Innovation InfoIsland is a sim devoted to the innovative thinking and projects of educators, librarians and information technologists. The intent of the sim is to give these thinkers,  inventors and designers -- imaginative residents--a place to work, create and display their ideas in a beautiful setting reminiscent of New Orleans.

Lorelei Junot (Lori Bell in real life) started the event with a brief introduction. She recongized Daisyblue Hefferman for coordinating activity on the sim Kate Miranda for event planning. She went on to thank all who had exhibits there and encouraged other groups with innovative ideas to contact her.

The first presentation of the morning was by Rodolfo Mirabella and Maggie Larimore of The AZIRE Library on Innovation Infoislands. Mirabella and Larimore described their research into the psychology of psychic experiences, training a new generation of researchers and the importance of Second Life libraries and museums to the education process. Their almost 30 years of collaboration in real life research and education has focused on the out-of-body experience and the history of parapsychology. Larimore describe the many information resources in the AZIRE Library on Innovation InfoIsland, the Discussion Room, the Learning Center, and the Bookshop in Chilbo. During the subsequent discussion, a question from the audience addressed the benefit gained from presenting information in SL as opposed to just making a website. "In SL it's [information] more immersive and more compelling, on the website there' still a certain amount of that old static feeling so it's the interactivity and also the potential for reaching students and colleagues all over the world cheaply or for free that are benefits of SL."

Linden mentioned some of the innovative sims like Land of Lincoln and Bradburyville that have been developed by the librarian community. He also used the story quests created by Jenaia Morane and Marty Snowpaw of the Virtual World Story Project as an example of an innovative use of SL. During the discussion of creative expression and arts in SL Linden mentioned his article in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research entitled "Artistic Expression in Second Life: What can we learn from creative pioneers of new mediums?" Linden said, "There's something about SL that facilitates people coming together from very different backgrounds and expertise and collaborate. The most amazing things happen when people collaborate." He said that some of the reasons he believes SL fosters innovation include the ease with which people in different fields can collaborate. "There are many ways to communicate, and one's identity is more malleable in SL," he said. This "allows people to socialize in a very free-form way and makes it easier to step out of your own perspective," said Linden. Comments from the audience acknowledged this observation, pointing out that it is easier to go to conferences outside your own discipline in SL than in real life. Linden ended the presentation by encouraging people to share how they innovate in SL by blogging, presenting at conferences, and writing papers so others can benefit from the work and to "pave the road for other people to innovate."

During lunchtime on Innovation Infoisland guests were 'fed' with beautiful classical music by violinist Young Zeid (Xi Yang in real life) and the ambient electronic innovations of AldoManutio Abruzzo sponsored by Music Island Concerts.

Then at 2 p.m. SLT innovation continued with a panel discussion about "Innovation in Education & Libraries." Valerie Hill (Valibrarian Gregg in SL), Esther Grassian (Alexandria Knight in SL) Elaine Plybon (Celestia Cazaletin SL), Sheila Webber (Sheila Yoshikawa in SL), Keith Mitchell (Larry Klugman in SL), and Marianne Malmstrom (Knowclue Kidd in SL) described how they use SL to convey information and teach students.

The next presentation of the afternoon was by Krull Quar who show the audience "Cool Tools in Second Life" and provide several useful tools for free. Quar talked about tools which allow administrators and program developers to mine and collect data about their audience and participants and even interact with them.

Then Kate Miranda of Music Island Concerts and Jay Ackroyd of Virtually Speaking led a discourse about the role of the Arts in SL and public conversations about the social, economic, political and scientific issues that confront the modern world. What are particular challenges and opportunities that confront them as content providers and how can collaboration help address some of those challenges.

The rest of the evening was a fun celebration with singing by Satin Galli and Erin68 Frog, winners of the Anthology Awards 2009 for Best Duo and the Live Entertainment Music Awards 2009. And then a concert at the island jazz club featuring Cindy Ecksol.

All in all it was a spectacular event, a treat for mind, heart, and soul showing the promise and wonder that Second Life has to offer. Bravo!