The Libraries have purchased an “island” in Second Life, a virtual social networking environment where over 7.5 million “residents” build, shop, play, and interact in countless other ways. Named Anteater Island, our space is used by interested faculty as a place where teams of students can create group projects. We actively seek more faculty partners in a variety of disciplines who wish to participate in this pilot project.
Anteater Island (slurl.com/secondlife/Anteater%20Island/152/188/26/) includes an amphitheater, virtual classrooms, resources for faculty to use in learning Second Life (www.secondlife.com) and selected library services. An event archive features recent events such as an intriguing lecture on scholarly publishing presented by Dr. Christine Borgman of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Faculty teaching courses such as University Studies 12 and ICS 295 have made Anteater Island an integral part of the syllabus. Student teams in these classes not only used Second Life as a platform to build computer games; they also used it as a collaborative work environment.
We look forward to working with additional faculty. “We want to be able to provide a place in Second Life where UCI faculty and students can experience this environment without having to go through a huge learning curve,” said Kristine Ferry, a member of the Libraries’ Second Life Task Force. “If they like what they see, we can point them to the resources they’ll need to develop their skills.” Participation could range from holding a single class session in Second Life to using a parcel of the island for an entire quarter.
For more information contact Kristine Ferry, Research Librarian for Business (kferry@uci.edu or x40474).
Message from the University Librarian: Globalism and the Libraries
Fall Exhibit: California Universities Building Amistad
Digital Images from the National Palace Museum
of Taipei
Where Is Anteater Island?
Contributors:
Jackie Dooley, Kristine Ferry, James Galbraith, Cynthia Johnson, Philip MacLeod, Gerald Munoff, José de Jesús Pérez, Ying Zhang
Editor: Jackie Dooley
Design & Production:
Julia Crosara