Too many topics, too little time

Cultures in virtual worlds

A special issue of the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia
Guest-edited by Jeremy Hunsinger and Adrienne Massanari

Virtual worlds (VW) embody cultures, their artefacts, and their praxes; these new and old spaces of imagination and transformation allow humans to interact in spatial dimensions. Within these spaces, culture manifests with the creation, representation, and circulation of meaningful experiences.  But virtual worlds are not novel in that regard, nor should we make the mistake to assume that they are novel in themselves.  Virtual experiences have been around in some respect for hundreds of years, and virtual worlds based in information technology have existed for at least 40 years.  The current generation of virtual worlds, with roots over four decades old in studies of virtual reality, computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), sociology, cultural studies, and related topics, provide for rich and occasionally immersive environments where people become enculturated within the world sometimes as richly as the rest of their everyday lives.

We seek research that encounters and investigates cultures in virtual worlds in its plurality and in its richness. To that end, we invite papers covering the breadth of the topic of cultures in and of virtual worlds.

Some possible areas/approaches of inquiry:

• How culture of virtual worlds affect relationships
• VW interfaces and culture/s
• Hidden subcultures/communities in virtual worlds
• Ages and VW cultures
• Emic and etic experiences of virtual worlds
• Producing VW cultures
• Traditional cultural/critical studies inquiries of VWs
• Transnational or cosmopolitan cultures in/of VWs

While all forms of scholarship and research are welcome, we prefer theoretically and empirically grounded studies. We seek a Special Issue that exemplifies methodological pluralism and scholarly diversity. The use of visual evidence and representations is also encouraged.   We especially seek pieces that investigate virtual worlds that have received little scholarly attention.

Submission guidelines

This special issue is Guest-Edited by Jeremy Hunsinger (Virginia Tech) and Adrienne Massanari (Loyola University Chicago). Queries regarding the Special Issue should be directed to them at jhuns@– –vt.edu and amassanari@– –luc.edu. The Guest-Editors welcome contributions from both new researchers and those who are more well-established. Submitted manuscripts will be subject to peer review.

Length of papers will vary as per disciplinary expectations, but we encourage articles of around 7000 words (longer articles may be possible, if warranted). Short discussion papers of around 3000 words on relevant subjects are also welcomed as ‘Technical Notes’.

Detailed author submission guidelines are available online at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1361-4568&linktype=44.
Papers must be submitted via the journal’s online submissions system: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tham Please indicate that your submission is for the Special Issue on Culture in Virtual Worlds.

The special issue will be published in summer 2012.

Important dates:

November 11, 2011 Paper submission deadline

February 10, 2012 Author notification

May 5, 2012 Final copy due

Summer 2012 Publication

I am never sure if I am in the digital humanities or not, but several major projects run on my servers and I’ve done work on projects in the past.  I’m in Montreal today and for a few days giving a talk at Concordia’s TAG Lab and I am at the International Studies Association annual conference, where I gave my paper yesterday and it was well received, and tomorrow I have to be discussant on two panels, weee!

The talk is titled:

From COTS to Class:  the twice hidden curriculum of computer games or why I’d prefer to be playing dwarf fortress

Yesterday’s paper was:  Information Excess in the Age of Cyberinfrastructures:  on being governed

6:00am Woke up spontaneously

6:00am-around 7:15  checked email (which is work, checked security logs for systems that are mailed to me, scanned through server notices); read general email.  Found one more expression of interest for the Critical Theory of the Internet Project

7:15-7:30 ablutions

7:30 iron today’s shirt…  I’m traveling and while I’m not known to be a fancy dresser by any means, I do tend to make an attempt at a professional appearance.

7:45 go to take picture of hotel workspace…. and camera battery is dead.

7:50 … forgot to put collar stays in… collar floppy, hmmph, will get this sorted in a few seconds

8:00am breakfast at Coras.

8:06am still haven’t made it to breakfast… had an email request to add people to a departmental webpage, which i won’t do today, but when I am in the office because the particular university server the webpage exists on only does localnet webdav and http/https uploads.  It can be done remotely, but there is no rush for this task that I can see.

9:15 took a picture of my workspace in the hotel room.. this is a new computer, so… iphoto did not launch on insertion of sd card, launched iphoto, which is apparently a new version and want to upgrade my photo library… this could take some time.

workspace in hotel room

9:41  as most academics know… going to an academic conference is really no vacation, it is more like adding a temporary other job on top of your own job.  Mostly you spend time in little or sometimes big rooms rooms cramped with many people listening to other people present their ideas.  After those are done, then you do the same in the hallways, then you do the same at lunch, then dinner, etc.   Really when you visit a city for a conference, you see mostly hotel rooms and conference rooms.   I generally try to carve out some time for a walk around too, but it is anything other than tourism, it is basically work x 2.

9:44am  Right now, for instance I am in the hotel room teaching my class.  I’m in my hotel room primarily because i get free internet access from the lobby here, or I’d be in the lobby.  The conference hotels were more expensive than my hotel, are right next door, and want to charge around $15.00 per day per internet connection.  There are 3 hotels, and panels are scattered throughout them, so mostly… you can go to one panel, then you get caught in the hall and miss a panel, etc.

Oh my class… not digital humanities so much… it is interpretive policy analysis, taught online through our online master of arts in political science and our master of public and international affairs program.  Currently there are 45 unread posts that I should read and some of them will require response.

10:13 just read some of craig bellamy’s dayofdh .. yes i should be reading student material

10:16 verifying some travel plans for next week’s conference in Chicago

10:39 reviewing and editing my slides again…  i’ll do until i’m actually presenting them, once every few hours or so… this is not my best stack, or anything close, this is a new stack, and it will develop over time into a strong stack, but right now, i know them, i know they are mine, and i know how the talk is supposed to go.

11:10 met with Bart Scott from TAG for talk, went out for coffee, had several good conversation topics.