Graduate LIS class from University of Hawaii visiting the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life

Professor Diane Nahl (aka Adra Letov in SL) and seven of her graduate Library and Information Science (LIS) students visited the Karuna Resource Center (RC) this past week to see the types of resources and displays being featured and to speak with me about my role as the Karuna Consumer Health Librarian. We also discussed the evolving work of librarians in virtual worlds.

I welcomed the group at the front entrance and enjoyed chatting with Diane while watching her students clicking on the displays and touring the building. After exploring, the students began asking questions. I had them get comfortable on the couches and chairs and did my best to answer. They were a sharp group and it was good to see and hear from future librarians who seek to understand the changing roles of information professionals. We discussed the resources and presentations I included in the resource center and how they meet the outcomes of the National Library of Medicine grant that funds the island. We also discussed the benefits and challenges for librarians working in virtual worlds, how statistics are gathered, and  more.

After Diane and her graduate students left, I reflected on my own experience in graduate school. I attended the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the Unviersity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC GSLIS) not all that long ago, graduating in December 2003. It was a very positive experience and I am thankful to have attended an institution where I was pushed towards newer technologies. From learning basic html during my orientation to courses on web usability, online information literacy and more, I felt fortunate to be learning in a place that valued what was relevant and important for future librarians.

Professor Nahl's students, and many other GSLIS students from several universities who are offering courses in SL, are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about librarianship in Second Life. Virtual Worlds (VW) are here to stay, and as VWs develop and more of our constituents use VWs, the information needs in these places will grow. These LIS students will be better prepared than those without this exposure. It really is an exciting time to be a librarian.


The Karuna Island in Second Life is funded via a National Library of Medicine grant to provide support and information resources for HIV/AIDS afflicted individuals, family, friends and the public. Jena Ball, (aka SL Jenaia Morane) is the Project Coordinator for Karuna and I was hired as the Consumer Health Librarian. In first life I am an academic librarian at a small private university.

(download)

H1N1 Flu and HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents-New Second Life Karuna Resource Center Display

 

H1NI Flue and HIV-Infected Adults and Adolescents-New Second Life Karuna Resource Center Display
The new CDC display in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life. In this podcast, Dr. John Brooks, of CDC's HIV/AIDS Prevention Program, discusses CDC's Interim Guidance for HIV-infected adults and adolescents regarding the novel H1N1 flu virus: http://www2a.cdc.gov/podcasts/player.asp?f=14199

Karuna Resource Center in Second Life-Ready for tomorrow's Presentation-short video

Tomorrow evening at 8:00 SLT (PT) I'll share a short presentation in the Karuna Resource Center on The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation http://www.pedaids.org/Home.aspx

To mark the Foundation's 20th anniversary they're launching "Join the Moment" a campaign to create a generation free of HIV. I'll share what I've learned about the work being done related to this campaign.

All are welcome to attend but if you don't have a free Second Life account or can't make it in, you can watch this video and visit the website to learn more. For those who already have a free Second Life acct, here is the SLurl to the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Karuna/33/50/23

There will also be a short video shown "Creating a Generation Free of HIV, by Nigel Barker" available here:

You may wonder why people would want to visit Second Life to view things that are available on the web. For one, while anyone with access to a computer can watch videos on YouTube, one generally watches those videos alone or maybe with a friend, and I suppose sometimes in a classroom with your peers. In Second Life there is a global audience. It's a wonderful way to connect with diverse groups of people, especially when the topic is one with such a strong global impact. Together we can discuss the presentation and video via chat or voice while they are taking place.

Also, the materials in this presentation, along with all the materials in the Karuna Resource Center, were evaluated and chosen by an academic librarian in real life (me :) ), (Robin Mochi, Consumer Health Librarian in Second Life). I follow a set criteria and choose only those materials deemed useful and that meet the guidelines and outcomes of the National Library of Medicine grant that funds the Karuna Island for HIV/AIDS information and support in SL.

The materials shown in this short video will remain in the Karuna Resource Center for viewing 24/7. Feel free to stop by anytime that's convenient in your time zone of the world.

Questions, comments or suggestions? IM Robin Mochi inworld or email Robin Ashford at Robin@karunahiv.com or comment here.

Karuna Resource Center in Second Life

This video was a test to see if Jing (http://www.jingproject.com/) would work well enough to upload short videos of my work in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life to YouTube.

The video was kept very short to also test the posterous autopost feature while using the posterous bookmarklet on (posterous.com), which I have set to send to twitter and flickr as well (flickr videos must be under 30 sec).

My intent is to use this tool as a means of promoting newly created displays of information resources on HIV/AIDS. (I may end up creating 60 sec. videos and bypassing flickr.)

About Karuna: The National Library of Medicine awarded Alliance Library System a grant for a project entitled "AIDS Information and Outreach in the Virtual World of Second Life." The project includes the creation of a new island, called Karuna, has a community HIV/AIDS center and a library/resource center which will provide information support and outreach to the Second Life community and beyond about HIV/AIDS and its prevention.

(In Second Life I am the Karuna Consumer Health Librarian, Robin Mochi. In first life I am an academic librarian in a small private liberal arts university.)

Ready for my presentation in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life tonight-What do you think?

Ok, I've loaded the slides, tested the viewer, and rearranged the furniture for the zillionth time. I think I'm ready for my first presentation as Consumer Health Librarian on Karuna Island in Second Life (SL) tonight at 6:30 p.m. SLT which is the same as PST.

This one is a PPT presentation on how to search MedlinePlus for information resources on HIV/AIDS (I would prefer to demonstrate live on the web inside Second Life but that function is not yet available in SL (I'm hopeful that's coming soon). The presentation is free (as is everything on Karuna Island) and all are welcome!

If you already have SL on your computer, this Slurl will take you straight to the Karuna Resource Center: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Karuna/33/46/23

If you've never been in SL and would like to attend, newbies are welcome too :)
Below is the link to a website where you may sign up for a free SL account and then enter SL on a very well designed, fun and useful private orientation island.
http://virtualability.org/default.aspx


(download)

Karuna Resource Center in Second Life

Karuna Resource Center in Second Life
I Just put this sign up for tomorrow's presentation in Second Life - now I just need to finish my presentation slides and upload them to SL, insert into viewer, place the viewer and move furniture, purchase new deck furniture and place on decks, meet with Jenaia about the welcome area and I'll be finished for the day and almost ready for tomorrow's presentation. Whew! BTW - I'm posting this to twitter, posterous and flickr all from within Second Life. I think that's pretty amazing.

Today's Karuna Resource Center Work in Second Life-July 20, 2009

These snapshots were taken today while I was working in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life (SL). Both the RSS feed reader and the sign I created on how to connect to live chat from the NIH AIDSinfo Live Help website http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/LiveHelp/Default.aspx function in the same way.
I'm hoping these snapshots demonstrate to those unfamiliar with Second Life how this type of information linking works from within SL.

Questions/comments/suggestions are welcome. Feel free to comment here or inside SL via our suggestion/comment box (posterous is also pushing this to flickr and twitter where one could also comment :) ).

(download)

More new work in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life #Karuna

More new work in the Karuna Resource Center in Second Life #Karuna
This time I am testing whether or not I can send my snapshots to posterous directly from Second Life using the built in Second Life "Email Snapshot" feature. If this works it will be amazing.

World Community Grid Karuna Resource Center FightAIDS@Home Display Sign

Robin_mochi_with_world_communi

This sign points visitors to the upstairs display room (snapshots posted in prior post-click "back to blog" link above). When touched in Second Life, the sign provides visitors an option to visit a World Community Grid (WCG) page where anyone can choose to join the new Friends of Karuna Team. The upstairs displays also give out additional information links on the FightAIDS@Home research project.

What is FightAIDS@Home?"

FightAIDS@Home is the first biomedical distributed computing project ever launched. It is run by the Olson Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. We provide free software that you download and install. The software uses your computer's idle cycles to assist fundamental research in discovering new drugs, building on our growing knowledge of the structural biology of AIDS. In addition, this research helps us study the mechanisms of multi-drug-resistance that the "super bugs" of HIV use to escape the current anti-AIDS drugs. And this research helps us create, test, refine, and share the tools and protocols that thousands of other labs use in their research against other diseases.

source: http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/