UCD SecondLife

The_Minister

Just an interesting tidbit:
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10428

03.03.2008 - University College Dublin made history today as the first Irish university ever to hold a lecture in the online virtual world Second Life, with Professor Mary Burke from the school of information and library studies who lectured to students from the virtual James Joyce library.

Professor Burke’s lecture consisted of a series of slides relating to the collaborative and educational aspects of Web 2.0 technologies such as Second Life itself and online bookmarking resources like del.icio.us.

Students were encouraged to debate and discuss the merits and difficulties involved in using platforms like these as part of their academic work and progression.

Elements of online collaboration such as trust, control and access were discussed, with many students and non-students alike identifying access as one of the biggest problems.

Some voiced concerns over access to Web 2.0 applications like Second Life from the workplace where it is still largely considered a leisure activity and thus banned or firewalled, while others said bandwidth availability meant their internet connection could not cope with such graphic-rich environments.

Professor Burke said she came up with the idea of hosting a lecture on Second Life after a colleague in UCLA in the US invited her along to a lecture there.

The lecture was part of a series of Second Life events taking place at the James Joyce library as part of Library Ireland week. UCD’s virtual library first opened its doors in July 2007 and is one of over 40 libraries on Cybrary Island, a location dedicated to hosting the virtual version of real-life university or city libraries from around the world.

By Marie Boran

What do people think?
Did anyone attend?

Stepherunie

I didn't attend but credit to the library. They're a really forward thinking group of the college, i mean you can have them as a friend on msn messenger if you need help with stuff.

Riamfada

I asked the library on a date on MSN. It asked me had a library related question. Luckily I did and its a great help. The second life thing is also a fantastic idea but more novel than practical?

elgriff

Grimes wrote: »

I asked the library on a date on MSN. It asked me had a library related question. Luckily I did and its a great help. The second life thing is also a fantastic idea but more novel than practical?

So you are as desperate as I thought you would be

boneless

Grimes wrote: »

I asked the library on a date on MSN. It asked me had a library related question. Luckily I did and its a great help. The second life thing is also a fantastic idea but more novel than practical?

Two-timing basket!!! :mad:

skydancer

Yeah, good development. Prof Burke is a lecturer in the UCD School of Information and Library Studies and has been active in promoting and developing use of Second Life.

Red Alert

Kudos to the folks in the library as usual. They also have a very good audio tour of the place you can put on your MP3. I'm sure they'll join boards.ie soon enough!

Bubs101

If i had have known this was on I would have probably have gone and had a gander but there was little to no advertising

Riamfada

Its almost always advertised on the LCD screen outside the library and has been for about a year now

Peleus

i just cant use secondlife anymore. it works fine until one of those weirdos with goblin avatars comes up to me and completely crashes my computer. Theres no way i could attend a lecture in second life, my computer would explode if i went into a room with more that ten people in it. good idea tho.