ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 25, 2014

Joint Meeting of the

ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group (VWIG)

and the

ALA Virtual Communities & Libraries Interest Group

at the ALA annual Midwinter Conference
 Saturday, 25 Jan 2014, 3 pm - 4 pm ET 
Philadelphia, PA.

 

 Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Greg) & other "real life" conference attendees in Philadelphia braved the snow to meet in the Jefferson Boardroom at the Loews Philadephia Hotel.  Val moderated the real life meeting in Philly. 

 Joe served as moderator for the in world meeting from within Second Life.

 

Attendees in Second Life gathered at the Virtual Communities Library meeting space.

Since June 2013, the ACRL-VWIG has put on 6 programs ranging in topics from MOOCs to Conference reports, to a workshop on avatar appearance.  At this business meeting, we reviewed the accomplishments and programs of our group during the last 6 months.

Joe created and is writing a blog for the ACRL Virtual World Interest Group this year to report on the groups' programs and activities.

Esther created a Pinterest Board in order to create a visual record of the groups activities. Members of the group have also been adding photos to the site.

Upcoming programs include a discussion of the revisions to the ACRL Information Literacy standards and a joint session with the ALA Virtual Worlds Committee on embedded librarians.

We also talked about Virtual Community Library plans for 2014, which include an exploration of libraries and librarians in other virtual worlds such as Inworldz and Kitely.

The meeting concluded with question & answer period. The attendees' in Philadelphia were very interested in knowing the kinds of activities librarians were engaged in within Second Life.

ACRL-Virtual Worlds Interest Group Program, December 13, 2013

"Avatar Librarians: Fashion, Appearance and Identity in Second Life"

 

presented by:

Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Instructor, Monterey Peninsula College

(Zinnia Zauber in Second Life)

and

Marcia Meister, University of California, Davis

(Hyacinth Cortes in Second Life)
 

 

For this program, Marcia provided an introduction to concepts and implications of avatar appearance and it's impact on Librarian identity in Second Life.

 

 

 

She examined how stereotypes and self-image  might influence how librarians are perceived as professionals in vitural worlds. She pointed out that immersive environments aim for authentic, realistic representation and, that appearance and dress are two of the important tools librarians have of constructing identities for themselves as professionals in Second Life.  These aspects really do have an impact on relationships and interactions in virtual worlds.

 

 

 

 

Marcia provided an overview of current research on avatar appearance in virtual worlds and  highlighted the findings of a study that examined how librarians establish "professional identitys" in Second Life.  A study by Lorri Mon found that an upgraded avatar appearance was necessary to convey credibility, help create professional identity and build levels of trust while provding information services within Second Life.

 

 

The current literature suggests that one of the tools avatar librarians can use to help establish strong social networking connections and a sense of authenticity in their interactions with Second Life residents is achieved by upgrading avatar appearance.  Findings suggest that avatar appearance and dress DO help convey professional credibility to residents of virtual worlds.

 

 

  For the second part of this program, Renne Brock-Richmond highlighted activities and principals  she uses in her workshops, to help virtual world educators & librarians create authentic avatars.

 

 

Using comparisons with story elements, she demonstrated how virtual world professionals could create awareness and highlight their own identities by working on their avatar's appearance.

 

Renne's holistic approach considered everything from the mission of librarians in virtual worlds to facets one should consider when developoing one's avatar appearance.

 

 

 

The activities that participants of her workshops engage in are designed to show, that, for librarians and educators working in Second Life, ones' avatar is a visual representation of  who you are, and what you represent.  Ones' avatar becomes an expression of ones'  prefessional reputation.