And yet more

Discussion session held in SL: 1 (good); Student events attended in SL: 2 (good); UK academics' fashion show missed: 1 (bad)

Today's discussion on Infolit iSchool featured Testy Outlander talking about her research, which was investigating the info habits of 5 SL residents. Quite a good no. of people again, in fact I even had to augment the seating with some further Nice Brown Chairs. Testy's research blog is at http://librariandreamer.wordpress.com/. The transcript or chatlog of the session is online at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=286

Am wondering about having a shopping event (i.e. lets go do free shopping together) after next session - see what response is). Should actually be finishing up notecard on a future conference track that need to consult with various avatars about - but now that am officially a blue-haired babe (see previous post) feel should be jutified in haunting boutiques of SL.
After discussion session, oozed over to the Emerge sim where had been Avatar Identity event involving catwalk display of volunteers. Only discovered this was on today, or would have tried to avoid clash. Could not actually try out catwalk as 2 creators were still there enjoying the disco beat. So looked round sim (some nice features - and great view from the bar).

Had had limited access to SL (and will do again for next few days) so trying to pack a lot in. Yesterday evening went to Ulster University to presentation by student Kerri about her work in virtual classrooms (there were 2, one is pictured) and to Texas Women's University to look at students work. Bumped into North Lamar so could exchange trenchant comments in IM.

And yet more sitting and flying around

Discussions about SL librarians: 1 (good); Rash promises given about date of submitting conference paper: 1 (bad); Tours of island given: 1 (good); Persons suffering from travel sickness on tour: none (good, my touring skills have improved)

Last Thursday's Infolit iSchool discussion led by Pam Ribble on Pitfalls for librarians in SL. Pam also gave some good links etc for libraries in SL.

Good turnout, inc. someone from Konstanz (Tarwin) who had been chasing me to submit an overdue conference paper in RL. (Finally cornered in SL, LOL as they say.) Chatlog for the "Pitfalls" discussion is at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=285 and it also included discussion of opportunities ;-)

As wasn't lead person was able to do admin-y things like drop people notecards and look out for lost people.

After discussion over I offered a quick tour of island in Follow Chairs amd had a number of takers. Zipped round quite quickly without too many bumps (I think).

Afterwards had talks with Tarwin and also French researcher who hope to see in RL when I do a keynote at a conference in France in October. All v. international.

I am designated a "blue-haired babe" by the Guardian

No. of articles referring to self as "blue-haired babe" in major national newspaper: 1 (v.v, good); No. of paragraphs before any other person mentioned: 2 (good, though suppose is v. base to think this); No. of pictures of self featured in newspaper: 0 (missed opportunity)

Have been featured in supplement to the Guardian (leading UK newspaper). Not only mentioned but in fact comprise 1st sentence of supplement's lead article!!! Had talked to journalist over phone but wasn't sure what outcome would be. Only flaw is that are no pictures in newspaper to confirm babeness. Frankly would have been more pictureque than those of RL people, but readers are given web address of this blog so can judge babe level for themselves. Have included extra large pic above to enable this. Of course am not showing off in any way. Oh dear no.

Classrooms

Visits to virtual classrooms: 2 (good); Virtual lunches consumed: 1 (good); Crashes on flying carpets: 1 (bad)

2 visits to classrooms of different types. On one hand was v. excited when discovered sim (Benesse possibly, must check name) which has faithful reproduction of Japanese school, as least is faithful reproduction of how schools appear in Japanese anime. Resisted ideas of changing into Japanese schoolgirl oufit (for moment anyway) as possibly seeming pervy and took various pics including this one consuming Japanese lunch in classroom. Can pick up lunch as freebie. V. cool. Was someone else exploring sim, in his case using "Negi" (magician schoolboy teacher from anime Negima!) avatar but didn't take pic of him.

2nd classroom different in that is virtual ideal classroom project in Jokaydia sim where educator is creating same under environmentally sustainable principles so is including virtual wormeries and the like. V. interesting and am popping in from time to time to see progress. On this occasion found that Jokay herself, plus educator doing project plus Heyjude were there. Pottered around looking at new additions including seating and said wormery.
Joined in flying carpet ride, always fun, but in this case got stuck on sim boundary and crashed so thus ended the visit.

Some more dull pictures of people sitting around

Discussions attended: 2 (thrilling); No of times "what are advantages of SL for education" gets raised as discussion topic per month: approx. 3 thousand (again, thrilling, ahem)

Attended usual educational discussion in Black Library on Monday and the Tuesday one at Montclair. Subject of latter was how would justify Second Life being greater priority than Blackboard. In both cases was good amount of discussion but have decided that should do more listening. Can remember making this resolution before. Oh well.
Will mention that for me SL is a learning space, so not really an alternative to a virtual learning environment like Blackboard, but each has its place e.g. SL pretty useless for storing textual material and lots of 2D pics at present. On other hand SL has possibilities of 3D work, greater sense of personality, and animated squirrels.

After Montclair discussion went back to Infolit iSchool with North Lamar for nice chat in Hobbiton house (as in 2nd pic). He was talking about improvements to latest run of his virtual worlds class, all good stuff e.g. more practice of building as a group before tackling real group project, more emphasis on getting together a project "pitch" for clients.

Each educational discussion results in yet more pics of people sitting in chairs (or bobbins, in case of Hobbiton House). For me each of course is fascinatingly different, not least for fact that am wearing different outfit every time, but may possibly be breaching boredom threshold of honoured readers.

Information literacy, Web 2.0, LILAC

Chatlogs posted: 1 (eventually)

Have posted the transcript of the discussion on Web 2.0 and information literacy that took place on Infolit iSchool on 10th April, at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=281. Discussion was led by me and coincided with release of the new book Information Literacy meets library 2.0 (ed by Peter Godwin and Jo Parker, published by Facet Publications, in which I wrote a chapter). There was an accompanying notecard with the links etc which are in this blog entry: http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/2008/04/web-20-and-information-literacy.html
Took several goes to post chatlog, using thingy at Leeds Metropolitan University that makes chat look more aesthetically pleasing. Was relieved when became evident that application had not died, since this is where all chatlogs are stored, suppose should have a backup somewhere.

Think that forgot to mention here when previous chatlog was posted, so here it is: http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=270 This is the chatlog of discussion led by Ishbel and me on Infolit iSchool on 27 March 2008, presenting some of our highlights from the 2008 LILAC conference. Pam Ribble who helped us with the LILAC conference session was there, and this is a pic of her and her pet dragon afterwards, think they look v. cute.

Reflections

Favourite jewellery designer disappearing: 1 (bad); Blessings counted: 1 (good); Plays on double meaning of word "reflections": 1 (poor)

Was shocked to find from SL fashion blog feed that the Second Mirage shop is suddenly no more as designer is leaving SL. Immediately teleported to the Second Mirage sim but all had disappeared - shop and all its jewels. Whilst standing gawping at empty landscape someone came up who said she lived there and was now being ousted, sad as it was her first home. Thus forced to reflect on advantage of being on mainland (as with my own home) since although may suddenly find self with giant plank or nightclub for neighbour at least don't get made homeless on an owner's whim.

Think that people in fashion world must know why the designer suddenly left as has been zero comment on the feeds. Am now cursing that didn't ask SM resident what the reason was. Anyway, have got several favourite pieces from Second Mirage and now cursing even more that didn't pour a few more lindens into snapping up earrings, necklaces etc. while had chance.

2nd type of "reflection" is what you get with windlight on water and can see it especially in pic of me standing in sea at Bossa Nova. Have to stress this taken with husband's high end computer, as mentioned in previous post, as with own inferior animal just get the odd sparkle, although sky definitely improved.

Education, education, education

Education-related meetings attended: 4 (good); Bitching sessions about new browser: 1 (good); Floating head problems solved: 1 (v.v. good)

Having busy time in SL, somewhat interrupted by quirks of new SL browser. First encountered this browser on RL husband's PC which is superior beast and spent lots of time oohing an aahing over pretty light and water effects and taking pics. However, when got back to work and installed on my crummy laptop was firstly confronted by grey landscape due to graphics level being set to low. When upped it found was even SLOWER moving around than normal, things take even longer to rez etc etc and worst of all people who weren't right next to me only appeared as heads and boots, with nothing in between. Spooky! And slightly indecent somehow. Took several days before got the hint to UNTICK box "avatar imposters" in preferences settings. What is that about?? Oh well.

First set of pics taken before this, indeed one with tags still in taken specifically to show that in some cases have name tag with apparently no avatar underneath or only his/her head. Big one was of discussion at Montclair State Uni (regular Tues eveneing discussions) in which we were all moaning about the browser. One bottom right is of regular monday discussion in Black Library at Hyperborea (again, spot ye missing bodies). Last 2 are of video stream of lecture by Charles Messon of Harvard Buisness School. Key message was that playing poker is good was to teach ... I forget what - business, law or perhaps just Life.


Above pics were taken in Edinburgh Uni sim, Vue, with Pancha Enzyme, Ishbel and Pancha's colleague Lulu. Pancha has asked us to help out with a SL session at the SCONUL conference in June so of course said yes. Cool.

Cats

Cats encountered in sims: various (good); Cats appearing out of thin air when sit on bench: 1 (good); Cats carried: 1 (v. good); Cats needing feeding: 0 (good); Cats needing litter tray: 0 (v. good); Cats resulting in vet's bills: 0 (v.v. good)

This posting is celebration of SL cats. Have already posted multiple times about Mitsy and more recently Goggles (seen in main pic). Also often encounter cats round and about and in right hand pic am shown conversing (one-sidedly) with cat in pleasant area of a shopping sim, with a cat that (like Goggles) was born at Zooby's.

Have also bought magic pillow which appears just a pillow but, when you SIT on it, cat appears on lap and one's hand starts making vague stroking motion, sometimes disappearing into cat and also cat has strange globular appearance, but still. Pillow can be copied infinite no. of times and placed anywhere so could have (e.g.) discussion session where everyone found themselves stroking identical cats.

Hmmm, perhaps will try that.

Tourism

Days without access to SL: 4 (bad); Talks given about SL: 1 (good); Homeless guys met in SL: 1 (dubious)

Am having restricted access to SL whilst away, except whilst giving demo to students at Strathclyde Uni in Glasgow where used to teach before moved to Sheffield. Seemed to go quite well and if students thought it creepy then kept it to selves. Afterwards when continuing demo to Strathclyde colleagues encountered someone claiming to be homeless in RL and SL. Not sure about this. If is really homeless and is e.g. using SL from local public library is heartening story. But homeless not exactly real concept in SL since home not essential since don't need to eat, sleep, bathe etc and can change clothes anywhere.

Anyway, have used some time to put together pics of SL tourism. So, first is compilation of pics from wander round Japanese sim. Have been there couple of times, and in first visit peeked with camera inside what appeared to be real SL geisha house with geisha avatars dancing, serving saki etc. to client. Pic shows me peering through bars on door to house. Also have shots in Machinima studio lot on Tennoz Isle and cute bar where can earn Linden through Camping.


Second lot of photos are from tour on opening day of Al Andalus Alhambra sim, where were live concerts etc. I am one in pink dress and blue cardigan. Decided not to include shots where people looked like lumpy grey clay because of no. of avatars in one sim.

Cherry blossom, Daffodils

Japanese sims visited: 2 (good); Cherry trees planted: 12 (approx) (v. good); Kimono bought: 1 (good, or is it)

Is start of cherry blossom in Japan, so have gone into blossom overdrive on Infolit iSchool. As well as trees from Heart garden centre have also discovered ones by 2 Japanese designers, one with drifting blossom, and both also cheap which is always advantage even though currently have oodles of Linden due to land sales. Am shown in first pic with sign have just erected outside Sakura House explaining that Sakura means cherry (blossom).

Also seemed good time to invest in yet more kimono and visit Japanese sims. Am thus shown in 2nd pic in new kimono on the machinima lot in Tennoz Isle pretending to be character in Ozu film, though hair flower is a bit flighty for that. Am currently not sure whether kimono is TOO colourful, it looked nice on the vendor.

Was checking for links to blog, on Technorati, and saw that had been linked & 2 pics on flickr used by someone else, namely the First daffodils blog. So amongst their photos of RL daffodils in various parts of the world are mine in SL. Think this is quite cool.

PBL, PDF

Have posted chatlog of discussion that took place on 13th March 2008 on Infolit iSchool in Sakura House, on Problem Based Learning for Information Literacy at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=253 There was an accompanying notecard now available thrillingly as a pdf at http://dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/13marchnotecard.pdf. If your question is "what is PBL?" then suggest you read this first ;-))

Conference, Dancing

Workshops completed: 1 (good); Librarians carried on virtual bus tour: 16 (good); conference discos attended in RL: 1 (tiring)

Have completed 2nd workshop at LILAC conference. Seemed to go fairly well, and had extra time so was able to fit in tour of island. This was using Mystihud device where you can create chairs which follow you around (in fact can specify that they follow around anyone in vicinity so envisage some merriment in attaching sets of follow-chairs to unsuspecting friends).

Tour guide effect was heightened by fact that Pam, Ishbel and I were carrying lilac umbrellas so that could be readily identified by delegates. Anyway did indeed feel like guided tour as zoomed along towing rows of seats, and only had one real glitch when initially pressed PAGE UP when meant to press PAGE DOWN so almost got lost in stratosphere right at the start. Much jocular talk from passengers of feeling sick, can imagine might feel a bit odd. Though of course when new to SL this is probably just one more piece of oddness.

Was helped by PG student Alane inworld and was only after session was over that realised that hadn’t actually communicated to him fact that had ended. Hopefully disappearance of avatars signalled end but still was rather rude and hope has not soured good staff-student relationships etc. etc.
In session itself had usual issues of box opening, wearing carpets etc. and because of proliferation of conference boxes on ground at one point wasted some time trying to get delegate to copy someone else’s box, felt v. stupid.
At end of day lots more people signed up to Information Literacy Group, hurrah, and have promised to organise more events.

RL conference dinner on previous evening held in Liverpool City Halls, v. grand. As usual included disco after dinner and enjoyed disporting in party frock. Various pros and cons to RL vs. SL dancing.
Pros of RL dancing:
- exercising, therefore healthy;
- general enjoyment of bopping around to beat;
- can make whatever movements you want, within physical limitations, thus expressing individual creativity.
Cons of RL dancing;
- get tired when have been dancing for – well, for not very long, really;
- feet start hurting unless wearing v. sensible shoes;
- cannot adjust volume;
- no dancing and drinking at same time;
- spontaneous synchronised group dancing impossibility unless happen to REALLY be in film version of your own life.

Conference

Conference workshop sessions delivered: 1 (good); No of platefuls of nosh eaten at RL conference reception: 2 (bad; in terms of calories consumed, that is); No of "girl next door" avatars collected on island: 10 (approx)
Am at LILAC information literacy conference at which highlight is of course series of 2 workshops on SL given by Ishbel and me. Maggie cannot be with us for RL reasons. We were lucky that Pam Ribble, all round SL librarian and SL mentor, works at the uni where conference is based. Is all v. strange in that Ishbel and Pam and I are all meeting up for first time in RL and getting used to the different coloured hair, larger waistlines etc. (ahem) of our SL friends.

Also fortunately technology works v. well with faster speed than at own desktop. Had about 22 people in session yesterday, almost all newbies and thus the proliferation of Girl Next Door avatars in original form, but soon participants were donning t-shirts, skirts, boxes, flying carpets etc. in traditional fashion.Were a couple of people who still hadn't managed to get own avatars due to various glitches, which is v. frustrating for them. One person worked somewhere where they weren't even allowed to access the Second Life website, let along SL itself.

Anyway, was v.v. exciting to see all these people on the island milling around in jocular fashion. Session was only 45 mins. in toto and flashed passed. Thus only took a few pics at end and one shows people in various stages of dress and wearing their sparklers etc., and second one shows usual litter left after the session with Conference Boxes (note attractive lilac theme) for me to clear up.

Final compilation pic is me and Ishbel attending to LILAC conference house beforehand but in fact not sure anyone got as far as stumblng into it. Thought that counts though, eh.

Um, I am interviewed

Interviews with SL TV companies published: 1 (good); No. of times say "um" in interview: numerous (bad)

Metaverse TV has published the video of me being interviewed by Dousa Dragonash. Is v. exciting to see island & also to see self, except that had not realised how often said "um". Also is unfortunate business at start when Dousa and I talk over each other. Otherwise however am v. pleased and find it entrancing although not sure any but diehard Sheila Yoshikawa/ Infolit iSchool fans will agree 100%. At any rate manage to mention university and organisation (CILASS) that is paying land costs and also feature office which looks splendid. And after start do not say um quite so much.

Metaverse TV. (2008) Out and about: interview with Sheila Yoshikawa. http://blip.tv/file/739271

Resources list for the SL session at the LILAC conference

Ribble, P. (2008) Guide to SL basics. http://infoisland.org/drupal/reference/SL_ready_ref/Guide_to_SL_basics

Kay, J and Fitzgerald, S. (2008) Second Life in Education http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/ (wiki with useful information for educators and students, and information on the authors’ own projects – they are Australian educators)

Kemp, J (Ed) (2008) Second Life Education Wiki: SimTeach http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki
There are further resources linked from these e.g. at http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/secondliferesources

Kirriemuir, J. (2007 & 2008) Snapshot reports of UK universities’ activities in Second Life. http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/studies/slsnapshots and photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversprite/sets/72157603982005324/

SLED events: a calendar for Second Life events for educators http://sledevents.blogspot.com/

Blogs
Second Life Library blog http://infoisland.org/
Beth’s Second Life http://bethssecondlife.blogspot.com/ (one of the pioneer educators, who leaches literature)
Adventures of Yoshikawa http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/ (Sheila Yoshikawa/ Webber’s blog)
Artsplace SL http://artfossett.blogspot.com/ (Andy Powell of Eduserv)

Discussion lists
Secondlife http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/SECONDLIFE.html (UK discussion list)
Second Life Educators List (SLED). https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/educators (Very high volume discussion list, but is an invaluable resource) Various groups on Facebook including Second Life Librarians

Videos
Infolit iSchool
Metaverse TV. (2008) Out and about: interview with Sheila Yoshikawa. http://www.metaversetv.blip.tv/#745449

Libraries
Draxtordespres. (2007) Alliance Library System Second Life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MazAoWCKPU
Rikomatic. (2006) Tour of info island. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTQkzfz5osQ
Rowanfair (2007) SL Libraries - Info Insland Archipelago Tour. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8v3TZethQ0
Sirexkat. (2007) Murdoch Uni Library gets a Second Life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiH7dkOVaLc
srharris19 (2008) Avatars: what should I be today. http://youtube.com/watch?v=7Hk3uiZy6zA (mostly pictures of librarians and information professionals)

Education
Crkeesey. (2007) Ohio University Second Life Campus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuNFRie8wA&feature=PlayList&p=96D577D877929F91&index=3
Holymeatballs (2008) NY1 on Global Kids in Second Life Jan, 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxm-BaCcBJc (TV news report on the “Global kids” initiative on the teen grid of SL)
MaryAnnCLT (2007) Educational uses of Second Life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOFU9oUF2HA
Perplexity Peccable. (2007) Science Learning Opportunities in Second Life. http://youtube.com/watch?v=EfsSGBraUhc
Secondhealth (2007) Second Health: Polyclinic Tour. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu-QNFLD1mg
SLmerryman. (2008) English Village in Second Life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwHrjS-ENec
TessaLCooper (2007) The Nutrition Game: A Day of Food Choices http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLhNNYRJwJ4

General
Robbie Dingo (2007) Watch the World(s). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxVDVggLqsA&feature=PlayList&p=96D577D877929F91&index=2
SLSilver (2006) Second Life: Get One http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxj8RTW4ev4&feature=PlayList&p=96D577D877929F91&index=1

SL TV stations
Second Life Cable Network http://slcn.tv/
Metaverse TV http://www.metaverse-tv.com/

Testy; Time zones; in the Black Library; LILAC

Researchers taken for balloon ride: 1 (good); Discussions facilitated in the Black Library: 1 (good); Conference houses complete with appropriate foliage created: 1 (good); Conference t-shirts created: 2 (v. good); Conference bags created: 1 (good)

Had mentioned already (I think) that had encountered researcher about to do investigation into use of information in SL, namely Testy. Arranged to meet Testy on day after Virtual Worlds conference. Was almost disaster, since Linden Labs once more showed that SL is really in the USA since I arrived inworld to find I was an hour late. Apparently SL had jumped forward an hour because that was what happened in the USA. Had this been announced on the SL blog? No.

Anyway, once we met up had interesting talk about information in SL, information behaviour, avatar identity, Voice vs Chat and so forth. Asked Testy to lead discussion later on in year and she said yes, hurrah. Mostly had conversation relaxing in bean bag chairs, but then took balloon tour.

Next day I had volunteered to facilitate the "Lessons in SL" educators discussion. This takes place in the Black Library in Hyperborea every Monday, and the usual host (Buridan Simon) was at a conference, and I had volunteered to cover. You can see me in pic with witty sign over head. Wished to keep up his tradition of having no pre-set topic, which is even scarier than facilitating the normal discussions, but seemed to go OK with about usual numbers. A few familiar faces e.g. Ladyjane, came along, which was nice. Topics covered included learning spaces, HTML on a prim and environmental exhibits. People flicked in and out, but that tends to happen, also found self drawing things to close just before an hour was up as a sort of reflex action, whereas in fact these sessions normally last 90 mins. However was OK again and in fact discussing this sparked some more conversation.

Over next past of days have been preoccupied with preparation for sessions at RL conference on information literacy, LILAC, next week. Ishbel, Maggie and I had been preparing to do a session together, and I decided to have a special conference house with lilac round it (new line at Mau and Mej) on the island. In fact the sequence of events was actually that I saw that House of Effulgence had a really lovely new house (only 300 Linden including a package of furniture!) and was hunting round for excuse to buy it. Then I thought of the excuse.

Have been preparing a conference bag, and also a library landmarks box. Last pic shows me at Amsterdam Public Library on free bicycle you can get there, in front of cool display of downloadable music.

Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, Museums conference: verdict

Conferences attended in SL: 1 (good)
Some overall thoughts about the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, Museums conference that took place in Second Life on 8 March 2008, in the NMC conference Centre.

Firstly, it felt like a real conference.It was well organised and ran smoothly, which I know must have taken oodles of volunteers' time.

Secondly, as you can gather from my blog posts, I definitely learnt something from the conference. I also got to meet a few people I had been meaning to get in touch with, and bumped into some people I know - again just like a RL conference.

Third, again as in RL, I think there was a bit too much PowerPoint. A wider range of events would be nice, and I appreciated the discussion sessions. Not that I would want to avoid "transmissive" sessions altogether - I got some good information.

Fourth, the NMC conference centre is cool, and in a good way, not in the sense of too much air conditioning! I'd like to enjoy a conference centre like it RL, but you'd really need the ability to teleport, too, between the locations ;-)

Fifth, the timing was obviously much more geared to US time. I have suggested that they involve people from other time zones if they run the event again. It was frustrating to miss interesting-looking events taking place at 3 and 4 in the morning. However. I still felt it was worth the 8000 Linden I paid to attend ;-))

Sixth, the conference coffee was good (i.e. made by me in my own cafetierre)

Well, after these rather pedestrian conference posts I will return to the normal Yoshikawa style ;-)

Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, Museums : Part 3

This is the third report from the Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, Museums conference that took place in Second Life on 8 March 2008. I will summarise the remaining sessions I attended (I am pictured, right). For the 3rd parallel session I dipped briefly into Applying Distance Educational Theory to Virtual Worlds presented by Rebecca Hedreen (Library Coordinator for Distance Learning, Southern Connecticut University; Spiral Mandelbrot in SL). I realised after a little while that, although useful, it was not really new stuff to me. However, you may be interested in her website at http://delibrarian.googlepages.com/presentations

I was a little delayed finding an alternative session, since my 2nd choice had been cancelled, as the presenter hadn’t managed to get online: one of the hazards of a SL conference. My final choice was a session on options for young people, Virtual Worlds for Children presented by Fleet Goldenberg. He was giving the pros and cons of various virtual world s such as There, Whyville and Furcadia. The advantage that the SL teen grid has over most of these is the opportunity for original content creation, but each has their advantages.
One of the trends that Fleet saw was "Cross-compatibility of avatars between different platforms, enabling the creation of a true '3D Internet' of interlinked worlds that are linked seamlessly with the traditional 2D World Wide Web.” He also mentioned the use of virtual worlds in home schooling: not something you get much in the UK, but I think it is more common in the USA. Fleet finished by saying "In the meantime, LEM [Librarian, Educator and Museum] professionals ask only this: “Give us the tools and we will give you the world”. Some of those professionals are unwilling to passively wait for the tools they need right now to bring their ideas to life and are leading the way in designing them themselves or campaigning for their production."

Discussion afterwards focused on issues such as monitoring of access by adults and the impact of commercial interests (using virtual worlds to influence children’s “pester power” – trying to get them to want to buy things). Fleet gave out a link to his website with material, including videos, on virtual worlds: http://www.squirrelverse.com/links.html#demonstration

After this session there was a three hour break: rather irritating for me since it meant that the next session started at midnight! The first event was a “buzz” session with discussion around the kind of support that librarians wanted to give to learners and educators, and what they would like to see themselves in SL. Different perspectives emerged: with some interested in bringing in external resources, some in “standards”, some in more exploration of the affordances of SL. Personally I think it is valuable to exploit the skills of the library and information professional, focusing more on these rather than on “the library” and its RL resources. The chat transcript of this session is at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=238

After this there were shorter presentations from Christi Confetti Higgins (Sun Microsystems: Violet Portola in SL; it says in her profile "I am a librarian at Sun Microsystems managing the digital library program."), Doug McDavid (Doug Mandelbrot in SL, who works in IBM), and Tom Peters (Maxito Ricardo in SL). It

I think Violet was one of the people who talked about 2008 as the year of virtual worlds. She felt that in SL relationships (with customers/ potential customers) developed more quickly. There are regular meetings within SL for Sun employees - instead of using conference calls, for example. They apparently have replicas of products in their buildings and librarians are included in staffing the Sun island, to greet and answer questions. There are going to be Digital libraries and research events in SL for employees. She said a little bit about Sun's own virtual world, Wonderland. It has a Java 3D based graphics engine an is open source, so can be downloaded from the Sun website. Relevant web addresses are: http://blogs.sun.com/vw/, https://lg3d-wonderland.dev.java.net/ and http://research.sun.com/projects/mpk20/

The final session before I left with my eyes drooping (at 3am) was a discussion about self-directed learning in Second Life, facilitated by Corwin Carillon. Apart from being interested in the topic, I was also attracted by the format: any more powerpoint and I would not have remained conscious. The chat transcript of this is at http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=239, though as some of this was in Voice (I was using Voice a lot of the time in this part) the transcript is rather enigmatic. One of the things that it made me reflect on were the varying terms that are used – particularly when talking to educators outside the UK – to mean similar sorts of things. Interesting to thinking about what “self-directed” really means. Issues to do with planning, supporting and student reaction were discussed. After this, I flew homewards and logged off, reluctantly missing some interesting sessions later on.

Costumes

Anime character outfits bought: 1 (good); No. of minutes spent posing avatar when dressed anime character: 20 (worrying); B5 characters created: 1 (good); B5 parties attended: 1 (good)
Have invested in a Haruhi Suzumiya outfit including Haruhi hair. Thus could be mistaken for this hit anime series' lead (a schoolgirl with unfeasibly short skirt), except have stuck to blue hair and am taller and fatter than RL Huruhi. Or I suppose isn't *RL* Haruhi actually. Is Haruhi in anime actually any more real than my SL homage to Haruhi? What can I substitute for the term "RL" in this context?

These are deep philosophical questions so will pass swiftly on to second creation.

This is a Centauri Woman a la Babylon 5, a natural for SL since they are bald, sometimes with ponytails and sometimes not. Have not yet worked out when the ponytail applies. In any case the Samurai hairdo from Mej & Mau's will do the trick and is more flattering with. Am also wearing Evie's Closet gown bought for this purpose plus a circlet from Alienbear Gupte over a headband improvised by me.

Tried this outfit for first time tonight at B5 party, on Babylon 5. Joined in the energetic dancing. Were some highly cool arrangements with iconic B5 moments recorded over trancey music. Think that was subject of friendly advances during dance. Was slightly baffled by apparent assumption that if didn't list Partner in profile was bound to be on lookout for someone to fill the Partner gap. Think this is first time have had anything approaching a Hit upon my person, must be the Centauri getup. Did abysmally in B5 trivia game, evidently need to spend more time poring over B5 scriptbooks.