So what does an island look like?

Three days into Summer: June 24th in Second Life, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Shown here are two islands in the Information Archipelago, managed by Alliance Library System / Alliance Virtual Library. Eduisland 3 is seen on the left with the Machinima Institute located on the SW corner (4096 plot) on Eduisland 3 (60, 30, 22).


On the right is the newly delivered island awaiting a new terrain.
I have been checking out the terrains created by Avatrian:http://www.avatrian.com

The Terrain Factory offers a variety of environmental themes influenced by real life g eography and virtual environments: Some of my favorites were Iceland,Lake Victoria, Natural Fortress and the 12 island raw file, Overook, that promises to turn the mountain isle into a divided instructional location. I will be subdividing the island to take advantage of separate media settings for the smaller isles.

The Terrain Factory:
http://www.avatrian.com/terrainfactory.php

New island for Machinima Institute

Three days into Summer: June 24th in Second Life, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

The Machinima Institute & Cafe is currently located on the SW corner of Eduisland 3 on a 4096 sq. meter plot that is leased from Alliance Virtual Library. Look for us on the new island south of Eduisland 3, to be called Machinima Institute. This snapshot shows HVX Silverstar flying over current location...

I am Librarian. I am Avatar.

From: hvxsilverstar, 5 hours ago

| View | Upload your own

Bernadette Daly Swanson - HVX Silverstar in Second Life
Reference/Instruction Librarian - University of California Davis Libraries

ELAG 2008 Conference - Rethinking the Library - 14-16 April 2008
European Libraries Automation Group | ELAG2008
Wageningen University & Research Center - The Netherlands


SlideShare Link

SL™ + 2 generic nouns meets the guidelines.. but what about tags?

So, SL Machinima Librarians actually did meet with the new guidelines for using the Second Life™ trademarks.

License To Use SL™ or inSL™...
http:
//secondlife.com/corporate/brand/trademark/sl_insl.php#guidelines

But what about tagging? I have added Second Life, brand, SL,

Terrain-ing in Second Life: journey into Avatrian's Terrain Factory & Book of Creations

Book of Creations: The Terrain Factory, originally uploaded by Avatrian.

So, I'm floating through Avatrian's terrain factory via Flickr looking for a terrain for a new island.
Book of Creations: The Terrain Factory.

http://www.avatrian.com/terrainfactory.php

Clematide: in search of a machinima script

Great fun in Wastelands... for the Sunday machinima showing.
The video was captured in Second Life using SnapzProx. The SL viewer: 1.20 Release Candidate 8 with built-in lip sync by Mike Monowski. Yea, Mike!!

Directory of Libraries & Organizations in Second Life

Slide42, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

From Stolvano Barbosa and the wonderful volunteers who worked on the database.

Getting a Second Life: Join, Create an Avatar, Download Software, Log in to the virtual world.

This is a quick machinima showing the process of creating a Second Life account and logging into the virtual world:

Go to the web site: http://www.secondlife.com
Click on the JOIN button (orange)
Select a name and give your email address. Names cannot be changed.
You will receive confirmation of your account in your email (confirm the account by going to your email and clicking on the link)
You will now be asked to select an avatar and gender for the avatar. Avatars and gender can be changed once you are in Second Life.
Follow the link provided to download the software from the web site.
Install the software on your computer.
Launch the Second Life application and log in using your Second Life username (first and last name) and password (keep this a secret)
You will land on one of the many help islands for orientation.
You will see a Heads Up Device (HUD) on your screen with instructions to guide you through the various tutorials.
Repeat the tutorials and try out others on help island.
Don't be in too much of a rush to leave to go into Second Life.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Take the time to become comfortable and ask for help.
Once comfortable, you can teleport to the 'exit island' and hang out a bit there to hone your newly acquired skills.
When ready, just teleport right out of there!
Welcome to your Second Life.
First stop: Info International Island in the Info Archipelago:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Info%20Island%20International/128/128/0
Systems Requirements:
Download Second Life: http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php

New Media Symposium Conference on Mashups: April. 1-2, 2008

SnapshotConfessionsMashup_006, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Another great conference by NMC being offered in Second Life and via the LearningTimes site using Adobe Connect. The keynote was delivered by Wayne Hodgins via satellite from a sailboat in La Paz. Along with his first mate pup, he provided clarity to the web 2.0 and mashup picture. Brilliant! Brian Lamb's 'Confessions of a Mashup Un-Artist' had people dancing on the old school bus and in the air... it was dead inspiring and made me want to run home and layer a few tracks in one of these audio packages so infrequently use. I'll provide the link shortly.
Other sessions that I managed to catch included: mashup Contest at Upenn: Copyright and Free Culture which provided us with an enviable view of their library commons offering audio, video and other popular software, along with specialized staff in IT services, time management, writing, research by the librarians and a super lab with equipment for digitizing video and audio

Mystery Manor through the SL Release Candidate 1_19_1_4

mysterymanor2, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

the glow... the mystery... the manor...
through Release Candidate 1_19_1_4.

html and jambina almost on a prim

html and jambina almost on a prim, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

yea!

HTML on a prim showing my blog: refresh is working

html on a prim showing my blog: refresh is working, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Yea, I love this!
Super cool.... everyone is going to be updating their work on the web for a quick-fix refresh in SL. Ha, who would have thought.

New Media Consortium Conference on Mashups

New Media Consortium Mashups, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Should be working, but i'm messing with the sky a bit in the SL Release Candidate 1_19_1_4. The snapshot shortcut (ctrl-shift-s) feature is not working. So, I'm updating the blog to check the HTML on a prim feature... we'll see in a minute.

and I rose... for the Picnik

hvx... and I rose, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

up from the waters at the edge of my sim...
How about that... Flickr's online image editing feature Picnik with advanced image editing for about US $2.00 a month.
Very cool...http://www.flickr.com/help/picnik/

MacBook Air Baby!

I have heard it referred to as a "big ipod".... Anyway, I had been waiting for a demo of the new computer in my local campus
computer store, and yesterday they finally cracked open one of the boxes rather than just selling them as they came in.
So, would this tiny thing that can fit inside an envelope atually run SL?

The computer was logged onto the campus wireless network...
I pulled up secondlife.com and downloaded the latest version of SL (very quickly while everyone was busy)
and ran it from the desktop since I did not have admin permissions on it.

Up it came... logged in to my favourite haunt, Wastelands, went for a walk, flew across the bridge, teleported to Eduisland 3,
Machinima Institute & Cafe... hit the movie button to stream our small version of the Goldsphere machinima
from blip.tv (320x240, h.264 codec, fast start)... jumped up to the roof... well, that took a couple of seconds... as I had just hit the movie button to play media... so, a bit of a hiccup.

I didn't get a chance to change any of the preferences.. but I will. Anyway, it's a magnificent piece of work.
http://blip.tv/file/749580

Yea, I'm buying this baby!
Note: You may not want to use it as your main means of transport to SL.. .but it will get you there for a tour and maybe more. I'll load SnapzproX on it and try to capture it... So I have no plans for any heavy work, graphics, video or anything like that... but it's great for day-to-day upkeep and traveling... mostly because it's not 8 pound alien).

In this shot it's actually flying across my living room...

Goldsphere...

Pilot Bioterrorism Defense: Mass Prophylaxis Clinic Training

Sporting the UC Davis 2008 Health Informatics Virtual T....

Dr. Nash Baldwin, a.k.a. Peter Yellowlees MD., originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Dr. Nash Baldwin, a.k.a. Peter Yellowlees MD, strikes a pose in a virtual T from the 2008 Health Informatics conference, Second Life Edition.
The two afternoon workshops were led by Dr. Nash, Principal Invistigator on the Bioterrorism Mass Prophylaxis clinic project (based on the agriculture hall at Cal Expo used for the 2005 emergency readiness training).Daniel Wolf is the programmer/scripter & builder behind the island's facilities. and I (HVX or Bernadette) helped attendees at the sessions become oriented to the new environment. For many this was a first...

More photos from the workshop are on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603965303686/

Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, and Museums Conference to be held at New Media Consortium Conference Center in the very beautiful Second Life.

“Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, and Museums”
Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Second Life - New Media Consortium Conference Center.
To register: http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds

Purpose of the Conference:
To provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds.


Please note: Although the conference will be held in the virtual world Second Life, presentation and paper proposals about LEM developments in other virtual worlds are encouraged.

Tentative Schedule
http://www.alliancelibraries.info/virtualworlds/vwlemschedule.htm

9:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time)

"Ancient Mesopotamia: Engaging Online Resources from the Oriental Institute," Presented by Wendy Ennes and Lisa Perez

Wendy Ennes, Teacher Services and e-Learning Coordinator for the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, will present information about the new, engaging website Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History. In this highly useful online resource, students and educators can learn about various aspects of Mesopotamian culture. They can participate in the interactive "Dig into History", playing the role of an archeologist or a museum curator. Also, they can peruse the "Learning Collection", zooming in on various teacher-selected artifacts. Teachers can also locate primary source materials, lesson plans, and recommended learning activities. This presentation will be useful to teachers, librarians, students, and history aficionados. This presentation is brought to you in collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools Department of Libraries and Information Services.


"Persistent Worlds: Will They Ever Go Away?" Presented by Dr. Susan Hazan

Now that Second Life has hit the front page of Newsweek it seems Neal Stephenson's vision of the Metaverse has crossed over -- from being a fringe fantasy land for pure escapists to a persistent world for play, commerce, creativity and exploration. It's time to take a close look at this synthetic world. Presented by three leading avatars directly from Second Life, this panel will showcase some of the leading cultural institutions from their 3D graphic locations, and will explore how they welcome visitors, guests and colleagues in-world.


"The State of Librarianship in Second Life" Presented by Lauren Pressley

This session examines the idea of librarianship in Second Life, specifically focusing on reference practices and the development of a library's presence in a virtual world. The session will conclude with a discussion of possible virtual world library services that have not yet been designed and implemented.


"Reflections in Wonderland" Presented by Alison (Wynne Merlin) Williams & Mary (Merry Mayo) Hudson

This paper takes a reflective approach concentrating on the authors' explorations of Second Life. These explorations were undertaken as part of a project to assess how the university library might operate in such an environment to support student learning. An introduction briefly outlines the project and we then go on to describe our initial experiences of Second Life, and of participation in courses and meetings. In the light of these experiences we reflect on the possibilities offered by this type of environment, before concluding with our thoughts on the way forward.



"Reconstructing Maya: Student Created Poems" Presented by Beth Ritter-Guth (SL Desideria Stockton)

The students in College English II: Literature at Lehigh Carbon Community College are creating interactive poems to celebrate the poetry of Maya Angelou. Conference participants will be able to view the work of students, meet them, and construct a poem of their own. The workshop will require the use of voice and participants should download a free recording program like Audacity. Students will showcase their interactive poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. A notecard with the instructions on how to build the poem will be provided, and participants will work together to create a collaborative poem using WAV files, objects, and scripts.

10:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time)

"Voice vs. Text Chat: Solutions for Teaching/Presenting in Two Languages Simultaneously" Presented by Chris Haskell


As voices ring out over the virtual landscape, some oppose vocal communication for its technical imperfections, infrequent use, and VW cultural bias. Educators, presenters, and facilitators in the Metaverse need solutions to communicate in both "native" languages. This session demonstrates tools and techniques currently being employed to engage multiple learning and communication styles in this expanding virtual space.


"Immersion Environments and Recreational Learning: Opportunities for Informal Education on the Virtual Landscape" Presented by Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater

When the residents of an online three-dimensional platform such as Second life are able to create their own immersion environments, learning opportunities abound. Experience with a number of recent experiments has indicated that the educational potential of these builds comes not just within the context of a formal, institutionally-managed didactic approach, but also--and in some cases, more successfully--in the context of informal, self-directed learning opportunities.

Panelists Aldo Stern and JJ Drinkwater draw upon their real world backgrounds in the museum and library fields, along with their extensive experience in a variety of experimental collaborative educational, cultural and recreational environments created on the SL platform, to discuss the relative success of traditional "classroom" approaches in various builds, and the surprisingly vibrant informal learning dynamic that has developed alongside--or as an alternative to--the attempts at structured, hierarchical didacticism.

The panelists also will seek to explore how what has transpired in-world is analogous to the real world living history/reenacting "hobby" movement of the 1970s-1990s and other recreational self-directed learning opportunities, and consider issues of how institutions and organizations might utilize the potential of online creative platforms in the future to more effectively foster and encourage self-directed learning, and to integrate it into their programming in ways that it could compliment and enhance more traditional approaches to engaging and educating diverse audiences.


"Whatcha Gonna Do?: An Academic Health Sciences Library in Second Life Embraces New Roles" Presented by PF Anderson (Perplexity Peccable); Gillian Mayman (Gillian Oh); Anne Perorazio (Kaiya Qunha); and Jane Blumenthal (Wrenaissance Jewell)

Academic health sciences libraries support the educational, research, clinical, and service missions of the universities and healthcare institutions of which they are a part. In the recent past, this has meant primarily building print and web-based collections of health and research information, and providing classes and services that facilitate the use and integration of these collections into the skillset of the local academic healthcare community. In Spring of 2007, the University of Michigan Medical School purchased an island in Second Life. In supporting the activities associated with this initiative, we have found that many of the activities and services we have traditionally offered are not immediately relevant in the new environment, are needs that are being filled by others, or are beyond the scope of what is possible with the resources currently available to us. Examples of these might include teaching how to search Medline, offering classes relating to health skill sets, building collections of health information. Similarly, many of the activities and services we have found ourselves embracing in Second Life are hard to imagine ever happening in our real life libraries. Examples of these might include building freebie collections, teaching classes on how to make clothes, setting up a Spirit Shop for the university (along with making the inventory), hosting in-world and out-world events to engage community, setting up a patient support group, as well as helping folks navigate Orientation and Help Islands. Here we present information about the similarities and differences between what we do in which environment and why we do or do not offer similar services in the other environment, as well as discuss the planning process and skill sets required. We would particularly like to focus on tools that have formed the basis of our community building efforts, which have largely depended on resources that bridge Second Life and the broader online and analog environments. So, when it comes to leading the way in a new and emerging technological environment, what are librarians going to do? Our answer: whatever needs to be done.


"Interaction, Visibility and Searchability in Virtual Worlds: The Possibilities, Benefits and the Future" Presented by Namro Orman

Interaction with the Web should be a major focus point for libraries in virtual worlds. Resources, news, and communication are needed, and not only with Second Life Residents. The merging with other social networks looks promising, but a lot can be improved/gained inside Second Life as well to make library services and resouces more visible, and findable, also on the Web. This goals of this session are to improve awareness of current possibilities, to show developments, and to offer a sketch of the future.



"The 3D3C Metaverse" Presented by Yesha Sivan

Dr. Yesha Sivan, founder of Metaverse Labs, is interested in interoperability. He also has been looking into how virtual world simulations can interface with the real world.

11:00 a.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time)


"Applying Distance Educational Theory to Virtual Worlds" Presented by Rebecca Hedreen

Current adult educational theory is student-centered and those students have experience, abilities, and preferences that affect or control the learning process. This presentation will show (and tell) you how to use these theories, and the practices that spring from them, to improve your Second Life presentations. In the process, we'll cover some techniques that also improve accessibility and decrease the chance that a technological glitch will ruin your work.


"The Museum Phenomenon in Star Wars Galaxies" Presented by Annie Platoff

Annie Platoff, the Director of the Wookiee Cultural Center, the premier Wookiee museum in Star Wars Galaxies, will discuss the museum phenomenon in Star Wars Galaxies.


"My Life as an Avatar (So Far)" Presented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This presentation is intended for teachers, librarians, and those who work in museums; as well as amateur history buffs. In this discussion I will provide an account of how I came to portray one of the best known authors of the Victorian era; the development of a plausible "back story" to cover my inadequacies; my successes and failures in Second Life; my views on the educational potential of ReCreationism; and, finally, my advice to aspiring ReCreationists.


"The Festival of European Languages in Second Life" Presented by Birdie Newborn (Birdie Newcomb in SL)

This session will look at the Festival of European Languages recently held on Belle Isle in Second Life. It was a venture in outside-the-classroom education. It was a 6-hour festival over half the island with a schedule of speakers, demonstrations, booths, and a giant map of Europe with landmarks to every known language community in Second Life.


6:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time)


"Self-directed Group Learning in Virtual Worlds" Presented by Nick Noakes

This will be a mix of an interactive discussion session on the affordances of Virtual Worlds with respect to self-directed group learning, followed by a tour of Boracay sim to see one way self-directed group learning can be implemented.


"Virtual Museums: When Do They Become "Real"?" Presented by Annie Platoff

With the launch of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), players were given the opportunity to build their own communities within the confines of virtual worlds created by the game developers. When Star Wars Galaxies was launched in June 2003, players were also given the opportunity to manipulate their environment. SWG Developers not only allowed players to place structures within the landscape of the game, but also gave them the opportunity to decorate the interiors of their buildings. It wasn't long before players began to open their own museums. At first, the museums were nothing more than decorated houses containing developer-made paintings and objects. Eventually, however, the museums evolved and now there are quite a number that include interpretive labels, thematic exhibits, and more. While some of these museums are quite well known within their communities, they are virtually unknown by those who do not play the game.

That is not the case for the museums in another virtual community, however. The emergence of museums in the virtual world of Second Life has been the topic of much discussion in the museum community. Also launched in 2003, Second Life presents itself as a 3-D virtual world rather than a game. In the world of Second Life players can create just about anything they can imagine and add it to the environment including, of course, museums. Some of those museums have been replicas of real-life museums created by private individuals. Other museums in this virtual environment were created as initiatives of established real-world museums. But there are some museums in Second Life that only exist in that virtual landscape. The International Space Museum, one such museum, has spawned a real-life non-profit organization to support the work of the virtual museum.

All of this activity in virtual museums brings with it some interesting questions for members of the museum community. Are virtual museums "real" museums? And if they are, what are the implications for established real-life museums? This paper will examine a variety of museums in two virtual environments ? the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies and the virtual world of Second Life. It will apply established definitions of what is a museum and determine which of those virtual museums appear to meet the criteria. Finally, it will draw conclusions about the "realness" of virtual museums and the potential of these institutions for reaching new audiences.


"An Overview of Science-Related Stuff in Second Life" Presented by Dr. Troy McConaghy (Troy McLuhan in SL)

Troy will give examples of how Second Life is being used for science education, public outreach, prototyping, and research Intendend Audience: Scientists, science educators, science librarians, and science museum professionals.


"Immersive Education: New Models for Lifelong Learning" Presented by Kevin Roebuck

Open source technologies for virtual worlds, on-line games, and new media have tremendous potential to offer new models for lifelong learning. Sun Microsystems Global Education & Research Group has formed a new community to explore these new immersive worlds and their application with the Project Wonderland 3-D tool-kit, Project Darkstar Game Server and SunSPOT sensor platforms. The new Sun Immersion Special Interest Group has announced a joint initiative with the Immersive Education Initiative at Media Grid including a $25,000 set of "Immersion Grants" to see pilot projects in K12 schools, community college, and higher education institutions. This session will feature Kevin Roebuck, Community Manager for Immersive Technologies at Sun, to give a brief overview of the communities activities, initiatives and worldwide projects in open source and open content for Immersive Education.


7:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time)


"Using Second Life to Enhance Student Research and Presentations" Presented by Robert Walker

The presentation will look at an exciting Second Life assignment being used at Labette Community College in the Music Appreciation classes to enhance student presentations. This assignment could easily be adapted for use in any class that requires students to research and present that research to the class. It is useful for both onground and online classes. Students are given the following assignment, using Second Life, prepare a museum exhibit on the following composer. You should include written information, audio, images and perhaps video. Your presentation should not only include biographical information about the composer, but information about the period that the composer was writing. That information should include people of historical interest, other artists of the period, clothing and architectural styles of the time. This presentation will show the mechanics of managing an assignment like this. What tools do the students need? What knowledge/tools does the instructor need? These concerns will all be discussed and examples of previous semester projects will be reviewed as well as the assignment and the rubric.


"Virtual Worlds for Learning" Presented by Ann Crewdson and Sachin Patil

Virtual Worlds offer a quick and inexpensive ways of simulating information artifacts(in libraries and museums) into multi-faceted synthetic learning environments that merit interaction, immersion and information equally. The Federation of American Scientists, as part of its "Virtual Worlds for Learning" research program, has created a Virtual World Sim (Mesopotamia) in Second Life that leverages collective intelligence by enabling interdisciplinary communities of scholars such as archeologists, librarians museologists, historians, technologists, artists, and academia to share data and their expertise. The prototype has developed a web-integrated inworld tool, called Medulla, to collaborate on 3D content creation, peer-review the content for authenticity and edit it continuously based on new academic & research findings. In the near future, this tool will support functionalities for incorporating game-like features to make simulation experience more interactive and engaging. This presentation will describe content creation & management processes we have developed to collect, render, manage, evaluate and preserve digital assets for 3D virtual environments. Attendees, mainly librarians and museum administrators, will learn how virtual worlds together with web technologies can be used for a wide variety of learning opportunities, scholarly interaction, and the collection, development and management of digital assets for 3D virtual environments.


"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" Presented by Rochelle Mazar

This presentation will demonstrate and explore the ways that digital objects have been archived in older virtual environments, their contribution to a competitive gift economy, and the kinds of lessons those practices bring to bear on the work being done by librarians and educators in Second Life. In text-based MOO spaces, object archives function as museum spaces, shops for finding useful objects to use in one's own builds, and as a structure that reinforces and supports a functioning gift economy. In worlds without built-in money economies, archiving and "generics" organization allows new users to see what has been built before, to take advantage of that older work by taking their own copy of these generic objects to build upon, and provides a form of feedback and recognition for those who build the best objects across the entire MOO community world-wide. With a long tradition of including the builder's name as part of the object, a successful builder can build a reputation across many different virtual worlds as others request archived copies of their objects. This gift economy encourages builders and programmers to donate their work for use by others as well as to create more and better generic objects for general use. Their active participation in the gift economy thereby assists in the creation of richer online spaces for all. Could this model work in Second Life, in spite of its existing money economy?

This presentation would consist of audio content detailing the structure of these digital archives and their use, as well as detail about the gift economy and how it encouraged more and better objects to share with the community, and would include discussion with participants about its pros and cons and feasibility for use in Second Life.


8:00 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time)

"Education on the Teen Grid: The View from Eye4You Alliance Island" Presented by Kelly Czarnecki (Bluewings Hayek in SL), Anthony Curtis (Stone Semyorka in SL), and Beth Kraemer (Alice Burgess in SL)

So what's it like to be an educator on the teen grid? Eye4You Alliance Island has been a source of education, creativity and fun on the teen grid since 2006. Librarians, professors, authors, technology specialists, subject matter specialists, and teens from around the world are involved in projects ranging from classes about SL and RL skills; recurring events like book discussions, space talks and island management meetings; special events like the recent literary festival, last year's college fair and craft fair; and a host of other activities. The presenters will provide an overview of what it's like to be an adult educator on the teen grid, describing the challenges and opportunities, and will discuss recent activities and plans that are underway. We'll compare the experience with education on the main grid and discuss our view of the future of education for teens in Second Life. The presentation may also incorporate comments from the teen residents themselves.


"VW Libraries and Education: The Purpose and the Potential" Presented by Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg in SL)

Virtual worlds seem to be exploding into existence online. For everyone from toddlers to senior citizens, a virtual world beckons. Valibrarian Gregg, a Second Life librarian (and real life school librarian) shares her journey learning in a virtual world to help understand the purpose and potential for librarians and educators. Read some of the latest Virtual World news at iVinnie.com.


"Providing Library Services in Second Life" Presented by Margaret Ostrander and Anne Mostad-Jensen

Margaret Ostrander will share her research in progress exploring information seeking behavior in Second Life. All research is taking place in-world, combining structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork. Research questions include: What are the information needs of everyday Second Life residents? What kinds of information are people in SL utilizing, and how do they go about finding it? This research explicitly studies SL residents in non-library contexts. A more robust understanding of such "native" information seeking behavior can help inform SL library services. This research is under the supervision of Dr. Michael Stephens of Dominican University (Illinois, U.S.A.). Read more about Margaret's research at Librarian Dreamer.

Anne Mostad-Jensen will present her research in progress focused on the new user's experience in Second Life. Research questions include: How do new users approach and use virtual worlds? What are the information needs of new users and what are their information seeking behaviors? Research subjects will be observed while utilizing the Second Life interface for the first time, accompanied by pre- and post-interviews. This research will inform how libraries in Second Life can help meet the needs of new users. This research is under the supervision of MLIS faculty member Dr. Joyce Yukawa of the College of St. Catherine (Minnesota, U.S.A.).

Both Anne and Margaret will share their findings to date, along with learnings about the methodologies and research instruments they have adopted.

CREDITS:
This machinima was filmed on location with the help of avatars in the teen grid and main adult grid of Second Life: Info International (Alliance Library System), Talis Cybrary City, and Eye4YouAlliance Island, funded by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC).

www.infoisland.org
www.tallis.com
www.plcmc.org/teens/secondlife.asp

Machinima: Bernadette Daly Swanson / HVX Silverstar in Second Life
www.youtube.com/hvxsilverstar
libraryfamous.blip.tv
Yea, to the very beautiful Second Life!

Music: Benediction © Lynne Publishing - Revostock

Note: for MUCH better viewing on YouTube:
Click on the 2nd button on lower right side of viewer to view uploaded resolution (better!) or view the larger version on libraryfamous.blip.tv

Virtual Worlds Conference: March 8, 2008 in SL

Register for the conference: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem/virtualworlds
The cost of the conference is $30US paid in Linden dollars in SL.
What's your guess on a Linden... paper or coin? I imagine it looks much like a Canadian Loonie, quite a weight to be carting around in SL.
View the bigger Blip.tv version of this video http://blip.tv/file/662679 or the embedded version below. I have also embedded in the "dodgy" YouTube version in the earlier post.

Click to play

Machinima was filmed in wireframe on location in TALIS and Eye4YouAlliance (Teen SL)

The Cost of Being "YouTubed"

So, what does it cost to put your video or machinima on YouTube?
I'd say, it's a tax on ego and resolution. Getting it under 100 MB and giving over to YouTube's flash version of your movie. I like to encourage people to use the button on the lower right of the YouTube window (second one in), to view the original 320x240 version of the video. If only we could set this as the default view.
So here's my latest upload:
Step #1: uploaded a great looking 28 MB Quicktime (h.264, almost best quality, fast start)
Step #2: quickly removed the file from YouTube in case anyone saw it...
Step #3: So I went back to FCP and the quicktime conversion and I converted the file (320x240, h.264, best, fast start).
Step #4: Uploaded to YouTube - no improvement.
Step #5: I remembered the Flash Video Encoder... it took a while but I was able to convert to FLV format. I was hoping it would do a better job than the original quicktime that YouTube converted to Flash. It did. I have since deleted the earlier version as YouTube does not allow you to have multiple files on their servers.
(320x240 - Flash 8 700 kbps, h.264, 28 MB) - now on YouTube
(640x480 Flash 8, 700 kbps, 7.2 MB 640x480) - now on Blip.tv http://blip.tv/file/662679
The fade/dissolve transition between the first and second title images looks bad.. but a great improvement to the earlier video I had uploaded.

View this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe8x8a3_Cdg

A good feature to request on YouTube would be to have the original resolution of the video shown as the default, instead of the YouTubed one (converted in a hurry by YouTube without any attention to detail).
So, what can Blip.tv do? How about offering the statistics on the free accounts rather than on the pro accounts and turn them on for viewers. That would really be worth the $8.00.

Machinima Clips from Eye4YouAlliance Island, Teen Grid in 2007

School Library Journal article by Tabitha and Kelly:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6526714.html?industryid=47087

Eye4You test (testing live & on demand video)

Books on Machinima?

Slide30, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

There aren't many books out there on machinima, but the ones that are available are written by the experts/machinima pioneers. All of the books listed (with publications dates from 2004-2008) are still highly relevant for new media, arts, gaming and film collections, whether for a personal library or institution(schools, public and academic libraries.
3D Game-based Filmmaking: The Art of Machinima (Paul Marino - Thinking Machinima blog is a few years old, but still highly relevant and useful for anyone with an interest in machinima or working toward gaining skills as a machinimatographer. Marino, Director of the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, defines machinima; he walks the reader through its early development and popularity as well as getting down to the details and dedicating part of the book to a step by step machinma tutorial; Machinima (Kelland, Morris & Lloyd) is clearly a piece of art with colourful visuals, history, machinima pioneers and current award winning machinimatographers in the industry; Machinima for Dummies (Hugh Hancock & Johnny Ingram) is a "must-have" for all machinima enthusiasts and written by the pros. Hugh Hancock and Anthony Bailey coined the term machinima. Hugh and Johnny, who are both in SL, are blogging the book... if you buy only one book. It's this one. If you are a librarian and you are reading this, buy a few more.
The second edition of the Second Life: The Official Guide has a great chapter dedicated to machinima written by BuhBuhCuh/former Ben Linden. Another book that will be out at the end of January, comes from Holly Cefrey, Career Building through Machinima: using video games to make movies.
Also:
Real-Time Cinematography for Games (Game Development Series)
Brian Hawkins.

ISTE Machinima Workshop: Jan. 27, 2008

SnapshotISTE 004, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

Chatlog: Jan. 27 chatlog for ISTE Machinima session.
We had about 18-20 avatars show up for the workshop; the weather was great so we moved the sofas outside and had a lot of room for the "hands on" activities. With the group up on their feet, it gave us a chance to try out use the shortcut keys for SL camera controls to follow, pan and orbit nearby prims and avatars. With chat windows closed (edit | preferences | text chat tab | close chat after hitting return ) we were able to use the keyboard shortcuts (E, C, M) for jumping up and down and moving in and out of mouselook.
We spent some time talking about the options on the client menu (previously called the 'debug' menu) and made some selections to increase the use of our camera (by disabling the camera constraints. This menu is opened using the ctrl-alt-d keys (toggling on and off).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/2224052152/in/set-72157603800920350/
With the menu open (active) we were able to make use of the 'show' and 'hide' UI feature, allowing us to get rid of the user interface.
We were up in the air shaking it out and using the keyboard shortcut to get rid of the SL user interface (UI) and move in and out of mouselook at the same time. Some, like yours truly, took advantage of the moment and flew up into the clouds with the added boost from the Armord Steamboots, a great find at $L300.

View the instructional slides on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603800920350/
************************************

ISTE Machinima Workshop: an introduction with HVX Silverstar

When: Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM PDT (SL Time)
Where: Eduisland 3, 60, 30, 22 - Machinima Institute & Cafe
Software: No software required, just the SL viewer so you can see what is going on. See the Machinima wiki for software options for screen capture, editing, etc.: https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Machinima
The SL built-in movie capture, FRAPS and SnapzProX , iShowU will be discussed during the session.

Part I:
- Why shoot machinima in Second Life?
- Getting Ready: Preferences & Debug (Client) Menu
- Keyboard Shortcuts for Machinima
- What about the User Interface (UI)?
- Camera Controls: using keyboard combinations to focus, alt-zoom, pan and orbit your camera

Part II:
- Testing your built-in movie capture (PCs only)
- Third-party software for storyboarding, capturing video, file compression and editing.
- Online editing & Sharing (Eyespot, Jumpcut, YouTube's TestTube)
- Streaming your machinima into Second Life
- Creating a group movie project

Background Viewing & Reading:

A few books from the Pros:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/2222195417/in/set-72157603800920350/

Machinima Wiki:
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Machinima
____________________________________

Hands-on Session: Slides from Jan. 12, 2008:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603698634505/

Introduction to Machinima: Slides from Jan. 12, 2008:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603693424324/

FRAPS Introduction from Teen Second Life Machinima Weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603628441781/
http://www.slideshare.net/hvxsilverstar
____________________________________

Machinima Class: Jan. 12, 2008

Machinima Class: Jan. 12, 2008, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

View the updated slides (An Introduction to Machinima) and the set of 6 used for the "hands-on" session:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603693424324/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603698634505/
Classes held on the second Saturday of the month from 10-11:30 AM PDT on Eduisland 3 (60, 30, 22) at the Machinima Institute & Cafe.

FRAPS and Second Life

A series of updated slides from the Eye4YouAlliance Island Machinima Weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibraries/sets/72157603628441781/
Download the free version or paid version of FRAPS to capture video on a PC in Second Life.
A free version of FRAPS (version 2.9.3, no audio, only 30 second capture at at time with the FRAPS watermark at top of capture): http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3934.html
Full version of FRAPS (audio, no watermark, and no capture limit) US$37.00 - well worth it!: http://www.fraps.com
Use SnapsProX for capturing video on a mac: US$69.00 http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

Second Life: Education in a Virtual World (on slideshare.net)

Mica Braun (a.k.a. Danielle Kane) and I (HVX Silverstar, a.k.a. Bernadette Daly Swanson) took a look at what libraries and academics are doing in Second Life. Many of the examples are drawn from projects at University of California or from our volunteer work with the Alliance Library System, founder of the Second Life Library & InfoIsland/Info International Island.

Slidecast from the LAUCB Conference, Academic Library 2.0
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/academiclibrary20/speakers.html
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/academiclibrary20/schedule.html

The powerpoint slides and machinima can be downloaded from the LAUCB site or viewed with the audio of the 1.5 hour presentation/workshop from Slideshare.net, current "Slideshow of the day" -
the permanent link allows for downloads:
http://www.slideshare.net/HVX.Mica/second-life-education-in-a-virtual-world-slidecast/
The original slides (some not included in the slidecast) are available in two parts from the location.

Introduction to Machinima: Filmmaking in Second Life

In early December, two sections of the UIUC/Alliance Library System's Virtual Worlds Librarianship continuing education course met for the Introduction to
at the new location for the Machinima Institute in Second life. A new offering of courses to be taught in Second Life as well as using Moodle (distance education content management system) will be announced shortly on the UIUC site.



The Machinima Institute was recently relocated from ALA Arts InfoIsland, where it was located since Feb. 2007, to its new location on Eduisland 3.
If Second Life is already installed on your computer, use the SLURL to get to the new location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eduisland%203/60/30/22/?title=Machinima%20Institute

I will be teaching the spring sessions for UIUC and will be taking two sessions (4 hours) to introduce machinima and its application to libraries which will include hands-on activities and a group movie assignment.

New Method for Streaming Machinima using SilverStream Servers in SL:

I am currently using a server and screen system for playing video (on playlists) at the Machinima Institute. It costs $600L and is available from AWM Mars who represents Silverstream Network and is affiliated with WBA Advertising on the Innocence sim in Second Life. They are based in the UK. It’s excellent (meaning "no fuss" and easy to set, reset or add new videos to the playlist). The video is triggered when avatars approach the vicinity of the servers placed around the building. The URL for your quickime video file will not show to anyone viewing the video in sl.
I am currently using a server and screen system from for playing video (on playlists) at the Machinima Institute. It costs $600L and is available from AWM Mars who represents Silverstream Network and is affiliated with WBA Advertising on the Innocence sim in Second Life. They are based in the UK. It’s excellent. The url for your quickime video file will not show to anyone viewing the video in sl.
The server is located on the floor to the left of the screen (black and white box) and the video is streamed to the proprietary screens without using the media tab in the ‘about land’
Other great services include MerlinRocket.fr and Veodia for live video streams.

Force Sun to Midnight: Daruma Picnic's Art to blow your mind...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDw-AxosPRk

Force Sun to Midnight: Daruma Picnic.

Daruma Picnic's interactive sound and movement exhibit high above the Library Islands in the very beautiful Second Life.
From Infotainment Island....look up, jump up!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Infotainment%20Island/132/127/31

Give one, get one: one laptop per child from laptopgiving.org

slide_laptop, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

one laptop per child from laptopgiving.org

Chat Log from Introduction to Machinima Session, Nov. 10th

sleeds org chatlog from machinima class, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

View the chat log:I have used the very cool sleeds.org/chatlog tool to pretty up the text chatlog.
http://sleeds.org/chatlog/?c=174
Note: please disregard the links in the body of the chat as they do not appear to work in the log.. all relevant URLs have been listed at the top. Thanks.
Answers to some of the questions that I missed:
Flash videos from YouTube or other sites will not play in SL. You will need to convert your videos to a quicktime movie optimized for streaming to play in SL. See the slides for more details on that. The URLs for sites and slides discussed are available from the chat log. Alt-enter causing a black screen and change in screen resolution? - I will have to look into this...

Second Life Link and Facebook

SnapshotSLLinkFacebook1_002, originally uploaded by HVX Silverstar.

As of yesterday there were 116 users on Facebook with the Second Life Link application installed. The installation is simple and just requires entering your Second Life profile name (exactly as it appears in your SL login) and entering your home region and coordinates to your home location. You will be prompted to login to SL and click on the Facebook/SL Link post as shown in the image. This will register you in the Second Life Link database. Now, you can click on the SL Link icon in the applications section of your Facebook page and jump into SL.. well, via the SL login screen. Mine is set to the Machinima Institute on ALA Arts InfoIsland in the Info Archipelago.

Machinima Intro for Academic Library 2.0 Conference: UC Berkeley

Mica's and my brief intro (1.5 mins) before our break-out session at the LAUCB (Library Association of University of California Berkeley) Academic Library 2.0 conference, Nov. 2, 2007, Berkeley, CA. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/academiclibrary20/

Click To Play

Slides available (Part 1, Part 2): http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/LAUC/academiclibrary20/schedule.html

UCLA beats Cal: Alterraun Verner interception...

UCLA beats Cal: Alterraun Verner intercepts ball with 1:33 seconds remaining, Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, California.

Click To Play

IFLA in Durban, South Africa

Summary handout of the paper I presented at World Library and Information Congress: 73rd IFLA General Conference, Aug. 19-24, Durban, South Africa.
www.ifla.org/IV/ifla73/papers/133-DalySwanson-en.pdf

Machinima & Libraries

Summary handout of the paper I presented at IFLA, Aug. 19-24, Durban, South Africa.

Stop typing!

Yes, you too can shed yourself of the L-pose and stroll around chatting with your arms at your sides. Take a look at Torley's instructions for stopping the typing animation while chatting...Torley's page

AVI files in Vista won't play

So, when I try opening any uncompressed AVI files captured on Vista... it looks like they're one frame long.. just a picture.. what the heck... other times I get the dreaded error message
This is from back in February...
A post from VirtualDub confirms the bug: "I ran test the test application and can confirm that this bug occurs in Windows Vista RTM. Essentially, every program that uses the Microsoft AVIFile APIs (avifil32.dll) to generate AVI files will produce them with a malformed RIFF structure!" http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=145

Most Viewed YouTube Video Searching on the keyword Machinima

With 4,253,041 views, Male Restroom Etiquette ranks first in YouTube when searching on the keyword machinima. The machinima was created by zcOverman and filmed in Sims2 and Sim City 4 with the use of other tools. The high Quality DIVX version is available at: High Quality DIVX Version available at:

http://z-studios.com/films/mre/. The machinima was uploaded a year ago to the Comedy category and contains the following keywords in the YouTube record: machinima, overman, sims, restroom, etiquette, rules, men, toilet, bathroom, humor, larry craig.

alibrarians, comedy, DIVX, hosting machinima, keyword, male