The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Alliance Library System of Illinois are pleased to offer two different six week online (in Second Life) courses to introduce you to libraries and information services in a virtual world. INTRODUCTION TO VIRTUAL WORLD LIBRARIANSHIP (3 sections available)Section One: September 4, 11, 18, 25, October 2 and 9 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm SL (8:00 - 10:00 pm central) Section Two: September 14, 21, 28, October 19, 26, and November 9 from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. SL (9:30 - 11:30 am central) Section Three: September 14, 21, 28, October 19, 26, and November 9 from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm SL (1:30 - 3:30 pm central)Location: Info Island, Second LifeCost: $200Audience: Open to all library and information professionalsWeek One: Introduction to Libraries in Virtual WorldsWeek Two: Second Life 101Week Three: Collections, Resources, and Exhibits in Virtual Environment Week Four: Reference and Information Services in Virtual Worlds Week Five: Managing and Working in a Virtual Library or Department Week Six: Skills Needed by 21st Century Librarians in Virtual WorldsINTERMEDIATE VIRTUAL WORLD LIBRARIANSHIP (3 sections available)Section One: September 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, and 22 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm SL (8:00 - 10:00 pm central) Section Two: November 6, 13, 20, 27, December 4 and 11 from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. …

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(Source: Game On: Games in Libraries)

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Open ‘note to self’,
 
read if you want to.
 
 
just thinking out loud
abt instruction, libraries, and “digital natives” (ha!)
 
Suddenly
The kids who were born in 1990 (BORN in 1990!) are in our library… many “grew up” online… and watching teevee that referenced “online life”… You’ve Got Mail… that Sandra bullock movie abt ‘the net’, Hackers in 94?  many better examples.  Et.c.  These are webby people.  And they’re still learning and growing…. Developing (RIGHT NOW) more advanced critical thinking faculties, we hope…
 
they’re on that myspace and that e-mail, using them world wide webs, on that zwinky and facebook, and trading mp3s and mp4s, and e-mailing Craig Ferguson and e-mailing tha RZA fan mail.  They’re frustrated when the web isn’t easy to use, and they don’t understand that there’s a wider Internet of which ‘tha web’ is just a subset.
 
for them, sadly, books are dusty dead-ends.  We’ve got to show them how the web opens books.  How our webby tools behoove them… get them the grades.
 
so,
 
virtual environments even as CRUMMY as myspace are their turf.
Video or virtual games is how they learn to solve probs.
 
There must be ways to exploit their fascination with the virtual, to teach them information literacy skills, cyberliteracy skills, critical thinking, for their own benefit.  There be many good ways, yah. 
 
All learning is distance learning once they step out of the “2.5 hrs in desks” – profs using that time to push info to attentitve listners?  Hopefully, hopefully, but real learning is independent learning.  Real learning happens when you make the connection for yourself, you open the book for yrself, you seek that key bit of gov’ment statistics in the NIH database yrself. 
 
It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea. …

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I
don’t hear my colleagues talk much about librarian competencies, even
though we’re surrounded by clinicians for whom competency is a serious
career issue. Let alone the so-called Library 2.0 competencies, which
some people I know view as a derisory notion. In the health library biz
we are acutely aware of the preponderance of technology in our work,
and we hustle as diligently as David Beckham with his personal trainer
to keep up with the unceasing digital whirr.Most
of us, that is. We all know fellow workers who fit the adage “To err is
human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.” We anxiously
observe them jabbing about with the mouse as they struggle with
elementary software routines, stretching a bikini’s worth of skill over
their variously sized talents. Experiencing an in-service with a few of
these types (or worse, asking for their help at the Reference Desk) is
like a long wait for a delayed flight in Purgatory’s airport lounge.”Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.”Once
upon a time we breathed in the smell of beeswax and parchment in drafty
scriptoria, and measured our competencies in terms of the cut of our
quill pens and the quality of our uncials. Today we inhale digital
oxygen and cut code. Library 2.0, as the borrowing from software
marketing implies, represents a natural development from what went
before. It is not just a smattering of adventitious embellishments. I
know this in my html’d heart, but I don’t yet see it given the
significance it has for me in the elegantly worded charters, protocols,
standards and guidelines of my profession.Interested in
measuring my own knowledge and performance against some standard (if I
were younger this might be called ambition), I want to record in this
post my web wanderings and stretch out a more generous swatch of
spandex from the fabric of information I discovered. I’ll start by defining terms. …

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Next three weeks I will be on holiday in France, visiting the Jura and French Alps. I am looking forward to reading the new Harry Potter whilst surrounded by the French Alps.
And finally I will find time and courage to read the one Thomas Covenant book I never read before. It appeared in 2004, 10 years after the last one and I never dared to read it. Can it be as good as the rest or will I be disappointed?

It is a bit hard to leave work ánd Second Life, these are exciting times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) bought an Island next to HealthInfo Island, as did the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are using now also a special parcel on EduIsland4 for exploration and discovery of Sl possibilities.

HealthInfo Island has now parcels of land reserved for health related organisations or support groups to use for this purpose as well, exploration and discovery of Sl possibilities. Use of the land is for 6 months for free.
In my absence, please contact Carolina Keats (Carol Perryman in the real world) to hear more about this. I’ll be back around August 13th.
Tags: harry potter, secondlife, thomas covenant, healthinfo island, cdc, nih
This item is automatically generated from the DIGICMB Blog of Guus van de den Brekel (Source: DigiCMB)

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This weekend, adults and teens will be teaching teens how to create better machinima on Eye4You Alliance island in Teen Second Life. We’ll be using free software including the built-in second life recording software and YouTube’s Audio Swap which allows for pre-approved audio to be used with videos people create. Teens dj’ing will fill in the breaks by bringing people out to the dance floor and adults will be teaching self-esteem building workshops as well.
Any teen is welcome to sign up for a free account at: teen.secondlife.com and join the events on the island.
We have a printing press where teens make tutorial guides to use the software.
We have matching shirts for the classes. I detached my hair for the photo because it was blocking the logo and now I can’t find it.

We’ll share the machinima after the weekend.

Posted by Kelly Czarnecki (Source: YALSA)

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Check out Nina Simon’s post, Jumping Into Art in Second Life, at Museum 2.0.  The following statement sums up her point:

So much energy is put into recreating physical spaces and their…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] (Source: [ArLiSNAP])

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Latest Sl News: Second Life Buzz about Second Life Business Failures

I am pleased to mention that my search tool for SL, the Second Life Search Toolbar has been approved by the Lindens as a Residents Resource and is listed since yesterday in the Category Search Tools. Please have a look at this residents Resources, they are fun AND usefull in many cases!

I have created this Toolbar for everybody to make the gap between Sl en RL smaller ánd to improve findability of information about developments.

PLEASE HELP ME TO IMPROVE THIS TOOLBAR!
PLEASE send me any new search tools, websites, blogs or Sl rsources you think they are valuable. If you have ideas about new functionality to be included into the Toolbar, let me know!

Already the ALL-In-One SL News site is a great resource to keep up with daily news. This aggregated feed is SEARCHABLE and offers multiple ways to view and save news in your desired format.

The Toolbar has been downloaded over 300 times for IE and FF, but the Netvibes SL Search Module has been even more successfull, 850 people have installed this module for their own personalised Netvibes page. If you do not know Netvibes, do have a look, because it combines great layout, flexibility and efficiency in creating your own tool for all kinds of (web) information you want to save and review daily. You can compare it with iGoogle, but BETTER! Have a look and play around! Clicking the icon will deliver the Second Life Search Box in your Netvibes account.
Tags: sl, second life, secondlife, secondlife search, search, toolbar
This item is automatically generated from the DIGICMB Blog of Guus van de den Brekel (Source: DigiCMB)

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Will The Last Corporation Leaving Second Life Please Turn Off The Light
“The crux of the piece is that despite the hype, real life businesses are closing down their Second Life outposts due to little to no interest in them.”
(tags: secondlife) (Source: Kenton Good)

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Grand Opening - Globe Theater on Renaissance Island
Globe Theatre Grand Opening, Renaissance Island (204, 45, 27).
Sunday, July 22, 2007
1 PM-6PM
The original Globe Theatre opened a few years back in the Autumn of 1599 in Southwark on the River Thames. Join our scholar and builder as they discuss the history of this remarkable Elizabethan theatre. There will be two discussions/Q & A sessions, fireworks, and a dance, too! Not to worry–William Prynne will not be reading from his loathsome Histriomastix against theatre and dancing. Do feel free to wear your favorite Renaissance/Tudor period attire! (Visitors will find free attire in the wecome center located at 69, 183, 150).
Here is the schedule:
1-2PM Shakespearean scholar Dolgoruky Umarov and Globe builder Charlene Trudeau will discuss the Theatre, followed by a Q & A Session.
2-5PM Globe(al) Dance Party with Firworks around 3.
5-6PM Dolgoruky and Charlene will repeat their earlier program
For more information, contact Korrigan Keynes.
The LawSpot
The LawSpot (Info Island I, Bell Library, 5th Floor) has a new exhibit
on past and present court cases related to virtual worlds. Included is
information about the “SexGen” bed case, Bragg v. Linden, Blizzard
(World of Warcraft) v. “Peons4hire,” and more. Patrons are also
invited to pick up a free copy of the Galileo Law Directory, a listing
of legal and related professionals in Second Life. Contact Cat Galileo
for more information.
Disco Fever! Atop Bell Library on Info Island I
Friday, July 20 at 6:00 PM it is Disco Fever at TX950! Lights, dancing,
fun! Come dressed for the occasion or dressed as you are! We’re going to
try trivia for this week’s contest, so brush up on your 70s knowledge! For
more information contact Abbey Zenith!
Caledon Courtesy Duel for Relay for Life, July 22nd, 2pm
Mr. …

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