Library and Museums in SL for Children, Tweens, and Teens

I recently read Marty Grover's chapter in Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries and enjoyed it very much, because providing online service to young people, possibly in a medium in which they feel comfortable is an exciting prospect. Because I love libraries and museums, I believe that incorporating SL or other online worlds will have educational value over time. Beyond age restrictions and other barriers, drawing young people and educators and maintaining their interest is another type of challenge that SL librarians or curators will have to face.

Finding the best type of SL platform for children and teens requires certain considerations, especially to protect them from bullying or other types of predatory activities. There are several ways to instil this safety: for example, parental controls, chat filters/moderation. Finding the balance between these "safety features" while maintaining useful content such as file sharing, user-created content, and live help can be difficult. Choosing the right platform must take some serious consideration.

Grover points out Whyville, Club Penguin, and Furcadia, as potential platforms to appeal to children based on their simple interfaces, bright colours, and play-learn teaching potential. At times, this simplicity of interface and graphics can be limiting in terms of activities. The drawback of the latter is that users cannot really create their own content. Using Whyville and Club Penguin may be difficult for educators to use it effectively if trying to create unique types of learning tools or lesson plans. Something like Furcadia or There, though, could be better, since it is more flexible in building unique content and even collaborate with others. Teen Second Life looks very interesting for potential educational value. Considering we have been exploring different worlds, I can see more opportunity to design library or course materials and interact with students that way. I also liked many of the safety mechanisms it uses.

Of course, no platform is entirely user friendly, and some features may not be as easy to navigate as others, but I imagine that over time, SL for educational purpose can become more appealing in the future. I am increasingly noticing that libraries can play a part in virtual worlds, particularly for reference.