Second Life and Virtual Reality

I signed up for Second Life last night, but haven't really looked around yet.  I asked my son if he had heard of it - he's 16, and plays a lot of those first person games, and does a lot of map building.  He creates beautiful, seamless maps, that other players can use, I'm actually amazed at what he can do.  But he doesn't like Second Life.  Pressing him, he said he didn't like the interface, the building tools he deemed inadequate, and knowing the somewhat nefarious uses some inhabitants of the metaverse put it to, he refuses to consider it.  His objections are both technical and moral.  He is an interesting 16 year old.

Reading the articles for module two about Second Life, I felt a growing sense of anxiety, that in ten or fifteen years, people my age will be obsolete in the classroom, and concern that I should have left this subject till I was further through my library studies, simply because I am worried that things will realign to be something different before I am finished studying, and I will need to relearn something new.  I am an overthinker.

I was interested in the idea that virtual learning environments are so effective at engagement and achievement.  I have heard so many people say (nurses, teachers, doctors, lawyers and so on) that they learned more in their first year on the job than they did in all the time they spent in university lectures.  My mother is a nurse, and did her training when it was still a hospital based system, and I remember her concern when it switched to university training, that new nurses would have a lot of head knowledge that wasn't necessarily practical.  Virtual learning could be the answer that we need.  Giving people "real" experience, but in an environment that provides a safety net in case of error.

As far as Second Life goes, while I admit it looks interesting, I feel a degree of ambivalence about the time required to "learn" the world, and master the experience.  Four hours is the time it apparently takes to orient oneself to the world, and four hours at the end of term four in a busy household seems like a big time commitment.  And then one of the readings insisted that four hours will orient you, but four weeks is more realistic as a time frame for becoming comfortable.  Four weeks!!  Convince me it's worth it.

RSS Feeds

I started subscribing to RSS feeds a few years ago when I got my ipod nano.  I would download episodes of Doctor Karl to listen to, or religious debates, or radio programs and listen to them while I went running.  It was a change from listening to music.

Now, I have google reader set up on my laptop, and the blogs I follow are delivered there.  It might take me a while to catch up with everything I'm interested in, but I like to have it all in one place.

Looking through the abc link, I noticed that one of the RSS feeds is for a reading of a book.  A book!  Chapter by chapter, a whole book.  Now, this excites me.  I love to read aloud, and I love to listen to audio books, when my hands are busy doing something, and I need my eyes to concentrate, but still want my mind entertained.  And I have been the voice for chapters in a published audio book (a one off, funny little episode in my life that I really enjoyed).  I wonder how plausible it is to have a feed that publishes a chapter a week of a book.  A whole book.  Would people listen and be interested I wonder?

In the library situation, and bear in mind, I don't have a library situation as such yet, but in a library situation, I think it could kick off for book week perhaps.  And perhaps in the lead up, students could vote for which book from a list they would like to turn into an audio book.  The winner unveiled at the Book Week parade.  And then, to make it more interesting, students could audition to be readers!  How does copyright work in this situation?  And the audio book, voiced by their peers, is the hook, to get them involved in my library website, because once they are there, hopefully they will look around and find even more interesting treasures, treasures that draw them in, that give them tools, and empower them.

Now this isn't completely answering questions about meeting users information needs, it's a bit of a tangent, but it's also an idea I don't want to lose because I forget that I've had it.

Module Two, INF 506

After a frustrating day of computer issues, which had I thought about it properly, I could have resolved hours earlier than I did, I am in the midst of the module 2 readings, which are vast.  I am drowning in information.

I confess, I am flicking between my dictionary widget, and the readings with great regularity.  It isn't enough to have heard a word, I need to be sure of its meaning, so I'm not confused.

So metadata, is data about data.

Folksonomies - a user-generated system of classifying and organizing online content into different categories by the use of metadata such as electronic tags.  Thank you dictionary.





I find tagging quite hard, and have a fairly low opinion of my ability to do it well.  I think this course is going to be enormously helpful, not just in my work life, but also in life outside work, allowing me to keep up with and participate knowledgeably.  At the moment, I tend to blunder around, like there isn't enough light in the room, and I know that I could be better.

I need to go and do the drop box tutorial.  I will come back with more thoughts, once I've thought them.

Assignment One INF506 

What is social networking?

Social networking is all about participation.  The internet has changed to become a place where everyone can share ideas, news, photographs and creative interests.  Networks are not limited to your geographical location, and you don’t even have to have met in person.  Sharing similar interests is enough to connect people no matter where in the world they live (as long as they have a computer).


My current social networking sites:

Currently I have a Facebook account, which I use to keep in touch with family and friends, and now for uni.  Some of my friends are people I’ve met online on other sites, some of these I have met, but some not.
I have a twitter account, which until this course I have used sporadically, ineffectively, and resentfully, because I feel out of my depth.  I’m not sure what I should tweet, and how it is different to my status update on Facebook.
I am a member of a parenting forum (Essential Baby), and contribute to discussion on a semi regular basis.
I have contributed to youtube, and use it a lot for teaching, as well as entertainment and information
I subscribe to a number of blogs:
- Jamie the Very Worst Missionary
- Head versus Desk
- Making it Funky
- Down to earth
I now have a Flickr account, but have previously had a photobucket account which I primarily used to make memes.
I write a blog of my own about things I’ve read that interest me.
I am a member of Goodreads, Pinterest and Instagram.
I play online games (Words with Friends, Scramble with Friends, Gems, Bejewelled Blitz, Matching with Friends).


With all these computer activities, I’m starting to realise why I feel time poor.

What do I expect to learn from INF506?

 I want to learn how to harness social media in a meaningful way for teaching/library.  Although I don’t have a permanent position as yet, I want to be ready, and as current in my knowledge as possible. 
I have reservations about using Facebook as a platform for keeping parents informed about school excursions/activities, and want to explore other options that may be safer.