<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/14067d34-5455-49ea-8f3f-c5a6af09a60e/BA1628B5-EB30-4CB3-A84F-E3EF1D9BA166/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/07/understanding_the_importance_of_exploring_virtual_worlds.html" href="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/07/understanding_the_importance_of_exploring_virtual_worlds.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.theshiftedlibrarian.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/07/understanding_the_importance_of_exploring_virtual_worlds.html"><H3 class="newsItemTitle" id="a000570"><A class="weblogItemTitle" href="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/07/understanding_the_importance_of_exploring_virtual_worlds.html">Understanding the Importance of Exploring Virtual Worlds</A></H3></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/07/understanding_the_importance_of_exploring_virtual_worlds.html"> Hopefully it is becoming clearer that we need to pay attention to virtual worlds because they are going to be a part of our collective, professional future. It's up to each of us individually how much of a role it will play in our personal lives, just as we make decisions about books, television, the internet, parties, movies, parties, etc. are, but between Sony's plans, <A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6290585.stm">the BBC's forthcoming online children's world</A>, <A href="http://secondlife.com/">Second Life</A>, <A href="http://there.com/">There</A>, and other virtual spaces, we're seeing further illustrations of why librarians need to understand how cultures and interactions work in these spaces for our professional lives.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/07/understanding_the_importance_of_exploring_virtual_worlds.html">Maybe there isn't something we should be doing in <EM>all</EM> of these worlds (maybe even probably), but how will we know if we don't explore and find out? I think it's great that there are librarians out there on the forefront, trying things out for those who can't</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/BA1628B5-EB30-4CB3-A84F-E3EF1D9BA166/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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