Why archivists and records managers should consider virtual worlds
I have a confession: For over a year now, I've been living a Second Life. Last August, I saw a demonstration of the virtual world called Second Life at an educational technology conference. The speaker showed how three-dimensional online virtual worlds could be used for distance education, conferences and meetings, small group discussions, or even film set design. The possibilities are astounding: You can fly up to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, tour an art gallery and walk right inside the paintings, swim through a shipwreck, or attend a lecture at the Coliseum.
I could see the opportunities for archival collections. Exhibits could be created and rotated as often as you like. In a virtual world, it's easy to repaint the walls in two seconds, renovate the entire building in two minutes, or host an exhibit outside under the stars. Why not show a Civil War map and give the viewer a chance to walk through the battlefield? I could also see the challenges. If we think e-records are tough to handle now, how will we archive and preserve collections of three-dimensional objects that interact with the user?
I just had to check it out. I signed up for Second Life, got hooked, and eventually created a simple exhibit using some family photos and stories. There are many other uses for virtual worlds, and I must confess that I have been sidetracked by live music concerts and filling my virtual closet with a ridiculous number of shoes, but the records manager in me still lives. I believe my fellow archivists and records managers ought to check out virtual worlds, too. Here are some reasons:
They are another way to share stories -- Our archives are collections of stories waiting to be discovered. Virtual worlds aren't a replacement for our Web sites, but the potential for additional creative, low-cost outreach is there.
They offer options for training and collaboration -- Meetings in virtual worlds give you a sense of proximity and connection you can't get with conference calls and PowerPoint slides. I attended a presentation by a US Department of Education official in Second Life where educators from around the world sat together in a virtual auditorium and stood at a virtual microphone to share comments. Virtual worlds are already being used for disaster response training - why not add a records recovery component? With another round of budget cuts hitting most companies, online meeting and training options might be worth a look. You can have your conference in virtual Paris and never have to stand in an airport queue.
They allow you to connect with the world -- One of the first places I found in Second Life was Archives Land, a small plot of virtual land nestled in among the many library worlds of SL. Through the Archivists of Second Life group, I've experienced exhibits on architecture, vintage sound recordings, maps, and other topics created by archivists in Australia, the Netherlands, the U.S., and other parts of the real and virtual worlds.
They represent a new, possibly fragile medium -- Like much of the material on the Internet, this stuff can be fragile. One of my favorite exhibits in Second Life was Virtual Starry Night, which re-created several Van Gogh paintings in 3D. You could view a painting, read about it, and then walk into it and sit down at the table in the painting. One day, the exhibit was gone. In a virtual world, such things can be packed up and brought back to life with a mouse click, but only if the creator maintains them and only if the virtual world itself still exists.
Here there be records (and dragons) -- Government agencies and companies are already using virtual worlds for training, outreach, and even customer service. We're still at the beginning of the 3D Web, but the interactions, virtual creations, and records are already here. We have a chance to help identify what needs to be kept, in what ways, and for how long.
You can have all the shoes you want -- In a virtual world, you can be George/Martha Washington, a bunny rabbit, a fire-breathing dragon, or just a cuter version of you with an infinite number of shoes. You can have front-row seats at concerts by guitarists from Argentina, blues artists from Atlanta, Nashville, and Japan, or folk singers from Iowa, Texas, and Montreal. Granted, the seats are sometimes next to a dancing llama, but at the end of a long day, it makes a nice change from paper clips and PDFs. In other words, you just might find this stuff entertaining, too.
There are hundreds of virtual worlds online. You can check out Second Life or take a look at Virtual Worlds Review's list for other possibilities. If you're not quite ready for that, check out this recent article in the Washington Post.
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