Virtual Cultures

Metanomics Part 2 - The Aftermath

The debate seems to be heating up at Terra Nova.

Metanomics Part 2: Research Methods Roundtable, Mon. 3/30, 11am PST

Monday, March 30, at 11am Pacific (SLT), Tom Boellstorff, myself and Thomas Malaby will be doing a follow up roundtable discussion in response to some of the issues that came up surrounding our last visit to the show (see previous blogposts). Stay tuned... For more, go here.

New Social Media in Virtual Worlds (at GDC)

Just a quick note, I'll be leading a panel on new social media in Virtual Worlds - looking at existing best practices and some of the (exciting) potential there for fitting the two together.  I'll be joined by Dr. Bob Moore, Betsy Book, and Giff Constable, it should be a really good presentation and discussion, they're all great and knowledgeable folks.  Hope you can join us (it's Tuesday afternoon, part of the Worlds in Motion summit... 4:00 pm I believe).  

Experimenting with Virtual Worlds: The Phantom Rebuttal

I share Celia’s frustration, detailed in her “Denizens of Virtual Worlds as Lab Rats?” posting, with the way that Dr. Bloomfield chose to end our Metanomics discussion. His monologue was quite ill-informed: despite making strong claims about how culture should in his opinion be studied, he offered us no opportunity for a rebuttal. I actually typed in some backchat comments as he was speaking (a nifty form of resistance afforded by virtual-world technologies), but there was no chance to engage in a real dialogue. I hope that I will have the opportunity to engage in future dialogue with Dr. Bloomfield.

Denizens of Virtual Worlds as Lab Rats? A Metanomics Rebuttal

On Monday March 3, I participated in a joint interview with my close friend and colleague Tom Boellstorff on the Metanomics radio program, which is podcast on the web and presented live inside Second Life. (For a delightful parody of the event, go here.) I won’t go into too much detail about the substance of the event, which is available on the Metanomics archive. In this blogpost, I’d like to take the opportunity to respond Ron Bloomfield’s closing comments, a courtesy we were not afforded at the time.

Celia Pearce and Tom Boellstorff on Metanomics, March 2nd, Noon Pacific

METANOMICS: Av-Culturation Host Robert Bloomfield and guests Celia Pearce and Tom Boellstorff Monday, March 2, Noon to 1 PM Pacific Time Monday, March 2, Noon to 1 PM Pacific Time This Monday, from the exotic to the mundane, Metanomics explores avatar culture. Anthropologists Tom Boellstorff and Celia Pearce are developing new methods and theories about human relationships in virtual worlds. Join us as we discuss how the traditional practice of ethnography is being adapted to the study of online immersive environments and how virtual worlds shape identities, economies, communities and societies. To attend the event live in Second Life® visit one of the Metanomics Event Partners, or teleport to our event partner landing. To view live on the web, visit our Watch Live web page. If you would like to participate in the live chat, join and log in to the Metanomics website.