New immersive worlds for educators and librarians: beyond Second Life
| Published date | 03 August 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419051211277940 |
| Pages | 11-15 |
| Date | 03 August 2012 |
| Author | Joe Floyd,Ilene Frank |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Second Life has provided educators and
librarianswith a place to experimentwith
a 3D immersive environment. Avatars
represent the user, and users can interact
real-time in text chat and/orvoice. Users
can create environments that persist over
time. Second Life has attracted users
from around the world providing
wonderful opportunities to collaborate.
However, Second Life is not the only
virtual world used for educational
purposes. We will loo k at some options.
This information is based on a poster
session presented at the American
Library Association Annual Meeting in
2011.To begin here are some statisticson
the use of all sorts of virtual worlds.
Virtual worlds
The number of registered accounts/
users of virtual worlds increased to 1.7
billion users world-wide by Quarter 4 of
2011 (Figure 1).
Second Life: a popular option for
educators
Second Life (http://secondlife.com)
has been a popular option even though
it sometimes feels like it is always
under construction. Over the last few
years the graphics have improved and
the platform has become more stable.
Users can join for free which has also been
a big help for educators and librarians who
may be exploring virtual worlds without
much in the way of institutional support.
While owning one’s own “island” costs
money, users can use public areas, rent
space, and/or find other educators willing
to share space for building environments
or holding meetings, etc. Some educators
and librarians have been able to participate
in Second Life activities with time and
energy as their main investment.
Some statistics on education in
Second Life from 2010:
.Over 800 educational institutions
currently manage and maintain full
regions in SL.
.Of these 650 þrepresent colleges/
universities and service
organizations.
.60 of the top international
universities have a presence in SL.
.The education sector represents
5 percent of total regions in SL.
With 10 percent of all SL avatars
having ties to education islands in SL.
Within Second Life 50 percent of
organizations are education related.
What librarians are doing in Second
Life
Libraries are: teaching information
literacy, highlighting their collections,
doing book talks and book displays,
linking to library resources, doing
exhibits, providing meeting spaces, and
providing traditional reference services
(Plates 1 and 2).
Another option: OpenSim virtual
worlds
Second Life raised their pricing for
land for educators in January 2011.
Also, some educators wanted more
control over their environment and/or
wanted a protected space where their
students would be engaged in
educational uses only. This provided
some with the impetus to try some
alternatives.
OpenSim provides an environment
with very similar capabilities as
Second Life. Users who wished
could set up their own servers to run
their virtual world(s) or rent server
space from a group hosting OpenSim
virtual worlds.
The OpenSimulator is a virtual
worlds server platform for creating
and hosting3D virtual environments.It
began in 2007 and is compatible with
the client for Second Life but it can be
used to create a virtual environment
Figure 1.
Library Hi Tech News
Number 6 2012, pp. 11-15, qEmerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419051211277940 11
New immersive worlds for educators and
librarians: beyond Second Life
Joe Floyd and Ilene Frank
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