Library with real-world books.

A "Full-Size" SL library would be nice. Here's how I figure one being implemented if you don't have, say, your own island and infinite building limits...

1. Venders that look like bookshelves, maybe with a search function? One-prim novels or multi-prim books with "reading" poses, maybe can hinge open? With page-turning?

2. Plenty of places to sit and read.

3. Use Gutenberg or Creative-Commons licensed works with submissions from SL users.

4. Specialty 'how-to in SL' books with kits and "exploding diagrams". Probably not safe without a sandbox nearby.

5. Large texts could be indexed notecards, with PDFs available online (I offer hosting for free).

Why is that? (not arguing, just curious)

If anyone wants to track my progress as far as building the library itself goes, check it out at Abitibi (200,23)

I'm another one who has brought in a few Geutenberg books and keep them around. I'd be willing to help.

A "Good" hardcover book is 3 prims.

Okay.. so now there's the SLPL, the USL library, and this?

Jai Nomad made some nice models of books, available at the GNU Wave Architect Store.

Imagine, if you will, a hot new book explaining how to build towers. With lifesize template models.... do you want that rezzing in a 'quaint little library setting'?


Mini diagrams that hover in the air would be cool tho. But open too many and it could slow things down.

Better get authors permission! SL is cracking down on Trademark Violation's. Oh noes.

I like the idea of popup 3d illustrations.

With xml-rpc you could do interactive fiction, using one of the existing IF engines. See www.xyzzy.com for more info about IF. (Combining that with the 3d ills. would be especially cool.)

Another feature you could add would be a link through to an online bookseller to buy the book in RL (physical or ebook), with the nominal proceeds from an affiliate account going to support the SL library. It might even be possible to cut a deal with Amazon to make more of the contents of books available through this system, even those that aren't now in the public domain.

Just a few thoughts,

neko

Hmmm. Might want to stick with PubDomain... OR.... get public samples of copywritten Amazon'd books and put THAT into the Lbook. With an Amazon refferrer's link to support the Library.

When will we get rich-text, or... even better, Gecko-rendered DHTML/XML? I'd gladly make some SL pages and host them on my site.

I think a library like this would not only be a good place to get text, but also to have a place to discuss the books, poetry readings, and short story releases by SL authors.

The way the actual books could be distributed is nearly limitless.

So here are a few ideas to get even more ideas rolling.

-Do you use cubes with hovertext? or books facing "out" so that the covers can be seen.

-Regarding copyright. Project Gutenburg would require all the "preface" text they throw in if you use their text.

-If notecards are used... on per chapter? What is the notecard limit?

- Are the stack going to have a corresponding lookup? As with houses.. we need not model the RW exactly when something may be better in SL in a non conventional execution.

-So lets say I want a copy of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Fin? Alpha by author? What happens when new books are added?

-Do we need to devote real space or use vending machines to compress space used?

Helllooooooo? What about the SLPL? Just donate the texts to that once it's up and running (which should be soon, or so I hear). It's got a great building, and the system they're making is great.

Hmmmm Zork in prims?

*Blueman gets started on a small white house with a window, slightly ajar.

Lance, the world is getting very large very fast. I don't really see why having a few libraries would be a problem. Why not just let people experiment and do as they like without the whole someone else is already doing it already gig? By your logic those entering the world at this point would not be able to do much of anything seeing as how everything has been done to some extent at some point. Someone made the first outfit, the first weapon, the first in world rpg, the first vehicle ect...that doesn't mean someone else doesn't have every right to try their hand at it without being booed out of the world for "copying" or not contributing to existing projects.

I'm not accusing of copying. I'm just saying it would make more sense to consolidate.

Having an event at the library! 2/7/05 6:30pm PST
https://secondlife.com/events/event.php?id=32995&date=1107829800

That'd be cool...book club! I'm pretty new to SL, but if I can help in any way just let me know.

Books by SL residents sounds like a good idea too, but I think that if residents don't have that much material (like a few poems or a short story) then making zines would probably be a better option; like the books but instead of imbedded chapters have different people's writing imbedded, maybe if the zine had a theme and everyone's writing had to do with that theme? Just a thought!

Another good thing about making zines is that people are more likely to read them, for example if you (or someone you know) have a story/poem "published" you'll pick up the zine, and would them probably read the other people's stuff as well whereas if each person had their own book you probably wouldn't have bothered to read as many people's stuff. Plus "zine" sounds cooler than "book", haha.

That's a marvelous idea!
I'll have to check it out, and the SLPL too.

I thought about putting Gutenberg's project book into SL, but it's an insane work for the kind of books I created.
My books are prim ones, you rez and you start flipping prim pages to read (like a real one). So each page is a texture. You can get the Principia Discordia on SLExchange for an example (it costs 0L$).
I'd be willing to share the scripts with any interested as long as the resulting book are free. It would not accomodate large book though, the PD is less than 100 pages and took a whole afternoon to upload...

Oy, step away from the forums for just a little while, and people start talking about you behind your back!

The SLPL houses the first distribution system of its kind in Second Life. Information about the articles and books stored in the library is maintained on an external server running a MySQL database. Information includes the author, the categories, and keywords associated with the article, etc.

At the library, there will be terminals that can establish a connection with the server in order to retrieve data for display in-world. The terminal looks and behaves rather like an ATM, with lines of text and a button next to each line. The text and button actions can be changed dynamically to reflect different options available to the user.

Basically, when someone wants to find a book, they use the terminal. The terminal shows a main menu, and can both search and browse through the catalog. Choosing Browse from the main menu displays the top most literary categories. As you choose categories from the menu, subcategories are displayed along with articles in the category. Then, clicking on the article will bring up a summary of the article, and there is a button there that will cause a notecard to be given to you, containing the article you found.

This system scales well, as you can fit thousands of notecards inside the repository without having to add an additional prim for each notecard.

I have extended an invitation to gaX to manage a new team and distribute his Gutenberg novels at the SLPL. I have no intention of seeking these novels out, since you can already find them on the internet. However, the SLPL will contain SL-related articles and resident-produced fiction and poetry, shortly after we begin publishing.

We're just working out all the kinks in our catalog system, but it's mostly done. Let me know if anyone would like a demo.

Not to hijack your thread, gaX. Keep us informed of how your project is progressing.

Sounds like an interisting project! Hope it all goes well and wish yah most luck at it!

If yah need any help don't hesitate to ask!

Unfortunately, the twisty turning passages, all alike are going to be harder to put together. Though even the non-Euclidian connections could be done with a walk-in teleporter using sithack... hm....

But actually, what I meant was, you could have an interface to a server running text games using the INFORM development language, and display them through notecards or floating text, but you could also have them pop up prims to look at, explore, etc.

I don't know, it was a fairly incoherent thought. Perhaps it ought to just vanish in a puff of oily smoke.

neko

That's twisty little passages, Neko. I had that same idea a while back. [Edited to add: Well, not the same idea, but the idea of implementing Adventure in-world. Why? Beats me. Nostalgia for our old PDP-11 dumb terminal, I guess.] Have you seen the complete maps of Collosal Cave? Probably do-able somehow, but a real challenge to build. Other problems too.

Not to hijack your thread, OmegaX. You know I wouldn't do that to you.