Thing #8: Second Life

A little over a month ago, my brother sent me an article about Second Life. Apparently someone just made their first million dollars in (real) money. I didn't really realize what a big deal it was. I guess I'm out of the loop. I thought Myspace was the new hip thing. I know there's a lot of chatter about Second Life and to be honest I am wary of it. I like to think of myself as a (future) Social Psychologist.... it's scary to me to think of people interacting more in a virtual world than in the real world.

My brother and I are working on Third Life..... You create an avatar and it controls your Second Life avatar... which then controls you.

OK, Seriously though I CAN see the potential in SecondLife for libraries and academic research..... as a TOOL. Watching the SJSU video and reading about virtual museums, and *gasp* the possibility of only virtual books gives me the impression that people want to use these in place of their real-world counterparts. Students are going to go to Second Life class instead of going to a lecture hall. It's just scary to me, that's all. I think face-to-face interaction is very important. However, I can see virtual libraries as a helpful tool for undergrads and even grads studying. I am having issues thinking of ways it can benefit the larger community.... although I can see how faculty members would like to post recorded lectures or assignments... I just hope that high schools don't start using SecondLife. Not everyone has equal access to computers & the internet.

I told my brother about the uses of libraries in Second Life. He had this to say....

Bubba: "I want my iPhone to chat with my treo and then they can mate in second life to create a flip phone that will send emails to my camera.........

.......then they will transform. like the transformers.
take over the world!!
Decepticons UNITE!
Autobots Roll Out!"