Blue Skunk are all library professionals who have been active in Second Life (or SL) at some point in the past year. One of them is a public librarian, one is a school librarian and the other is a professor of library science. I’ll let you figure out who is who when you begin to explore Second Life.
When I began to consider topics for this issue of the Big6 newsletter, it was suggested that I think about SL and a connection with the Big6. I joined SL over a year ago because I had read about other people being in SL. I learned about the power of SL when there was a speaker who I was interested to hear. I listened and watched this first presentation in SL while it took place on ISTE Island. People attended from around the world without needing to leave their “real life” homes. Since that time, I’ve heard other presentations, read about book talks, and talked with others in SL. I have met and talked with people from Mexico, Germany and Finland (there are built in language translators in SL). This activity in SL caused me to think about the question: What does it mean to be information literate in Second Life?
Information literacy is alive and well in SL. In fact, the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom has built an information literacy treasure hunt for people new to SL. This university has built their own extensive area complete with tree houses, dining areas, and the library. Everything in SL has been built by someone and was paid for in “Linden” dollars (Linden Labs developed the online virtual world). I enjoyed exploring the Infolit iSchool and the treasure hunt. Here’s my picture enjoying a tour of the I School in a hot air balloon.
Rob Zeevi, me in Second Life, in a hot air balloon
There are more than 100 public and academic libraries that now have a presence on SL. In addition, many university Departments of Information Science have built places in SL. I recently explored the San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science. I found the faculty offices and even discovered the office of Dr. David Loertscher and the courses he is teaching. The fun part of SL is that you can walk into almost any place, even if the owner is not around. By “touching” or “sitting” or “teleporting” into places, you learn about the ins and outs of various locations. The number of uses and the number of SL users is increasing every day as the statistics below indicate.
By The Numbers (August, 2008)
Overall, it is fascinating reading about the growth of SL:
- Over 15 million residents
- Total log ins: 1,200,000
- Total amount of land sold: Over 131 million meters
- Total amount of money in SL: Over L$5,000,000,000
- Money spent in SL during August: L$60,788
Note: One US dollar = $250 Linden dollars (And there are money exchanges for every country in the world).
When you decide you’re ready to explore and learn in SL, here are a couple of tips. For SL to work well you need to have a fairly current computer with a graphics card and a fast Internet connection (DSL or Cable). The SL application is downloaded to your computer and runs using the memory in your computer. Once you’re in SL, here are some hints for getting around:
- The search function in SL works very well to find locations.
- Note cards in SL give you information about people and places.
- Learn about others by right-mouse clicking on another person and choose “profile.” Or “Instant Message” another person or even invite another person to be your friend.
Are you ready to join SL? If so, consider the stages of the Big6 as you decide. This big6secondlifechart maps the steps in learning about SL to Big6.
Some starting places in SL (just search for these places):
- ALA (get your free “READ” t-shirts here!)
- ISTE Island (International Society for Technology in Learning)
- Eduisland 2 (You’ll recognize a variety of educational organizations who have places here)
Other resources to guide your SL Learning:
- SL presentations about Information Literacy by Sheila Webber, Senior Lecturer of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield
- The Story of My Second Life Blog by Kevin Jarrett, Instructor at Walden University
- Second Life in Education
- Copyright Presentation in SL by Blue Skunk Johnson.
Rob takes a look around
So, as you begin to research SL, I hope you’ll make new connections, meet new people, and begin to explore this new information world. And who knows, maybe you’ll run into Elaine Tulip, Sheila Nakayama, Corinne Fleury or Blue Skunk Johnson.
