On 22 June 2008, I was born in Second Life. For the newbies out there, “RL” means Real Life and “SL” stands for Second Life. My avatar’s name is JayCee Galicia. JayCee, obviously, for my initials in RL, and Galicia from the list of 20 SL last names made available to me when I registered. Why did I choose Galicia? Well, it’s my favorite province in Spain. And, that’s another story for another post.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you (drum roll….): JayCee Galicia!

The first Group I joined was the ASTD Forum, established by the American Society for Training and Development. Unfortunately, they get together during lunch hour Pacific Time, and I’m at work with no computer access to Second Life. One day, I may bring my laptop and go to Starbucks, or some place where I can WiFi into the ASTD Forum at noon to meet the Forum members.

Here’s JayCee Galicia in SL’s Welcome Island, the first sim a newly born avatar awakes in after registration and login are successful.

The blond avatar to the right mentored me through my first hour. He and his wife have a lovely sim that is now my home base. They are from British Columbia, Canada, and they run a business in Second Life:

Paektu 23, 117, 91 (Mature)
A Stained Glass: Antique Furniture Antiques Clothing

Rick Hudson and Candace Hudson are very warm, welcoming people. They host about 300 avatars total, mostly newbies, and they do not allow role plays. If you teleport to their location, you must be who you are in RL. Below, you see me in front of a blazing fireplace with an inspiring view of the … Canadian Rockies?

Why Am I in Second Life?

Because I want to see what professionals from both the academic and the corporate sides of the learning world are doing in a virtual world. Training (Learning) is going on in Second Life, and I want to experience it. Why? Because I believe that one day, I will be facilitating a learning event inside a virtual world. Others are doing it, and I want to give it a try as well.

Why? Well, as my blog’s tag line says: I’m “Always Learning”, and I want to keep up with the learning world!

(Besides, it’s a ton of fun! I can FLY in Second Life, er, I mean, JayCee Galicia can fly!)

If you are in Second Life, please add me as a Friend.

For the ultra-newbies, to learn more, visit:

www.SecondLife.com; see also www.LindenLabs.com

Update – Later the Next Day….

Karl Kapp, who’s in my Blogroll, keeps his pulse on Second Life, other virtual worlds, and how organizations in both the public and private sector are training their learners successfully “in world”. Please visit his post: Practice Makes Perfect in Virtual World (27 June 2008).

Another SL Resource (7/9/2008)

Through Karl’s kind comment below, I followed the link to SL Trip Tips, a great “in world” resource!

More to come on SL in future posts!

Seriously, even though this is not a video but a Slideshare.com presentation, I was very impressed by it.

Bernadette Daly Swanson, a Librarian at the University of California at Davis, has published an engaging and informative presentation on how academic and public libraries effectively use SL. (Her faculty page.)

Take a look at her presentation….

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Confession & Who’s Having Fun Now
When I was in high school, and even through my undergraduate college years, I wanted to be a university librarian. I was young and single, then. People discouraged me from that career choice. They told me the job didn’t pay well, and that librarians didn’t have much fun.

“Who wants to check out an encyclopedia?” they’d say, hinting that I wouldn’t get asked out on dates if I was a Librarian. I didn’t want to be perceived as a walking encyclopedia back then.

Well, from my current vantage point of a non-Web 2.0 and non-elearning 2.0, traditional corporate training department sitting behind a firewall fortress, with regulatory and network security folks constantly on watch….Bernadette and her fellow librarian avatars are having a ton more e-learning 2.0 fun than I am!

Hmmm…but, according to her presentation, the research indicates that all learning professionals will be involved in SL in the near future. I look forward to that day, as long as the learners actually learn. But, I’m not going to wait until I get the official mandate.

It’s Time for SL
It’s time I visit SL despite my full schedule. Why? Bernadette’s presentation has kicked me over the edge out of complacency because, as a Librarian, she’s having way more educational fun than I am in my somewhat traditional, corporate world. (I coulda been a Librarian; look at what I’m missing out on!)

And, like Bernadette, because I believe that SL will be a part of the general training world sooner than the regulators and network security folks might want. The needs of the business and of the learners will require it. As blended learning begins to replace first-generation e-learning, I believe SL will replace Webinars. So, good-bye WebEx, Citrix, Adobe Connect…hello Second Life (or a behind-the-firewall, purchased version)!

That means I need to prepare myself to gain the skills and tools I’ll need to be a virtual-world facilitator.

Besides, we’ll all have nice physiques like the Librarians’ avatars without going to the gym!

Note: I haven’t researched the Librarian career field lately. Just for fun, I went to Flickr.com to try and find a photo of a fuddy-duddy librarian. Ohmygosh how things have changed!

21st Century Librarians on Flickr.com

Sigh. They are having way too much fun. At least I’m “Always Learning”!

Update! Alternatives to Second Life

Look what Karl Kapp has posted on his blog…a list of “behind-the-firewall” virtual world companies! Woo-hoo!

http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2008/06/alternatives-to-second-life.html

Thanks, Karl! I am also adding you to my Blogroll.

Wow, Another Update!

And, I just found Dr. Tony Karrer’s post on SL videos that show you how others use SL for their learning activities. I can’t wait for the weekend!

http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/06/second-life-learning-videos.html