From danah boyd’s site:

“The beloved, talented, and amazing Mimi Ito is organizing a DIY Video Summit (called 24/7) February 8-10 at USC in LA. There’s an academic program on Friday and Saturday featuring talks by the likes of Yochai Benkler, John Seely Brown, Joi Ito, Henry Jenkins, Lawrence Lessig, and Howard Rheingold. This requires registering and is almost at capacity.”

I am going to be in Atlanta but for those of you who can should check this out.

Categories: danah boyd, prosumer
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ELI Keynote – Henry Jenkins - What Wikipedia Can Teach Us About the New Media Literacies

Live blogging so no editing until maybe later.

Abstract

Emblematic of the new participatory cultures and the emerging practices of collective intelligence, Wikipedia has drawn fire from academic institutions and traditional gatekeepers. Using segments from a forthcoming documentary about the Wikipedia movement produced by MIT’s Project NML, this session will discuss how educators might use Wikipedia to introduce students to the ways that new forms of cultural production and knowledge sharing are reshaping the research process.

Henry and the folks at MIT are making a documentary on Wikipedia. The presentation included some of the clips of this. He begins with the Middlebury College problem having banned Wikipedia. This is not the whole story though. Rather than totalitarian they were more cautious of evaluating all sources not just Wikipedia.

Students get misinformation not only from Wikipedia or books from libraries. Wikipedia is more like rock and roll of this generation. Is it a generational issue.

We need to be talking to our students about Wikipedia. Perhaps by teaching the debate we can expose students to how knowledge is produced.

Can we learn from what kids are doing online. We want to see the conversation respects the use of online media and deal with moving into newer territories.

Social skills and competencies kids need to accurate to become life 2.0 literate.

Johnathan Fanton – The debate becomes a new kind of literacy, expression and problem solving.

New literacy should be augmenting older literacies not replacing them. Everyone needs reading and writing.

Participatory culture

· Low barriers

· Strong support

· Social connection

· Informal membership

· Contributions matter

Immigrants and natives can’t be linked to age or generational terms.

Media effects changing to media affects. No longer just the subject of what media does to you.

Three core challenges

· Participation gap

· Transparency problem

· Ethics challenge

DOPA act is an example of how the ethics challenge is a step back.

Skills on Wikipedia

· Collective intelligent

· Judgment

· Networking

· Negotiation

We have to overcome kids skepticism and adults closed mines to meet somewhere in the middle.

The aura of encyclopedias is not warranted.

Not can you trust Wikipedia but when can you trust Wikipedia.

BATTERY DYING MORE LATER!

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Last night, in my methods class I was talking about the complexity of video game controllers up to the point of the Wiimote. The professor, Bryant Paul, challenged me with the all important “why does that matter?” question. So to begin are console game controllers getting complex and is there a difference with the Wii controller? Second, does that actually mean anything or am I able to generalize anything from this?

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Categories: wii, Alpha Mom
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Last night, in my methods class I was talking about the complexity of video game controllers up to the point of the Wiimote. The professor, Bryant Paul, challenged me with the all important “why does that matter?” question. So to begin are console game controllers getting complex and is there a difference with the Wii controller? Second, does that actually mean anything or am I able to generalize anything from this?

Categories: wii, Alpha Mom
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While researching another blog entry the other day, I found two avatars in a clothing shop sitting in camping chairs. This is not an unusual occurrence but this was different. Instead of camping for Linden dollars, they were camping to receive an object. This totally changes the economy of camping.

What is camping?

For those who don�-?t know, camping in Second Life is paying avatars to sit in chairs or perform another task like dancing or a cleaning animation to create dwell in an area. Dwell is the measure of how many people are currently in an area and can affect the place where a business falls in search results. A business owner wants their shop to appear popular so by paying small amounts f Linden to people camped there they can create dwell. Previous camp rates were around 6-10 lindens an hour. This roughly works out to about 34 cents an hour. This, I will call Cash Camping. This is usually done by avatars with no other sources of income like newbies or students in SL just for a semester.

The New Camping

What was different about the campers I saw last week was instead of being paid in Linden dollars the avatars would receive an object after camping for a certain amount of time. The idea is if I really want an item of clothing or a car or something like that I would be willing to sit there for an hour or so to get it. This again increases dwell. On the surface, this appears to be business as usual but this is a wholesale change of how camping affects the SL economy. To give an object away once it is built costs the merchant nothing. There is no raw material cost in Second Life and so a merchant can give away 2 batman costumes or 5000 without any change in cost. This, I will call Object Camping.

The Effects of Object Camping

There are several effects I think object camping is going to have that may change the SL economy in interesting ways. I don�-?t want to be the Jurassic Park chaos theorist saying this small change will have huge effects on the economy in Second Life. To be honest I am not sure how it is going to affect the economy in Second Life but these are my guesses:

Lower cash camp rates: First, I think in the next few weeks the already low cash camping pay-outs will lower. A merchant gets far more bang for their buck by using object camping. Places who have no unique objects to sell and want to increase dwell will probably keep their pay-outs the same.

Decline of cash camping: Next, I think this may be the end of cash camping as we know it on the scale it exists now. Why would a merchant want to pay out more money when they can give out objects for free? I think cash camping will decline by half or two thirds.

Increased interest in a merchant�-?s products: I also think merchants will begin to sell more products. If I go to a store and see someone willing to sit for an hour to get a product I can just buy I may be more inclined to purchase the product.

No halfsies: If I cash camp for half an hour I am still usually compensated in some way. This can create a huge turnover in camping chairs and reduces dwell. With Object camping, you have to sit for the whole period or you do not receive the object, therefore increase stable dwell in an area.

No Transfer: Also when I cash camp, the reward I receive is transferable Linden dollars. I can camp in a shop all day then go spend the money somewhere else. With object camping the object receives is not transferable and so the transaction is more of a closed nature.

Less money in the system: The big effect I think this will have for avatars with little money is there will be less Linden currency floating around the system. Some economic theory (Quantity Theory of Money) says this will lower prices. Will we even notice?

In conclusion

I am going to keep watch of this over the next little while to see what effects this change has on the SL economy. Have you folks noticed anything? Are you a merchant who has done this or know a merchant changing from cash to object camping? What effects do you see?

Categories: youtube
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One of the fundamental differences between SL and MMORPGs like WoW and LOTRO is the fluidity of gender. There is a mechanical difference that has effects that change the social economic implications of gender in these virtual worlds. This single mechanical difference emphasizes that the knowledge of the virtual world is imperative to accurate research of that world.

The Mechanics of Gender

Before the effects of the mechanics have on a virtual space can be described, they must be fully described and then compared to other mechanics. When I create an avatar in SL or WoW, I select a gender for my avatar. Currently, most virtual worlds limit this to the male/female binary. In the past, at least one MUD (I can’t find a reference for this) had several genders to choose from. This gender choice in all the MMOs I looked at was static except for Second Life. In Wow if you choose a female elf, youa re a female elf for good. In Second Life, gender is a radio button in your Appearance window. One click of the mouse and you move from male to female or vice versa. There may be other social worlds like Entropia and There.com that have the ability to switch. Even if there are other worlds that allow gender switching, there still remains a dichotomy between static gender worlds and fluid gender worlds. Also, in all of these virtual worlds there is no game or world mechanic that sees gender as a limiting factor. A female hunter in LOTRO is as strong and fast as a male one. In Second Life, a male avatar builds exactly the same way a female avatar builds. Also in Second Life, male and female is defined by the system by some physical characteristics (chest size, hips, height) but it all can be changed. You can look like a man but be gendered as a female. Gender does not even appear on someone’s profile. In most MMO’s the bodies of the avatars appear different (though my female engineer in Hellgate has so much armor on it is difficult to tell her gender). So, I have isolated a difference in gender mechanics between worlds but what does it actually effect?

Bodies For Sale

In Castronova’s paper, “The Price of Bodies: A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthetic World” (2004) he talks about how there is a thriving economy of character on sites like ebay and playerauctions.com for both male and female avatars. This does not exist for Second Life. Usually in a MMORPG, like WoW, reputation is built on level that is shown by abilities and armor. In Second Life, a newbie can have the “look” of a more seasoned resident in a few minutes. Castranova found gender labels less important to the economic value of an avatar and I would extend that to the avatars in SL. The value of an avatar in SL is hard to assess since there is no regular trade in them but objects that avatar use or wear do have an economic trade. For instance, in Second life you can buy an avatar outfit that makes you look like a dinosaur. This trade tends not to be in human type avatars. Also in SL, women’s clothing, skins, and hair are more prevalent and generally more expensive than men’s. In a world like WoW or LOTRO there is no gender-cost difference in armor or weaponry.

Gender Behind The Gender

A practice that has also been documented is the switching of genders between player (the person using the computer) and avatar (the in-world instance of that person’s identity) . In any of these virtual worlds, assuming the player gender based on gender selection in world is faulty at best. Generally, most men play men and most women play women but it cannot be depended on. In a fluid gender space like SL even less so since the gender of an avatar can change at any moment during the experience.

So What?

Well economically, the fluidity of gender certainly changes the economic value of an avatar and changes the economy of clothing and other objects. How exactly that happens, needs further research. Also the social effects of a fluid gender system need to be studied and described. The most import thing here is awareness of the mechanics of virtual worlds is essential to understanding how they work and assessing causation.

References

Castronova, E.. “The Price of Bodies: A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthetic World” in Kyklos, 2004

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Yesterday, we had a family over for a Wii Play Date. My son, who is five, and their two sons who are four and eight played Wii Sports and other games. Great fun was had by all, but the gears in my head started turning. I have written a few times about the marketing campaign Nintendo has constructed to appeal to the Alpha Mom. The Wii is portrayed as a non-violent, user-friendly, active, and social gaming system. Is that indeed happening and if it is, so what?

Is the Wii social?

The mechanics of social gaming are certainly contained in the Wii. The games are mostly multiplayer and there are lots of “party” games that encourage quick competitive play. The Mii avatars can be shared between Wiis and even carried around on the Wiimote. When the family arrived yesterday, I took one of their Wiimotes and tuned it to my system then downloaded their Mii characters off of it. Just having the mechanics does not matter though if they are not being used. In this instance, a few surveys may be in order to determine if the Wii is a more social game.

Social Gaming

The term “social gaming”, in this instance, means more than one person in the same room playing the same console game at the same time. This does not include online play (which is social but a different kind of social) and solitary play. The Wii advertised mentality implies owners will have Wii Family Game Nights and I am interested if this is in fact happening.

Survey Wii Users

Before surveying to see if the Wii is more social than other systems, I think it would be important to see if Wii owners were using the social Wii features first. If they were not using the features it would mean the Wii is not increasing the social nature of the video game experience. Things that might show increased social nature would be:

Miis: Number of Miis created and how many of them have the “wander” feature turned on so that they would automatically share over the internet connection with friendly Wii machines. Also, if the user had sent a Mii by email or carried it via Wiimote. The last instance especially implies social use.
Wiimotes: The number of Wiimotes owned. The console comes with one Wiimote and the game Wii play comes with a second. When WiiPlay first came out Wiimotes were still scarce and so many bought the game just to have a second Wiimote. Three or more Wiimotes implies multiplayer social gaming.
Party Games: There are a number of Wii games specifically intended to be played in groups. They can be played single player but combined with multi remote situations the presence of these games would imply some sort of social activity.
Game Playing Habits: Asking Wii owners if they have had people over to play the Wii or had one in operation during a party would imply they see the Wii as a social device.

Survey Video Gamers

After surveying Wii owners and determining if they used the social aspects of the console it would be important to them, it would be important to place that in context of other console game users. For instance does Sony’s @Home have the same effect? Once these results are compared to the Wii results, a picture of whether the Wii console is a social appliance would appear.

So What?

With video games as a huge industry (bigger than golf and almost as big as movies) there is a definite cultural impact if a Wii console (the current best seller) is in fact creating social gaming experiences. A commonly perceived effect of video game play is that it makes people more isolated. If the Wii is changing that, an implied media effect may also be going through a change. This change then may be seen as a new flavor of console game play and it would be interesting to see if Microsoft and Sony followed suit.

Categories: wii, Alpha Mom
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One of the things on my mind as of late is the “uncanny valley” and how or if this relates to avatars in virtual worlds. The concept of “uncanny valley” is that a synthetic human-like object can appear too life-like, so that a human viewing or interacting with it feels uncomfortable. I looked into this a bit and then had a very good discussion on the SLED list about this in relation to not only virtual worlds but to movies like The Polar Express and Beowulf. So to begin I will define the term and give some of its history and then try to apply it to avatars. What I found is the idea is at the conceptual stage and has not been tested in a quantitative way, so of course I want to figure out a way if it is there is a way to test it for avatars.

The History of the Uncanny Valley

The term “uncanny valley” is from the study of robotics. It was coined by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970 based on Ernst Jentsch’s concept of “the uncanny,” in a much earlier work. According to Mori’s article, “The Uncanny Valley” from Energy he “noticed that, as robots appear more humanlike, our sense of their familiarity increases until we come to a valley.” Mori goes on to graph this out as degree of likeness to human (x-axis) to positive or negative familiarity (y-axis) as seen in figure 1. As the robot become more like a human in appearance to a certain point it increases familiarity. When the likeness becomes too close to humans it dips dramatically in familiarity and then increases again. At first, this is all based on appearance, then Mori goes on to link the concept with movement. Mori felt this would have an exagerated effect on the valley. He also feels the signifigance of the incanny valley is that the robots that are at the bottom of it appear like dead humans and so are strange or unsettling ot the viewer and so the robotic designer should avoid this level of “likeness”. This concept comes from Mori’s personal observation but the orginal article provides no quantitative evidence of this effect.

New Explorers in the Valley

Of course this lead to all sorts of detractors. Roboticist David Hanson, said it was “”really pseudoscientific, but people treat it like it is science.” Sara Kiesler from Caranagie Melso says of the uncanny valley “”we have evidence that it’s true, and evidence that it’s not.” I have to say without any real statistics behind it it still falls into the rhelm of theory we must now build a hypothesis on and then test.

Other Residence of the Valley

Well since the original theory was based on robotics does that translate to avatars in virtual worlds? It feels like common sense that the uncanny valley exists in relation to avatars and I would extend that to movie making. There is a difference here though, when I watch The Polar Express I am taking a passive role, but when I am in Second Life or another virtual world I am controlling that movement and appearance. Does the uncanny valley exist only in the passive or is it different in active participant environments? Sounds like a research project to me.

SLED Discussion

On the SLED list Gary Hayes brought this up and a good discussion has resulted. The off-shoot is that facial and body movements (particularly lip movements synched with speech) would increase the life-likeness of the avatars in SL. I wonder to what end though since one of the major benefits of virtual worlds is doing things that are “not life-like”. Are all the Barbie folks in SL trying to be unrealistic to be more familiar?

Conclusion

As a quantitative social science student I am interested in plotting his and seeing if it can actually be graphed and if the effect is present in both active and passive environments. How does one measure strangeness and level of life-likeness? More than likely I will change this into a project for one of my classes this semester.

References

Uncanny valley. (2007, December 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:37, January 1, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uncanny_valley&oldid=180429838

Mori, M The Uncanny Valley in Energy Energy, 7(4), pp. 33-35 1970 Translated by Karl F. MacDorman and Takashi Minato http://www.androidscience.com/theuncannyvalley/proceedings2005/uncannyvalley.html

THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS GIRLFRIEND FOR A ROBOT When David Hanson set out to build a robotic head, he saw no reason not to make it look just like a human. Then, he stumbled into the Uncanny Valley. | POPULAR SCIENCE Sept 2003 http://iiae.utdallas.edu/news/pop_science.html

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