Mcintosh Gallery Playing the Gallery, are you game?
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Transcript of 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
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
5763 60
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010203040506070
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Socializing with NeighborsP
erce
ntag
e
63 6052
39
010203040506070
1965 1975 1985 1995
Min
utes
per
Dia
ry D
ay
Informal Socializing
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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Contact with Near-By KinD
ays
per Y
ear
Email UseNever Daily
Total
Face-to-face
Phone
Letters
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Day
s pe
r Yea
r
Email UseNever Daily
Contact with Far-Away Kin
Total
Face-to-face
Phone
Letters
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
Background Information on SL
• The start• The development• Current state• Key SL terms• Future plans• The SL history wiki• SL on Wikipedia
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?
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.
Is SL a community?
• Evidence of community– Wiki history– Membership
• Characteristics of the SL community– Dispersed– Changing
• Few studies on the SL community
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
• Productive play (Pearce)– Consumer/producer boundary
• Vernacular creativity in SL (Burgess)– The everyday creative practice
• Avatars: representation of self (Goffman)
The Creative Commons
Photography
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