The rooftop of the ALA Tower in Second Life was getting crowded by the time I dragged myself away to the other duties I have (two Web courses launched this week, reprint of Reference Collection Development due, getting awards pages updated and posted, and so on). We were all in the same training room, yet keyboards were clicking away as each avatar introduced itself, e.g., “Oberon Octagon = Donavan Vicha.” Some of the avatars looked alike because their owners had rushed to register and get in on this momentous occasion. We were there to lay claim on where we would build a place for our units to have a presence.
Down below, a Welcome Area is being built near the ALA Tower and will likely
bear a directory of the what, when, where, and how of ALA Second Life. It will serves as a landing pad for people teleporting in using the official landmark and may provide teleport links to various ALA destinations.
Also in attendance were the folks who will help us furnish our offices. Wow! A free shopping spree! OTOH, I wonder if we need cubicles and desks for each section, or whether what we really need is the display kiosks and gadgets that automatically provide any visitor information about events and reasons why they should join RUSA. It's a virtual space, after all, and for large meetings, the two top floors of the Tower have been reserved. Until membership shows a presence in the form of avatars spending time at the office, I will refrain from filling the large space we've been allotted with “furniture” no matter how inexpensive it is. (It's well-known that avatars can stand all day without signs of fatigue, so who really needs chairs?)
Oh, RUSA has the seventh floor. At present, you have to fly there, but I've placed tiki torches on the balcony for easy reference until I've worked out how to put a sign up. I've refrained from using a lot of free decorations (fireplaces, R2D2, widescreen TV, various stuffed animals, plants, etc.) I've come across on my brief tours of SL. I am really curious and need to see what is happening at the libraries of SL and talk to these cybrarians about what they think RUSA should do for them. Any and all feedback is appreciated; it's why I'm posting here.
Another development of great import is the beta testing of the use of voice in Second Life. Here's a podcast interview with the architects of Second Life using the voice-enabled environment. It's a 17-minute audio, but give the first few minutes a listen to find out what exactly is going on.
Love your SL updates, Donavan! One note – also in attendance at the meeting were staff from ALA's Washington Office and “Choice” magazine in Connecticut. I thought meeting in-world was a nice change from the usual disembodied voice method of conference calls.
Props to Donovan for staking out Second Life for the reference librarians. What's happening at reference desks that libraries are setting up? We folks in Publishing haven't gotten together to talk about what we'll do in Second Life. I'm personally interested in how we can use it to get out content of interest to the general Second Life citizenry. Like the best reference sources.
I ran into a British cybrarian who works a reference desk in SL two hours a week, on her own time, no support from her library. Wanted ALA to tell our British equivalent to get involved!
While I was setting up the office on the seventh floor, a Chinese reference librarian flew in and we chatted. It's remarkable how in what is a “game” these cybrarians come to work. I take it that they enjoy what they're doing so much that they do it as play.