Please join us for the opening celebration of a new exhibit on University of KY Island!

Primcutter: An Exhibition by Oriscus Zauberflote

Date: Monday, Nov. 23
Time: 1 PM SLT (4 PM EST)
Location: University of KY Island, virtual William T. Young Library
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20KY/121/98/29

Please help spread the word about this wonderful exhibit by University of Kentucky’s own master builder!

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Primcutter: An Exhibition of Work
by Oriscus Zauberflöte

Monday, Nov. 23, 2009
1:00 PM SLT (4 PM EST)
University of KY Island, virtual William T. Young Library
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20KY/121/98/29

“Primcutter” is an exhibition of the work of Oriscus “Oz” Zauberflote. In real life, Oz is a musicologist and the mild-mannered public information coordinator for the University of Kentucky School of Music. But his alter-ego in SL is a master architect and builder of musical instruments which have won praise from a global audience. This exhibition shows scale models of many of his SL buildings, including several within walking distance on University of KY island. Also shown is a scaled down Gutenberg style printing press, many unusual musical instruments (including a massive playable carillon on a flatbed truck outside), and various woodworking tools and medical instruments. The exhibition is sponsored by the virtual William T. Young Library on the University of Kentucky’s SL sim.  See Primcutter.com.

A large carillon is delivered to University of KY Island

A new exhibit by University of Kentucky’s own master builder Oriscus Zauberflote (Oz) is coming to the virtual WTYL exhibit space on the island.  Details are coming soon, but we’ve gone ahead with the important thing and set the opening party date.    Please spread the word!

Exhibit opening event:

Date: Monday, Nov. 23
Time: 1 PM SLT (4 PM EST)
Location: University of KY Island, virtual William T. Young Library
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20KY/121/98/29

Speaker Session Audience

The University of Kentucky participated in the 2009 College in Second Life this past weekend. This was the second college fair held on the main grid of Second Life and the second time UK has participated.  As with last year, the fair included a speaker series and an exhibit area where college and university representatives could create information booths.  The speaker events were held this weekend only, but the exhibit booths will be available at the fair site through Nov. 13.  The fair was held on International Schools Island, SLURL:  http://bit.ly/SLCF09welcome.

UK booth at College Fair

The speakers this year were really excellent.  We hope to have a page up in the fair Google Group soon with resources associated with several of the presentations (notes, links, slides, if available).

Alice at the closing panel session

A list of the participating schools is availble on the main fair information page, and a map of the fair site shows where each school exhibit is located.  We had more space and “prims” (Second Life building blocks) available to use this year, so the booths were particularly creative.  I’d encourage everyone to visit the site while it is available.  If you want to talk with any of the exhibitors, right-click on any object to find the name of the avatar owner.

I created the UK booth in something of an Alice-in-Wonderland theme – the site included a mini replica of the virtual William T. Young Library we have on our island, with small furniture and information objects inside.  The whole building is “phantom” (your avatar can walk right through it), so don’t worry if it looks like you won’t be able to fit through the door.

Many of the exhibits include free educational tools and landmarks and almost all include information about what their college or university is doing in Second Life.  They are also creative and fun examples of conveying information in Second Life.The fair tag is SLCF09, so search for that tag to find information posted by other fair attendees.  (e.g., see this collection of Flickr images using the fair tag)

Although the speaker series is over, the exhibits are well worth exploring!  If you have questions please contact kraemer@email.uky.edu.

The Common Reading Experience book discussion hosted on University of KY island went well last night! In addition to some island regulars, we also had a visitor from Ecuador who participated in the discussion.

Common Reading Experience participants

A big THANK YOU to Erimentha Hitendra for leading the discussion and organizing this event!  Maybe we should consider a regular book discussion series.  Anyone interested?

Reminder!  Please join us for the upcoming Common Reading Experience event, a discussion of the book

The Color of Water, by James McBride

Monday, Oct 12 at 6:00 PM local time (3:00 PM SLT)

The discussion will take place in the virtual Young Library on the University of Kentucky’s Second Life island.  The SLURL for the event is http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20KY/121/98/29.  The Second Life client is available (free!) at http://secondlife.com.  The client is also installed on campus in the labs in William T Young Library and King Library.  Contact a lab manager if you have questions.  A (free!) Second Life account is also required.

Students can receive CRE credit in participating courses for attending this event!

For anyone interested in learning more without creating a Second Life account, we will also be displaying the event in the Gallery of Young Library.  Or feel free to attend in the Gallery and bring your laptop, too!  Contact kraemer@email.uky.edu if you have questions about how to participate in this event.

Second Life Class Sept 18

Get started in Second Life, class session TODAY, 9/18, 11:00 AM EST, room B-35 in the basement of Young Library, University of Kentucky.  This class is specifically to support the UK Island participation in UK’s Common Reading Experience, but this is just a general intro to Second Life and attendance is open to everyone!

See this snappy flyer and these related blog posts:

Common Reading Experience

Exhibit to support Common Reading Experience

The University of Kentucky’s W.T. Young Library presents a new exhibit – The Color of Water: A Common Reading Experience at the University of Kentucky. The exhibit, housed in the virtual W.T. Young Library, includes information about James McBride, his book, The Color of Water, the Common Reading Experience, and campus resources at the University of Kentucky.  In addition, the exhibit provides supplementary information to expand the reader’s understanding of the author’s background and to address issues such as religion, interracial families, and African American history that are discussed in the book.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the UK Libraries and UK’s Common Reading Experience will host a discussion of the book on October 12, 2009, from 3:00-4:00pm (SLT) (6:00-7:00 EST), in the virtual William T. Young Library on the University of Kentucky Island in Second Life.  A face to face observation of the in-world discussion will be provided simultaneously in the Young Library Gallery on October 12^th from 6:00-7:00pm (EST). The discussion will focus on issues such as race, religion, education, identity, family, and more found throughout the book as well as how those things shaped the character’s experiences and perceptions of the world around them.  This discussion provides student participation credit for the Common Reading Experience.

For more information about the exhibit or the book discussion, contact UK Libraries’ own: Erimentha Hitendra, Ginevra Merlin, or Alice Burgess.

University of Kentucky Island is located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20KY/121/98/29.

The UK Second Life community and the UK Department of Anthropology invite all to attend — in real life or in Second Life — an interview by AJ Kelton with Tom Boellstorff (SL: Tom Bukowski), Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association and author of Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human (Princeton University Press, 2008). Mark your calendar and be sure to join us:

Tuesday, September 1st
2:30 pm Second Life Time (5:30 pm Eastern)
CHSSSouth Amphitheater in Second Life
OR
UK Student Center Theatre in real life (near the UK Federal Credit Union) – we’ll have the interview available for viewing and a microphone on hand in case anyone wants to use Randolph Hollingsworth’s SL avatar (Bella Yan) to ask questions and interact with the inworld participants.

Several of us will be at the Center Theatre auditorium at 5 p.m. to talk more about how we are using Second Life in the classroom and for research. If you are curious to know more about how Second Life works, are wondering how a terrific educator and researcher like Boellstorff got involved, and haven’t gotten a chance to see it for yourself… this is a good event for you!

The Rowdy KYians will be meeting on University of KY Island to have an information-sharing session about the recent Second Life Community Convention, held in San Francisco on Aug 13-16, 2009.

What:  SLCC Discussion
Where:  University of KY Island
When:  Wed, Aug 26, 2:00 PM EDT (11:00 AM SLT)

Two Rowdies (David Horrar from UofL and Beth Kraemer from UK) attended the event.  David and Beth (aka Oggie and Alice) will talk about sessions they attended, people they met, things they learned, and more in this informal meeting.  Everyone is welcome to attend!

SLCC 09 M Linden Keynote

We’ve scheduled a “real life” training class on campus for anyone new to Second Life who is interested in participating in the Common Reading Experience book discussion taking place on the island on Oct 12.  This class is for anyone who wants a little help getting started, whether you have an avatar already or not.

Date: Friday, Sept 18, 2009
Time: 11:00 AM – noon (EST)
Location: Young B-35 (Student Computing Lab classroom, basement, Young Library)

Remember that Second Life is installed on campus in the labs in both Young Library and King Library. (The link is under “Instructional Software” or ask a lab manager if you can’t find it.)

If you cannot make this class but want some help getting started in SL, contact kraemer@email.uky.edu.