Social Virtual Worlds and Their Places

Social Virtual Worlds and Their Places PDF Author: Merrill L. Johnson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811686262
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
This book provides a foundational look at social virtual worlds from the geographer’s perspective. How can the geographer’s craft be applied to social virtual worlds? This question is addressed through careful analysis of what social virtual worlds are, how interest in these worlds has waxed and waned during the twenty-first century, and the meaning of their concocted spaces. Examining one of the key features of the social virtual world, the avatar, the book focuses on its user's motivations and identity choices. The book draws on the geographical understanding of place to examine where avatars live, work, and roam, and describes how virtual-world places resemble and diverge from actual-world places. A mixed-methods survey conducted in Second Life adds additional breadth to the discussion, whilst a series of vignettes gives extra life to the subject matter. This original exploration of the content and meaning of social virtual worlds is an essential resource for geographers, and for anyone interested in the virtual world experience.

Social Virtual Worlds and Their Places

Social Virtual Worlds and Their Places PDF Author: Merrill L. Johnson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811686262
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

Get Book

Book Description
This book provides a foundational look at social virtual worlds from the geographer’s perspective. How can the geographer’s craft be applied to social virtual worlds? This question is addressed through careful analysis of what social virtual worlds are, how interest in these worlds has waxed and waned during the twenty-first century, and the meaning of their concocted spaces. Examining one of the key features of the social virtual world, the avatar, the book focuses on its user's motivations and identity choices. The book draws on the geographical understanding of place to examine where avatars live, work, and roam, and describes how virtual-world places resemble and diverge from actual-world places. A mixed-methods survey conducted in Second Life adds additional breadth to the discussion, whilst a series of vignettes gives extra life to the subject matter. This original exploration of the content and meaning of social virtual worlds is an essential resource for geographers, and for anyone interested in the virtual world experience.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods PDF Author: Mike Allen
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1483381420
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 2013

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Book Description
Communication research is evolving and changing in a world of online journals, open-access, and new ways of obtaining data and conducting experiments via the Internet. Although there are generic encyclopedias describing basic social science research methodologies in general, until now there has been no comprehensive A-to-Z reference work exploring methods specific to communication and media studies. Our entries, authored by key figures in the field, focus on special considerations when applied specifically to communication research, accompanied by engaging examples from the literature of communication, journalism, and media studies. Entries cover every step of the research process, from the creative development of research topics and questions to literature reviews, selection of best methods (whether quantitative, qualitative, or mixed) for analyzing research results and publishing research findings, whether in traditional media or via new media outlets. In addition to expected entries covering the basics of theories and methods traditionally used in communication research, other entries discuss important trends influencing the future of that research, including contemporary practical issues students will face in communication professions, the influences of globalization on research, use of new recording technologies in fieldwork, and the challenges and opportunities related to studying online multi-media environments. Email, texting, cellphone video, and blogging are shown not only as topics of research but also as means of collecting and analyzing data. Still other entries delve into considerations of accountability, copyright, confidentiality, data ownership and security, privacy, and other aspects of conducting an ethical research program. Features: 652 signed entries are contained in an authoritative work spanning four volumes available in choice of electronic or print formats. Although organized A-to-Z, front matter includes a Reader’s Guide grouping entries thematically to help students interested in a specific aspect of communication research to more easily locate directly related entries. Back matter includes a Chronology of the development of the field of communication research; a Resource Guide to classic books, journals, and associations; a Glossary introducing the terminology of the field; and a detailed Index. Entries conclude with References/Further Readings and Cross-References to related entries to guide students further in their research journeys. The Index, Reader’s Guide themes, and Cross-References combine to provide robust search-and-browse in the e-version.

Possible Worlds

Possible Worlds PDF Author: Ralph Schroeder
Publisher: Westview Press
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Virtual reality (VR) has become a revolutionary technology allowing users to experience nearly unlimited computer-generated realities--exercising a strong hold on the popular imagination, attracting hundreds of researchers, and spawning a booming industry. "Possible Worlds" provides a sociological and historical account of the genesis of VR and how it has shaped social life. The book also relates VR to more general issues in the study and effects of the new communications media, advanced research and development, the education and entertainment industries, and finally to youth culture and cultural expression.

Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds

Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds PDF Author: Kiran Lakkaraju
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110712882X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
This cross-disciplinary exploration of MMOs and other complex online worlds melds work from computer science, psychology and social science.

Dialectics of Space and Place across Virtual and Corporeal Topographies

Dialectics of Space and Place across Virtual and Corporeal Topographies PDF Author: June Jordaan
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1848885105
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Dialectics of Space and Place across Virtual and Corporeal Topographies explores the inter- and multi-disciplinary subjects of space and place in two parts. Part 1 Virtual topographies of Space and Place is concerned with themes related to immaterial places, and Part II Corporeal Topographies of Space and Place explores narratives of real and imagined experiences of places. This volume, underpinned by an array of philosophical positions provides a foundation for new and critical dialogues on space and place.

Being There Together

Being There Together PDF Author: Ralph Schroeder
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199707782
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Virtual environments provide places for 'being there together', for avatars to interact with each other in computer-generated spaces. They range from immersive systems in which people have life-size tracked avatar bodies to large-scale spaces such as Second Life where populations of users socialize in persistent virtual worlds. This book draws together research on how people interact in virtual environments: What difference does avatar appearance make? How do avatars collaborate and play together? How do the type of system and the space affect how people engage with each other? How does interaction between avatars differ from face-to-face interaction? What can social scientists learn from experiments and other studies of how people interact in virtual environments? What are the ethical and social issues in doing this research, and in the uses of this technology? And how do virtual environments differ from other communication technologies such as videoconferencing systems and other new media? This book is a state-of-the art survey of research on these topics, and offers a framework for understanding this technology and its future implications.

Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries

Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries PDF Author: Lori Bell
Publisher: Information Today, Inc.
ISBN: 9781573873611
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
"Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries is designed to help librarians and educators recognize the potential of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and consider ways to get involved as they proliferate. Lori Bell, Rhonda B. Trueman, and 24 contributors describe innovative projects in Second Life and other virtual worlds, and demonstrate how reference, teaching, collections, discussion groups, young adult programs, and other services can be successfully applied in a virtual environment."--Cover.

Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds

Social Interactions in Virtual Worlds PDF Author: Kiran Lakkaraju
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Virtual reality in management
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Bringing together research findings from an international team of experts in computer science, psychology, and the social sciences, this book will help researchers and practitioners better understand the fundamental processes underpinning social behavior in virtual worlds. --

Leadership in Spaces and Places

Leadership in Spaces and Places PDF Author: Arja Ropo
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 178347792X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
By combining new research on leadership and workspaces, Leadership in Spaces and Places argues for a radical reconceptualization of leadership. They argue leadership is not only about leaders themselves, but is also affected by the built environment. <

Creating Second Lives

Creating Second Lives PDF Author: Astrid Ensslin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136809279
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
This book aims to provide insights into how ‘second lives’ in the sense of virtual identities and communities are constructed textually, semiotically and discursively, specifically in the online environment Second Life and Massively Multiplayer Online Games such as World of Warcraft. The book’s philosophy is multi-disciplinary and its goal is to explore the question of how we as gamers and residents of virtual worlds construct alternative online realities in a variety of ways. Of particular significance to this endeavour are conceptions of the body in cyberspace and of spatiality, which manifests itself in ‘natural’ and built environments as well as the triad of space, place and landscape. The contributors’ disciplinary backgrounds include media, communication, cultural and literary studies, and they examine issues of reception and production, identity, community, gender, spatiality, natural and built environments using a plethora of methodological approaches ranging from theoretical and philosophical contemplation through social semiotics to corpus-based discourse analysis.