Second Life came under my radar when Judge Richard Posner gave a talk there on his new book, Not a Suicide Pact. Since he's a faculty member at the law school where I work, the University of Chicago, I wanted to know what was there that a faculty member might use so I could support their research and anticipate their requests as well as look there for resources in my area of specialty: foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL).

So, curious about Second Life, I created my avatar, Montserrat Biedermann, a little over a year ago, walked him into the ocean, panicked, and left him for dead.

About a year later, I checked back and found him still alive. I discovered I could fly him, got excited and started flying him everywhere, and ended up flying him to what looked to me like unchartered territory, a remote undeveloped island. I couldn't figure out how to get him back home to Orientation Island, so I again panicked, and abandoned him.

If it weren't for this workshop, he might still be on that remote island. I might never have learned how to get him back to civilization, and to fruitful and fun pursuits in Second Life.

Now, Montserrat knows how to get to places without getting lost and how to get back home. He knows he can't drown. He knows he can't get marooned. And he knows he can't die. He can fall from the sky, splat on the ground, and get up without a scratch.

The most important thing Montserrat learned about navigating Second Life, aside from how to teleport to landmarks, was how to sit. If you know how to sit, you can attend classes and meetings in Second Life without looking out of place. Thanks to Cat Galileo (Kate Fitz)'s instructions, Montserrat isn't the only one standing while the workshop class is in session or while the Second Life Bar Association is meeting.

Montserrat also has made friends with other workshop participants in Second Life. And communicates with them in-world and out via IM, chat, email, etc. He has toured law-related spots in Second Life with other law librarians. He's joined law librarian and general library groups in Second Life. Tink Rang (Liz Glankler in Real Life), one of the workshop participants who has the most experience with Second Life, has been a great in-world mentor to Montserrat, showing him the ropes of living the Second Life life.

Besides building social and professional networks in Second Life, Montserrat has learned how to eat and drink (brownies and Diet Coke, for instance! :-)). He's gone out dancing. He's learned how to shop for clothes and furniture (though he has yet to learn how to earn money in Second Life). He's learned how to build things. He's learned how to run and ride bumper cars.

It took him a while, because he really likes wearing his basic, generic black T-shirt and blue jeans, but I'm happy to say that Montserrat is finally wearing some of the new clothes he's purchased! He looks quite dapper in a tuxedo!

Montserrat now has an office which he is continually decorating, a project to finish on finding foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) resources in Second Life, and another one on people resources for FCIL research. He has the tools to fully exploit Second Life.

It hasn't been all rosy for Montserrat, however. Orientation Island in Second Life is scary, with a lot of scantily clad avatars just hanging around. They seem to want to solicit Montserrat, somehow. So Montserrat is thankful not to have Orientation Island as "home" any more. Tink Rang has graciously offered her house as "home" for Montserrat in Second Life.

Montserrat has had a clumsy career navigating Second Life. He's inadvertently walked into some "mature" areas and activities, including two avatars doing stuff he didn't want to see. He's sat on Jezzie Woodget (Diane Murley). He's knocked aside several avatars while emerging from teleporting. He's "forgotten" objects all over the place in Second Life. He's quite the litterbug!

Montserrat has also been "Ruthed." One day, while he was trying to teleport some place, Second Life slowed down, and, when Montserrat emerged again, he had curves, boobs, and a different haircut. He looked decidedly female. Montserrat is quite wedded to his male form...:-) So, he panicked, and ran away. He was back to his regular body when he logged back onto Second Life. It turns out that avatars get "Ruthed" [returned to a default female avatar] from time to time in Second Life because of some bug.

So, while my avatar, Montserrat Biedermann, has been having adventures in Second Life, what have I, Lyonette Louis-Jacques, the human being, learned?

10 Lessons I Have Learned

1. Think twice before picking a male avatar if you're female (or vice versa). It can lead to some awkward situations.

2. Second Life can be a useful place for networking in-world with other librarians [there's the Law Libraries in Virtual Worlds group run by Cat Galileo/Kate Fitz and the Law Librarians of Second Life group run by Anne Idler/Meg Kribble - you can contact them to become a member, and also you can contact Montserrat Biedermann to become a member of the second group]. And outside Second Life, you can join the Second Life Law Librarians sub-group of the Law Libraries and Librarians Ning network and the Law Librarians in Virtual Worlds wiki.

3. Second Life does have foreign, comparative, and international law-related resources, but start with Cat's Galileo Law Directory, and the workshop projects. There is FCIL content in Second Life, but it is not robust. We can add to it. We can build on that content.

4. Second Life can be fun, frustrating, and confusing, but just learning how to navigate it, is a worthwhile venture. I feel empowered knowing how to get places in Second Life, how to use objects there, and how to build objects and create displays in Second Life. I can use these skills in Second Life, and also carry them over to similar tools.

5. People will think you're just playing around and wasting time. Second Life looks like a game to them. Just persevere and ignore them [or try to bring them into the fun...:-)]. Second Life has useful, work-related purposes you need to learn [it's okay to have fun doing so at the same time...:-)].

6. Get a mentor or friend to guide you in your Second Life adventure, especially if you are a newbie, so you don't get lost and frustrated like Montserrat. Then you can learn how to use Second Life constructively. And other law librarian users can give you ideas for how you can use it in your own workplace.

7. Don't stop with this workshop. Continue to hone your Second Life skills. Read about Second Life, watch videos (such as Torley's Tutorials), take lessons, attend other workshops like this one. Continue to add new Second Life skills, and particularly master skills to exploit Second Life's 3-D environment.

8. Get Second Life enabled at home, so you can practice using it at your leisure. It is really hard to master Second Life during break times at work (and people will joke about you playing around there...:-)).

9. Test out how you can use Second Life in your library workplace. Can a research guide in Second Life be a more attractive, creative, imaginative, 3-D way to reach users? Find out where your users are in Second Life, so you can deliver information to them there.

10. Take risks in Second Life, so you can learn as Montserrat learned. After all, you know, your avatar can't die! :-)