Father's Day, 2007

As the kids grow up, it's harder to get together for a meal. Pat has insane hours at his job (works 3 a.m. to 9 a.m.) so he goes to sleep around dinnertime. Laurel was invited to a farewell party at her best friend's house (the friend is going to be in Florida for a week at a national health sciences competition.) But we did come together long enough to get this shot. Laurel took the picture.

School is out for the summer for both kids now. Pat's looking for a third job until school starts again, and Laurel will have a week off before starting summer school. She's taking two fun courses, and one remedial class - she blew off her algebra this year, so will have to make it up in July and August. The other two classes are "Constitutional and Criminal Law" and "Beginning Guitar."

I'm taking some courses now, too - all three are online, so I can read the materials and do the exercises when I have time, instead of being required to show up at a specific place and time. One, however, is taught in the game world of Second Life. That one is an experimental class, and participants come from all kinds of libraries and have provided some interesting and incisive comments about the potential for providing library services in that world. Just this afternoon, I was offered a parcel of land in Second Life. I am deciding whether I want to buy it and build ... hey, this could be the modern equivalent of "The Game of Life" board game that we used to play as kids. Simulations teach lessons about the Real World.

One Life is No Longer Enough

Last month I registered for a continuing-ed course called "Virtual World Librarianship" offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's library school. Our first meeting was yesterday, and wouldn't you know it - I misread the starting time. I was all ready with my laptop at the library at 1:30, only to find the session was just ending. It had started at 1:30 CENTRAL time. I live in PACIFIC time. Won't make that mistake again! How embarrassing! Thank goodness there is an alternative way to communicate with the instructors and students via the UIUC's Moodle, or distance-ed course management software.

Some of my classmates wonder what the point is - what is there in Second Life that we should spend time and money learning about it. Our instructor says one reason is that academic libraries are looking at it as a potential way to offer distance education. This class I'm taking is an experiment in distance education, for example. I'm looking at it as a way to think "out of the box" about ways to deliver library services remotely - what library services should patrons be able to receive after hours, from their home computer or telephone? What services lend themselves well to self-service? What are some ways to teach patrons how to "use their library at home"? Can these lessons be delivered via distance-ed modules?

Continuing Ed in Second Life

Okay, so my daughter asked, "You're paying that much real money for a virtual class that will be taught in an imaginary place by characters in a game?" So I responded, "Well, I'm not the only one who's interested. The first section is sold out, and they've opened an additional section." The course is called "Virtual World Librarianship, Your Second Life," and will take place in Second Life on six Fridays, beginning May 25, and will count as continuing ed units offered by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

This means, though, that I'm going to be a very busy person in a few weeks, with at least one other online course plus two in-person workshops that will be happening in May and June, plus continuing to work full-time. It will be almost like being back in school!

I've been a sometime tourist in Second Life for a couple of months, and my avatar is a Goth librarian named Annot8 Greatrex. My greatest challenge has been navigation and travel - my mousing skills don't translate well enough, and sometimes I walk into walls or fall off embankments. It is interesting to meet others in the Second Life Library, though - mostly they're curious, or they're bleeding-edge professionals who are looking for ways to make the space relevant to today's young people, and to create virtual library applications and programs that exist in that sort-of gaming world. (Second Life is not actually a game, because there is no objective, no "levels" of play, and nothing to win or lose.)

Since I'm probably not going to Internet Librarian this year - boss wants to share the opportunity with librarians who haven't been to that conference - this will give me my professional technology "fix" for the year.

Taxes and Second Life

This year, for the first time in my life, someone else prepared our tax returns. It was so easy! We just provided the accountant with the W-2s, 1099s, and expenses - he prepared and filed the return within a few days - have no clue what he charged for the service, but it will be deductible next year, I bet. I used to take a week off from work and labor over the phone bills, the American Express annual reports, and checkbook. I could get used to paying someone else for that priviledge.

I've been exploring Second Life a little more, recently - my avatar is a goth female named "Annot8 Greatrex". I'm still getting used to controlling her movements with the mouse - my mouse is so sensitive, if I move it too much, either Annot8 spins around, or the world spins around. Funny, but if you're trying to go somewhere, you could be walking into walls or falling off roofs! Not great for first impressions. An interesting convention in Second Life is that your name floats in a balloon over your head, and when you're typing in the chat window, your avatar's hands click on an imaginary keyboard, so others can see you're about to say something!

I met some nice folks at the Alliance Second Life Library last night, and I'm going to attend my first event in Mystery Manor on Wednesday - "Dropping the other gumshoe," a mystery book discussion group. I haven't read the book, but I'm curious to see how the discussion goes.