links for 2008-05-08

• Similarities/Differences Online Communities/Online Social Networks/Virtual Communities of Practice
  a great list of resources
  (tags: blogs internet online research virtual social_network to_read)
• Between Friends
  MIT Technology Review talks social network visualisations of online communities. pretty pictures.
  (tags: social_network online virtual internet)
• Network Analysis: Using connections and structures to understand and change health behaviors
  An NIH videocast from June 2007: Katharine Faust and Thomas Valente
  (tags: video network sna health)

links for 2008-05-07

• lumpley games: Dogs in the Vineyard
  Mormonism as game
  (tags: religion game_culture games)

Six-degrees of Separation: networking projects in social networks

I have a big box in my office which contains many hundred scraps of paper with half-written research projects on them that will be pursued after the PhD is complete, and one of them is to assess whether there are more or fewer connections in the virtual world than in meatspace. I’m inspired by Duncan Watts’ book, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age and Lada Adamic’s article The Small World Web, and clearly by Stanley Milgram’s (contested) Small World theory. I remember asking the venerable danah boyd if she’d ever heard of research which observed the diffusion of an innovation through a social network like MySpace. At that time, I guess about two or three years ago, she’d said no. Perhaps there are some scientific folks out there doing it now, but in the meantime, there’s a plethora of people using social networking sites like Facebook to assess their connectivity with the reset of the world. And here are a few mentioned in a recent post to the SocNet listserv:

links for 2008-05-06

• Modeling Social Behavior
  NIH - NIGMS meeting in Bethesda in November 2008. Lada’s presenting on knowledge sharing in social networks.
  (tags: social_network socialnetworks research events)

links for 2008-04-29

• A stitch in time … | Fashion and style | Life and Health
  perfect timing for the stitch and bitch in a fortnight: a don’t panic guide for sewing

links for 2008-04-28

• ROFLCon: Celebrating the lighter side of the net | Technology | guardian.co.uk
  Anna’s intro to ROFLCON. Gawd so jealous.
  (tags: guardian internet meme technology)

links for 2008-04-17

• Amazon.com: Second Life: The Official Guide
  I’m listed as an author on Amazon! w00t!
  (tags: writing secondlife SL virtual_world research)

links for 2008-04-16

• ‘The Lost Ring’ ARG players discover ‘lost’ Canadian sport
  talk about new ways to engage with old (or difficult) things…
  (tags: arg participation)

links for 2008-04-10

• Guardian wins press awards
  including Website of the Year. For: a year of “outstanding innovation, creativity and investment” across video, photography, audio and writing. Go guardian.co.uk!
  (tags: guardian)

VBusiness Expo in Second Life: My talk

I’ve been asked by the inimitable Sarah ‘Intellagirl’ Robbins to speak at a virtual business expo in Second Life on 26th April (6pm GMT, 11am Pacific). The focus of my talk is closely related to the research i’ve been conducting in the virtual world since 2003 - best practice for researchers when performing human-centred social science enquiry. Here are the deets:

Title: Human-centred research for avatars: Qualtiative and quantitative best practice techniques for exploring the psychology of a virtual world

Abstract: This talk will compare and contrast interview and survey techniques in Second Life, focussing specifically on Resident expectation and researcher responsibility. It will address questions of design and ethics, proposing best practice for social scientists interested in the virtual landscape as a source of field work.

More information as I hear it.