The main barrier right now facing my IMLS fellowship is securing space in Second Life to hold (mostly book) readings. Jim Elmborg has helped me find a very promising contact at http://infoisland.org . This is an organization working with libraries and librarians. ALA is currently on the same island as this organization. Lori Bell is heading a 'programming' push for the Alliance Library System and OPAL. From the website:
"Although there are a couple of libraries currently on Second Life, none currently offers programs or services. Alliance and OPAL will start with programs and eventually hope to offer library services."
The consensus in my fellowship workgroup is that ALA has a good amount of space and some nice buildings in Second Life, however they are not as strong with the content they have available to fill those buildings. Our readings from the VWU archive seems to be a great fit for either ALA or the Alliance Library System.
Additionally! Jon Winet informed me that Academic Technologies within the ITS department at UI is purchasing an island in Second Life. Jon spoke with them, and they are interested in working with us on our Second Life initiatives.
There are multiple avenues for development on this project. The key right now is finding someone to get this going. To do this, I've been doing multiple revisions of a proposal that represents myself, Jon, and Jim as a workgroup in Second Life. This proposal also references IMLS, the UI SLIS program, and the VWU at UI. I've been learning quite a bit about how to word a document to make it persuasive. The main difficulty I'm running into is finding a balance between having the document be succinct v. exciting. How can you make the proposal exciting and convincing and at the same time have it be simple and informative. I've been getting differing views on this from Jim and Jon. It seems that there are personal preferences one way or the other. I'm leaning towards the rhetorically persuasive and exciting sounding proposal for our current situation. We will provide a huge amount of content for an organization...and I think an enthusiastic proposal is needed to convey this message. This means that the proposal ends up being a little bit long-winded. However, I've made sure to put the main objective for our workgroup in the first paragraph.
So -- hopefully in my next update I will have good news about our project getting a green light from one of the three organizations mentioned earlier.
Project Comparision
My progress update has taken me a bit longer than expected. I'll have to cut short my project comparison. I wanted to get a feel for how other SL book readings have gone off. I found a NY Times articleabout a William Gibson reading. How appropriate! Gibson's Neuromancer book has been so influential in thinking about cyberspace. The article states the the reading
"perfectly captured the beguiling appeal and horrible frustrations of current virtual worlds technology."
good things to know:
- a SL server can only hold about 60 people at a space before problems begin
- a video that was supposed to play before the Gibson reading malfunctioned
- the author thought that the book reading was more fun than if he had attended it physically
- so, SL can provide a unique experience that gets audiences excited at their computer -- just better have all the technical details solid before the reading happens.
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IMLS Fellowship Project Projection for rest of semester:
1) Establish a space in SL for book readings. Hold some book readings to see how well it is received (back this up with a significant public information push through UI outlets). If all goes well, establish a protocol for the book readings so that another person will be able to provide the readings when/if I change projects next semester.
2) finish my website for the Virtual Object class. My main goal is to have this webspace serve as a portfolio for my webdesign skills and philosophy. I think this would be an excellent thing to have to show potential employers in the future.
