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Text by VERDE OTAARED
Photos by PI ILLIOS and VERDE OTAARED
 The Grand Opening of Innovation InfoIsland was celebrated with a smörgåsbord of intellectual and artistic delights. A day filled with stimulating presentations, panel, book, and thought-provoking discussions on the process of innovation and the use of Second Life, diverse musical treats, dancing and a keynote by Pathfinder Linden awaited visitors on October 3.
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."
For further mental stimulation, Maxito Ricardo, (Tom Peters, founder and CEO of TAP Information Services in real life) led a book discussion of "The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm" by Tom Kelley and Jonathan Littman. "I found reading the book a good exercise in getting me thinking about how innovation happens," said Ricardo. He went on to describe the 5-step design process that author Kelley describes in the book. "First, understand the situation and the need. In North America, we tend to jump over this step. We all think we already understand the need. He cautions us to slow down and take the first step seriously," explained Ricardo. Step 2 is to observe the group you are designing for closely. "Behavior trumps opinions and verbal feedback every time," said Ricardo. The third step is to visualize your product or service in action, paying close attention to the experience. The fourth step is to evaluate and refine prototypes in a series of rapid iterations. The final stage is implementation. In considering innovation and libraries, Ricardo said, "I actually think that with a little tweaking many libraries could become very creative environments." After Ricardo's cogent summary, a lively discussion on how organizations like libraries can foster innovation and how Second Life helps facilitate innovation by making rapid and inexpensive prototyping possible. One attendee also quipped that being in SL makes it easier to meet and live through one's creative inner child.
 At 11 a.m. SLT Pathfinder Linden addressed a large crowd providing his view of "Innovation in Education in Second Life." In her introduction Lorelei Junot said, "I am so glad we have Pathfinder Linden here to give the keynote opening address. First, I would like to recognize Gospel Voom who built this beautiful island and made it available to us. He is an innovative and wonderful builder and created the beautiful New Orleans atmosphere. I would also like to thank Daisyblue Hefferman, Krull Quar and Kate Miranda for all their work on this sim."
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!
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 October 2009 10:47 |
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Most of the conference was held on Squirrel Island, Learning Times' sim. After a brief introduction by Corwin Howlett, the conference facilitator,Wiglaf Kukulcan (Chris Haller in real life; Public Agenda) led five avatars in a demonstration of an e-deliberation on global warming. "A deliberation differs from a debate in that it keeps people's minds open to different options rather than trying to persuade or pointing out pros and cons of a viewpoint," explained Kukulcan. During the virtual deliberation some SL tools such as group IM, personal IM and local chat were used to facilitate polling and discussions. At the end of the deliberation each of the five participants were asked how a virtual deliberation compared to a real life deliberation. Buffy Beale said, "it doesn't feel different... not quite as nervewracking not seeing eveyone in person. It feels very involved and engaged but maybe not as nervous. SL is fantastic and a really good tool for communications." The other participants echoed Buffy's feelings that it was more relaxed but otherwise similar to real life deliberation.
Next attendees ventured off Squirrel Island to attend field trips. Each avatar was assigned two of four possible field trips for an immersive experience of SL and how organizations are creating learning experiences for stakeholders. At Tufts University SL is being used to duplicate a small town in Massachusetts to engage residents of the town in community planning. In the Center for Water Studies there are six distinct water habits including a mangrove swamp, a coral barrier reef, and an ocean beach to help visitors understand the need to protect endangered water habitats. Virtual Native Lands informs and engages people in issues of importance to tribal nations -- water shortages, pollution, and depletion of fish stocks. The EcoCommons is part of TechSoup and offers support and an in-world network for nonprofits whose mission relates to the environment. In the tour, attendees visited parcels run by Sierra Club and the Mountain Lion Foundation.
Virtual Deliberation
After the invigorating field trips and a brief break, conference attendees were back on Squirrel Island for a panel discussion of the best practices for effectively using SL. The panel consisted of the guides from the field trips: Warren Pikajuna (Justin Hollander, Ph.D., AICP in RL), Assistant Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University; Penguin Kuhn (Megan Keane in RL), the Online Community Manager for TechSoup Global and manager of Nonprofit Commons in SL; and Delia Lake (Linda Kelley in RL) manager of the Center for Water Studies. When asked what benefits SL has made to their real life work all panelist agreed that SL allows people to form connections that would be unlikely in real life. Kuhn mentioned an example of two nonprofit organizations learning about each other through their participation in the Nonprofit Commons and, as a result, began to work together in real life.
Lucida Skytower leads the World Cafe
The final event of the conference was a mini World Cafe where participants formed small groups to engage in dialogue about the appropriateness and usefulness of SL. A World Cafe is based on design principles and is a way of having more meaninful conversations with each other. The heart of this type of interaction is the recognition that everyone has something of value to share, each voice has something vital to share. Lucida Skytower (Amy Lenzo in real life) was the facilitator and the report from this session will be used to create guidelines for best practice use of SL and other virtual realities for stakeholder engagement and education.
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by BLUEANGEL LUNGU
Photos by WINTER WARDHANI
 Rachelville is named after a seven-year-old child, Rachel, who created a make believe world of her own. In Second Life this place recreates a world of pure imagination and gives visitors a chance to rediscover the beauty of children’s stories.
Rocky Vallejo and Cindy Elkhart (married in real life and Second Life) are the “parents” of this project. The decision to transform their daughter’s world in a virtual reality setting was something they were not sure they wanted to do. But life has its own way of making things happen and Rachelville, on Imagination Island, gained life with the help of the Alliance Library System and some friends. As Rocky explains, “There was never any intention on our part of bringing Rachel's persona into SL. Every year we donate money in her name to a different organization and at the end of 2006 we decided to donate a sum to the Alliance Library System in Rachel's name for their use in any way they saw fit within the SL Libraries project.” This became the starting point for Imagination Island to be born in SL. Rocky received a call from Lori Bell (Lorelei Junot), at the Alliance Library System, telling him she would like to “use the donation to partly finance a new sim called Imagination Island” and inviting Rocky and Cindy to “coordinate one half of it as a children's literature library called Rachelville.” Accepting this idea was a hard decision, Rocky said, “I was resistant to Lori's idea at first. I felt that it might be too hard for us. But Lori is a powerful force and a kind hearted soul so in the end, after talking with [Cindy], we agreed to give the project a try.”
The importance of Children’s Literature
 Rachelville has a specific place dedicated to this theme. The Castle of Dreams “contains a large collection of resources on classic children’s literature” as described on the note card you can get when you arrive at Imagination Island. Asked about the impact of this kind of book in SL, Rocky thinks that it “would come as a resource/teaching tool for parents, caregivers, librarians and others who work with children. “It’s like an improvement for adults to live the fantasy world they once left behind and to relearn,” because in his opinion, “children’s literature also allows adults to touch the child in themselves.” One of the nicest things happening here is that some adults have gone to Rachelville and have “found the text to an old fairy tale that their mother used to tell them. They're excited about it.” According to Rocky, “children's literature can waken that imaginative, innovative child inside each of us.”
Projects and Activities
 The owners and mentors of this sim have plenty of ideas to develop and promote Rachelville and everyone can join them and be an active participant at these events. “We have a book discussion group called Sky Tales. It meets once every
couple months to discuss a topic like graphic novels or gay/lesbian themes in children's literature. But there are also displays on the Rachelville Plaza about once every couple of months covering different themes: ”We've done Back to School, Cinco de Mayo, an exhibit of photos taken of and by African children, Palestinian culture and many others. Right now we're working on a space station up above Rachelville, a children’s/YA collection, which will also have rotating displays featuring themes and authors in fantasy and Sci-Fi.” Besides the activities related with literature, Rachelville also has a support place for people who have lost their loved ones in real life: “It offers resources on working through grief. We're working with a college group right now on developing activities and events associated with this collection,” Rocky said.
Planning the Future
With the project already heading its main course and getting positive reactions from everyone that hears and knows of it, Rocky says that in the future they hope “to see more school librarians and teachers make use of Rachelville. We have a large meeting area above the Plaza. We'd like to get more folks who work with children's and young adult’s literature in RL involved in the project. We have a new gift shop ably run by a very creative person, Rachel Muldoon. We'd like to get more people over to the gift shop to see some of the wonderful things that Rachel, Evie Mikazuki and others have made and donated to the shop (all profits go to the AVL project).”
 Imagination Island
How Did It All Start
As so many children we all know, Rachel had the capacity of creating new places and her imagination was full of fairy tales and make believe worlds. This unique place, recreated now at the metaverse, was the escape she imagined “during her nine months of cancer treatment. It was a place where she could go to escape the intensity of all that she was dealing with in real life. She used her stuffed animals to play characters in Rachelville and Diana (her mom, aka Cindy in SL) and I played various roles along with her. We normally played it for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening,” says Rocky. So Rachel’s great imagination was the main reason why we can visit this place in SL. Knowing the idea, it was time to make it all happen and for that Rocky and Cindy had the help of some friends who ventured into this project with them giving it shape, color and life. “We had the help of a great man and friend, Brian Barnes (BrianA Corleone in SL). Brian and I met soon after I came into SL, a conversation was started and a friendship developed. Brian and I tend to be the crazies in the Rachelville crew, we throw out ideas, make fun of each other, a mock battle breaks out, and then Cindy walks in and bangs heads together and we come up with a great idea! Brian, Cindy and I built about 2/3 of the project” says Rocky. But like most projects in SL other friends joined the team and helped create Rachelville: Julia Hathor, who developed the Secret Garden; Sonja Morgwain developed a lovely underwater garden under the Secret Garden; Brackish Ludwig, Abbey Zenith, Baltar Torok, Dare2B Wise and others were also important to help give birth to this project.
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Bradburyville is devoted to the work and life of Ray Bradbury, with a focus on the novel "Fahrenheit 451." Other Bradbury novels featured on the island include "Dandelion Wine," "the Martian Chronicles," and "Something Wicked This Way Comes." The entire area was created by Alliance Library System.
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On July 16th close to 50 avatars attended the "Using Virtual Reality for Stakeholder Engagement" Conference in Second Life. This one-day conference was organized by 