An Avatar at Ball State Explains ‘Second Life’ to Dummies

Who better to help write Second Life for Dummies than Sarah B. Robbins, who since the fall of 2006 has taught composition to Ball State University freshmen in Middletown Island–16 virtual acres in the virtual world of Second Life? A doctoral student in rhetoric and composition at Ball State, Ms. Robbins is an advocate of using Second Life for online education. In Second Life, as the avatar Intellagirl, she is a popular speaker on education who sports pink hair and black clothing, a representation of her real-life appearance.Ms. Robbins says the book, to be co-written with her fiancé, Mark Bell, is due out in September from John Wiley & Sons. On her blog she asks Second Life fans for their recommendations on the 10 best places in the virtual world; the book is expected to include such a list. –Andrea L. Foster