[Web4lib] RE: The end of MySpace, SecondLife, and Twitter

Mat Wilson matwi42 at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 27 12:17:47 EDT 2007


This subtopic of virtual reality addiction (people spending 80 hours/week on SL and its ilk)  reminds me of Star Trek's Barclay (Next Gen/Voy) and his halo-addictions.  Perhaps that is the next step of the evolution in technology and human addictions.  We have people who are addicted to virtual alternate worlds.  Once CAVEs ( http://cave.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ ) are mainstream and built into the average person's home (in lueue of the "family media center"), then we'll begin to see a new form of virtual addiction or "halo-addiction".

When CAVEs do make the mainstream, perhaps it would be beneficial to create an Emergency Librarian Hologram, or ELH program for individuals to have in their home (as well as a small "essential" library to go with it).  

Of course, there would be that transitional period where libraries would probably lose funding in a number of areas because it only benefits those who do not own (cannot afford to own) their own personal CAVE, aka  the poor.   Those that own a CAVE would be inclined to not increase taxes/funding for the library (similar to the private/public school funding issues I see in some select areas).  Oh, but I believe we would survive.

I just wanted to offer some fantastic view of feature technologies evolved from social networks and virtual reality (holodecks that connect via internet - replace ELH with real librarians doing outreach to individuals while neither have to leave their work/home).  

Whoa! I just had a Congressman David Wu moment....

Mat T. Wilson


       
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