Sheila Webber, 2008

Information

literate in

Second Life

Sheila Webber/ Sheila Yoshikawa

Department of Information Studies

University of Sheffield, August 2008

Two themes

• Reflecting on an intervention that is part of an

Inquiry Based Learning approach to teaching

information management and information literacy

• Reporting on the findings of the research inquiry

(into Information Behaviour (IB) in Second Life (SL)

that the students undertook

Sheila Webber, 2008

Sheila Webber, 2008

Outline

• Inquiry Based Learning

• Focus for the intervention: Inf104 Information

Literacy

• Second Life (SL) & some SL information tools

• The study of IB

in Second Life

Inquiry Based Learning“IBL is a term used to describe approaches to learning that are based on

a process of self-directed inquiry or research. Students conduct small

or large-scale inquiries that enable them to engage actively and

creatively with the questions and problems of their discipline, often in

collaboration with others. IBL approaches include case-study and

problem-based learning (PBL) methods as well as research projects of

different kinds. It is a key characteristic of IBL that inquiry tasks facilitate

exploration and investigation of issues or scenarios that are open-ended

enough for different responses and solutions to be possible (Khan

and O´Rourke, 2005)” source: CILASS website (Centre for Inquiry Based

Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences)

http://www.shef.ac.uk/cilass/ibl.html

Sheila Webber, 2008

Inf104: Information Literacy

(core, level 1, semester 1)

Sheila Webber, 2008

Background

• Strengthening Inquiry Based Learning approach in our

BSc Information Management programme:

– Help students deepen their engagement with, and

understanding of, Information Management (IM) as an

academic discipline and professional practice

– Give students an opportunity to develop their research

understanding and skills through the whole programme –

starting from day one!

Sheila Webber, 2008

Inf104: Information literacy

• Module aims

– to progress students' information literacy in key areas (working

towards being an information literate citizen)

– to develop their understanding of information literacy &

information behaviour theories and practice

• Assessment

– Website/article/book review

– Analysis of & reflection on research interviews in Second Life

– Reflection on their progress in relation to the SCONUL 7 Pillars of

Information Literacy

Sheila Webber, 2008

Second Life

Sheila Webber, 2008

Second Life

• 3-D Online Digital world, owned by Linden Labs

• Most things created by SL residents: SL fashion designers, architects, bakers, animal makers ….

• Avatars- 3D representation of yourself – free to signup and can live on freebies, but need Linden dollars if want to own land, buy clothes etc.

• Communication through text chat, Voice and Instant Messaging

• Many educators and librarians in SL

Sheila Webber, 2008

*

* Photo Vicki Cormie,

others by

Information tools inworld:

1 - Search in SL

2 - Land info in SL

3 -

Avatar

info in

SL

4 -

Object

info in

SL

Sheila Webber, 2008

Inquiry in SL

• Students undertook critical incident interviews with SL

residents (a time when they had an information need

relating to a SL activity) in SL itself

• Student assessment: Students:

– analysed transcripts in relation to models of RL information

behaviour

– audited their own interview technique

Group 5 BSc IM 2007

Sheila Webber, 2008

Rationale

• Focus in more depth on specific parts of research process (data

collection & analysis)

• Strengthen theoretical element of module with genuinely novel

investigation

• Preparation:

– Class activity over 3 weeks – group research/ presentations on

whether SL was dangerous

– Induction to basics of SL over several weeks: teaching team was me

plus two librarians

– Practice interviewing in real life & SL

Group 5 BSc IM 2007

Models to which students

compared their findings

• Erdelez’ (1999) model of information encountering

• Ellis’ (1997) model of information seeking

• Mansourian’s (2007) information visibility model

Study details

• Treated as a pilot study

• 42 semi-structured interviews (2 per student) carried out in

SL (apart from 2 email interviews) late Nov - early Dec

2008

• Informed consent, and chat transcripts logged

• Convenience sample, mainly solicited through the SL

Educators & (UK) Virtualworlds discussion lists

• 11 Canadian undergrad students; the rest educators,

librarians or SL developers from various countries

• Not a full analysis for this study

Sheila Webber, 2008

Observations

• Examples of topics: buying land; obtaining things

(e.g. business clothes; tables; games); how to open

a virtual parachute; finding good “camping” sites;

preparing for a job fair

• My students (and I) able to identify behaviour

relating to the RL models;

– Accounts of information encountering

– Searches could be categorised using Mansourian’s

model

– Patterns of starting, linking, chaining, monitoring etc

Sheila Webber, 2008

Observations 2

• People important as sources of info and advice

• People and web search common starting points;

also one’s own inventory

• Information encountering common (cf Ostrander)

• Mixture of inworld and outside tools and people

used (much criticism of inworld search)

• Rich mix of sources

• UG students with less complex information

behaviour & using SL-specific techniques/tools lessSheila Webber, 2008

Sheila Webber, 2008

Concluding observations

• Same underlying information

literacy needs

• Specific skills in understanding the nature of

information in SL: possibilities, pitfalls etc.

• The most complex information behaviour from

people aware of, and fluent in, the affordances of SL

• Personal and social connections

for finding & creating information

• As an educational exercise: good

academic outcomes and richer

experience for students

With thanks to the INf104 class of

2007/8 and the interviewees

Sheila Webber, 2008

and to CILASS for paying for the SL

island: Infolit iSchool

Sheila Webber, 2008

Sheila Webber

s.webber@shef.ac.uk

http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/

Sheila Yoshikawa

Powerpoint at: http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/

Sheila Webber, 2008

Other material• Flickr set on Infolit iSchool:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23396182@N00/collections/72157604063164433/

• Contributions from Webber about Infolit iSchool & education in SL in reports to the Eduserv Foundation by John Kirriemuir: see http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/studies/slsnapshots

• Infolit iSchool (our SL island) wiki: http://infolitischool.pbwiki.com/

• Margaret Ostrander’s MLIS research project on IB in SL is blogged at http://librariandreamer.wordpress.com/

Sheila Webber, 2008

References

• Ellis, D and Haugan, M. (1997) “Modelling the information seeking patterns of engineers and research scientists in an industrial environment.” Journal of documentation, 53 (4), 384-403.

• Erdelez, S. (1999) “Information encountering: it's more than just bumping into information.” Bulletin of the American Association for Information Science [Online], 25 (3), 25-29. http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Feb-99/erdelez.html

• Khan, P. and O´Rourke, K. (2005). “Understanding Enquiry-based Learning”, In: Barrett, T., Mac Labhrainn, I., Fallon, H. (eds), Handbook of Enquiry and Problem Based Learning. Galway: CELT.

• Mansourian, Y. and Ford, N. (2007) “Web searchers' attributions of success and failure: an empirical study.” Journal of Documentation, 63 (5), 659 – 679.