I love the old traditional libraries- full of stacks and shelves and wooden chairs with reading lamps. I took this photo of the beautiful reading room at the University of Washington’s Suzzallo Library.

Realizing that the digital revolution is changing libraries (not replacing them let’s hope), I am fascinated with virtual media and our quest for information in innovative formats.

Merging my passion for libraries, innovation, and the beautiful UW campus, I was led to the Certificate in Virtual Worlds (where I graduated in 2010). That exciting experience introduced me to a global network of extremely creative colleagues. After my class graduation, the group continued to collaborate across the world. Watching the newest graduating class this past week brought back memories of the intense challenges we faced as a group and reminded me of how fascinating it is to meet and form deep relationships in a virtual space.

There are advantages to attending a virtual world graduation. Participants are mentally engaged, immersed, interacting with media instead of simply sitting and waiting. My machinima from the University of Washington Certificate in Virtual Worlds Graduation of the Class of 2012 takes you through the ceremony and into the unbelievably creative final project they built: The Museum of Virtual Media.

The course instructor, Randy Hinrichs (pictured as his avatar Ran in the machinima) recently spoke at the Federal Consortium of Virtual Worlds Conference in Washington D.C., with a focus on the term virtuality. Yes, the digital revolution has already created an upheaval in media communication and the balance between physicality and virtuality may be a bumpy tightrope walk for some people. Whether or not you have entered a virtual world (such as Second Life) is not the issue. We all lead both physical and virtual lives.