What Does This Mean to Me, Laura?

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I admit it; I’ve put off writing about Second Life for a while. Mostly because I’ve gotten very tired of uninformed people making judgements about it based on the hype, rather than the reality. Last year, an ignorant speaker at Computers in Libraries declared Second Life to be “dead.” The only thing that has died is some of the hype…finally. Second Life is actually thriving in many ways. Virtual meetings and educational opportunities abound. So do librarians.

Let’s start defining Second Life (SL) by first defining what it is not; it is not a game. Games have rules, goals, objectives, points and so on. These kinds of parameters do not exist for SL. Rather, SL is a 3D virtual environment or virtual world. What people do in that environment is as varied as the human beings who populate it.

So what can one do in Second Life?

Almost anything one can do in real life (RL), one can do in SL. Activities include (but are far from limited to) concerts, lectures, classes, dancing, shopping, socializing, traveling, historical role play, book discussions, contests, theater and many, many more. If you get bored in SL, it’s only because you’re not looking for anything.

What makes Second Life unique?

Second Life is perhaps one of the oldest virtual worlds (there are hundreds of them!), and it is certainly one of the largest. What truly differentiates SL from many others is the philosophy about intellectual property rights. When one creates something in SL, that person owns it. That means they also have the right to sell it. There is a thriving, real economy in SL. A rare few can make real life livings selling and/or creating custom virtual items, but most do it for fun. Second Life is also a very diverse community; 60% of the residents are not from the U.S. This gives an interesting, international flavor to many areas of SL and gives SL users a chance to interact with people from around the world.

What are libraries doing in Second Life?

A lot! Most libraries/librarians in SL collaborate within the Community Virtual Library (CVL). This project is huge and has many volunteers from all over the globe. Activities run the gamut; lectures, art galleries, book discussions and training are all popular. The CVL maintains a reference desk as well to answer questions from SL residents. The CVL encompasses partner organizations as well, including many college and university libraries and library-related organizations, such as TechSoup, the American Library Association, and OPLIN.

Where can I learn more about Second Life?

OPLIN offers free, inworld classes on Second Life. You can learn more at http://www.oplin.org/secondlife, or feel free to contact Laura Solomon at OPLIN (laura@oplin.org ), also known as Lebachai Vesta in SL. The official Second Life web site is at http://www.secondlife.com and the site of CVL is at http://www.infoisland.org.

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As more people start using smartphones (e.g., Droids, Blackberries, iPhones, et al), we’re also starting to see a lot more applications that can be downloaded and used on them. One I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting with is Qik (prounounced like “quick”). While the tagline for YouTube is “Broadcast Yourself,” I feel that might actually better suit this particular app. Qik allows you to not only record video directly to a web page from your smartphone, but it allows you to do so live. That’s right–you can be broadcasting your library’s events, as they’re happening, to an online audience.

So, what do you need to do to make this happen? Not much, as it turns out:

Smartphone that can run the Qik app (supported phone list here)
Qik app, downloaded and installed to said smartphone and
A free Qik account (which will create a broadcast channel for you).

I’ve done a couple of public videos you can check out, to get an idea of the quality of the video; you can see them at my Qik channel, http://www.qik.com/laurasolomon.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

This could be a quick and dirty way to capture and broadcast library programs and/or meetings. Keep in mind, however, that there can be some delay between what you are broadcasting and it being captured on the Qik channel. (I noticed about 3-5 seconds of lag during my most recent test.)
You can’t edit the video before it is broadcast or captured, so make sure that you’re comfortable broadcasting whatever it is before you start.
You can make certain videos private and others public.
The Qik site also has some social media features; videos can be tweeted directly, and people can also comment and discuss individual videos. Live chat is also available, so if you’re broadcasting live, you can also see chat feedback in real time.
You can also add a map (location) to the video, to let people know where it took place.
Yes, you can embed Qik videos in a website, much like YouTube videos.
Conveniently, you can also sign in with your Facebook account.

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Physical locations in combination with the web are starting to hit it big, and is predicted to seriously take off this year. One example of an application that is rapidly heading that way is Foursquare.

From Wikipedia:

Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and game. Users “check-in” at venues using text messaging or a device specific application. They are then awarded points and sometimes “badges.”

In other words, every time I check in any public place (using my iPhone or Droid and the Foursquare app), I am participating in a game. The more times I check in, the more points and badges I can get. There are a few things that make this really interesting:

Foursquare users can create tips for other Foursquare users that check in to a particular venue, making Foursquare also, at least partially, a recommendation engine;
You can friend other users, much like Facebook, and get notifications of where your friends are in real time;
If you check in to a location (on separate days) more than any other user, you become the “Mayor” of that location. In doing so, you may potentially unseat the current “Mayor.” This can lead to fierce competition.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

Right now, the Foursquare app is only available to iPhone and Droid smartphone users. Palm Pre and Blackberry versions are quickly forthcoming (both are currently in beta testing). However, check-ins can also be done via any browser or by texting.
Your library should keep an eye on what tips users are posting about your library. Don’t have your library get an account and check in daily, though–that’s not fair, since your library would always be Mayor of the library! The point is to encourage others to want that coveted title.
Speaking of Mayors, this is where many businesses have gotten on the Foursquare cluetrain. Many businesses now offer discounts to the Mayor of the location; such as a coffee shop offering a free beverage to the Mayor of the place that day. Could a library do this? Absolutely! Your library could offer to erase the fines of the library’s Mayor. Or give them an extra amount of computer time. Anything you can think of that concretely rewards someone for frequenting your building. Make sure to advertise this. If people often take cell calls out to your library’s lobby, that would be an ideal place for a sign.
There is a caveat–Foursquare does not count check-ins during what they call “normal work hours” (8am to 4pm, weekdays). However, the first time someone checks into a new location, they always get a five-point “discovery” bonus, regardless of the time or day.

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