John Kirriemuir

UK university and college technical support for Second Life developers and users

Background: Numerous surveys, articles, ephemera and online information sources indicate that Second Life has been the predominant virtual world, for educational purposes, in UK universities for the latter half of the 2000s. However, the infrastructure required to operate Second Life presents a number of technical concerns within some universities, such as PC graphical and processing speeds, the ability to update the viewer software, and access for groups of users from the same physical location, e.g. one teaching lab. These have created serious issues for many academics and students wishing to make use of Second Life in their research or teaching. Purpose: This article examines how these technical issues have been encountered, and in some cases overcome, by academics using Second Life for research or student teaching. From the data provided by a series of qualitative surveys over two years, trends in technical issues within the UK higher education sector, and their commonality, are examined. Sources of evidence: The evidence base used in this article is the six ‘snapshot’ surveys of virtual world use, funded by the Eduserv Foundation. These surveys, which started in mid-2007, attempt to provide an overview of how virtual worlds are being used for teaching and learning in UK universities and colleges. The informal, open and often frank responses of many academics to the surveys have provided useful qualitative information about their experiences in using virtual worlds within UK universities. Conclusions: The data collection suffers from a lack of information from academics who were unable to overcome technical barriers in their use of Second Life and simply ‘gave up’. The actual collected data shows that technical capabilities, as applicable to Second Life use, and support differ markedly between UK universities. However, the surveys indicate that such barriers, for persistent academics, do not provide a permanent obstruction to virtual world use in many UK universities. The more recent of the surveys generated a markedly smaller proportion of data concerning these barriers, indicating that many academics who responded to several surveys had overcome or worked around the obstacles, or that the technical capabilities offered by their host university had moved closer to that required to use Second Life.

The librarian as video game player

Despite media coverage that is usually negative or non-existent, digital (video) game playing is a major form of entertainment for significant numbers of people in developed countries. This paper begins with a brief outline of what these games are, who plays them and why there is interest within the library community. We then move through several examples of the current direct impact of digital games on libraries. This is followed by more abstract examples of how video games could, and do, influence library practise and technology. Attributes of online games are discussed, focusing on one particular game, Second Life. This game is used widely within the library community, with many librarians spending significant time developing avatars, open services and infrastructure. The paper concludes with a summary of the ten attributes of video game players, found across the research literature body, that are of relevance to digital information and library services.

Accessing electronic information sources through computer games consoles

This paper provides an overview of the games console market, a rapidly growing sector of the entertainment industry. An overview of the emergence of games consoles, and advances in games console technology, is given, as well as examples of the increasing incorporation of aspects of computer gaming into Higher Education student courses. Current and future games consoles are described in some detail, and their networking capabilities considered. The paper then focuses on the requirements of users of networked‐based services. The first games console to come equipped with network access facilities is used in order to access a number of electronic library resources and services, and to consider the viability of such a device for this purpose. Comments on issues surrounding data exchange between electronic devices such as games consoles are given, and future developments in the games console sector, especially in relation to the remote access of electronic information resources and services, are speculated.

The console market

The home-based video games market is one of the largest within the entertainment industry, and has recently begun to rival the music and film sectors in terms of audience, sales and revenue. This is partially due to the high profile mass marketing of games consoles and titles over the last decade, especially by a trio of Japanese electronics companies (Nintendo, Sega and Sony); however, it is also due to the increasing complexity, visual attractiveness and interactivity of contemporary video games.In this paper, we identify a number of characteristics pertaining to games consoles and game development. Following this, we examine the state of the console market as of the summer of 2001, focusing on the main manufacturers, their consoles, and how they may fare in the near future.

The games console as a component of the electronic library

The games console, within the wider sector of electronic games and entertainment, is defined. A historical outline of the games console is given, indicating how the development of the console, and that of the PC, have intertwined over several decades. The emerging generation of games consoles possesses facilities that offer the possibility of access to networked resources, such as electronic library services, at a fraction of the cost of PC hardware. The Electronic Library and the increase in home‐based network access are discussed. Observations are then drawn from the use of a games console to interact with specific network‐based components of the “electronic library”. Alternative emerging modes of Internet and Network‐based access are touched upon. Aspects of game console usage within the library sector are considered and future developments of gaming and console technology, especially as applied to Network‐based service and resource access, are speculated upon.

Editorial Information Quality: Thoughts from a Castaway Blogger

Producing these has caused me to reflect on information, knowledge, content, and related issues. Although both ‘products’ may have, to a certain extent, the same audience, the reasons why people use them are markedly different. People ‘read’ a community website to find out about the community, learn what goes on there, and whether it is worth visiting. The information is expected to be both factual, and factually correct. A website of this nature would be expected to have a high ‘information to noise’ ration. With a blog, people would usually expect a more informal, personal and opinionated flow of text, with less structure (and fewer pictures) and a more argumentative approach. A blog also forces the author to think differently in terms of updating the flow of content. If a personal blogger is ego-tripping – and admittedly, writing for the BBC has been a ‘cool’ thing to drop into conversation – then the blogger will want a large audience that craves for more content. But this in turn adds pressure. In the case of the BBC blogs, there were no fixed times when new entries were expected, but it is likely that most, if not all, of the eight BBC bloggers kept more than a watchful eye on what – and how often – the others were producing. Some of us produced an entry every day; others wrote a few a week. Some bloggers varied the frequency of writing, producing nothing for a while then several blog entries in one day. It was interesting to note that the frequency of updates across the eight blogs gradually lessened as April dragged on; whether this was due to increased confidence in blogging, the pressure of time, or running out of interesting things to say, is speculative. Which introduces the next blogging issue. As well as the time pressure, there is the pressure to keep producing new content that is hopefully interesting to the current audience. The same small number of issues appeared in the media about the election; at the same time, the BBC nudged the eight of us into producing more personal and localized opinions. This led me to think: what’s important to me, that I can blog about, and is also connected to the election? And the answer came quite quickly; that the most fundamental thing I believe in is: free access to all knowledge for everyone.