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Linden Lab was founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale to create a revolutionary new form of shared experience, where individuals jointly inhabit a 3D landscape and build the world around them. Today this experience, known as the Second Life® world, has a rapidly growing population of Residents from around the globe, who are creating and inhabiting a virtual world of their own design.

It's a smaller and smaller world after all

An antidote about how Twitter can be used by consumers to give immediate reviews of a business and likewise how a business can use Twitter to rectify a situation with a customer immediately. Handy real world application of Twitter!

nothing like ICT related article hot off the press!

I found a similar article from the UN sharing how cell phones and texting was used during a recent election in Kenya to limit riots and other unsafe activities. Though not used for either candidate the initiative did save lives and destruction of public areas by quickening the response times of police.

The internet being cut off in Egypt is just unprecedented. What are people reading and what sources are they following? Here's an interesting article about how it was turned off: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/01/egypts-internet-blackout-unprecedented.html also, it's interesting how one small company is still providing service and how people with international calling plans can use foreign dial-up providers. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/despite-severed-connections-egyptians-get-back-online/70479/

A department of the World Bank with expertise in policy and regulatory matters, in eGovernment, information technology, innovation and the enabling environment. Promotes access to information and communication technologies in developing countries.

This is not scholarly, but it is a humorous look at the world without the internet, and how we might react.... relocation to refugee camps, inability to function in our jobs and the ultimate message, that "we can't take the internet for granted".

The benefit of food focused community building: contributing to a shareable world.

Here's a link to a Web site described as a "global humanitarian internet portal to feature engaging stories about the lives of real people in even the most remote parts of the developing world." The creator saw a gap in all content aggregator-type sites, which tend to cover breaking news, and launched something aimed at human interest stories from the developing world.

NYU's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World has a new website with their nice collection of digital books.

Jane McGonigal's new book - Reality is Broken - is out. This is an interview with her and some of the users of her games.

Nicholas Negroponte started this organization to create a program where laptops are given to children around the world. He is a member of the MIT faculty since 1966.

MIT has a tremendous economics program as well.

OK my favorite thing on this blog is the Norwegian translated term for Social Informatics- "Samfunnsinformatikk". It really made me aware of just how international and not so narrow this field is. I can get caught up in a real American world view and this little tidbit kind of opened my eyes a bit and made me realize that there will be great international sources too!

I was interested in the concept of Bildung, which incorporates many different aspects of knowledge gathering and personal growth such as moral development, generosity, scientific thinking etc. It is relevant to me, as an educator.

Argues that Terms of service (TOS) agreements have implications for the political and legal structures under which our virtual selves will function. Also, the Wall Street Journal has actually been running fantastic series of investigative reports on this topic, called "what they know": http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html

Kickstarter and other sites allow people to donate money to artists, etc. It may be an example of how virtual communities function with real-world matters.

I love the note about library closings being equivalent to child abuse!

This is a nice feature by the NY Times on what is going on in the mideast. I like how they combine a regularly updated summary written by the Times next to a live twitter feed of what is happening in each country. It's a nice combining of citizen and traditional journalism.

interesting article. I already thought a few years ago that voice on Second Life was going to alter the "game." Here is some evidence

people often think anonymity on the internet breeds contempt. this article shows it's not that simple.

Y'know if the gamers assume that the female dwarves are Chinese players and they go out of their way to kill with added anti-Asian slurs that would be racist. But they are also female dwarfs. I guess these players can also express their misogynistic tendencies to boot. Nice.

Jane McGonigal applied psychology book on the life lessons in gaming is reviewed in the Economist. "Frustratingly, few of the book's other examples are as convincingly argued as World of Warcraft." The review will also state that it will be a while before a game designer wins the Nobel peace prize. Her frequent mentions of her own games also "lend the book an air of self-promotion."

The NY Times examines how China has exerted control on the Internet and cell phones in the wake of the turmoil in the Mideast.

Note: this is a rumor, but it's interesting if this service will be lauched: "With Circles, I believe that Google will attempt to accomplish something critics from the blogosphere, academia, SXSW 2010 keynoter danah boyd, privacy watchdogs and others have all called on the social networking world to do: to allow our online communication to respect the same boundaries that our offline social lives do."

nothing has been announced yet. it is interesting that google is so visited and has so many users, but has yet to effectively incorporate social networking... i.e. buzz and wave had huge hyped, but it quickly burned away.