[Web4lib] Campus without library - summing up

[Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D.]

Hello Ms. Hewlett aka Ms. Homewood!

   I do have an avatar on Second Life, but I am not truly active in
the community.  Its not that I am shy (quite the contrary), but my
original limited purpose in creating the account was to become
familiar enough with the environment to factor it into my long range
thinking.  In fact, I am principal author on a research paper (kept
confidential at the moment, but released as needed) which develops the
background and rationale for the research institute we are creating.
In that paper one of the points made was that 3-D virtual experiences
of the kind we expect to be able to use are demonstrated within the
Second Life paradigm.  I confess that I was fascinated by my initial
Second Life experience and found a lot to like, but I also quickly
concluded that it was at best a precursor of what is coming.  On top
of that, the bandwidth demands of the environment remain enormous and
stability is still an issue.  It will get better -- but that is
somebody else's problem.

   Nevertheless, there is no question that our institute will have a
representation on Second Life.  We will not rush to do it, but it will
be there -- including the library, of course.  In the meantime, we can
use any number of virtual conference facilities already set up and
learn from the experience.

   I will definitely visit Steelhead Public Library the next time I am
"in world" -- probably next week.  I will try to find you, and, of
course, if you are online I will be able to do that without too much
trouble.  I can teleport right to the library if you are there and
available.   You will discover that my avatar is not very customized,
but I have learned some interesting truths about second life:  the
first one being that it is remarkably like real life.  What I mean by
this is illustrated by the observation that while its fun to play with
your appearance -- and a lot of people do this to extremes -- it does
not always have the effects hoped for.  A shy person remains somewhat
shy even if they are able to look incredibly attractive.  A not shy
person (which I claim to be) is neither intimidated by how attractive
somebody's avatar is (though it can be a pleasant experience) nor
overly concerned about what they look like beyond a certain threshold.
 In short, core personality is tough to change and not subject to
variables you thought it was.

   Leaving that personal stuff aside, the fact is that Second Life
demonstrates a lot of potential and some things work remarkably well.
Communication with an avatar can be so realistic that you mentally
really do project yourself onto the scene.  If you can do that, then
you can project yourself fully from other cues as well.  If you can do
that, then Second Life becomes a paradise for experimenting with what
really counts in framing your experience.

   In your case, you can elaborate further on what really is behind
the affection people display  for "their" library.   Bear in mind my
first rule, however: Second Life is ultimately like real life in ways
that matter.  Just as in real life you will find that library patrons
are mostly a self-selected group not necessarily reflective of society
at large.  On the other hand, anyone truly comfortable in a library is
also someone who is part of the intellectual continuity of society.

   I suspect overall, however, that what you have found and will
continue to find, is that libraries and churches have some things in
common.  They meet certain social as well as intellectual/emotional
needs.  I would argue that libraries are more open and less dogmatic
than churches and so promote more harmony and tolerance than churches
do, but the social attraction to either arises from nearly the same
set of personal needs.

   From a business standpoint, Second Life and environments like it
meet some important practical needs.  These include reducing the cost
of travel and promoting conferencing and networking without costly and
time consuming arrangements.  I think the most exciting thing is that
your imagination can be turned loose to create interactive
environments which powerfully display information in ways that are
simply impractical in real life (for now, anyway).  For us and our
institute all of these are crucial.  We are planning our own
proprietary system for basic organizational cohesiveness and
collaborative communication, but will also benefit enormously from the
availability of virtual environments where the social and the
practical come together.  Our globally dispersed researcher pool will
have these venues to truly get to know each other in ways that
transcend technical collaboration at the same time they remove the
barriers of physical distance.

  I personally want to learn more from you about what you perceive are
the essential elements of a library based on your Second Life
experiences.  You have already found that books per se are not the
essence of what a library represents.  I would be very interested in
what you conclude is the abstracted essence.  Clearly, you have found
that there is a strong social element, but can you pinpoint the social
needs even more or identify a set of needs whose subsets intersect
with the need sets of most patron?  Does the perceived possibility for
serendipity play a role in attractiveness of the environment? (E.g. Is
the prospect of unexpected discovery and personal encounter in that
particular environment one of its important attractions?)

   Okay, I think I have meandered around this topic enough.  I hope it
was at least entertaining, but I am more serious than most people
about abstracting the essence of things -- and when setting about to
create change this can be crucially important. (E.g. piloting an
airplane is fundamentally not like driving a car for reasons not
explained by going from 2-D to 3-D.  There is a shift in the essential
abstractions which define what is being manipulated.)


On 11/20/08, Ms Norma Jean Hewlett <hewlett at usfca.edu> wrote:
>
>  Hi Steve, Alan and all,
>  My SecondLife avatar, Riven Homewood, is the Director of the Steelhead
>  Public Library. This library exists only in cyberspace and does not have
>  any real life counterpart. It is the town library for the SecondLife
>  community of Steelhead, which recreates a fantasy version of an 1890s
>  Oregon town.
>
>  Although on SecondLife we could make a library quite literally look like
>  anything we want, we have chosen to work in a classic Carnegie Library,
>  based on the old public library in Petaluma, California. (The real life
>  building
>  is now used as a historical museum.) This was a conscious choice, both
>  in order to blend in with the architecture of the surrounding virtual
>  neighborhood and to evoke mental images of a traditional library.
>
>  At present, SecondLife does not display textual data well, so our focus
>  is on activities such as bookgroups, writing workshops and storytelling.
>  These bring people together and encourage intellectual discussion,
>  two areas in which SecondLife excels.
>
>  We also have a collection of about 200 period books, in the form of
>  SecondLife book objects that link to Project Gutenberg or other online
>  sources. Most of these were made available to us through the generosity
>  of JJ Drinkwater, Director of the Caledon Library on SecondLife.
>
>  I sometimes do a good deal of what could be defined as roving reference,
>  since my neighbors frequently ask me questions and I find the
>  information for them. I don't bother about keeping regular reference
>  hours at the library building, because like anyone on SecondLife I'm
>  easily reached via chat or instant message.
>
>  The most interesting thing about all of this, in my opinion, is that my
>  virtual home and other virtual communities seem to feel their community
>  is not complete without a library. SPL is a member of a virtual library
>  consortium, Alexandrian Free Library, which is composed of similar
>  libraries in other themed communities on SecondLife.
>
>  JJ and I recently presented about our libraries at Internet Librarian,
>  and our presentation slides are available online at
>  http://tinyurl.com/63uxbre if you would like to learn more. You're also
>  welcome to stop by SPL any time you're inworld on SecondLife --
>  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead/120/56/28
>
>  Jean Hewlett
>  Regional Librarian, Univ. of San Francisco
>
>  AKA
>  Riven Homewood
>  Director, Steelhead Public Library
>  Steelhead City, SecondLife
>  Riven Homewood's activities on SecondLife are done on my own time and do
>  not officially represent the University of San Francisco.
>
>
-- 
Steven E. Patamia, Ph.D., J.D.
Personal Cell: (352) 219-6592