New immersive worlds for educators and librarians: beyond Second Life

Abstract

Purpose

Second Life has provided educators and librarians with a place to experiment with a 3D immersive environment. Avatars represent the user and users can interact real‐time in text chat and/or voice. Users can create environments that persist over time. Second Life has attracted users from around the world, providing wonderful opportunities to collaborate. However, Second Life is not the only virtual world used for educational purposes. The purpose of this paper is to examine some options.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examine other online virtual worlds which educators and librarians can use in addition to Second Life.

Findings

It is found that there are many other virtual worlds which educators and librarians can explore.

Originality/value

This paper is useful to anyone looking for alternatives to using the virtual world Second Life.

Citation

Floyd, J. and Frank, I. (2012), "New immersive worlds for educators and librarians: beyond Second Life", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/07419051211277940