Curatorial Work and Learning in Virtual Environments: A Virtual World Project to Support the NDIIPP Community June 19, 2009

First Workshop on Innovation in Digital Preservation, JCDL 2009

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People

EdFox RiekoEdward Fox

zamfir PauleSpencer Lee

Krad ProtoSeungwon Yang

Gary OctagonGary Marchionini

mantruc MartianJavier Velasco-Martin

Uma AldrinUma Murthy

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Acknowledgments

• Participants in the Second Life (SL) virtual poster session

• JCDL 2009 conference staff

• AT&T conference center staff

• InDP organizers and reviewers

•award IIS-0910465 to UNC-CH•award IIS-0910183 to Virginia Tech

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Outline

• Project goals and objectives• What can/will be preserved• Managing Second Life (SL) and Real

Life (RL)• Demonstration / screen captures• How you can get involved• Discussion

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Goals

•To explore how Second Life can be leveraged in the digital curation community for purposes of improving work practices and training– Explore and understand collaboration

related to preservation using virtual environments

– Develop and assess SL services that support collaboration and training related to digital preservation

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Second Life (SL)

• General-purpose 3D virtual world

• Used for:– Business– Education– Entertainment– Social

Networks

Info International Island in SL

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Why use SL for digital preservation?

• Success of SL in various fields such as business, education, and gaming

• Results of using researching collaborative game environments

• Utility of such environments to facilitate scientific meetings

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Specific objectives

• Develop an SL region to host events and activities for digital preservation and curation

• Attract and motivate people to get involved• Facilitate participation in the SL region and

collect visitors’ feedback and ideas • Explore ways to preserve all virtual interaction• Explore issues arising from preservation of

objects, processes, and policies that have varying representations in SL and RL

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Context

• National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)

• Focus on developing active learning scenarios

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Preservation content

• Streaming videos, e.g., lectures on iRODS

• JCDL 2009 Second Life poster session

• InDP 2009 participants’ feedback and project information

• …

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Preserving Second Life• Backup and recovery of objects built in

the SL region– Experiment with Opensim (open source

version of SL server)

• Using the 5S framework to formally describe preservation systems– Societies– Scenarios– Spaces– Structures– Streams

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Second Life (SL) and Real Life (RL)• Activities

– Facilitating activities supporting sustainable communities

• Interactions– Enhancing the sense of co-presence

• Privacy– Recording user data and movements

• Data– Converting between RL and SL data

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SL & RL: Activities

• Support activities that manifest in RL & SL– Poster sessions, lectures, mentoring, social

interactions, etc.

• Attract and motivate people to participate: mentee then mentor

• Facilitate creation of sustainable communities through– Welcome area, Café/bar, Lecture village, etc.

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SL & RL: Privacy

• Recording users’ (avatars’) movements and communications (text & voice chat)

• Follow IRB and SL policies and conventions

• Respect rights of all involved in activities and discussions

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Work to-date

• Landscaped Digital Preserve region in SL

• Organized JCDL 2009 Virtual Poster Session in SL– 26 Visitors Overall – 6 Responded to Survey– 8 Joined our Digital Preserve group

• EdFox has 9 new friends!

– Valuable in-world conversations

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The Digital Preserve (DP) SL region• Welcome area • Poster garden• Café/bar• DL curriculum project area*• Lecture village*• Demo annex*• JCDL 2009 poster island • Sandbox• Area for external projects – like you!

* Areas yet to be developed

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DP region layout

Welcome Area

Café & Theatre

Poster Garden

Lecture Village

Demo Annex

DL Curriculum Project Area

External Projects Area

Sandbox (in sky)

JCDL 2009 Poster Island

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Demo

• JCDL Poster Building• Welcome Area• Lecture Village• Poster Garden• Café bar with Media Screen

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•18 posters on display•Poster view tips•Video screen

Poster Building

DEMO

20Posters & live video

DEMO

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DEMO

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•Project intro, map•Indicators for online hosts•Teleport hub

Welcome Area

DEMO

23Amphitheater at Lecture Village

DEMO

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•13 Posters grouped by project/labPoster Garden

DEMO

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Poster garden close-up

DEMO

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•Beverages•Screens•Discussion areas

CafeDEMO

Evaluation

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• Visitor counters

• Comment boxes

• JCDL Second Life poster session survey responses

Survey responses (1/2)• 6 survey respondents

– 4 in the DL field (3 in preservation) and 2 in the information management field

• All attended the online poster session– (not the RL poster session).

• Reactions to poster session have been positive.

• People liked to interact with poster authors to discuss research.

Survey responses (2/2)

• Some posters were more successful due to their design (less text, more images, etc.).– Provide multiple ways to view a poster, such as

link to web page with actual poster

• People are still getting familiar with SL and had trouble with navigation and controls (flying, sitting, IM).– Provide more handy tutorials in SL and outside

• People faced problems with live streaming, SL navigability, and usage due to network issues and computer system capacity.– Offer variety of ways to view video – such as on

the web through YouTube

Select user comments“I'll be back”

“Really exciting to be able to get a taste of the research and chat with other people about their posters. Some posters were more successful than others in this medium, b/c of design.”

“Posters are nicely stitched together for presentation in SL. I would have enjoyed talking to the authors in SL”

“Impressive! I appreciate the signage, the bar, and the IM signs. Had some nice conversations”

“Good collaboration space for synchronous geographically distributed people”

“Yes, let's collaborate with other institutions in SL who have Digital presentations that are relevant and interesting.”

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How you can get involved

• Visit Digital Preserve in SL and provide feedback on:– Poster exhibits– Activities and events that you attend at the

island– Feedback can also be provided at

http://si.dlib.vt.edu/sldp/SLDP_JCDL09_survey_consent.html

• Sign up for an area in the island for your DL and preservation project activities

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Points for discussion

– How to best demonstrate preservation concepts and approaches in SL

– How to support the preservation community in SL

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Thank you

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Project home page - http://ils.unc.edu/SLEC/

Link to SL - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Digital%20Preserve/140/126/29

Contact email - fox@vt.edu