This was presented by Sheila Webber (Sheila Yoshikawa in SL) on Infolit iSchool in Second Life, the virtual world, on 18 March 2010 at an event that was part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

1. Information
Information
Literate
Literate
behaviour
behaviour in
Second Second
in Life
Sheila Yoshikawa/
Sheila
Life
Sheila Webber
Yoshikawa/
Sheila Webber
Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, March 2010

2. Warning
• I am talking about using the “old” Second Life
viewer
• So some detailed strategies may change ..
• …but the basic ideas don‟t

3. Information?
• Something written, text
• Pictures, icons
• Sounds
• A molecule
• The way someone is moving (e.g. fireman, dancer,
someone trying to get through invisible barrier in SL)
• X, Y, Z coordinates

4. Information behaviour
“the totality of human behavior in relation to sources
and channels of information, including both active
and passive information seeking, and information
use. Thus, it includes face to-face communication
with others, as well as the passive reception of
information as in, for example,watching TV
advertisements, without any intention to act on the
information given” (Wilson, 2000)
Sheila Webber, 2010

5. Includes bumping into information
Information on Eshi Otawara’s
art, “encountered” on the
fashion blog feeds
http://fashionplanet.worldofsl.com/

6. Information tools inworld:
1 - Search in SL

7. 2-
Avatar
info in
SL

8. 3-
Object
info in
SL

9. 4 - Land info in SL

10. Study details
• 40 interviews (2 per student) carried out in SL late
Nov - early Dec 2008; plus 25 interviews in Nov
2008- Jan 2009; plus 29 interviews Jan-Feb 2010;
• Informed consent, and chat transcripts logged
• Sample: friends and willing volunteers
• Mostly educators, librarians or SL developers from
various countries, mostly UK and North America
Sheila Webber, 2010

11. Study details
• Students undertook interviews with people in SL,
focusing on a particular time when they had an
information need relating to a SL activity
• Interview designed and piloted by me
• Some limitations
Sheila Webber, 2010

12. Research models to which students
compared their findings included
• Erdelez‟ (1999) model of information encountering
• Ellis‟ (1997) model of information seeking

13. Kinds of search
• Objects e.g. Bunk beds; Scarf; Buildings; New tail;
Texture (graphic); RSS reader; Motorcycle
– SL Exchange as better than SL inworld search
– Bumping into shops and objects in SL
– Need to try different words and phrases to search
– Ordinary search engines not so much use

14. Kinds of search
• Information e.g. where is this conference
happening; what social work activity is there in SL
– Trying different approaches, RL and SL e.g. finding
where a meeting is happening (searching SL Map for
green dots, email, website)
– Chaining e.g. search for health education sites in SL;
Google search – hits, but outdated – followed up links
and people – searched for articles about these sites

15. Subjects for search
• Advice e.g. How to open a parachute; good
“camping” sites; How to a media stream running;
How to embed a notecard; “How to interact with the
world”; How best to teach basic building skills
– Sometimes solved quickly by asking an expert or friend
– Sometimes using different tactics and sources over a
long time
Sheila Webber, 2010

16. Subjects for search
• Scripting: all or part of a script needed for a task
– LSL wiki
– Script authors (e.g. their blogs, contacting in person) &
other people who script
– If getting new script: SL search; Script libraries
• Land: buying or renting land
– Flying around
– Asking people
– SL land search waste of time
– Search engines also not much use
Sheila Webber, 2010

17. Starting point more often satisfactory if
specialised
• “for social media, I frequently use Mashable first” (I6
09/10)
• “specifically, the first step was to ask people I
thought were experts ;) (I12 09/10)
• “first point would be searching my mail folders
incase anyone has posted to the mailing lists about
the topic” (I20 09/10)
• Starting point may be own inventory

18. Monitoring: examples
Usually specific to the subject area
• RSS feed from AIDS.gov blog
• Feed of SL fashion blogs
• “i use the virtual world forum & try & attend the
social & discussion meets” (I9 09/10)

19. Using people
• Reading discussion lists, Twitter and blogs
• Attending SL and Real Life events
• “I befriended avatars in SL of the people who I met
and visited them on their islands to check out what
they were doing” (I4 09/10)
• Finding out who had done something (e.g.
examining builds and land), contacting them
• Using network of friends & professional networks
inside and outside SL

20. People sources
• “Much of my information came from talking to people,
asking questions, finding what they had done” (I3 07/08)
• “People who had land already could give advice about what
to look for when you are buying” (I5b 07/08)
• “The social network retrieval of information here will be king
despite good search tools” (I1a 07/08)
• [best source] “probably, because like in real life, somebody
who seems kind and friendly is usually the best source ..
You don‟t feel silly asking for the help” (I9 08/09)
• Negative as well as positive views of Second Life Educators
List in 2008/9 Sheila Webber, 2010

21. Varying strategies & channels
• Rich mix of sources (see also example)
“a wiki might give an example of a piece of code,
but a blog may tell us a story of how the author
came up with it” (I3 08/09)
“if it‟s some kind of academic info need, then I
might use my list first. If it‟s artefacts in SL then SL
search and friends; and the web for „how to‟ stuff,
background info, about people in SL” (I8 08/09)
Sheila Webber, 2010

22. Encountering information
• “I teleported into Edunation at random, only to find a viewer
setup right in front of me!” I20 08/09
• “another neighbour happened by, and she set up a
motorcycle for sale for $0 on her land right behind me” I5
08/09
• “Oh my goodness!!!! Have I ever!” (bumped into info – I18)
• (How did you feel) “Great! I was so excited!” “It was a bit of
a serendipity moment” all I17 07/08
• “I tend not to meander around in SL, I generally just come
in and out of it for specific purposes, and so wouldn‟t really
bump into things in that way” I10 08/09
Sheila Webber, 2010

23. Search for sculpture in SL (I16 2007/8)
• Picture of sculptures on a blog
• Visited the sculpture site in SL, examined details of
sculptures, then of creator of sculpture
• Googled name of sculptor
• Asked SL friends about sculptor,
searched/examined subject specific blogs and
websites & art gallery in SL & interacted with new
people in SL discovered through these channels
• Bought sculpture
Sheila Webber, 2010

24. Sheila Webber, 2010

25. "An information literate person has a deep
awareness, connection, and fluency with the
information environment. Information literate people
are engaged, enabled, enriched and embodied by
social, procedural and physical information that
constitutes an information universe. Information
literacy is a way of knowing that universe."
Lloyd (2004: 223)

26. With thanks to the INf104 students and
the interviewees

27. Sheila Webber
s.webber@shef.ac.uk
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
Sheila Yoshikawa
http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/
Powerpoint at: http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/

28. 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
• Lloyd, A (2004) “Working (in)formation: conceptualizing
information literacy in the workplace” In Proceedings of 3rd
International Life Long Learning Conference, 13-16 June.
Rockhampton: Central Queensland University Press. 218-
224.

29. References
• Mon, Lorri. (2009). “Questions and Answers in a Virtual World
: Educators and Librarians as Information Providers in Second
Life.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2 (1).
http://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/398
• Ostrander, M. (2008) “Talking, looking, flying, searching:
information seeking behaviour in Second Life.” Library Hi-
Tech, 26 (4), 512-524.
• Webber, S. (2010) “Investigating modes of student inquiry in
Second Life as part of a blended approach.” International
Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 1 (3)
[in press]
• Wilson, T. (2000) “Human information behaviour.” Informing
science, 3 (2), 49-55.