IMMERSIVE LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

           I just finished reading the charter for the JiED's Technology Working Group: Libraries and Museums. I am very impressed and think they have some great potential. Basically it is a coalition of individuals who have connections or are scholars of Immersive Education, Video Games, Virtual and Augmented Reality and Research and Librarian work. Museum supervisors and curators are also invited as are professors and educators, all in the name of providing strength and stability to a blossoming 'new' form of academia.
          They use flowcharts and diagrams well as they explain how students will be connected to external servers that will enhance their education. And they give real-life scenarios of how such software and implementation of the system is used. They discuss how in this day in age, technology is fastly and vastly improving. Things are becoming more and more outdated and new innovations are replacing one another by the minute. Although librarians and historians have been on top of these technological advances to increase productivity for the last 30 years or so, it is still a generally new phenomenon. We can imagine that the technology of a library from 1700-1900 saw little changes and 1900-2014 absolutely was a tidal wave of new ways of doing things.
          Another key point that was mentioned was how with a traditional museum or library, you only have a set amount of space to use. Unless of course you buy the land next to you and expand! But for the most part, you are constrained, and as my economic father would call it an opportunity cost. Should we put this exhibit here or that one? Well we can't do both, that's for sure! But, in a virtual world, the sky is the limit!
          It is wonderful how they are aiming this at the right people. For instance, the Smithsonian LVM Amazon safari world that we watched Youtube videos about (in class not too long ago) about a month or so back. That one is aimed at youth who will be drawn in immediately purely by the video-game-esque feel to it and will be more incensed to study that way. It's also aimed at Latino youth entering the workforce, and teaches them important skills and concepts like how to be ecologically friendly.
          Overall I think this is a great initiative that has high expectations that should be met. The industry is certainly budding and there is quite the buzz about it in greater Academia. There are probably many kinks in the armor that need to be dinged back to working shape and that's what this group plans to do when assessing different iED platforms and environments. There is work to be done, but I think it is all going to be worth it, as this can really turn some wayward teens around into studying something productive for themselves, their families and society in general. I used to volunteer at a Boys and Girls club and those kids did not like traditional education. This would be something totally up their alley and I bet they would thrive in it. It's creating more avenues for educational success, so to that I say 'GODSPEED!' (In a thunderous Zeus voice!)

Source:

http://jied.org/1/1/8/

Revised 2013-03-21

Authors: Jerome Yavarkovsky, Melissa Carrillo, H. Nicholas Nagel Affiliations: Immersive Education Initiative, Smithsonian Latino Center, Boston College

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