Society and Information Technology in Second Life
Wednesdays, January 9 - July 30, 2008, 4-6, SLT/PT, 7-9 pm ET
on Berkman island in Second Life - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berkman/114/70/25
Course homepage - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com
Instructor: Scott MacLeod (not on Harvard's faculty) = Aphilo Aarde (in Second Life)
http://scottmacleod.com/papers.htm
30 Apr 2008 Soc and Info Tech class transcript
[15:59] Boston Hutchinson: Hi Andromeda
[15:59] Boston Hutchinson: Hi Evus
[15:59] Boston Hutchinson: Hi Aphilo
[15:59] You: Hi All!
[15:59] Andromeda Mesmer: Hi Boston
[15:59] Evus Alter: Hello
[15:59] You: Evus, Andromeda, Boston
[15:59] Claryssa Schmidt is Online
[16:00] Andromeda Mesmer: Hi Aphilo
[16:00] You: I just attended a culture of virtual worlds conference
[16:00] You: at UC Irvine.
[16:00] You: One of the interesting things that came to mind for me was
[16:00] Andromeda Mesmer: I hope you get to report on it to us?
[16:00] You: . . . is that a multiverse may be emerging
[16:00] Andromeda Mesmer: I'd agree
[16:00] You: where individuals and groups are creating virtual worlds
[16:01] You: - from games to individual worlds -
[16:01] You: some or many of which may connect
[16:01] You: in a variety of ways
[16:01] You: The conference was organized by
[16:02] You: Tom Boellstorff, in part,
[16:02] You: who has written the first anthropology of Second LIfe
[16:02] Juria Yoshikawa is Online
[16:02] You: called "Coming of Age in Second Life
[16:02] You: : An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human
[16:03] You: As the first anthropology of virtual worlds
[16:03] You: this book is ground breaking
[16:03] You: It's published by Princeton, and Tom studied at Stanford
[16:04] You: The book is named after Margaret Mead's famous book "Coming of Age in Somoa"
[16:04] You: and structured, chapter-wise, after Evans-Pritchards well-known ethnography
[16:04] You: called "The Nuer"
[16:05] You: Two other social theorists have begun to explore related aspects of virtual worlds
[16:05] You: Castronova, partly from an economics perspective
[16:05] Andromeda Mesmer: There are anthropology groups in SL.
[16:05] You: and T.L. Taylor from a socioogical perspective
[16:05] You: In fact, Andromeda,
[16:05] You: Tom is the editor of the American Antrhopologist
[16:06] You: which is funding a virtual project in world
[16:06] You: Tom Boellstoerff's SL avatar name
[16:06] You: is Tom Bukowski, if you every find anything germane to your interests
[16:06] You: While Tom is looking at the virtually human,
[16:07] You: another theme that emerged at this "Cultures of Virtual Worlds" conference
[16:07] Draxtor Despres is Online
[16:07] You: at UC Irvine was that of avatar agency -
[16:07] You: which we've explored in previous classes here
[16:07] You: Many people at the conference are studying games
[16:08] You: both from a linguistic perspective - identifying emerging pidgins, and the interesting
[16:08] You: liguistic emergences due to different keyboards
[16:08] You: and also the linguistic significance of modal verbs, for example, in gaming environments
[16:09] You: Programs like OpenSim
[16:09] You: were not talked about in any papers
[16:09] You: and only about 7 people there are actively building or developing worlds
[16:09] You: but the emergence of a multiverse, or metaverse
[16:10] Boston Hutchinson: What do they use for their software platform?
[16:10] You: may herald a new phase of internet connectivity
[16:10] You: Wow - World of Warcraft - and Second Life
[16:10] You: were most studied, but there are a very large number of games out there.
[16:10] Boston Hutchinson: Is there an open source version of WoW?
[16:10] You: And many were touched on
[16:10] Draxtor Despres is Offline
[16:11] You: I didn't see one mentioned
[16:11] You: Also underexamined in this conference was the significance of platforms that allow one to build
[16:11] You: and the emergence of worlds of building and other innovating tools
[16:11] You: I find this aspect of virtual worlds most exciting
[16:12] You: I didin't hear any papers on emerging virtual worlds or tools
[16:12] You: Were any of you there?
[16:12] You: Welcome to "Society and Information Technology"
[16:13] You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com is the course's wiki
[16:13] Andromeda Mesmer: Not me.
[16:13] You: Tonight we'll continue to examine
[16:13] Andromeda Mesmer: One more thing to add-
[16:13] You: the digital divide, continuing from last week
[16:13] You: Yes, please -
[16:14] You: Before we begin let's talk a little more about cutlures of virtual worlds
[16:14] Andromeda Mesmer: A friend said that the various dialects of English in Sl were converging -- so it was harder to tell whether somebody was from the US, UK, Australia -- common abbreviations.
[16:14] You: which I suspect each of you has some experience with
[16:14] 01 Hifeng: i have Twinity beta account, but i didn't logged in yet...
[16:14] Andromeda Mesmer: And also pointed out -- that the worlds where you can't build are BORING.
[16:15] You: In this course in SL, I find the ability to create conversation through type chat a rich, shared, potential knowledge production tool
[16:15] 01 Hifeng: maybe even useless for some uses Andromeda :)
[16:15] You: For some, Andromeda, I agree, but many find them fascinating
[16:16] Keane Koga is Offline
[16:16] You: I would posit that they are different kind of 'flow' experience - vis-a-vis csikszentmihalyi
[16:16] You: Why did you download Twinity 01 Hifeng?
[16:17] 01 Hifeng: hmmm, Twinity's concept sounds interesting...
[16:17] You: What innovations do all of you see in virtual worlds, that escite you?
[16:17] 01 Hifeng: it's supposed to be connected to someones rl ;)
[16:17] You: Can you tell a little about Twinity, Hifeng?
[16:17] 01 Hifeng: so no fantasy accounts like some have in sl
[16:18] You: I see - but alts - or alternative avatars, etc. - are part of virtual worlds - part of their culture
[16:18] Draxtor Despres is Online
[16:18] 01 Hifeng: you can have one (?) avatar that represents you based on rl
[16:18] 01 Hifeng: and in-world locations are based on rl cities
[16:18] Abigail Tinkel is Online
[16:19] Seeker Schussel: why relish the restriction ?
[16:19] You: One difficulty, beyond terms of service, and norms, - is that this is difficult to 'regulate'
[16:19] Seeker Schussel: freedom is the name of the game
[16:19] 01 Hifeng: yes, i believe it could be difficult to regulate xD
[16:19] 01 Hifeng: but it's quite interesting
[16:19] You: Beyond the ability to build for free in OpenSim and then potentially connect that world to Second Life
[16:20] You: How else will worlds connect, that people have seen?
[16:20] You: Open Sim is very similar to SL
[16:20] You: Here's the web page - http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page
[16:21] You: And here's the metaverse roadmap
[16:21] You: http://www.metaverseroadmap.org/
[16:21] You: where some of what's ahead may unfold
[16:21] You: Who else goes into other virtual worlds regularly?
[16:21] You: Anyone?
[16:22] You: Let's return, then, to the Digital Divide
[16:22] Evus Alter: When I found about second life I thougth that I had enough to do with my first life
[16:22] Boston Hutchinson: Just OpenSIm, running on my own computer
[16:23] Evus Alter: now you tell me that there are more?
[16:23] You: :) - yes, there are many more
[16:23] Evus Alter: yikes
[16:23] Andromeda Mesmer: :) growing and multiplying.
[16:24] You: and they may all join - which to engage and use, in terms of learning tools, in terms of accessing media - concerts, talks, night clubs?
[16:24] You: It's an exciting time
[16:24] Veeyawn Spoonhammer is Offline
[16:24] Andreas Gundersen: i am wondering how the interface would look like in the future
[16:25] Andreas Gundersen: logically it schould be easier to operate than 2d
[16:25] Annette Paster is Online
[16:25] Andreas Gundersen: more possibilities
[16:25] You: I think that there are so many possibilities Andreas
[16:25] You: and this is open to envisioning and innovating
[16:26] You: What takes off and finds multiple users - SL seems to have around 50,000 regularly, and WoW more
[16:26] You: isn't obvious
[16:26] Habchick Kornberg: h
[16:26] You: I wonder if we'll use something like http://brainfingers.com
[16:26] You: to communicate with our screens, and for building
[16:27] Andreas Gundersen: logically the architecture here should represent the flow of information
[16:27] You: With brainfingers, you use a headband - no phonemes or gestures -
[16:27] You: to communicate with a screen -
[16:27] You: you can pick letters from a keyboard to spell things
[16:27] Andreas Gundersen: but it seem to be a kind of eclectism
[16:27] You: words
[16:27] You: Yes, Andreas
[16:28] You: But the Internet has been shaped by an eclectic process -
[16:28] You: you could argue that all of the innovations over the past 50 years have been accidental and allowed for synergies and convergences
[16:29] You: that were selected for because they were cool - a hacker and technomeritocratic ethos shaped the INtenret
[16:29] You: (I argue this)
[16:29] ThePrincess Parisi is Offline
[16:29] You: We explore and find interest new ways of using these technogloeis and shaping new ones
[16:30] Andreas Gundersen: I look at it another way
[16:30] Andreas Gundersen: like a virgin ground to implement ideas
[16:30] You: Jonathan Zittrain - of the Oxford INternet Institute, and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School
[16:30] Andreas Gundersen: develop methods
[16:30] You: worries in his recent book about "The Future of the Internet: and How to Stop IT"
[16:30] Juria Yoshikawa is Offline
[16:31] Veeyawn Spoonhammer is Online
[16:31] You: about Lock down - where information appliances become function- focused
[16:31] Andreas Gundersen: www also was in a stage of chaos - from the design point of view- at the beginning
[16:31] You: and the creative environment of generative technologies dissappears
[16:31] You: How do you see it Andreas?
[16:32] Andreas Gundersen: as a new ground for architects :)
[16:32] You: Re the WWW, Tim Berners-Lee shaped it basically single-handedly in 1989
[16:32] Andreas Gundersen: where information is the building material
[16:32] You: by writing html and http and posting it to a BBS
[16:33] You: bulletin board system, and graduate students disseminated it
[16:33] You: Then the browser wars took off, in the early 1990s, that led to the popularization of the Internet
[16:33] You: There's been an amazing amount of serendipity in the development of the Interent
[16:34] You: where individuals shape a key technology
[16:34] You: Yes, Andreas
[16:35] You: I agree, Information generation and processing are central to the developments
[16:35] You: of the Information Technology Revolution
[16:35] Boston Hutchinson: Corporations might want to create function-focused appliances so they can control the business model and revenue, but if users want something else, and startups can build what users want, the users should win--as long as a monopoly or duopoly (like ISPs) doesn't get control.
[16:36] You: Very much so Boston
[16:36] You: Jonathan Zittrain suggests that this process can lead to sterile technologies
[16:37] You: Yes, and it's the hackers and programmers and end users that keep the process freedom oriented
[16:38] You: This course does suggest that there is an information technology revolution that is taking shape
[16:38] You: and that this paradigm shift is as significant as previous industrial revolutions
[16:39] You: and to recap a little
[16:39] You: before turning to the Digital Divide
[16:39] You: this inforamtion technology revolution's paradigm shift
[16:39] You: has 5 aspects
[16:39] You: 1 this IT revolution is about information generation and processing
[16:40] You: 2 it's pervasive, invades, and influences every domain of socioeconomic action
[16:40] You: 3. it's characterized by networking, of companies, people, and mentalities
[16:40] You: 4. it's main quailty is flexibility, where the system is such that it can reorganize and reprogram components without disintergration
[16:40] You: 5. technological convergence occurs in an intergrated system, which is opening, not closing, and which is only bound by technological development
[16:41] You: I think these points reflect your thinking Andreas - do they?
[16:41] You: If you want to read more -
[16:41] You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/Jan%2023%202008%20Soc%20and%20Info%20Tech%20class%20transcript
[16:41] You: that's the 3rd transcript from this class
[16:41] Andreas Gundersen: yes, but i must see a 3d search engine better than google to see the revolution ;)
[16:42] Seeker Schussel: Hey Al
[16:42] You: I use the term revolution in relation to previous industrial revolutions
[16:42] Boston Hutchinson: I agree. The invention of 3D search is really important
[16:42] You: and in the sense of paradigm shift
[16:43] You: And, also, the revolution ahead is up to us to shape through innovations
[16:43] Evus Alter: Each technological revolution has taken us to places not imagined by the creators
[16:43] You: I think the metaphor of infancy for the Internet development is apt
[16:44] You: Yes, Evus, and what's significant about them is the idea of synergies -
[16:44] You: where 2+2=5
[16:44] You: in the 2 previous industrial revolutions
[16:44] You: innovations in energy in the first came together to form railroads and factories
[16:45] You: and after steam and energy,
[16:45] You: the 2nd industrial brought about astounding synergies in early telecommunications (the radio was in 1876), metals and chemicals
[16:46] You: But, let's start again with the digital divide
[16:46] You: Please add comments, questions and observations
[16:46] You: they enrich the conversation
[16:46] You: Your general and specialized knowledges and inquiries add greatly
[16:47] You: and type chat becomes potentially a kind of engine for synergies that may emerge from idea exchange in a virtual world
[16:47] You: So I think the Digital Divide is best understood in terms of Global Inequality
[16:48] You: and in last weeks class we looked at a number of aspects of this
[16:48] Draxtor Despres is Offline
[16:48] You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/Apr%2023%202008%20Soc%20and%20Info%20Tech%20class%20transcript
[16:48] You: But now let's turn to the consumption side
[16:49] You: of looking at the digital divide in terms of global inquality vis-a-vis production and consumption
[16:49] You: One significant trend that has emerged even more with the info tech revolution
[16:50] You: is that individualization has increased and extended as a social process
[16:50] You: in advanced economies
[16:50] You: and on a part time basis in most of the world
[16:50] You: And individualization has taken place in urban informal economy
[16:51] You: accounting for between 50% and 75% of the economy
[16:51] You: Informal means not covered by labor - and informatic
[16:51] You: And concurrently, there's a development of over exploatation - an increase of this phenomenon
[16:52] You: It directly relates to immigration
[16:52] You: and is realetd to paid child labor outside families
[16:52] You: Urban child labor
[16:52] Joseph Tisch is Online
[16:52] You: may affect 250 milion children between 6 and 14
[16:52] You: and is one of the main forms of overexploitation
[16:53] You: It involves a process of reverse integration
[16:53] You: and - an increase in the criminal economy
[16:53] You: How you measure teh increase depends on where you start from
[16:53] SamBivalent Spork is Offline
[16:53] You: in rich, relatively low exploitation countries,
[16:54] You: or in poor, over-exploited coutnries
[16:54] You: The export of illegal immigrants from eastern Europe to western Europe is one example
[16:55] Abigail Tinkel is Offline
[16:55] You: where in this instance, a very large % of women are exploited in the form of prostistitution
[16:55] You: around 2000
[16:56] Robyn Proto is Online
[16:56] You: In relation to overexploitation
[16:56] You: the information economy takes on unique characteristics
[16:56] You: In terms of global migration -
[16:57] You: It's more limited than it looks in California, for example
[16:57] You: IN Europe, there is some increase of immigration, but it's still lmited
[16:57] You: According to the United Nations, overall, between
[16:57] ruth Lynagh: wheres yr fox suit?
[16:58] SamBivalent Spork is Online
[16:58] You: 150 and 180 million people are venturing outside of countries out of 3 billion potential emigrants is just a fraction
[16:58] You: But in Africa and Middle East
[16:59] You: the destination away from the home country
[16:59] Flux Fotherington: I can't hear you speaking ruth
[16:59] You: is much greater
[16:59] ruth Lynagh: yeah i canhear you
[16:59] You: Let's take a break now
[16:59] Flux Fotherington: follow me into a less crowded area
[16:59] You: and come back in ten minutes
[17:00] Andromeda Mesmer: 10 minutes, OK. We may be disconnected briefly from SL.
[17:00] You: where we'll look at some mechanisms of these forms of consumption
[17:00] Michele Mrigesh is Offline
[17:00] You: See you in 10 minutes
[17:10] You: Hi All
[17:11] Boston Hutchinson: Hi
[17:11] You: Here's the transcript from the first part of the course
[17:11] You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/April-30-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript
[17:11] You: And here's a list of
[17:12] You: List of massively multiplayer online role-playing games
[17:12] You: of which, 'technically,' Second Life
[17:12] You: is one - it's also an emerging society
[17:12] You: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_MMORPGs
[17:13] You: There are lots of virtual worlds - how they
[17:13] You: will come together as a metaverse, or ir they will are an interesting set of questions
[17:13] You: Are there any questions or thoughts from the first half of class?
[17:14] You: This class is a SL group - Soc and Info Tech ~ Aphilo on Berkman
[17:14] Robyn Proto is Offline
[17:14] Andromeda Mesmer: Just want to say that the businesswoman, Anshe Chung, is working on ways to transfer money from one synthetic world to another. In SL, she owns a lot of property, and was featured in business stories as the first virtual millionaire.
[17:15] You: Please join this group if you'd like further notices
[17:15] You: Interesting
[17:15] Andromeda Mesmer: She invests in businesses, and obviously thinks this whole areal will be profitable.
[17:15] Andromeda Mesmer: I mean -- virtual businesses -- what she invests in.
[17:15] You: At the "Cultures of Virtual Worlds" ocnference I just attended at UC Irvine
[17:15] You: a number of anthropologists are focusing on that question as well
[17:16] You: the anthropologist Malinowski in the 1920s
[17:16] You: in the Trobriand Islands near New Guineau
[17:17] You: oberserved how ritual arm bands and necklaces took on unique and speciic histories through generations, that become items of value traded in a a kind of economy called a Kula Ring, a ritual trading process
[17:17] You: I wonder how we'll
[17:17] You: see measruements of value take on new signficances in virutal worlds
[17:17] You: Will they always be in terms of currencies ?
[17:18] Boston Hutchinson: Will anything last for generations?
[17:18] Andromeda Mesmer: Probably -- barter is not as efficient as currencies.
[17:19] Boston Hutchinson: Will SL still exist in 20 years?
[17:19] You: Yes . . . Gold as a standard was separated from currencies in the 19th century
[17:19] You: There is a frontier quality - is there a better metaphor - in the development of virtual worlds
[17:20] You: A renaissance quality - where worlds are being born in a kind of cultural, artistic and intellectual flourishing
[17:20] You: ? - such as occurred in ancient Greece and the Italian Renaissance
[17:21] You: And how will the creation be made easy and far reaching?
[17:21] Andromeda Mesmer: Well, the artists have lots of opportunity to be very very innovative. They do things that are impossible in RL.
[17:21] You: An extremely large number of artists emerged in the Italian Renaissance
[17:22] You: Expecially in making new tools, languages, and codes
[17:22] You: infinite possibility?
[17:23] You: The free programming language "Scratch" developed at MIT, that allows a kind of Drag and Drop programming -good for learning
[17:23] Draxtor Despres is Offline
[17:23] You: As more and more folks become capable programmers, we can shape things at will -
[17:23] Sonja Strom is Online
[17:24] You: This doesn't happen in a "locked down" environment, to cite Jonathan Zittrain
[17:25] You: The history of this IT revolution and their effects on society highlight the signficance of these flexibilties around networks
[17:25] You: To be able to make and sell things in multiple worlds with a common currency will be very significant
[17:26] You: Does your orc in World of Warcraft want Anshe Chung's new design for housing made in SL and sold from Open Sim?
[17:27] You: What kind of business plan would bring in consumers from teh developing world to begin to shape their designs, thus rewriting the global socioeconomic geometry?
[17:27] Alexicon Kurka is Offline
[17:28] You: But let's return to questions of consumption, especially vis-a-vis the over exploited
[17:28] You: Boston?
[17:28] You: Other Questions?
[17:28] Boston Hutchinson: Is there a lot of labor from the developing world in the virtual worlds?
[17:28] You: Observations?
[17:28] Andromeda Mesmer: If you consider China as developing -- yes.
[17:29] Andromeda Mesmer: There are the Chinese "gold farmers" who work in WoW.
[17:29] Boston Hutchinson: Are they in SL also?
[17:29] You: I think companies China have hired Chinese game players to play gaems where individuals can make financial gains in virtual worlds.
[17:29] You: Yes
[17:29] Andromeda Mesmer: I haven't heard of them in SL.
[17:29] You: Does anyone have knowledge of this?
[17:30] Andromeda Mesmer: We have suspicions about programmers from -- possibly S. Korea or Japan creating programs to get money from camping. If one programmer controls say, 20 such programs, then it would be worth his while.
[17:30] You: So, vis-a vis the digital divide and global inequality, the trend of massive migration is accelarating
[17:31] You: I see
[17:31] Andromeda Mesmer: One thing Anshe Chung has done is hire programmers and artists in her home province of China.
[17:31] You: Makes sense
[17:31] Boston Hutchinson: I'm not familiar with pay scales in SL, but would imagine that they don't match RL. And if 3rd world labor (possibly very skilled) gets into SL, a lot of changes could happen.
[17:31] Andromeda Mesmer: She follows German labour codes, and treats them very well.
[17:31] You: Building is also scalable.
[17:31] Andromeda Mesmer: She has an interest in developing her home province, making it more prosperous.
[17:32] Andromeda Mesmer: Well, some people make enough for a RL living.
[17:32] You: And she is a significant player in shaping Second Life entrepreneurialism, I suspect, due to her experience and success
[17:32] Andromeda Mesmer: Anshe Chung makes enough to hire RL programmers to watch her properties -- apparently they are well paid.
[17:33] You: Data or URLs for this, Andromeda?
[17:33] Andromeda Mesmer: About the programmers in RL -- in Germany I think -- that was personal communication, that they were very well paid.
[17:33] You: So, in the last 25 minutes,
[17:34] Andromeda Mesmer: Other than that -- there have been lots of stories about her businesses in SL, and she also writes.
[17:34] You: let's continue with migration and mechanisms
[17:34] You: Yes, she is a kind of legend in SL
[17:35] You: So the trend of migration as a form of consumption, by the overexploited is continuing
[17:35] You: And there are 2 kinds
[17:35] You: 1 People who look for better opportunity - and can leave freely
[17:35] You: and 2 - those who escape
[17:36] You: Until now, there's been an accentuaion of inequality with the increase in productivity that has accompanied the
[17:36] You: information technology revolution
[17:37] You: So, there is a connection, a direct one, that relates globalization, information technology and poverty.
[17:37] You: ... vis-a-vis consumption
[17:37] You: MECHANISMS
[17:37] You: The global economy is extremely flexible
[17:37] You: It's based on an organ
[17:38] You: that's shaped by a network of communication
[17:38] You: the transportation of which is powered by the World Wide Web
[17:38] You: Everything that is valued in rich countries
[17:38] You: can connect to the WWW and the Global Economy
[17:38] You: and discard the others
[17:39] You: So what occurs, there is a linking up of what is valuable
[17:39] You: and a delinking of what is not
[17:39] Michele Mrigesh is Online
[17:39] You: And what is valuable changes over time
[17:39] You: E.G. in Sao Paolo, Brazil,
[17:40] You: there's the largest concentration of manuracturing employing 20 million
[17:40] You: It used to be the most advanced industrail city
[17:40] You: in metal works, in stell
[17:40] You: but most of the traditional manufacturing
[17:40] You: and most of Sao Paolo are now trying to survive
[17:40] You: and work in the urban informal economy
[17:41] You: In the state of Sao Paolo there are dynamic areas
[17:41] You: Campasinas - these areas are dynamic
[17:41] You: and they have University links, especially with biotech
[17:42] You: But other areas are very low tech
[17:42] You: int he way they connect with the world
[17:42] You: And within Sao Paolo - the financial center is connected to the WWW but the other nearby areas are not
[17:43] You: Provided that the WWW system is so flexible and networked
[17:43] You: LEAN production is promoted here
[17:43] You: so that fat is cut - which means devalued work
[17:43] You: In the Internet it's extermeley important
[17:44] You: and even in terms of the diffusion of Intenret
[17:44] You: to be connected
[17:44] Curious George is Online
[17:44] You: If you're not, it's like being in the INdustrial economy and not having electricity
[17:44] You: So the global digital divide
[17:44] Abigail Tinkel is Offline
[17:45] You: is Internet-based
[17:45] Curious George is Offline
[17:45] You: And uneven diffusion of interent access throughout the world reflects the digital divide
[17:45] Draxtor Despres is Online
[17:46] Andromeda Mesmer: Aphilo - worth adding here that the Chinese said, they have slightly more people connected to the internet than in the US.
[17:46] You: In the early 2000s
[17:46] You: Thanks
[17:47] Champler Snook is Offline
[17:47] You: In 2000 North America had about 42.6% of the worldwide connections - out of a total of 406 million WWW worldwide users
[17:47] You: - about 6.4% of the world population at the time
[17:47] You: and western Europe had 24%
[17:48] You: Asia (including Japan) had 21%
[17:48] You: Latin America had 4%
[17:48] You: Eastern Europe had 4.7%
[17:48] You: the Middle East 1.3%
[17:48] You: and Africa 0.6%
[17:48] Daisyblue Hefferman is Offline
[17:49] You: This represented a static stituation through much of the 1990s, but it is changing
[17:49] You: The Internet is no longer an American phenomenon
[17:50] You: And America is now a minority in terms of WWW use
[17:50] You: Australia has 2.4% of total internet users, with a relatively small populations
[17:50] You: There are huge differences throughout the world
[17:51] You: India has increased dramatically
[17:51] You: Next week, I'll provide sites with current statistics for comparison
[17:52] Andromeda Mesmer: Here's what the Chinese said April 25 -
[17:52] Andromeda Mesmer: April 26, 2008 (IDG News Service) China has proclaimed itself to be the world's largest online market, with a total of 221 million Internet users as of the end of February, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported Thursday.
[17:52] You: In the last ten minutes, are there
[17:52] You: observations, questions, thoughts?
[17:52] You: Yes, Andromeda
[17:52] Jon Seattle is Offline
[17:52] You: What's exciting and where value is added is in
[17:53] You: innovation
[17:53] 01 Hifeng is Offline
[17:53] You: but that also makes business plans less certain
[17:54] You: And much of the innovation has emerged in countries with legacies of free speech, and knowledge orientations
[17:54] You: at least at the University levels
[17:54] You: Where do you think innovation will occur moving ahead, besides in virtual worlds?
[17:55] You: And what predictions might you make about far reaching innovations ahead?
[17:56] You: The pace of change and innovation over the past 50 years has been amazing
[17:56] You: relative to previous industrial revolutions
[17:56] You: Andromeda?
[17:56] Andromeda Mesmer: Well, there will be more progress as we more more and more into the virtual environment. You can see this in SL, in their Virtual REality Room -- one of my picks actually. A whole wall of a room in a house presents some scene far away from the person -- like a city, mountain.
[17:57] Andromeda Mesmer: I was going to arrange for a tour of the Virtual Reality Room when I gave my presentation, but there wasn't enough time.
[17:57] You: Yes, virtual worlds will see innovation, and the degree, perhaps that this will facilitate remarakable advances
[17:57] Andromeda Mesmer: However, after tonights discussion is over -- people can go there, see what it looks like
[17:57] Boston Hutchinson: SOunds interesting. Is it live, like a webcam?
[17:58] You: in every area of academia - philosophy, law, sociology, anthropology, the languages, the sciences, medicine, is amazing . . .
[17:58] Andromeda Mesmer: No -- but you can walk around, to a limited degree. It doesn't quite fit into SL because it is far more photorealistic. But it is totally amazing.
[17:58] Andromeda Mesmer: I had a chance to talk with the owner.
[17:58] Andromeda Mesmer: He said that would come to RL in about 15 years.
[17:58] You: Would you like to do a presentation next week in the second half of class, Andromeda?
[17:59] Boston Hutchinson: OLED wallpaper?
[17:59] Tom Bukowski is Online
[17:59] You: We could all teleport there
[17:59] Andromeda Mesmer: But for now -- if you want to look out over Paris in you SL house -- you buy one of his packages.
[18:00] You: Interesting
[18:00] Boston Hutchinson: Interesting. How does it differ from putting a photo of pParis on the wall?
[18:00] Andromeda Mesmer: Yes, I could do a presentation for next week. I can try to get the owner to say a few words too
[18:01] Andromeda Mesmer: He is in France, so there may be a time problem. But it doesn't hurt to ask.
[18:01] You: Great
[18:01] You: That would be interesting
[18:01] You: Let's chat during the week about this, but please do ask.
[18:01] A group member named Spider Mycron gave you Life Heartbeat Gallery, Epirrita (32, 28, 597).
[18:02] You: Well, I'm staying with friends tonight while traveling so I need to leave.
[18:02] Claryssa Schmidt: thanks Aphilo
[18:02] You: Thank you for coming.
[18:02] Andromeda Mesmer: It might actually be more convenient for the owner to show up to talk at 4 pm rather than 5 pm.
[18:02] Boston Hutchinson: Thank you!
[18:02] You: Let's talk about this this week. . .
[18:03] You: I'll post this transcript . . .
[18:03] Draxtor Despres is Offline
[18:04] Claryssa Schmidt is Offline
[18:04] Boston Hutchinson: I'd like to see the Virtual Reality Room, Andromeda.
[18:04] Andromeda Mesmer: Would you like to see it now?
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