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Here is my long-delayed field report on the Second Life Branch of the Nebraska Library Commission.

In short, I'm impressed. The thing I'm most impressed by is that the Nebraska Library Commission offers clear reasons about why they are in Second Life and what they hope to accomplish. They state this on a notecard available in the lobby:

Why we are in Second Life:

1. To network and develop professional relationships with other librarians from around the country and around the world.

2. To explore whether and how libraries might use 3-D virtual worlds to reach out to new users.

3. To gain first-hand knowledge of library activities in Second Life that we can bring back and share with interested Nebraska librarians.

Might not be compelling reasons to all, but I'm glad to see that they can explain why they're devoting resources to this in a nice soundbite.

All areas of the library appear to be represented, including Government Documents. While there is no formal display of documents that I could find, there was a notecard about Nebraska related questions that included a link to the Nebraska Documents Depository program. In addition there there several Nebraska related maps around the first floor.

The second floor is devoted to a display of photos from the Nebraska Memories database developed by multiple institutions in Nebraska. Here is a picture I took of part of the display:

Notecards describing the photos are available, as is a link directly to the photo's Nebraska Memories page where people can see more details and search for related items. It has a nice museum feel to it and as I've mentioned in previous posting on Second Life, I think musueum type displays are going to be natural for virtual worlds like Second Life.

One last nice touch by the NLC staff is a card in the lobby titled "What to do in Second Life" which features staff picks about places to go and things to do in the virtual environment. It has a mix of education and entertainment. I plan to visit several of the places listed on the card, including returning to Washtown, a Firefly inspired enviornment complete with a replica of Serenity. I went there today, but Second Life crashed on me before I could look around much. More proof that the 3D world is coming, but isn't quite here yet in the sense that the web is.

Thanks to Michael Sauers at the Nebraska Library Commission Blog for pointing out this YouTube Video on what librarians and other educator groups are doing with Second Life:

I recommend this video if you haven't tried Second Life yet. This video downloads a lot faster than SL's 30MB client software. If you're intrigued to investigate on your own, go to Second Life and get your free avatar. You're only cost will be time and a twice monthly railing at required updates.

The Education Dept's ERIC Clearinghouse gave notice of this recent report on educational potential in Second Life:

ERIC #: ED493670
Title: Proceedings of the Second Life Education Workshop, Part of the Second Life Community Convention (1st, San Francisco, California, August 18-20, 2006)

As a volume of proceedings, this is a compilation of papers. My favorite paper based solely on title from these proceedings is "Down the Rabbit Hole ... or How the NMC Took the Red Pill and Got a Second Life (Larry Johnson)."

From a government information perspective though, people might be more interested in "Designing an Educational Island inside Second Life for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) (Eric J. Hackathorn)"

Both papers can be accessed at the link above.

It also appears that at least some of the content in the ERIC database is visible to Google, since I received this link in a Google Alert. It would be interesting for someone to research whether ALL of the ERIC content is accessible through Google since we've reported on significant amounts of government information are hidden from Google.

Government agencies, like many businesses, are starting to explore Second Life and other "virtual worlds."

FGI follows them in with a new directory of Government Agencies in Virtual Worlds.

So far we've identified three federal agencies and three State Libraries in Second Life. Know about others? Leave a comment on the directory page or send an e-mail to admin AT freegovinfo dot info.

Thanks!

Here are South Carolina's virtual 3-D government spots that we know of. Know of something that isn't here? Let us know.

• South Carolina State Library - Looks like an experimental space so far. Blog Release | No Second Life link found, follow directions in "Blog Release."

Here are Kansas' virtual 3-D government spots that we know of. Know of something that isn't here? Let us know.

• State Library of Kansas - "We took on the new State Library of Kansas building as a means of promoting Kansas library services and information on the state of Kansas. The State Library of Kansas Virtual Branch was the first library to open its doors on Cybrary City." Blog Release | Visit State Library of Kansas in Second Life

Here are Nebraska's virtual 3-D government spots that we know of. Know of something that isn't here? Let us know.

• Nebraska Library Commission - "For example, at the Nebraska Library Commission in Second Life, we have installed a rotating exhibit of photos from Nebraska Memories. The photos on display will be changed on a regular basis, so there will always be something new to see!

  We will also be scheduling events and training in the upcoming months. Check back here and at our Second Life building to see what we have planned!" Blog Release | Visit NLC in Second Life

Below is a listing of US State and local governments that we know operate some sort of official presence in Second Life or some other 3-D virtual world. Know of a space we're missing? Leave a comment or send an e-mail to Admin AT freegovinfo.info.

This is a listing by State. Click on the State name for a list by state agency and local jurisdiction (if available) For each site, we list the name of the space, a short description, a link to a regular URL page and if we have it, a link into the virtual world. Please note that at least in Second Life, the pointers (called SLurls) may get you close (like on the same island), but you won't always be dropped right in front of the virtual government facility. It's not our fault. Wander around, ask people who are there.

Below is a listing of US Federal agencies that we know operate some sort of official presence in Second Life or some other 3-D virtual world. Know of a space we're missing? Leave a comment or send an e-mail to Admin AT freegovinfo.info.

This is a listing by agency. We list the name of the space, a short description, a link to a regular URL page and if we have it, a link into the virtual world. Please note that at least in Second Life, the pointers (called SLurls) may get you close (like on the same island), but you won't always be dropped right in front of the virtual government facility. It's not our fault. Wander around, ask people who are there.

• CDC
  • "Virtual CDC" - In August 2006, CDC set up its first test site for sharing public health information in an on-line, "cyber community." The community is named Second Life and has more than 3.3 million members. CDC´s member of this community is named Hygeia Philo ("lover of health"). And just like CDC staff, Hygeia is the virtual public health worker in this "virtual CDC." Press Release | Visit CDC in Second Life
• NASA
  • Virtual CoLab - Virtual component of NASA CoLab - "The goal of these initiatives is to catalyze the development of a non-traditional aerospace sector to participate in the Vision for Space Exploration." Website | Visit Virtual CoLab in Second Life
• NOAA
  • NOAA's Virtual World - "On NOAA's island, one can soar through a hurricane on the wing of a research aircraft, rise gently through the atmosphere atop a weather balloon, or search for a hidden underwater cave on a side trip from a NOAA submarine." Website | Visit NOAA's Virtual World in Second Life

As virtual worlds like Second Life, Sony's Home and other environments come online, government agencies across the planet are exploring virtual worlds as places of education, outreach, tourism promotion and more.

We at Free Government Information are agnostic about whether this is the best use of government resources and to the extent that virtual environments are proprietary and lock things with Digital Rights Management, don't support Second Life or other platforms as the best ways to access and preserve government information. But the efforts are interesting and virtual environments do seem to have great potential as educational spaces. Which is probably why units of NOAA and NASA are already in Second Life.

So we've decided to keep track of the different efforts by government agencies, including State Libraries in Second Life. Click on a link below to be taken to a directory of "virtual spaces" for that level of government. FGI welcomes contributions from any level of government from International Organizations down to local governments. Please let us know what environment the agency is operating in and where, at least roughly, we can find their offices. We'd also like a plain vanilla URL to the organization's regular web page, hopefully announcing its presence in Second Life or other virtual world.

The Nebraska Library Commission has announced a grand opening of their Second Life presence.

To the best of my personal knowledge, Nebraska is the third State Library Agency to set up shop in Second Life, following Kansas and South Carolina.

I did not see any reference to government information in Nebraska's announcement, but the Library is planning a rotating photo exhibit. Photo exhibits seemed to work well for Kansas and I wish this new effort well.

The big party is May 11, 3-5pm Central Time. I won't make it then because I can't install the Second Life client at work, but I will try to visit the NLC building and get back to you.

As promised the last time I did a Second Life related posting, I visited the virtual branch of the State Library of Kansas.

I was impressed on two levels. First by how well the virtual space works as exhibit space, as shown by this photo of some author posters:

I was also impressed by how much state government information is being dispensed through this virtual branch. Information on maps, statistical information, governor messages from 1861 forward. It was presented in a way that wasn't too difficult to use by these information kiosks:

Finally I just liked the look of the building, which is framed by a delicate rainbow:

While scouting out the State Library of Kansas, I came across the building below which proclaimed itself as "Reserved for the South Carolina State Library."

Not much there yet, but interesting that two State Libraries have staked a claim in Second Life. You can read more about the SCSL experiment at their library's IT blog.

Is it is a good way to serve government information? I'm not sure, but it's good to see people experimenting. Definitely worth visiting if you've got the bandwidth and hardware to run Second Life without ripping your hair out.

One thing I *am* sure about is that museums work for me in Second Life. Once you get used to moving and looking around, it feels like a pretty credible experience of wandering through exhibits. I hope to see more museums in Second Life.

What do you all think?

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