Your2ndPlace

As I noted here, I am presenting at Prato 2008: ICTs for Social Inclusion: What is the Reality? this October on inclusion in Synthetic Worlds.

And this means you get to have a say.

The abstract of the paper, as of right now, is:

Synthetic worlds, popularly known as virtual worlds, are 4 dimensional worlds that are extensions of the internet. As with the internet, a variety of people participate from around the world interact and even transact business through these worlds. It seems intuitive that if synthetic worlds are not the future of internet usage, the role that they will play is going to be large enough to have an impact.

From an economic perspective, synthetic worlds as an extension of the internet present a unique opportunity for those who can create goods that fall under copyright law, as in the case of Second Life (tm).

Not everyone can access virtual worlds at a technological level. There are hardware requirements, internet access and even computer literacy in the context of synthetic worlds that need to be addressed.

From a cultural perspective, synthetic worlds can offer a true melting pot - but can also magnify biases and outright prejudices against people of varying skin color (avatars), presentation of an avatar, language, religion and other factors.

Internet governance issues will also play a large part in this.

A part of the future of technology revolves around the communities and societies that develop the technologies. As an increasing number of people around the world gain access to broadband, it is logical that the increase would be reflected in synthetic world usage. How this shifts the use of synthetic worlds will also shift how the technology for these worlds are developed - impacting economies, cultures and technological subcultures, as well as real economies.

The premise of the paper, therefore, is to collect and present as much information as possible, as well as capture real incidents that have occurred in these worlds. Such a capture will allow derivative works to happen, and most importantly, may attune more people to the environment in which many people will not only play in, but conduct business in as well.

Anecdotes within Second Life can be sent to me via notecard to Nobody Fugazi. Other virtual worlds may email me directly at cndATknowprose.com (replace AT with @). Please include whether or not you would like to be anonymous.

Of course, not everything can be included in the paper itself, but I will do my best to make sure that everything is included. I'll also make this a living document on KnowProSE.com such that people can comment on it as it is being written and help guide it. After all, a paper on inclusion should practice it.

Technorati Tags: Culture Law Metaverse Miscellaneous Op/Ed SecondLife Prato CIRN virtual world synthetic world 2008 knowprose paper abstract