Building the Virtual LibraryBuilding the Virtual Library

Academic Environments & Virtual Academic Environments & Virtual Worlds.Worlds.

March 14, 2008 March 14, 2008

Kean UniversityKean University

• 13,050 full-time Graduate and Undergraduate Students.• 376 full-time faculty.• 5 Colleges; 50 undergraduate and 31 graduate degree programs.• 18 division III varsity teams and 30 fraternities and sororities.• Average 30 minute commute to NYC.

(Kean University, retrieved 2/19/08)

Old School.Old School.

(Kean University Archives, 1959)

New SchoolNew School

(Kean Students, 2007)

Digital NativesDigital Natives

• Today’s students are not only computer-savvy, they are “Digital Natives”. They have grown up in an online world.

(Prensky, 2001)

The Digital Natives are restlessThe Digital Natives are restless

Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants.Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants.

(Jukes & Dosaj, 2003)

• Video gaming is not just for kids anymore. The average gamer is 25 – 30 years old.

• Typical gamers spend up to 22 hours per week online, in video game environments such as World of Warcraft or City of Heroes.

(Yee, 2006)

Gamers today, CEOs tomorrow.Gamers today, CEOs tomorrow.

• “leaders develop and operate in environments that are highly distributed, global, hypercompetitive, and virtual – not unlike today’s business world”

-- Eric Lessner,

IBM Institute for Business Values(Career World, Jan 2008)

Snow Crash & Second LifeSnow Crash & Second Life

• In 1992, science fiction author Neal Stephenson wrote a novel about a future society who lived much of their lives in a type of virtual online world.

• The novel was called “Snow Crash”, and the virtual world was called “The Metaverse”.

• The citizens of the Metaverse lived their lives as “Avatars”, which were virtual representations of actual humans.

““I can’t even manage my I can’t even manage my firstfirst life!” life!”

• Second Life launched in 2003. It was created by a company called Linden Labs in San Francisco.

• Linden Labs intended for the world of Second Life to be designed and built by its residents.

• Some users of Second Life purchase land and set up virtual businesses, which can earn real-world cash.

• At this time, the US Dollar is equal to approximately 270 “Linden Dollars”.

Educational Institutions in Second LifeEducational Institutions in Second Life A Ilha Vestibular BrasilAachen, RWTH University, GermanyAarhus Business CollegeÃbo Akademi UniversityAnglia Ruskin UniversityArcada University of Applied Sciences The Art Institute of California-San Diego The Art Institute of PittsburghAudiocourses Music Production School Australian Film TV and Radio School Ball State University The Bay School of San Francisco Beach College Bentley College - Department of Natural and Applied Sciences Boise State University, Dept. of EdTechBournemouth University, The School of Health & Social Care (HSC) Bowling Green State UniversityBradley University Bridges for Women Society Bromley College of Further and Higher Education

Buena Vista University Buffalo State College California State University – PomonaCentral Piedmont Community College - Futures Institute Chapman University Clemson University Clemson University Graduate School Cochise College College of DuPage College of Humanities and Social Sciences atMontclair State University College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption UniversityColumbia College Chicago Columbia University

Derby UniversityDevry University Duke University Drexel UniversityDyersburg State Community College East Carolina University East Tennessee State University Edinburgh University Elon University Empire State CollegeSUNY TELECOM Bretagne  ESC Toulouse Europeen School of Visual Art Fachhochschule des Mittelstands BielefeldFachhochschule Pforzheim Finger Lakes Community College Fontys University of Applied SciencesFullerton College Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture University of Houston Glendale Community CollegeGraz, Austria, Technical University, Institut fuer WohnbauGreat Northern Way Campus goFluent, Global solutions for learning english Anytime Anywhere :Griffith University Harvard University Heinrich-Heine-Universitadt Helicon Opleidingen Heriot-Watt University Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityHuddersfield University Idaho State University Illinois State University Indiana University Insead Iowa State University Ithaca College Johnson & Wales University Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Kean University

Labette Community CollegeLancaster University Lawrence University Lazarski School of Commerce and Law. Warsaw, PolandLeeds College of Art and Design Leeds Metropolitan University Lehigh Carbon Community College University of Leicester Link Campus UniversityLoyalist College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mayville State University Minneapolis College of Art and DesignMinnesota State Colleges and Universities:Mohawk College Monroe Community College

Montclair State College NC State UniversityNew York City College of Technology ("City Tech"), CUNY Brooklyn, NYNew York University, New York City Nova Scotia Community College Northern Illinois UniversityOhio State UniversityOhio University:Penn State UniversityPenn State University – BerksPrinceton University Rice University

San Diego State University

San Jose State University Sungshin University – KoreaSt. John's University

Tacoma Community CollegeUnisinos:Universita degli studi di Cagliari Universität BielefeldUniversität Duisburg-Essen Universität FrankfurtUniversity of Hamburg

Universität KonstanzUniversity of Derby University of EdinburghUniversity of Kansas Medical CenterUniversity of Louisville University of Notre Dame University of PlymouthUniversity of Portsmouth University of SaskatchewanUniversity of Southern California: Institute for Multimedia LiteracyUniversity of Warwick: Coventry, UK Rheinische Fachhochschule University of Applied Sience CologneTexas A&M University Graduate StudentsTufts UniversityUniversidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City

If you build it, they will come.If you build it, they will come.

• Librarians came to Second Life in 2006.• The Alliance Library Group created the Info Island reference area,

which is currently staffed by 64 volunteer librarians. • Includes several themed islands which comprise the “Info

Archipelago”, including such places as “Renaissance Island”, “Cybrary City”, “EduIsland’, and the newly-created “Land of Lincoln”.

(Dejavu, personal communication, 2/15/08)

Building a better libraryBuilding a better library

• Second life residents have access to a variety of design tools which allow users to build three-dimensional objects ex nihilo.

• These objects can be resized, reshaped, and “painted” with images that are uploaded directly into Second Life.

• The residents of Second Life can then sell these objects for Linden dollars, or use them to decorate their own virtual homes and/or workplaces.

and now…and now…

• A brief tour of the virtual Nancy Thompson Library …

Our Feature PresentationOur Feature Presentation

ReferencesReferences• “Gamers Today, CEOs Tomorrow” (Jan. 2006) Career World. 36(4), p7-7, 2/3p • Hillis, Scott. (10/10/07) “IBM, Linden Lab seek open borders for virtual worlds”.

Reuters Newswire. Retrieved 2/20/07 from: http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/10/10/ibm-linden-lab-seek-open-borders-for-virtual-worlds.

• Jukes, Ian, & Dosaj, Anita. (Feb., 2003) The Infosaavy Group. Retrieved 3/10/08 from: http://www.apple.com/au/education/digitalkids/disconnect/landscape.html

• Kean University (retrieved 2/19/08) from: www.kean.edu• Lee, James. (7/5/2005) “From sweatshops to stateside corporations, some people are

profiting off of MMO gold”. Computer Gaming World. Retrieved 2/18/07 from:http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141815

• Prensky, Marc, (Oct., 2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. 9(5). Pg 1-6

• Second Life. (Retrieved 2/15/08) from: www.secondlife.com.• Stephenson, Neal. (1992) Snow Crash. Bantam Books. New York.• World of Warcraft. (Retrieved 2/8/08) from: www.worldofwarcraft.com• Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of

Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329.