Mcintosh Gallery Playing the Gallery, are you game?

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Anabel Quan-Haase Sociology Information and Media Studies The University of Western Ontario the social impact of playing the gallery, are you game? London, ON Oct. 3 to 5, 2007 The University of Western Ontario

Transcript of Mcintosh Gallery Playing the Gallery, are you game?

Page 1: Mcintosh Gallery Playing the Gallery, are you game?

Anabel Quan-Haase Sociology

Information and Media StudiesThe University of Western Ontario

the social impact of

playing the gallery, are you game?London, ON Oct. 3 to 5, 2007The University of Western Ontario

Page 2: Mcintosh Gallery Playing the Gallery, are you game?

Social Capital in America

• Harvard sociologist Robert D. Putnam has document in America a decline in social capital:– Network capital – Participatory capital– Sense of community

Page 3: Mcintosh Gallery Playing the Gallery, are you game?

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Informal Socializing

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Debating Internet Effects

• Three competing theoretical views on the impact of the Internet on social capital:

1. Internet increases social capital 2. Internet decreases social capital 3. Internet adds-on to social capital

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Email UseNever Daily

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Letters

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Email UseNever Daily

Contact with Far-Away Kin

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Conclusions

• Users are engaging in social activities online• Time online leads to more email• Daily users use high % of email for contact• Glocalization

– Highest use of email is for long distance– Local interaction also relies on email

• Email adds on to F2F, phone, & letter contact– Neither increases or decreases them

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Background Information on SL

• The start• The development• Current state• Key SL terms• Future plans• The SL history wiki• SL on Wikipedia

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Three Questions:

• Is SL a community?• What is the nature of relationships in SL?• What is the “game” in SL and how is it

linked to questions of community?

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The nature of communication in SL

• SL is a unique environment, different from email and IM:– Communication with

strangers possible.– No co-location in real

space necessary. – Avatars as

representations.

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Is SL a community?

• Evidence of community– Wiki history– Membership

• Characteristics of the SL community– Dispersed– Changing

• Few studies on the SL community

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Social Circles in SL

• Defining friendship in SL• Urban societies (Simmel, Milgram &

Wellman)• Boundaries of private and public time

(Zerubavel, Goffman)• Social cues-signaling (Donath)• Sex in SL

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• Productive play (Pearce)– Consumer/producer boundary

• Vernacular creativity in SL (Burgess)– The everyday creative practice

• Avatars: representation of self (Goffman)

The Creative Commons

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Photography

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Concluding Remarks & Questions

• More research is needed to see if hype actually gets realized

• SL in part can be seen as a community

• Vernacular presentation of self

• SL creates new cultural capital