:: Netwoman ::

:: Thursday, February 28, 2008 ::

Future and Reality of Gaming (F.R.O.G.)

Vienna Games Conference 17.-19. October 2008

Digital games have become a driving factor of contemporary cultural, social, and economic development. They are enablers of global cultural exchange and serve as entry points for media participation. However, the cultural, social and economic significance of games usually remains underestimated or misunderstood by the general public. In 2007, the City of Vienna decided to host “Game City”, a high profile event bringing together representatives of the games industry, non-profit orga nizations, academia and the general public for the discussion of the current state of computer games, digital youth cultures and games research. One key element of “Game City” was the Vienna Games Conference, which had the objective of serving as a public information platform as well as an international networking event for game researchers of various disciplines. Due to the overwhelming success of this concept, the “Game City” event and the Vienna Games Conference will be held again in the fall of 2008.

In October 2008, the Vienna Games Conference will address issues related to the "Future and Reality of Gaming" (F.R.O.G.) sharing cutting edge research and insights on the future of the games industry, game design, game theory, game culture and education. The conference aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and current research findings regarding innovative theories, concepts and practice models in an engaging and convivial atmosphere.

:: Netwoman 10:26 AM [+] ::
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SL Goes Mobile

By Thomas Fredirckson

Mobile users with 3G-enabled phones will be able to access Vollee's Second Life mobile service, which is a reformatted version of the virtual world for smaller screens, according to Vollee.

"What we have developed is a service which, for the first time, allows you to access a rich persistent virtual 3-D world the way it is supposed to be experienced on your phone," said Martin Dunsby, Vollee's CEO.

Vollee has developed an interactive video streaming platform that uses the bandwidth of 3G cellular networks to stream games typically reserved for personal computers to mobile phones - with all graphics and options in tact.

The world available through mobile devices will be the same as that via the PC platform.

:: Netwoman 12:41 PM [+] ::
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Cyberpioneers are Teenage Girls

Nice little NYT piece on Teenage Girls - the primary creators of web content:

Geek Chic: Not Just For Guys Sorry, Boys, This Is Our Domain
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Research shows that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content (blogs, graphics, photographs, Web sites) are not misfits resembling the Lone Gunmen of "The X Files." On the contrary, the cyberpioneers of the moment are digitally effusive teenage girls.

"Most guys don't have patience for this kind of thing," said Nicole Dominguez, 13, of Miramar, Fla., whose hobbies include designing free icons, layouts and "glitters"
(shimmering animations) for the Web and MySpace pages of other teenagers. "It's really hard."

Nicole posts her graphics, as well as her own HTML and CSS computer coding pointers (she is self-taught), on the pink and violet Sodevious.net, a domain her mother bought for her in October.

"If you did a poll I think you'd find that boys rarely have sites," she said. "It's mostly girls."

It's a relief to see young women creating rather than simply consuming. PEW released similar results in 2005.

:: Netwoman 11:34 AM [+] ::
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Midwives and educators meeting in Second Life

Fascinating example of the many events, learning opportunities and networking available in Second Life; a Midwife Meeting

Plan for meeting of midwives in second life.

When:
Saturday 1st of March
United Kingdom -- 0800hrs
Perth WA -- 1700hrs
Brisbane -- 1800hrs
Sydney -- 1900hrs
New Zealand -- 2100hrs

Where:
On Koru Island in the Kiwi educators meeting place, in the virtual
world of Second Life.
I will teleport you to this location

Program:
1. Start time, meet and greet and get settled.
This may take a wee while to get everyone comfortable.
2. 10 minute power point presentation
Highlighting some of the options currently available in Second Life.
3. Open floor for discussion
Brainstorming opportunities for midwifery and midwifery education in Second Life
4. Arrange subsequent meeting to further discussion in venue to be arranged.

:: Netwoman 11:14 AM [+] ::
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Second Skin

Cool Trailer - Second Skin

Second Skin takes an intimate look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Everquest allow millions of users to simultaneously interact in virtual spaces. Second Skin introduces us to couples who have fallen in love without meeting, disabled players who have found new purpose, addicts, Chinese gold-farming sweatshop workers, wealthy online entrepreneurs and legendary guild leaders - all living in a world that doesn't quite exist.

Will be interesting to see what kind of approach they're taking.

:: Netwoman 12:58 AM [+] ::
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Second Life in Higher Education: Surveying Pros and Cons

I've had my students in Second Life this term as virtual explorers and they've traveling the lands thinking about the development of virtual culture. Using a new technology in class always has me both excited and nervous at the same time. I'm excited to share with the students and teach them about the changing techno-social landscape. But I also am nervous; what if they hate it? what about tech glitches (SL is bad for this). I came across this blog post that nice outlines some pros & cons of using SL in Higher Education.

On March 20th, the EDC is teaming up with the Carleton library to host a webinar on Second Life Basics for Educators. In anticipation of this we had the opportunity to virtually attend an Educause presentation by Sarah 'Intellagirl' Robins, a Ph.D candidate and instructor who uses Second Life for teaching and learning. It was a wonderful, dynamic demonstration that really showed the possibilities that Second Life offers. The presentation Virtual Worlds as Web 2.0 Learning Spaces is still available here, I highly recommend viewing it.

:: Netwoman 12:22 AM [+] ::
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On the Convergence of Virtual Worlds and Social Networking Sites

Excellent post by Bob Moore over at Terra Nova:

We're starting to see a convergence of virtual worlds and social networking sites in the new wave of virtual "social" worlds (e.g., Kaneva, vSide, Virtual MTV) and new 3D Facebook applications (ActiveWorlds, Gaia Online). This might be dismissed as fad. After all, everyone is either trying to replicate or piggyback on the success of America's #3 (MySpace) and #9 (Facebook) top-visited websites. World of Warcraft's 10 million users is impressive indeed, but MySpace has 30 times that. However, I think there is more to a convergence than mere hype. I see some interesting similarities and possible synergies between virtual worlds and social networking sites but also some important differences that could make integration tricky.

:: Netwoman 11:37 PM [+] ::
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Stupid Things in the Media

"Heels boost s e x life"

". . . when you put on a high heel it makes life more exciting. For women, it’s a way to appeal to the male species."

I'm speechless.

:: Netwoman 11:28 PM [+] ::
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