scholarly journals (Re-)Opening an encounter in the virtual world of Second Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-51
Author(s):  
Laura Kohonen-Aho ◽  
Anna Vatanen
Keyword(s):  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Sequential Analysis ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The One

This study explores how ‘gatherings’ turn into ‘encounters’ in a virtu­al world (VW) context. Most communication technologies enable only focused encounters between distributed participants, but in VWs both gatherings and encounters can occur. We present close sequential analysis of moments when after a silent gathering, inter­action among participants in a VW is gradually resumed, and also investigate the social actions in the verbal (re-)opening turns. Our findings show that like in face-to-face situations, also in VWs partici­pants often use different types of embodied resources to achieve the transition, rather than rely on verbal means only. However, the tran­sition process in VWs has distinctive characteristics compared to the one in face-to-face situations. We discuss how participants in a VW use virtually embodied pre-beginnings to display what we call encounter-readiness, instead of displaying lack of presence by avatar stillness. The data comprise 40 episodes of video-recorded team in­teractions in a VW.

It is Only a Game

2010 ◽  
pp. 11-32
Author(s):  
Angela Adrian
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Ubiquitous Computing ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
The Social ◽  
The One ◽  
Blank Slate

In many ways, ubiquitous computing is viewed as the opposite of virtual reality. The earliest writings on ubiquitous computing recognized this fundamental difference. “Perhaps most diametrically opposed to our vision [of ubiquitous computing] is the notion of ‘virtual reality,’ which attempts to make a world inside the computer . . . . Virtual reality focuses an enormous apparatus on simulating the world rather than on invisibly enhancing the one that already exists. Indeed, the opposition between the notion of virtual reality and ubiquitous, invisible computing is so strong that some of us use the term ‘embodied virtuality’ to refer to the process of drawing computers out of their electronic shells.” (Weiser, 1991) Yet, the two share an important common trait: both are mediated by computing ability. The previous chapter introduced “MMORPGs” which are also sometimes referred to as game worlds or virtual worlds. Some of the most popular American MMORPGs are World of Warcraft, Everquest, Ultima Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, and City of Heroes. Legend of Mir, Final Fantasy XI, Lineage II, MU Online, Ragnarok Online, Lineage, and Kingdom of the Winds are some popular Asian MMORPGs. Dubit, Runescape, Playdo, and Habbo Hotel are popular in Europe. (Terra Nova, 2008) Another type of popular virtual world is the social virtual world, also sometimes referred to as “unstructured.” Some popular social virtual worlds are Second Life, Sims Online, Project Entropia, and There. (Virtual Worlds Review, 2008) Categorization as “social” does not fully comprehend these virtual worlds. Each world relies to an extent on user-created content. For example, Second Life started as a largely blank slate with most in-world objects being designed and created in-world by individual players. (Second Life, Create Anything, 2008) Social worlds can also have some game-like incentive aspects. The entire concept embodies far more than traditional video games.

Herramientas digitales para recolección, procesamiento y presentación de datos de campo como instrumento para afrontar la contingencia COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 96-104
Author(s):  
Didier Haid Alvarado Acosta
Keyword(s):  
Learning Curve ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Past ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Virtual Libraries ◽  
Different Types

In March of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak forced people to lock themselves inside their homes and begin the process of transitioning from face-to-face activities at work, schools and universities to a 100 % virtual method. Even when Communication Technologies (ICT) and online platforms have seen growth over the past two decades, including various virtual libraries developed by database publishers or web-based training programs that appear to shorten the learning curve (Lee, Hong y Nian, 2002), many people were unprepared for this transition and all of them are now dedicated to entering the new reality. In this order of ideas, the activities that have traditionally required the assistance of the staff have had to adapt with the use of new tools, which meet daily needs. A clear example is the field work collection tasks. In this group, there are different types such as surveys, photographs, reviews or on-site inspections. The current work presents the use of tools for collecting, validating, analysing and presenting data remotely and in real time. All of them based on the ArcGIS Online platform.

“Stop Phubbing Me!”

2016 ◽  
pp. 192-201
Author(s):  
Alan César Belo Angeluci
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Mobile Communication ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities ◽  
Absent Presence

In studies on mobile communication, a topic that has been of particular interest is the impact of increased adoption and use of mobile devices in everyday activities and in the context of interpersonal relationships. However, the ease of accessing digital content and connecting to people physically distant through the recent mobile communication technologies has shown barriers and opportunities in human interaction. Based on the theoretical approaches on identity and relational artifacts grounded in mobility and absent presence concepts, this paper describes some aspects among young people in Brazil in relation to the “phubbing” phenomenon. The term was coined to describe the act of ignoring someone due to the use of a smartphone. The results indicated effects on the level of attention and interaction, regarding not only the content of smartphone, but also the social protocol and the face-to-face communication.

Research Ethics in the Social Sciences

2022 ◽  
pp. 54-64
Author(s):  
Gianluca Attademo ◽  
Alessia Maccaro
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Research Ethics ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Social ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

The formulation of Charts for research ethics and Codes of conduct has been growing in the last few decades, on the one hand due to a renewed awareness of the ethical dimensions of research governance and the relationship between regulators and researchers, and on the other hand for the expansion of possibilities achieved by innovation in information and communication technologies. The voluntary involvement of research participants, risk management and prevention, data protection, community engagement, reflexivity of researchers are some of the centres of gravity of a debate that involves researchers, institutions, and citizens.

Machinima in Second Life

2011 ◽  
pp. 396-416
Author(s):  
Stephany Filimon
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Computer Users ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Legal Thinking

This chapter provides a brief history of machinima, films created by computer users within virtual worlds, and focuses on machinima produced within the social virtual world of Second Life, on how to create machinima in Second Life, and on highlighting select examples of Second Life machinima. This chapter also connects user-produced content, like machinima, with the openness and rules of the platforms in which content is created. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of legal thinking surrounding user-created content, including machinima, and points to the rise of the player-producer in these systems.

scholarly journals 3D Interactions between Virtual Worlds and Real Life in an E-Learning Community

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Lucke ◽  
Raphael Zender
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Real World ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Learning Platform ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Scenarios

Virtual worlds became an appealing and fascinating component of today's internet. In particular, the number of educational providers that see a potential for E-Learning in such new platforms increases. Unfortunately, most of the environments and processes implemented up to now do not exceed a virtual modelling of real-world scenarios. In particular, this paper shows that Second Life can be more than just another learning platform. A flexible and bidirectional link between the reality and the virtual world enables synchronous and seamless interaction between users and devices across both worlds. The primary advantages of this interconnection are a spatial extension of face-to-face and online learning scenarios and a closer relationship between virtual learners and the real world.

The Physical–Digital Divide: Exploring the Social Gap Between Digital Natives and Physical Natives

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 1167-1184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Ball ◽  
Jessica Francis ◽  
Kuo-Ting Huang ◽  
Travis Kadylak ◽  
Shelia R. Cotten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Demographic Group ◽  
The Social ◽  
Information And Communication

Older adults are the most digitally divided demographic group. The present study explores how older adults perceive the physical use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly across generations and contexts. Data for the present study come from nine focus groups. Seniors acknowledge that ICTs help them connect with geographically distant social ties, but that they lead to feelings of disconnection with geographically close social ties. We label this phenomenon the “physical–digital divide,” which exists when a group feels ostracized or offended when those around them engage with ICTs while they themselves are not or cannot engage with ICTs. Younger generations are often referred to as “digital natives” and older generations as “digital immigrants.” A more apt label for older adults may be “physical natives,” as their preferred method of communication involves physical face-to-face interactions and traditional codes of etiquette. Suggestions are made for reducing the physical–digital divide.

Earbuds Are Good for Sharing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Bickford
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Portable Communication

This chapter presents a detailed analysis of children’s practices of sharing earbuds with friends and peers. Portable music technologies mediate face-to-face relationships among schoolchildren, and the social links they support provide an intimate environment for interaction that mostly excludes adults. These face-to-face interactions using digital audio technologies challenge theoretical perspectives from two fields. First, a prominent view of sound technologies as progressively isolating individuals from one another fails entirely to account for children’s sociable practices. Second, while approaches to portable communication technologies increasingly do privilege communication among intimates, in their focus on communication at a distance they neglect the face-to-face connections in which these devices are embedded. Technology studies are also largely unconcerned with portable music listening as “new media,” accepting the view that portable music is isolating. The opposite is true for children, for whom music devices make connections in materially and spatially grounded face-to-face relationships.

scholarly journals Knee-High Boots and Six-Pack Abs: Autoethnographic Reflections on Gender and Technology in Second Life

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Delia Dumitrica ◽  
Georgia Gaden
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Gender And Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Performance Of Gender ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Visual Element ◽  
Situated Perspective

In this paper, we explore the experience and performance of gender online in Second Life, currently one of the most popular virtual world platforms. Based on two collaborative autoethnographic projects, we propose that gender has to be explored at the intersection between our own situated perspective and the vision embedded in the social and technical infrastructure of the virtual world. For us, the visual element of a 3D world further frames the representation and performance of gender, while technical skill becomes a crucial factor in constructing our ability to play with this performance. As we recollect and interrogate our own experiences in SL, we argue that the relation between gender and virtual worlds is a complex and multifaceted one, proposing our positioned account of experiencing this relation. It is critical, we suggest, that studies of mediated experience in virtual worlds take into account the position of the researcher in ‘real’ life (IRL) as well as the dominant discourses of the environment they are immersed in. In this we must also be critical, of ourselves, our assumptions, as well as the environment itself.

Enacting networks, crossing borders: On the internationalization of the social sciences in Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 705-722
Author(s):  
Leandro Rodriguez Medina
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Peripheral Region ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Strategic Networks ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Global North ◽  
The One

The study of the internationalization of science seems to be focused on the natural and formal sciences and on networks of the Global North. A shift towards the social sciences and a peripheral region (Mexico) is proposed here and shows that two different types of networks are enacted to face the challenges of internationalized research. On the one hand, there are strategic networks which internalize the pressure of incentives brought to bear on academics and tend to reproduce an over-professionalized idea of the academia. On the other, there are engaged networks that try to strengthen international bonds according to certain politico-ethical imperatives. In this article, relying on current research on internationalization of the Mexican social sciences, the author explores the usefulness of these ideal-types of networks and discusses their implications.

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