Second Life: A science library presence in virtual reality

Science and Technology Libraries

Volumn 27, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 79-86

  Swanson, Kari ^a  

^a YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

3 D; Library possibilities; Second life; Virtual environment; Virtual reality

Indexed keywords

COMPUTER GRAPHICS; INFORMATION SERVICES; THREE DIMENSIONAL; VIRTUAL REALITY;

LIBRARY SERVICES; ONLINE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT; VIRTUAL REALITY GAME;

DIGITAL LIBRARIES;

EID: 34548314628     PISSN: 0194262X     EISSN: 15411109     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J122v27n03_06     Document Type: Article

References (6)

1. Avatar. Representation of a person in a virtual environment. This representation can be graphical, either 2- or 3-dimensional, and may include movement and/or sound.
2. Simulator. In Second Life, the term simulator or sim refers to "square, named region of landmass that makes up part of the Second Life world. Despite what you may have learned from certain games, a sim in Second Life is a region of land, not an avatar or character." (http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/index.php?action= glossary¤t-page=2).
3. Massively multi-player online game. Computer game that is networked such that people from different physical locations can play simultaneously in the same virtual space. The term "massively multi-player" refers to the fact that very large numbers (hundreds of thousands) of people can play at the same time. These games are networked and available on the Internet.
4. SLurl. These URLs are links to the position of the target on the "satellite" map of Second Life on the Web. From the satellite map, one can use the SLurl to teleport an avatar to a location in SL from the Web.
5. Virtual Environment. "An artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one's actions partially determine what happens in the environment." (Merriam Webster's Dictionary Online) Virtual reality. See Virtual Environment.
6. HUD (Heads-Up Display). Part of the user interface of a game. In Second Life HUD attachments to the interface are customizable.