Second Life Library opens

I managed to log-in this morning and caught about 10mins of the SL Library opening event. Lorelei was speaking (i.e typed out and those in SL were reading as she typed it). This was what I caught before I had to log-off and leave home for work:

"Why are we involved? Previous speakers have addressed this. It is the way of the future. We need to be there. Most of our librarians are not gamers. Students can sit do wn and do this with no problem whatsoever. A bit harder of us who have not done gaming. I did not want us to be a year down the road.

We have a bit more difficulty doing some things, struggling to figure out what we can do and how we can do it... there are so many possibilities. There is a profesor who teaches a Japanese religion course... He could teach in an authentic Shinto temple... What better way for librarians to be there and to help them.

These are the kind of synergies we can see happening. We also want to be able to help develop some of this."

My first experience attending a talk in the Second Life environment. What's interesting was how we tend to carry over some habits and customs from Real Life (RL) into Second Life (SL). For instance, I was careful not to bump into the participants already there, or stand up and block the view of the avatar behind me (but my mastery over the avatar controls are still weak so I might have bumped or blocked some 'people').

I suspect from the presenter's point of view, when you are delivering a speech remotely, it helps when you can see -- by the number of avatars present -- how many people are logged in and listening to you.

Oh, I bumped into Kevin there as well. Chatted briefly by using the IM mode so that our conversation wouldn't be picked up by others in the proximity (i.e. disturb their "reading" of the talk).

I am beginning to see glimpses of the possibilities that Lorelei mentioned. A few days ago, there was a discussion held at Info Island, where Henry VIII (yeah, that English king) or rather, an Avatar representing Henry VIII talked, about his life and how biographers have villified him. I didn't attend that session but I'm sure it would have been a lot more interesting to see a simulation of Henry VIII and listen to the presentation, than to hear it from a lecturer talk about the king.

At this point, SL certainly will not be able to replace RL presentations. That being said, it is one heck of a tool to enhance learning experiences. I'm not surprised then, that the Singapore Ministry of Education mentioned this when they announced that they will co-develop high tech schools:

THE Ministry of Education (MOE) will be working with an international research team to develop 15 "Schools of the Future" by 2015.

This list will consist of existing schools that have used teaching approaches involving Interactive Digital Media to develop an innovative learning environment.

In the School of the Future, science experiments may be conducted through online simulations, while students may learn about the laws physics by racing virtual cars and interacting with their classmates and teachers through immersive virtual environments, such as those found in popular computer game Second Life.

Source: Thursday October 12, 2006. FUTURE SMART: MOE TO CO-DEVELOP HIGH-TECH SCHOOLS. International team to help produce visionary institutions by 2015. Channel NewsAsia (see also TodayOnline.com)

Technorati Tags: second life, second life library

Grand opening: Second Life Library, October 12-14, 2006 (SL Time)

I learnt one thing about Second Life (SL) today, and that is how to tell the day and time -- Second Life Time, or SLT:

SLT stands for Second Life Time, which the inworld clock displays near the top-right corner of the screen. Second Life Time is the same as Pacific Time (PDT or PST depending), because San Francisco is where the main offices of Linden Lab, makers of Second Life, are situated. Time zones can be confusing, so here's a great page called The World Clock to help you figure out how to convert between them.

If you are logged into Second Life, look at the top-right of your SL window -- there should be a time display. If it says "8.55am PDT", it means it's 8.55am, Pacific Date Daylight Time (see this comment - thanks, Walt).

You would need to know this you are making appointments with people (from other time zones) in SL. Or if you are interested in attending the grand opening of the Second Life Library:

The Alliance Library System and the Second Life Library/Info Island collaborative group of librarians are pleased to announce the grand opening and a host of activities planned for Second Life residents scheduled October 12-14, 2006. All events will be held in Second Life and are free to residents.

For further details of events on specific dates/ times, click here (it's Friday, 13th Oct 7am, Singapore time).

I've wandered around Info Island thrice so far. Twice I was alone (not many people from this part of the world logging in, or maybe they aren't aware of SL Library) -- until tonight, where I "met" another Singaporean. As in Real Life, I asked for his permission to post his picture (of his Avatar) here:

Folks, meet Alvin from Singapore. He's also started a SL Singapore Group. To join, just login to SL, click on your Search button and type "SL Singapore", click on the "Join" button. Alvin says there's only he and I in the group so far. It's funny, but just like travelling to a foreign country, when you meet a fellow Singaporean, you lapse into Singlish (via IM) and tend to band together, heh.

Incidentally, Alvin asked if I knew "Kevin, a Singaporean blogger". I confirmed that it was this Kevin (fwah, I wonder if people ask of me in SL like that too, Kevin, LOL!)

Yesterday I emailed Lorelei (Lori), one of the collaborators on SL Library. I offered to blog about the SL opening (which I'm doing) and also asked if SL Library could offer things like music licensed under Creative Commons. We could start a music collection where SLifers either listen or download from SL Library, visit the actual webpage.

And I wondered out loud how many SL librarians create their own works -- writings, music, movies etc. Those could easiy find their way into SL libraries maybe under a particular section. In Real Life, I don't know of any library in the world where they have a section devote to works produced by librarians, so what's to stop us SL Librarians? : )

Lori replied that they are working on a catalog and adds: "librarians are learning to make things. We are also hoping to highlight works of SL authors and artists."

She asked if I'd like to work on the CC music collection idea. I'll reply to her yes (right after this post). My spirit is definitely willing but my knowledge (of SL Library) is weak, so I'll need to take guidance from her and other SL Library colleagues. Any RL Singapore Liblogarians or Bloggers want to join me in this? :)

SL Library is still being "renovated". I took a shot of this building (World Bridges HQ) that's under construction. That same plot of land was empty 2 days ago. Things move fast in SL:

BTW, the sign in blue, near the bottom-right, says: "No Weapons. No exceptions on Info Island. Use of them and you will be banned for a time."

I spent the last few minutes flying around Info Island (yes, you can fly in SL). It was 9am over there. It looked as if the sun was rising beyond the horizon. Even though I know it's not real, it still had that Real Life quality to it.


Technorati Tags: second life, second life library

Podcast: Ray Of Light (2006)

Started this at midnight and completed it on Sunday morning, 6am. I hope you like it (4min 16secs; Rock Genre):

powered by ODEO

Details of how it was done, over at MyRightBrain. All "live" guitar tracks played with my Epiphone Les Paul Standard.


RamblingLibrarian's Podcasts:


Technorati Tags: garageband, mac, apple, electric guitar, epiphone, les paul

Discovering Second Life Library 2.0.

One nice thing about blogging is that your post gets found/ people find you, and that leads to other things... like this comment the other day, at my Introduction to Second Life post:

We already have a Second Life Library and Info island with lots going on and we are growing. Please come join us. You can spend as little or as much time as you want. IM Abbey Zenith or Lorelei Junot to get involved.

A few hours ago, I logged into Second Life and searched for "Abbey Zenith" and "Lorelei Junot". Sent them an Instant Message to say hi, and asked how i could get to the library. I received the address and teleported myself to Info Island, where I found myself "talking" to Lorelei for a while.

Told her I'd found my way there because of the comment in my blog (she confirmed that she was the one who left the comment). Lorelei seemed really busy. In Second Life (SL), she was talking to someone (about a construction project on Info Island) and in real life, she had to log off to attend a meeting in five minutes. We didn't have time to chat much but I would be contacting her soon to meet her in Second Life for the tour (would be though because of the 12-hour time difference). Incidentally, during our chat, I caught a cross-chat and realised there was another user from Singapore on Info Island. Unfortunately I didn't manage to spot that person.

Next, I found myself inside a building, which turned out to be a library. It was obviously a library as there was an information desk which said something like, "Please ask a question or email a librarian". There was someone behind the counter so I walked up to that person (whose name was 'StoryAbout Ping') and asked some questions, just like in real life. Turned out 'StoryAbout Ping' (or Story, for short) was a librarian in real life, who happened to be on voluntary duty in Second Life, manning the desk and serving customers like myself.

Then a few more library customers showed up, and I stood aside absorbing the scene and conversation (my avatar is the one in the black/ red suit). In the following image, you can see Story greeting them by messaging, "Welcome to the library" (bottom left of the image).


Once Story was done, I asked a few more questions. Story tried to explain how I could 'read' a book but it wasn't so intuitive so I said maybe some other time. I spent a few more minutes chatting with Story. I asked how Story ended up volunteering as a reference librarian in Second Life Library (Story read about it from blogs and decided to come and volunteer), and whether there was a roster to follow (there is!) and would anyone get into trouble if they didn't show up (not exactly, but your credibility is reduced).

Story had to get back to duty so I continued exploring the library for a little while more. Here's a screenshot of a sample of the their reference collection (clicking on some of them brought you to a URL):


I'll be exploring more of Second Life Library 2.0. and I'm keen to see how I can "volunteer" my services. In one Note I found, it says:

Thank you so much for stopping by. Feel free to look around and don't hesitate to ask any questions.

We're just getting started here, but we anticipate offering reference services, educational programs, a collection of RL and SL-created materials, meeting room spaces and a variety of other services in the near future.

We invite your suggestions. Please IM Lorelei Junot with your ideas.

For more information, visit our RL blog at http://secondlifelibrary.blogspot.com

I will certainly go back and explore. In fact, this little trip to Second Life library reinforced how new library customers might percieve a library for the first time, if my experience is anything to go by.

You roughly know what the library is for, but you're not quite sure where things are located, and access to materials might be an issue if you're not familiar with how they are offered. And the most important learning point was that the library staff made all the difference -- their friendliness and willingness to help -- those were key in ensuring my return to the library to find out more.

BTW, thanks to Kevin for these links:

• SLurl to Second Life Library 2.0
• Second Life Library 2.0 (Tech Soup Event)

Technorati Tag: second life

The "youtube" of Powerpoint: Slideshare.net (or, "The Impact of the 'Why Not' culture"

Learnt about Slideshare from Ross Mayfield, who called it "the YouTube of Powerpoint" (a most apt analogy). Registration is currently by invitation only.

My initial thoughts about Slideshare:

1. Slideshare would be a great tool for giving a renewed life to those non-confidential powerpoint slides I've done in my lifetime;
2. You don't need to have Microsoft Office to run the slides (great for situations where you have Internet connectivity and the right browser plug-ins, but you don't have the right client software to run the slides);
3. There still isn't any adequate explanation (to certain people) why there are those who upload and share their stuff on services like Youtube and Flickr.

Point 3 also reminds me of the question that some have asked me, "Why do people blog/ share stuff online?"

Often implied in that question is, "Why do they do it, when there's no apparent returns?"

I think the answers are that:

• There are those who will first ask "Why should I do this", and those who ask, "Why not?" -- it's the latter who simply take on to social software platforms;
  
• It's not so much about "Why" but simply "Because I Can".

I guess there are two train of thoughts here:

1. That maybe society will comprise more and more of those who will act on the basis of "Why Not?" and a "Because I Can" attitudes. My sense is that it's not so much reckless behaviour but about an intuitive sense of what's "safe" and what's not, and a willingness to just try things out. Maybe I can call this the "Why Not?" culture;
2. That the act of sharing for the sharing's sake might become the norm (i.e. those who don't might be seen as the mavericks instead)

If (1) is true (i.e. where more people adopt the "Why Not?" attitude towards life in general), I wonder how that will that shape society, economies and nations. How will that shape the provision of public goods like public libraries? That libraries have to provide spaces for experimentation? That to remain relevant, libraries and librarians have to adopt that "Why Not?" attitude in designing and offering services -- less of the "I'm not sure what this means for Loans and Visitorship" thinking and more of the "I'm offering this service Because I Can" thinking.

For (2), at first I thought maybe libraries have to be the Youtube-equivalent, where people can upload/ share/ show-off/ showcase their "content". But that idea struck out 'cos services like Youtube and Slideshare can probably do it better than libraries can. Or how about libraries sticking to what is likely to be our core collection -- print -- and offer something like Printshare (book-sharing, or original content).

You know, I'm not entirely sure what I'm alluding to (yeah, not only do I ramble, I'm incoherent). Maybe I'll re-discover this post a few years later, and then it'll make sense then. :)


Technorati Tag: slideshare

High Browse Online's first podcast: Sam - A mother's journey of faith

This is significant for three reasons, in my opinion:
1) It's NLB first foray into podcasting (not quite a podcast yet, 'cos it doesn't have its dedicated RSS feed, but it's a first step);
2) It's a book written by the Chairman of NLB, Ms. Lim Soo Hoon;
3) Her poignant reading of an excerpt.

My colleague made an audio recording of Ms. Lim reading an excerpt from her book. Listen to the audio here. Here's the interview.

NLB doesn't have the equipment for editing, so I used my Mac to do some minor editing and added a background piano track (using GarageBand factory loops).

Ms. Lim Soo Hoon is the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Public Service Division but that's just incidental, if you ask me. What's significant is her book -- which is an account of her experience as a mother, as she accompanied her 14 year-old son throughout his battle with Hodgkin’s disease.

When I first heard the raw audio, I could hear the emotion in her voice. I thought to myself, this wasn't NLB's Chairman or the Perm Sec of PSD. This was a mother's voice, pure and simple.


Technorati Tags (read what other blogs are saying): cancer survivor, faith, library podcast

Rock 'N' Read at Library@Orchard

It's pretty neat to have rock bands perform in libraries. But bands with rockers babes who read -- Rock On! (via High Browse Online)

Technorati Tag: rock band

Thoughts on Singapore Members of Parliament (MPs) blogging

Well, not all of them are. The "Post-Sixty-Fivers" (p65) Members of Parliament (www.p65.sg), to be exact.

The launch of the blog follows news like MPs performing Hip Hop dance moves. Which made me curious how the Singapore blogosphere would react.

While waiting for the Technorati page to load for my search for "p65 MPs", I half expected the results to show the Singapore blogosphere erupt in a frenzy of bash-the-politicians/ government tirade. I mean, Hip-hopping MPs? That's just asking for it, isn't it?

Surprisingly, the results were pretty tame. I've found only four references to the p65 blog: this blogger feels it's "an interesting experiment"; this one didn't comment much but the title (probably pun-intended) hinted at some skepticism; this was a comparatively muted post by Singabloodypore (when compared to previous posts on the Singapore political scene).

I thought maybe those were the early posts and the cynical ones have yet to come. However, I began to question myself, particularly the assumptions I seem to have made. Without saying as much, my initial reaction was, "Aren't they (the p65 MPs) trying a little too hard?". I'd expected others to be skeptical. Turned out I was the one with preconceived notions of how others would react, based on my unconscious gut reaction.

I've softened my stand now. In fact, I should say I was wrong in my initial view.

Let them (the p65 MPs) try. It's really their perogative to try. Is there such thing as trying too hard? Even if they are "trying too hard", that is also a sign.

Whether these MPs will be successful in connecting with their constituents -- their voters -- is entirely a separate issue. Do I think they are credible politicians because they are now Hip-hoppin' and bloggin'? No. My assessment of the MP comes from what they've done with, and for, the constituent.

But for now, I would simply credit them for trying. At least they recognise they have to do something to connect with post-65s like myself (and those even younger).

Maybe my empathy comes from having experienced the horrors of learning and performing Hip-hop dance moves when I cannot dance to save myself (a story for another time). I take my hat off to those who feel they don't have a dancing bone in them but they do it anyway. That takes some gumption, if nothing else.

Also, as a public service librarian, I should know about trying. Just ask any public librarian who've tried getting teens to participate in a reading programme; or who've gone on stage to conduct booktalks in a bid to convince adults why that book is worth reading. Many times, we don't even know if we've succeeded in connecting with the customer -- let's just say if you were a pessimist, you probably won't survive very long as a public librarian.

I'm a post-65 Singaporean, i.e. born after 1965 . I am of the generation who've only known Singapore after Independence. I do not know, first hand, what life was like during the Japanese Occupation, the Racial Riots, Merger and Separation.

What I do know is that each generation have their particular challenges. I know as post-65 MPs serving post-65 voters, they don't have an easy task. The post-65 voters will be increasingly an opinionated lot.

So let these post-65 MPs try. I wish them luck, in all sincerity. Especially those without a dancing bone in their post-65 body.


Technorati Tag: p65 mp

Podcast: Ray Of Light (Enhanced Version Zero)

I had fun composing this. It's quite a simple song with the basic 4/4 rock tune with stanza + chorus + break + chorus etc. It's titled "Ray Of Light":

powered by ODEO

I decided to keep track of how much time I spent on this song. Turned out to be around 12 hours. I've posted a detailed "How It Was Done" over at MyRightBrain. It's a "Version Zero" because I didn't consider it completed yet, as I have not recorded the melody and lead guitar. But turned out my trial recording of the solo was useable (for an iMovie project I have in mind), so I added that in and called it an Enhanced Version Zero.

"Ray Of Light" is supposed to be a "feel-good" song, conveying a sense of optimism (not that there's necessarily anything wrong to begin with). Enjoy!


RamblingLibrarian's Podcasts:


Technorati Tags: garageband, mac, apple, collaborative music

Google Video offers Closed Caption playback

[UPDATE 31 Dec 06: I've since learned that "Hearing Impaired" is not a preferred term. I should use "Deaf" or "Hard of Hearing". Thanks.]

[Also posted at sgLEAD.wordpress.com]

Learnt via the Official Google Video Blog about this new feature:

By now, you may have noticed that we've just introduced a small but significant new feature that many of us have long awaited: playback of captions and subtitles! If you haven't tried it yet, you can go to this page, select a captioned video, and while playing it you can click on the [CC] symbol to turn captions on and off.

What's Closed Captioning? Try this page for an explanation.

The Closed Captioning feature in Google Video will be a boon to those who are Deaf or Hearing Impaired Hard of Hearing, especially when services like Google Video and other similar video-sharing platforms are gaining popularity. To appreciate why features like Closed Captioning are important to a person with hearing-impairment who is deaf, try this experiment:

0) IMPORTANT - First, set your computer volume to zero.

1) OK, let's say you are hearing impaired Deaf. You are interested in learning about Fractals. You've found this video (30secs). Go ahead and play the video. Suppose there was a narrative in the video. You wouldn't have known, would you? (Incidentally, that particular video doesn't have any narrative or music. I'm using it for illustrative purposes only).

2) Next, view a similar video on Fractals, this time with Closed Captions (continue to keep your computer volume at zero). NOTE: Click the "CC" button if you do not see subtitles in the video. Did you get more out of this video that the first one?


3) Finally, you can turn your computer volume control up to view the second video again. I think the Closed Caption is useful for people who can hear, don't you think?

Ken Harrenstien (who authored that Google Video post) says their Closed Captioning feature is still far from perfected. I feel it's a start, so it's all good. Ken concludes his post:

And you, too, can help! Please do send us your comments, bug reports, or suggestions; whether or not you think they're new, your collective feedback will be invaluable in helping us promote these capabilities and guide our decisions on which features need to be done next.

See what others are saying, via Technorati Tags: google video, closed captioning