Dozens of virtual worlds

Gary Hayes, director of the Australian Laboratory for Advanced Media Production, filmed the video below during his virtual travels in preparation for some reports on the evolution of virtual worlds. I knew there were other virtual worlds out there and in the works, but I had no idea there were so many that look--at least from the brief clips--so good. In seven minutes, Hayes provides glimpses of forty virtual worlds, interspersed with some interesting and thought-provoking quotations. Visit Personalized Media and scroll down to read some of Hayes's initial observations.



Thanks to Kathryn Greenhill at Librarians Matter for the tip!

The Super Size Me of lexicography

Thanks to Library Boy for linking to an interesting book review by Nicholson Baker:

Ammon Shea, a sometime furniture mover, gondolier and word collector, has written an oddly inspiring book about reading the whole of the Oxford English Dictionary in one go.
. . . .
Months in, Shea arrives — back-aching, crabby, page-blind — at Chapter N. “Some days I feel as if I do not actually speak the English language,” he writes, his verbal cortex overflowing. “It is,” he observes, “like trying to remember all the trees one sees through the window of a train.” Once he stares for a while, amazed, at the word glove. “I find myself wondering why I’ve never seen this odd term that describes such a common article of clothing.”

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages sounds like a great read for those of us who enjoyed The Professor and the Madman. I can't wait to get a copy.