Second Life Possibilities

While companies, organizations, and individual users are still analyzing how Second Life can be used, there are some that are finding real world applications which ultimately will mean long term success for Second Life. I think a careful evaluation of how much time/money investment it takes to develop (say a training module) would be essential to knowing if it would have a long term benefit (or an organization could live with the technology becoming obsolete, outdated, or purchased by another entity that changes its emphasis or usability. Here is one interesting use with doctors and virtual patients. http://virtualworldwatch.net/2009/01/27/maria-toro-troconis-imperial-college-london/.

How could we use Second Life to develop a virtual training/quiz of Customer Interaction Statistics to show typical patron interactions followed by how we would enter those stats using our new computerized system?

Or...in teaching about customer service, we could have a virtual avatar played by a seasoned staff member (example: fine dispute or claims return process) and the new staff member has to respond appropriately (So again a virtual world "It's How You Say It").

Much like webinars are becoming commonplace, at what point will virtual lectures become the norm where librarians from around the country (or even the world) could gather together to discuss literacy, outreach, grants, budgeting, or really any topic and put all of our best efforts together for the good of the library profession as a whole?

What if an Open Source ILS were also tied into a "virtual" OCLS where patrons could browse our catalog, download (say from Overdrive/NetLibrary, My LibraryDV) and watch it in Second Life. All this may already be possible, but I think the vendors, companies, technologies that make this as seamless as possible will be the true winners.

Open Source: Access to the Information Bible

To me, the move to Open Source is similar to when it was once believed in religious faiths that a priest or minister had to tell people what the Bible said. They were ordained or chosen by God and thus the common believer wasn't allowed or capable enough to read and interpet it for himself.

Likewise, Open Source believes in the knowledge of the collected masses and that they both know what they want and are able to develop it to best meet their needs (and thus others). They don't need large corporations or businesses to tell them what they need.

How has technology changed the way information is available? Three years ago if I needed to know the hours of a bookstore or location of a restaurant, I may have used the Yellow Pages. Now, it's the web. If I needed to fix my lawn mower, I would have called my father in law or brother who may have called someone else or a friend or a friend of a friend. Now, at least first, it's the web. If I wanted to see highlights of Barry Bond's record breaking home run, it would have been ESPN or the paper, now it is the web (and not news sources but YouTube and Flickr). If I had missed an episode of a show during the week, rather than wait for repeats after the season or for it to come out on DVD, now it's the web.