Questions about Second Life experience engineering

+
? What makes a great Second Life experience?
? Which answers to that could be applied by SL Libraries to enhance their/our projects?
? For that matter, how might LIS courses apply it to improve their classes about LISinSL?

-- no answers here --

please help me find answers

Small details made a recent Hunt an entertaining experience for me. Significant little event management strategies and differences I found between merchants' strategies made me wonder whether some might improve SL library services. Of course, many librarians* work innovatively in Second Life and some may already be demonstrating answers to these questions--if so I look forward to hearing (or googling up) about them.

In case serendipity does not favour me with answers I plan to continue:

Direct Observations

Does that sound like a great excuse to participate in more hunts; and visit featured Destinations?

I will keep using Flickr for noting positive and negative details of my experiences, although I suspect my detachment might make me too fussy?  However observing, noting and analysing observations takes time, particularly as I battle distractions (new clothes; editing; wanting to build; chatting).

Others have been around longer, participated more deeply, and will have actually tried and tested ideas, so:

Web searches

The answers are bound to be out there, however this method has its own distractions:
..

Dwell On It: The Comic - Comic #110; Freedom and Safety via kwout

to which I was led by Pooky Amsterdam's defense** of Second Life against ignorant (inadequately investigative) journalism, to which I was led by:

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi … the Dresden Art Museum closes in Second Life « Prim Perfect via kwout

Nevertheless, such distractions demonstrate that there is a great diversity of types of experience in Second Life. Will what counts as great, differ if the information comes from:

• shopping experiences - Torley and his sources refer to some of the details I have witnessed: navigation, interesting and relevant decor, and even packaging (although disappointingly all the links there are deadends [found Suella's tips that he acknowledges; oh and the forum thread) [interestingly there has also been some academic research on positive influencers of SL shopping experiences - particularly spokes-avatar presence]
• role play or game experiences?
• exploration - (I've enjoyed sims' beauty travelling alone, but I've noticed guided tours available at times I wasn't - would anyone say they'd had a great SL guided tour experience--what made it so?)
• interpersonal experiences?
• artistic experiences - does the work of artists producing delightful art sims, photography, machinima and webcomics from and within Second Life suggest ideas? Could a visit to SL libraries become a more photogenic experience?

Second Life of My Dreams via kwout

For thoroughness (but without sacrificing the excuse of value in my personal observations) I will look for more published views on Hunts***; however I will rely even more on others' views about what makes great in RP/gaming and social events - and how those might be applied to SL libraries.

Mundanely, I've frequently observed that maintenance is a massive issue for any set-up that expects their sim to support self-service.  In what ways are great experiences set up to minimise failures of maintenance?  Does the lack of Creation and modification dates in objects (and lack of distinction between creation and spawn in landmarks) bother anyone else?

The personal touch seems to be revealed as significant (Jin & Bolebruch, 2009), but people can't be there all the time - and I've found some avatars' profiles enhance my experience while others grate - do you agree? I haven't analysed the source of the difference yet - are there details for using profiles to help make a great experience? [Wow, Treacle Darlandes shared a great story which included the contribution of a profile to a great experience]

Is all this pondering - at least for the perspective of libraries in SL - a waste of time? Sometimes, like this moment, I lose sight (did I ever have one, I thought I did the other day) of what point a library really serves in Second Life (except as point of connection for librarians) -- tell me?

* * *

footnotes
*librarian = person who runs a library (YMMV)
**while the arguments on investigative negligence, and contribution of the importance of customer service to my own question, may be valid, the motivation for defense is naturally biased by Pooky's investment in Second Life as a medium for her services.
***For example, but not linked above for unreliability (the author (unnamed) claims three years SL business (unnamed) success (unevidenced)) though the information on optimising business with hunts sounds sane.

+Photo Credit:
Nevery Lorakeet *LpD*'s Futura artistic outfit for Second Life Birthday 8! CC2.0:BY-NC-ND

Reference (I'll be interested to see how this appears, as dragged from Zotero):

Jin, S.-A. A., & Bolebruch, J. (2009). Avatar-based advertising in Second Life: The role of presence and attractiveness of virtual spokespersons. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10(1). Retrieved from http://jiad.org/article124

SLExperience management: The Renaissance Hunt

--rambling, amateur & preliminary observations--

--actually, while I began with wanting to connect my experiences through TRH1 to ideas for libraries in SL... I realise I don't have enough knowledge at all, so if you've been tempted to visit expecting to learn something useful I apologise, though you might skip the following blather if you're willing to answer some questions--

Today visited the penultimate merchant in The Renaissance Hunt. As some were not ready when I began, I cannot claim to be "finished", but I have at least sorted through *all* of the gifts collected so far (and good heavens that is an undertaking for over 135 gifts!).

Early on we were asked through the in-world group to vote via notecard on a FAVE FIVE of locations (no mention of this in the blog that I can see) when we finish.  Yay: an additional validation for my new (since The Sinister Steampunk Hunt) practice of keeping a Hunt Journal. I figured a Hunt Journal would help me recall what I liked (or not) in case I'm ever asked for recommendations; it could support recall to help others on the hunt; it would help me keep track of where I'm at as a Hunt can be very long; but most importantly I'm under the impression that jotting notes helps me think straight - and wherever I go and whatever I do in Second Life I wonder "what if SL-libraries did things this way"?

Do any Hunts offer prizes for the first to finish? I can't imagine so, because a race would compete with the value for merchants of having hunters take time to browse the stores. Even so, I did want to FINISH the Hunt (I didn't finish SSH) (greed:pretties:free) and so I felt a self-imposed time pressure because time spent on hunt was time away from my projects; and guilt-time at the downloads it consumes.

On the other hand: this Hunt experience provoked thoughts about quality experience management that could give points of comparison to my analyses of SL Libraries, and yet I'm not sure I captured those thoughts adequately. Notecard journalling saves switching in and out of Evernote - however it lacks images because my frugality will not let me upload my snips* as images to inventory. So, I'm going back to the start to see whether, with greed out of the way, I can concentrate on a reasonable analysis.



With snips I tend to focus on things that could be better - but as I can't snip past instants, nor my passing psychological dispositions, nor the things I did not realise I was seeing, identifying the things that made the experience so positive will be harder. Particularly when returning just distracts me with beauty I didn't see first time around (the landscaping, Mike, is ... is ... "perfick" (thank you Pop Larkin)), and the postponed acorn-greed.

Actually I guess the acorn-hunt will be an aspect to consider, but I believe I will try not to take photos of the merchants at the Faire because, although Perryn's careful selection of them (as webspelunker Ghostraven mentioned) is an important contributor to the Hunt experience (and care in setting selection criteria is an important librarian consideration), it will just be too diverting.

OMG it is dawn already, the rest will have to wait

... 

This is one of those posts I will probably edit over time.

*snip refers to my use of Windows Snipping Tool rather than the SL snapshot because even though I can send a snapshot direct from Second Life to Flickr, with Snipping Tool I can be more selective in what I capture, and because I am not an artist I don't need dramatic Meghogging resolution.

However, for the sake of comparison, the first picture above was Snipped, and this one Snapped:

Continuing... Caledon Librarianship research: Reference collection

Can Google help me discover *why* this is the "Colonel Exrex Somme" reference collection?  It appears that the compliment was presented, with dramatic timing and visual presentation at the second Compliments Duel on May 11, 2008.





[15:29] JJ Drinkwater takes a deep breath
[15:29]-[15:37] JJ Drinkwater:
I am so stunned by the Colonel's politesse, as well as by his hats, that I am, for the moment, at a loss for words
pretends to think
It is true, sir, that in a land of magnanimous spirit, as this, our Caledon, we rise as we are able
And yet, it is not only those who are poor who are honest, nor yet only those of humble origins who exemplify Nature's Nobility
And, as I have repeatedly said, here today and on many another ocassion
Your love of learning do you the most irreproachable credit
As I am at a loss for words, I think I must let pictures tell, in the main, my story....
As you know, it is the custom of the Caledon library to name its brances and, when possible, its collections, after persons of note
viz the Marie Curie and HG Wells memroial branches
And the Ellen Throckmorton Etiquette collection
Now, the glory of the Caledon library (second only to its patrons and supporters) is its collections
And when we went to name our Reference Collection
We felt that we must name it for someone of suitably compendious learning, and widespread intellectual curiosity
Which is why, sir, we could do no better that to create....
The Colonel Exrex Somme Reference Collection

However, the decision won't have been made on the spot, so I wonder whether the whole compliment was planned long ahead... or ?

I love that the Colonel Exrex Somme Reference Collection is searchable with a Custom Google Search (sorry: Caledon Library Aetheric Search Gizmo).

The Library Militant: Caledon Library News: Colonel Exrex Somme Reference Collection via kwout

As to browsing the collection (be careful this could take hours... I was drawn in to Roger Vaughan's Victorian & Edwardian Photography Collection, fascinated by the compilation and the sharing of information to trace old photos). But back to the Col. Exrex Somme collection, it is built within a blog with each category in a blog "post", and each resource is annotated. There are not too many categories -- what is "too many"? --  the compact presentation may avoid the appearance of "too many".  Perception of "too many" often prevents me browsing reference collections.  At each category, breadcrumb trail would be preferable (more easily recognised) for navigation over the "Click back" to main at the bottom of the category.

Of course I'm dreadfully curious whether the library uses aetheric means to track/quantify usage of those links; and whether Google feeds them an account of searches conducted?

Maintenance must be a nuisance, how big is the team maintaining it (and TheLibraryMilitant)? Among the browsables Caledon,

• "SL Steampunk Blogs - Zoe Connolly's links and reviews of blogs covering Caledon..." no longer exists.

Cleverly, expansion of the collection is socially-enabled using WuFoo

All of this discovery followed from one sign amongst the Steampunk Collection up on the Dirigible. So what does it mean to my research into Second Life-ly librarianship?  It interestingly demonstrates:

• collection development focussed on the sim's theme - a well-recognised point
• and admirable use of collaborative/interactive tools.

and I still need to contemplate the in-world presentation.

Aiming to interview JJ Drinkwater: 1st day of research

So, yesterday I dreamed of eventually (after background research) interviewing JJ Drinkwater (who I've repeatedly over time noticed doing terrific things in librarianship in Second Life). Today serendipity set me out on the journey:

Once-upon-a-time, I had subscribed to the AlexLib Subscribe-O-Matic Gizmo. It sends notifications (which SL can send to email) of events such as today's:

Join us Wednesday at 4pm SLT for "Voices from the Civil War" and a discussion of Walt Whitman's poem "The Wound Dresser"

What a good time to progress this research ... let's see ... if I log in there will be a notecard and/or a landmark and I can begin my inspections ...

Indeed, while I began jotting notes in a draft blog post, it seems I wanted an image for everything, even wished I had videographic skills.

OOPS
During my first round of camming I was Distracted by the profile of Eleanor Anderton (picked up from her creation of a sign [a help sign - one worth discussing, I'll link it in later] on the skyboat display of resources [that to me seem should be IN the library?]) which I followed to her blog where she wrote about BareRose's Antonia

Bare@Rose Search Database via kwout

Back from that distraction, I began capturing photos of the meeting room's exterior signs and interior exhibit, uploading to Flickr, linking images, discussing notecard contents. A slideshow only shows the photos, it doesn't capture my annotations, so if you're curious, you can see my notes over at Flickr beginning with Once-upon-a-time, if I continue this method of note-taking it will all be in a collection I'll call Caledon Librarianship.



OOPS again

Currently interrupted because: while photographing the Discussion Display Wall (Whitman discussions) to identify the variety of content I realised that the train passes by the door and the photo would be improved by having the train in it!

But when is the train?

See Steampunk Wiki for Caledon National Rail and I notice that this (wonderful) wiki could do with some data linking; but back to the train time ... this meeting room is close to Victoria Station (which is just North/left from this door)... four different routes (are they the same train?), 3 stop at Victoria ... Northbound might be best angle on the engine, so before 04, 15, 26, 56 of the hour, while southbound is 20, 44, 52, 55 of the hour.  Of course I missed two trains while I was trying to work that out, and I've noticed that there have been some dramatic lighting changes so I've been wondering how that will affect the shot.

Eating cold tea I missed two more passes, but now two scheduled trains haven't passed at all.  So even in the virtual world, when one is waiting for a train--it will be late?

Back on track, I have dozens more photos, and still need to upload describe and link them. I'm going to have to become a little more efficient, take fewer photos, or forget about using Flickr for note-taking. It seems my inner researcher and inner tourist compete for function time.

What have I achieved so far?

1. I've admired the meeting room - not sure if it is considered one of the branches of the Caledon Libraries; discovered through in-world exploration that just across the park from the meeting room are at least two library facilities and behind/above the meeting room is a special collection. I could probably investigate such details faster by perusing wikis/websites. While googling a suitable link to acknowledge Eleanor above I discovered the Caledon Library Volunteer HQ which (at least historically, it was last updated in 2009) in addition to the site for visitors: The Library Militant will probably answer all the little questions I have.
2. I've seen:
   • evidence of a current discussion series; and past discussions (social activities are a fundamental attribute of virtual world experience I think, although I also believe we seek meaningful social activity); 
   • begun identifying qualitative distinctions between objects for display, information storage and access, and preferences; 
   • continued reflecting on the importance of consistency with a well-defined environmental theme (ie: I believe that my enjoyment of Caledon Library for its thematic consistency as well as its quality library functions would be typical for anyone in-world).  I think that although we like a pretty library in the real world, its prettiness is way less important than its services. But then longevity of the Second Life library might also rest in how well services meet users' needs/desires -- unless the Second Life library is content to exist as an art exhibit.
3. Not found a relevant group - one day in.
4. Oh yes, documenting instances of advertisement - that was about discovering the nature and extent of Caledon's liaison. 
5. Looking forward to exploring the Caledon catalogue/database, but want to see what is what in-world first.
6. I believe that my download limits, and/or needing to avoid excess distractions, and/or the fact that even if I could concentrate in-world the Flickr note-taking method is so time-consuming -- could sooner rather than later send me to read Drinkwater's pages.
7. I think my original questions are so far still good, but it is only one day in. I am noticing the uber-importance of a team of volunteers, remembering the joys and challenges of managing volunteers, and wondering how Drinkwater's experiences of volunteer management would compare.
8. So much for being the final step - testing out that phone for the sake of an imaginary newbie audience to my photoset - I leaped into making a tentative first contact.

Contact point: Drinkwater's private line | Flickr - Photo Sharing! via kwout

Zotero does more than I thought...

What have I been missing?

I've used Zotero for several assignments so far, gathering citations into sub-collections and creating bibliographies (grumbling at how many times I have to fix the title field).
! But fancy, I had not picked up that I could Shift+drag to create an intext-citation!

I've even created notes, although I don't remember whether I've looked back at them. It just occurred to me: if I could somehow Show in the middle ONLY my notes - that might help somehow, but AFAIK not yet possible.

But notes! there's more:
Standalone notes - I guess I could create some for questions, keywords yet to search, passing thoughts to pursue later ... How do YOU use them?

Annotating

When I heard "annotation" before I assumed this meant either editing the Abstract field or creating notes - but no, those snapshots I've been ignoring can be highlighted and sticky-noted. Now this might be useful IF I can export such annotations for mixing, how?

Hm, for a sub-collection I think I might like to export reference + abstract + my Notes + sticky notes + "highlighted bits". Why? Well, until I get a super large monitor or interactive projection or interactive table display upon which I can spread my individual notes to physically shift and shuffle, probably to print for that process.

What about reports? No, neither highlights nor annotations appear in reports.

Please tell me: How / does Zotero's highlighting and sticky notes work into your study process?

But ... reports with the excess stuff excluded by Jason Priem's fix; offers a way for me to gather notes to print and shuffle perhaps. Unfortunately, I can't work out why the author sorting wouldn't work.

Other filetypes like images

getting_stuff_into_your_library [Zotero Documentation] via kwout

Aside from snapshots and pdfs that don't come with good metadata (I really want to learn more precisely how metadata storage and grabbing works with pdfs) - I haven't stored anything in Zotero. The above makes me wonder whether the option has productive value? For example, I'm thinking IF my research involved obtaining/using images + IF I attached it to metadata = could I then drag both image and metadata over to my document with Zotero styling the metadata as caption the way APA likes?

If nothing so fancy, it doesn't seem worthwhile, afterall Dropbox offers more storage for free. It now occurs to me that this "automatic snapshot" is what has filled my free Zotero storage - even while I haven't been using the darn things. If I switch that off, would I remember to take a snapshot when it would be useful to do so?

Tags?

I'm finding the automatic tags a real nuisance. They can be hidden. Even so, I haven't been using tags ... @Zotero users: how do tags help with your study processes?

Sorting! Ta Da: Research Diary!

Wow, Finally I discovered what I can do with

finding_and_sorting [Zotero Documentation] via kwout

Sort by Date Added and include Standalone Notes and we could have something on the road to a research diary.

Saved Searches

Thanks to people sharing their libraries like Paolo Cardullo, I got the word from Lincoln Mullin on how Saved Searches (and Tags) in Zotero can help with research workflow. (He also mentioned the value of Collections, but I thought that'd be obvious).

Maybe research diary online

Jacqueline Taylor: Reflections and (re)reflections, with permission, via kwout

What online tool, or easy ways to combine tools might optimise my study?

I've enjoyed keeping a notebook before - particularly using marginalia that help remind, reflect, review, rediscover, save time.

But these days when I use so many digital (on and off line) tools for study I can't help feeling that the old pen and notebook might not "sync" very well.

So I've begun exploring what others do with online research diaries (other keywords: learning, study, search, log, journal, notebook, scrapbook...?).  So far, I haven't seen anyone using a tool or combination of tools in ways that would achieve all I would desire from a digital system for tracking my [research, learning, study, thinking, notes].

As I couldn't work out where to begin my jumble of thoughts I tried a new (to me) online mind mapping tool that I heard offered embed-ability.  Unfortunately Mindomo took a long time to load, so I'm guessing its embeds would too.  It doesn't contain all the notes I have in my diary yet, perhaps I'll add them later - but I'm curious how it will look, so:



Right, so I'd have to edit the width parameters to get the vertical scroll bar perhaps?  I tried fiddling with the html for that, but couldn't work it out - any suggestions?

Related articles Zotero'd (so far) via kwout

(Dan Stillman reported progress on "formatted references" from the API (of which I have a bare glimmer of comprehension) but which I guess is approaching embeddability?, if not yet for me. If embeddability ever arrives I hope it will let abstracts be used so I can embed an annotated bibliography)

Update: I've since discovered that Zotero could serve, with standalone notes, although it would not offer the potential for direct feedback that a blog would.