Posted on 03/26/2008 at 02:56:43 PM by Tom Peters
[Robin Williams is the newest member of the ALA TechSource Blog Team. Welcome, Robin! Recently she and I met and chatted on ALA Island in Second Life, the 3-dimensional virtual world. The text chat transcript of our conversation is pasted below. Greylin Fairweather is the name of Robin's avatar in Second Life, and Maxito Ricardo is my avatar.]
-- Tom Peters (interim editor of the TechSource blog)
[12:58] Greylin Fairweather: Maxito Ricardo!
[12:58] Maxito Ricardo: Hi, Greylin
[13:00] Maxito Ricardo: Welcome to the TS blogging team!
[13:00] Greylin Fairweather: Thank you : )
[13:00] Greylin Fairweather: I'm very excited about it
[13:02] Maxito Ricardo: What are your thoughts, hopes, fears, etc. as you begin your TechSource blogging thingy?
[13:03] Greylin Fairweather: I hope to bring relevant school library technology information in an interesting and useful way.
[13:03] Maxito Ricardo: great!
[13:03] Greylin Fairweather: I am a born techie, but a literature major so I can usually make it accessible.
[13:03] Maxito Ricardo: Hey, I'm an old lit major myself.
[13:03] Maxito Ricardo: Anything in that area really have you revved up at the moment?
[13:04] Greylin Fairweather: I'm doing a lot with documenting the ephemeral
[13:04] Greylin Fairweather: how do you capture what you do on the internet, from web pages to virtual worlds
[13:04] Maxito Ricardo: Great need for more study, research, and tools in that area.
[13:05] Greylin Fairweather: I've been working with Dr. Loertscher a lot on the 21st century librarian concept
[13:06] Greylin Fairweather: and rather than just focus on bringing the social networking computing into the library, I like looking into what the essential characteristics of online communities are and how to translate the best of it into the REAL world.
[13:05] Maxito Ricardo: Are you finishing up your graduate work at San Jose State University?
[13:06] Greylin Fairweather: I finish this semester, yes
[13:07] Maxito Ricardo: I've been pondering the essence of virtual communities, but haven't gotten much past some unstructured pondering.
[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: lol anytime you want to coponder on that I'm in. : )
[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: I've written a little bit and have more planned on it
[13:07] Maxito Ricardo: If we coponder, does that make us a virtual community?
[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: haha
[13:07] Greylin Fairweather: virtually ; p
[13:08] Maxito Ricardo: Coponderers Anonymous!
[13:08] Greylin Fairweather: rofl
[13:08] Greylin Fairweather: I'm doing an internship for Sun Microsystems
[13:08] Maxito Ricardo: So, how are we going to keep track of all this collaborative work we are doing online and in virtual worlds?
[13:09] Maxito Ricardo: Oh, and I want to hear more about your internship at Sun.
[13:09] Greylin Fairweather: screen capture, web capture, machinima
[13:09] Maxito Ricardo: screencasts, podcasts...
[13:09] Greylin Fairweather: And we can share it with posts blogs, ustream and blip, etc
[13:09] Greylin Fairweather: you tube, etc
[13:10] Greylin Fairweather: My biggest concern is that I am very much a practical, this is what you DO kinda gal
[13:10] Greylin Fairweather: rather than a theoretical researcher
[13:10] Maxito Ricardo: You are very action and outcomes oriented?
[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: Yes
[13:11] Maxito Ricardo: That's great
[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: I'm a teacher to the core,
[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: 13+ years
[13:11] Greylin Fairweather: and I like to share useful how to's, solutions
[13:11] Maxito Ricardo: Speaking of outcomes, this ALA Island is beautiful.
[13:12] Greylin Fairweather: Aww thanks. I still think of our part as more of a beginning
[13:12] Greylin Fairweather: but I love the layout, it's just so easy to navigate
[13:12] Maxito Ricardo: yes, very open and inviting.
[13:12] Maxito Ricardo: For some reason, I always think of an Olympic Village.
[13:12] Greylin Fairweather: lol It's the flags
[13:12] Maxito Ricardo: Maybe this will become the Info Olympics Village!
[13:13] Greylin Fairweather: you should have one to coincide with the real olympics, how fun would that be?
[13:13] Maxito Ricardo: Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day imagining Info Olympics Events.
[13:13] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:14] Maxito Ricardo: Retrocon is the marathon.
[13:14] Maxito Ricardo: Reference is Greco-Roman wrestling
[13:14] Greylin Fairweather: rofl
[13:14] Greylin Fairweather: that would be hilarious
[13:14] Greylin Fairweather: For me the greatest bit of the whole virtual world thing is that, as a parent of 2 kids under the age of 5, I get to be home with them and, frankly, am more productive than I would be in a politics-driven cubicle.
[13:14] Maxito Ricardo: great point
[13:15] Maxito Ricardo: Lots of us in SL seem to have young families.
[13:15] Maxito Ricardo: We have four kids, and three of them are three years old.
[13:15] Greylin Fairweather: and I get access--direct access--to a lot of brilliant minds and thinkers that I would not otherwise get to engage with.
[13:15] Maxito Ricardo: So, often when the kids are in bed, I pop into SL as a way to get away while still being within earshot.
[13:15] Greylin Fairweather: I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old
[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: That must be fun.
[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: Yes! We've left the discos for SL lol
[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: My kids are all hopped up on Easter candy at the moment.
[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: haha mine too
[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: no leaving our kids with unreliable babysitters
[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: no need to invest in nanny cams
[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: exactly, waste gas, etc
[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: Did you go to Life 2.0 at all?
[13:16] Maxito Ricardo: no, I didn't
[13:16] Greylin Fairweather: omg it was amazing
[13:17] Greylin Fairweather: all these guys, Nick Yee, Castronova, whose work I love, right there, super stuff
[13:17] Maxito Ricardo: Oh, I love Castronova's work
[13:17] Greylin Fairweather: and that's the great thing about these places, they're filling with useful interactive content.
[13:18] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah! He talked about the exodus to the virtual world
[13:18] Maxito Ricardo: I agree...perhaps faster than the Web filled up with useful interactive content?
[13:18] Greylin Fairweather: perhaps, the way tech moves
[13:18] Greylin Fairweather: but everything we learn here, can be applied out there.
[13:18] Maxito Ricardo: He studies how VW economic activity is having an impact on the real world economies.
[13:19] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah : ) Loved Synthetic worlds
[13:19] Maxito Ricardo: Hey, we could blame the current recession on SL!
[13:19] Greylin Fairweather: lol nah
[13:20] Greylin Fairweather: although...I would spend more money out there, if it made me look that much better with a click
[13:20] Maxito Ricardo: lol
[13:19] Maxito Ricardo: What do you think librarians will be doing in VW's in, say, ten years?
[13:20] Greylin Fairweather: I think that they'll be interactive testing grounds that help us make or improve quality interactive, participatory libraries.
[13:20] Greylin Fairweather: I love the whole third space concept
[13:21] Greylin Fairweather: and anyone who has been in here reads it and thinks, yep, that is what this place is.
[13:21] Maxito Ricardo: VW's are a quick, inexpensive protyping lab.
[13:21] Greylin Fairweather: Where can I safely meet strangers and exchange ideas?
[13:21] Maxito Ricardo: right
[13:21] Greylin Fairweather: They are, and most useful when we carry the ideas out
[13:22] Maxito Ricardo: I've only felt really creeped out in SL only once.
[13:22] Maxito Ricardo: I guess I need to get out more often!
[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: haha
[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: Well and you can always teleport here
[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: Dr. Loertscher was telling me that video games were being blamed for all sorts of ills, obesity, etc
[13:22] Greylin Fairweather: but I think the truth might be somewhat the reverse
[13:23] Maxito Ricardo: yes, teleportation adds a certain edge to any in-world interaction
[13:23] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:23] Greylin Fairweather: I think that people are scared, and there are few third places (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place), so we stay in.
[13:24] Maxito Ricardo: yes, we all seem to be hunkering down in our real lives.
[13:24] Greylin Fairweather: and since we're in so long, people have developed excellent things to do indoors
[13:24] Greylin Fairweather: supply and demand lol
[13:24] Maxito Ricardo: Do you think virtual worlds have created another aspect of the digital divide?
[13:25] Greylin Fairweather: I think there is a divide anywhere...
[13:25] Maxito Ricardo: yea, any tech advance is going to create a divide.
[13:25] Greylin Fairweather: hopefully technology will drop in price so that more people can afford it
[13:25] Greylin Fairweather: but I'm sure the TV created a digital divide at some point
[13:25] Maxito Ricardo: Until you get to the point where 99.9 percent of the households have adopted that tech
[13:26] Greylin Fairweather: right
[13:26] Greylin Fairweather: there needs to be some infrastructure to make that happen
[13:26] Maxito Ricardo: Virtual worlds seem to be a great place for collaborative networking.
[13:26] Greylin Fairweather: It is unfortunate that some areas don't have access to high speed access. That is to me, a denial of their right to information.
[13:27] Greylin Fairweather: I would never have been contacted by Sun without it.
[13:27] Maxito Ricardo: "Access" is another thorny concept I ponder often.
[13:27] Greylin Fairweather: I think how many years I wrote papers for instructors that no one ever saw, I never got feedback etc
[13:27] Maxito Ricardo: Yea, no comments box for anyone who reads to comment.
[13:27] Greylin Fairweather: Here everything I do is seen and I get lots of feedback lol so I strive to make better work than ever.
[13:28] Maxito Ricardo: In college, we rarely shared our papers with our peers...weird
[13:28] Greylin Fairweather: and it has made me more relaxed about revisions and input
[13:28] Greylin Fairweather: I heard the term "mobsourcing" the other day and loved it
[13:28] Maxito Ricardo: Every info object becomes a work in progress...never finished unless everyone moves on to something else
[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: You make something, you want input? You want to improve it? Mobsource it for free.
[13:29] Maxito Ricardo: mobsourcing...love it
[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: There are millions of people in search of a purpose.
[13:29] Maxito Ricardo: Everyone has two cents to give
[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: everyone really
[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: exactly
[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: Focus groups, shmocus groups
[13:29] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:29] Maxito Ricardo: Seems like we need better ways to tap into the wisdom of crowds.
[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: This is it
[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: right
[13:30] Maxito Ricardo: Reading umpteen comments to a blog post isn't very efficient.
[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: one way
[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: and how can we do this in real life?
[13:30] Greylin Fairweather: instead of one painting on the wall, how about an lcd screen with a voice thread of art
[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: how can everyone participate?
[13:31] Maxito Ricardo: Or make it really easy for people to provide feedback and updates.
[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: Yes!
[13:31] Maxito Ricardo: Like a mashup that charts the spread of sickness in a neighborhood.
[13:32] Maxito Ricardo: As David Pogue at the NY Times wrote, now you find out that all your neighbors have been sick only after you're all well again!
[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: How many times have you let your local reference librarian know how they can better serve you?
[13:31] Greylin Fairweather: I have never done it, have you?
[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: I'm a librarian and half the time they intimidate me
[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:32] Maxito Ricardo: Yea, the RW library service interaction doesn't really invite feedback.
[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: Right, use the international technology to unite the local community.
[13:32] Greylin Fairweather: but I guarantee in here you'd get feedback
[13:33] Maxito Ricardo: That's true
[13:33] Maxito Ricardo: If I had a nickel for every time I had to announce I'm bald in-world by choice...
[13:33] Greylin Fairweather: So what happens in here that makes it easy to give it and what can we do in real life to make it easier out there
[13:33] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah I don't really have white hair
[13:33] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:34] Maxito Ricardo: Yes, I don't get a sense that people who are really active in virtual worlds have "written off" the real world.
[13:34] Greylin Fairweather: No, quite the opposite
[13:35] Maxito Ricardo: They always want to bring the good stuff back to real life and real needs.
[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: Everything I have read suggests that people are, with a few exceptions, more or less as they are in real life, characterwise
[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: leaders are leaders, educators are educators, etc.
[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: The philanthropists are doing their thing
[13:35] Maxito Ricardo: ponderers are ponderers
[13:35] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:36] Maxito Ricardo: I'm laughing so hard I'm waking Max my dog from his nap
[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: haha
[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: And I tend to have a lot of great laughs in here
[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: I'm not sure people who aren't in realize that.
[13:36] Maxito Ricardo: What are you doing as an intern at Sun?
[13:36] Greylin Fairweather: Mostly machinima at present, which I enjoy greatly.
[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: I wish I knew how to make machinima...it's so cool
[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: Does it take a long time to learn?
[13:37] Greylin Fairweather: They found me through a little video I had made in response to some posters in a student forum debating the use of virtual worlds
[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: Do you learn best by doing?
[13:37] Greylin Fairweather: about ten minutes, but don't tell or I might lose my gig
; p
[13:37] Greylin Fairweather: I do.
[13:37] Maxito Ricardo: short internship!
[13:38] Greylin Fairweather: haha I'm doing it, and showing them how
[13:38] Greylin Fairweather: I'm working on a variety of different projects
[13:38] Greylin Fairweather: I made a quest bot based on the ALICE artificial intelligence stuff
[13:38] Maxito Ricardo: Sun seems to be one of the more active and innovative organizations here in SL
[13:39] Greylin Fairweather: They are really amazing. Very dedicated to contributing to the community
[13:39] Greylin Fairweather: They sponsored Life 2.0
[13:43] Maxito Ricardo: well, I don't want to keep you.
[13:44] Maxito Ricardo: We like to have some fun with the ALA TS blog
[13:44] Maxito Ricardo: I look forward to working with you on the blog!
[13:44] Greylin Fairweather: Yeah! Your avatar name is so musical lol I love to say it
[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: He was like, you know Tom and I thought, really?
[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: OH Maxito Ricardo!
[13:45] Maxito Ricardo: Christy Confetti at Sun is the only person I know with a better RL name than avatar name.
[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: haha yeah
[13:45] Greylin Fairweather: She's great
[13:46] Greylin Fairweather: Robin Williams is hardly a name at all.....overused!
[13:46] Maxito Ricardo: Tom Peters is too!
[13:46] Greylin Fairweather: lol
[13:46] Maxito Ricardo: We should start another librarian club: Librarians with names that are more recognizable than they are
[13:46] Maxito Ricardo: okay, thanks!
[13:47] Greylin Fairweather: Thanks!
