Thing 23 Second Life

Here is an article written for an unnamed unpublished student magazine - it summarises my thougths about Second Life quite nicely.

The Law Library Goes to Second Life.
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The Vice Chancellor John “Yo” Yovich announced today that the Law Library (South Wing Level 3) has been completely uploaded to Second Life. All books, journals, computers and other resources including primary and secondary legal materials will be wholly and exclusively made available within Second Life Law Library (SLLL). Staff of the library are now Avatars based on known personality correlates. Anne GreenDragon roams the SL site as a fire breathing, statute burning dragon. Ian LeeChSlug appears as a misshapen troll who lives in the compactus and eats government publications and explanatory memoranda for breakfast, leaving a trail of slime. The now redundant physical space will be converted to a café and 10 minute massage zone. Shiatsu available by appointment. Pilates classes on the half hour. Equine horse chiropractic available Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Styling his own avatar after the Gangsta Rapper 50 cent (in an ironic tilt at his own salary) Yo had this to say following the momentous and historic announcement “Wass up Dog..if yo don’t study hard in d Second Life Lawbrary I am gonna slap yo silly and put a caplet of worming vaccine in Yo ass” (Although now a Vice Chancellor, Yo finds it difficult to completely dissociate from his veterinary roots.)

Really interact with your lecturers in Second Life Law Library. In real life you wouldn’t dream of dancing (Don’t ever confuse dancing with lap dancing or pole dancing. Not the same thing. But the goal can be the same.) with your lecturers. It could lead to all sorts of awkward legal discussions. (Including talks at the CSA)

In Second Life Law Library you can learn a lot while you dance with you lecturers. You can browse for books while you Boogaloo with Beven. Having thrown off the inane limitations of physical reality you can do the Mashed Potato with Mugambwa. And simultaneously and at the same time access digital journals and electronic periodicals and virtual serials.

It’s fun to do the Macarena with Moens and GoGo that extra mile. In SLLL check out the New Journals Display while you Shimmy with Shaw. Line dance with Lewins and learn lots about legal research. In a virtual law library doing the Hustle with Hall isn’t illegal, or even just in bad taste, it’s fun and educational. You can hustle and hunt through Hein-o-line. If you want, you can Tango with Thomas, whilst talking trash about legal citation technique. ChaCha with Charles while you certify yourself in Chinese law.

In a virtual Law Library virtually anything goes. But these things are off limits – uploading to Flickr any of the following photographs; sniffing a chair in the Law Library – sniffing your own armpit while reading case law (with the speech bubble saying “which one of these stinks?) – sniffing your mate’s armpit while thumbing through law reform commission reports – sniffing reprints of legislation and saying “Acts like Troy”.

In SLLL you can get a Facebook account. Spend a lot of time friending people you know, and strangers. Ignore some and stalk others to add spice to your relationships. Kudos (Kudos Scent Pour Hommes) to be the first to add Patty Chong as a Facebook friend. But remember if you ever do anything newsworthy, the West Australian will publish all of those things you wrote on friend’s walls drunk at 3.00am. Keep in mind, this is not UWA. You will need all the friends you can get when you want to get articles.

You know that peer reviewed journals are an anachronistic and outdated mode of publishing your thoughts. While in Second Life Law Library start Blogging. Let the world know your thoughts and more importantly your feelings. Blogging is a great way to prove to a wider audience not only what you know about law, but also what you don’t know about law.

In SLLL visit all of your favourite legal resources Lexist Sexist, Worst-A-Law, Hymn-On-A-line, Debased-A-Case, First-A-Punt, Dum-Law. These are all available 24/7 in SLLL.

It is all there is Second Life Law Library. No need to get out of bed. To paraphrase Timothy Leary, Turn on, Login in, Drop out.

Here’s two things you need to remember while in SLLL. Firstly, you can’t rely only on Wikipedia or Google to do your legal research. Secondly, even in Second Life Law Library, ironical is not a mineral supplement.