Digital Anthropology

WoW player as US Congresswoman? Wow! ;-)

Here is something on "smart environments" and the role of design in developing these.

Here's an article from an anthropologist in Holland which touches on the role of social media in recent protests, but is much more about the "mainstreaming" of Fascist politics and ideologies in Spain and Greece.

Another article focusing on the problem of profiteering and tax avoidance by academic publishing companies. Although this might be seen as a UK issue, this affects our ability to do research in Germany too. I can't count the number of times that I've looked for articles and found that the SUB does not subscribe to the journal in question. No doubt the reason for this is the pricing models that the publishing houses are employing.

A nice commentary on the nature of online discussions, especially dealing with matters of gender and sexism.

On FeministFrequency I found a video from a person who motivates other 'dudes' to speak out against sexist bullying on the web. It's just what came to my mind when I thought about how to change this discussion culture mentioned in the comic. http://vimeo.com/44117178

Thanks Luise. The video is interesting, though I have to say I found the editing a bit annoying, but that's not really the point. I think what he's saying there really relates to issues raised in the Dibbel article, and also connects with some of the things that Postill says in the article for this week's discussion. This is all about establishing the "rules of the game" for internet sociality, which is of course a lot about how to define and deal with anti-social behaviour. The category of "troll" has emerged to categorise a particular form of online a-sociality, but what exactly a troll is still seems pretty unclear to me, and the debate is raging about how to deal with them. Dibbel's "Mr Bungle" is a classic description of a troll -- probably from before the concept of a troll was very widespread -- and his article is precisely about how an online "community" suddenly found itself in the position of having to determine specific rules of socialising, including sanctions for those who break them. In Postill, he is also critical of concepts like "community", which are very idealised and hide the specific processes which characterise the development of particular modes of sociality. He argues that we have to have an openminded approach as scholars which matches the "frontier-like" character of these exchanges. I.e. these are people in the process of establishing the social. They haven't simply inherited it from their elders. I read into the discussion that followed the video and it's also instructive because there are some quite thoughtful comments on precisely these issues of establishing normativity online.

Another commentary on the "correct" way to manage copyright in relationship to code.

The upshot of this article seems to be that if there is a visible sign of people's good behaviour in an MMO they will make more of an effort to cultivate good behaviour and protect their reputation. This reminds me of a line from Dibbel's article, when he talks about online socialisation: people "move from anonymity to pseudonymity" when they begin to care about and protect their reputation with fellow gamers.

Anita Sarkeesian reports about the insults, threats of death and rape she is getting for *planning* a series about the representation of women in video games. The video focuses on the women owned game studio Silicon Sisters and the blogger of the harassment collecting website Fat, Ugly or Slutty too.

Thanks for the link Luise. Yes, this is the case that came to mind for me when you mentioned sexism and harrassment amongst gamers. I was particularly shocked by the "game" that one lad created in which users could beat Sarkeesian's face bloody. When called on this he seemed unable to see the violence inherent in the act.

I haven't had a chance to read this yet, but it seems like an interesting discussion of conflicts between understandings of copyright and human rights, and points to an important dimension of the debates that are going on right now.

On the gender/sexism/internet issues.

Here's an interesting piece about one gamer's identification with his avatar in an online game. Suggestive of the sometimes complex relationship people have with their online selves.

An animated explanation of the issues surrounding open access publication of scientific research.

In case you're interested in the sorts of jobs on offer for anthropologists of social media. This one is at Microsoft. You can also see the sorts of projects that researchers are already working on.

Some examples of current work being done in the area of digital anthropology