It will be interesting to see over time if more adoption occurs by faculty and students knowing the environment is closed to only the Case community. I know demonstrating Second Life in presentations I always hear the negatives (porn, griefers, etc.). A closed environment removes the traditional complaints but could bring other challenges.

Second Life has announced they are testing a solution for those limited by firewalls or policy. From the Second Life Blog, they have announced testing of an organizational server solution to Second Life.

Collaborative Technology and Engaging the Campus 2008
Track 4: Blogs and Wikis
Session: Wikis and Collaboration Models for Active Learning
Panelists: Ben Schechter, Bill Barrow, Bill Claspy, Brian Gray, Roger Zender

It was a discussion on how to use Wiki software in order to create an interface which provides an opportunity for collaboration among users.

Check out the others session from Collaborative Technology and Engaging the Campus 2008, which include sessions on blogging, virtual worlds like Second Life, mobile devices, VOIP, and many other topics:

In my article, Libraries Exploring Their Second Life, I highlight how libraries and other organizations are utilizing Second Life. I focused on Ohio but included other examples as well.

See the full photo set from my Flickr account. Or visit the Cleveland Public Library in SL.

Cleveland Public Library, of Cleveland, Ohio, is opening a new sim on Friday, November 16th. Cleveland Public Library is the third largest public research library in the United States, and also is the largest repository of chess-related items in the world. The island includes playable, life-size chess sets, and the Main Library building currently features an exhibit of historical chess sets owned by the library in real life. Also be sure to check out the Photo Gallery (believe us, you'll know it when you see it!), where we have an exhibit of sheet music related to Cleveland and Ohio.

The sim will open to the public at 7pm EST with tours as time and guides allow. Grand opening activities will include two live music performances: Picker Apogee at 8pm and Nad Gough at 10pm. A costume contest for the best chess-related costume will take place at 9pm, with a $1000 Linden dollars grand prize to the winner. The life-size chess sets will also be available for casual or competitive play. Please IM Lebachai Vesta with any questions. Please join us to celebrate this major opening in Second Life!

More information was shared at PLSL 2.0 - Public Libraries in Second Life blog in a recent post.

• The Burning Life festival, which runs the same time as the annual Burning Man festival
• International Spaceflight Museum
• CreativeCommons Amphitheater
• Virtual Hallucinations, where UC Davis medical staff created simulations of audiovisual hallucinations
• Neo-Realms Fishing Camp

I challenge people to create things in SL that we do not or cannot do in real life. At that point, it becomes valuable.

SL is great for 3-D modeling, recreation of historical events, or other themed environments. These types of educational activities would be very expensive to recreate on a life-size scale and to bring together all the experts needed.

Here is a nice example of a unique activity that can be accomplished in virtual environments, not just SL. Have you ever imagined walking through the environment created in artworks, movie, or TV?

If you want to see how this would made, visit the blog entry describing Robbie Dingo's SL machinima.

One finding he had was how important SL was to those with disabilities. Maybe this is the niche libraries should focus on as a priority in SL rather than trying to recreate traditional library programming and resources.

I am sure the SL entrepreneurs will find others ways to survive.

Librarians within Second Life get together for various social events to talk, share stories, and interact. The Second Life Library 2.0 dance party was on July 6, 2007. The theme was gothic and I won the award for best male costume.