Second Life, Education, and Libraries

Andrew Zintl

What is Second Life?

• A Virtual World

• An Educational Tool

• An Interface for Collaboration

• Difficult to Learn to Use

What is Second Life?

Libraries in Second Life

Inside Second Life Libraries

Advantages of Second Life for Educational Purposes

• Fosters Creativity

• Connects Geographically Distant Users

• Free to Download and Play

• Avatar representation provides personal touch

Disadvantages

• Slow loading

• Free users limited in options

• Requires devotion of much time

• Some immature users (griefers)

• Land ownership is expensive

Should Libraries Implement A Second Life Presence?

Maybe, but probably not yet.

Why not?

1. Few libraries see much traffic on SL.

2. Maintaining a SL presence is a drain on resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

3. Few libraries can devote the time to maintain a solid presence on SL.