LA Times Reports on Anthropologist Researching Second Life Use By Disabled

Many residents of Second Life have mixed opinions of mainstream media coverage of Second Life, feeling it focuses on the more salacious aspects of the Grid, notably sex. But LA Times reporter Ben Brazil recently wrote about anthropologist Tom Boellstroff's work in studying Second Life, which after the first few years began to focus on it's disabled users, which he reasons make up forty to sixty percent of it's population.

Boellstroff and his co-researcher Donna Davis talked to about 200 disabled residents. Davis told the Times, “We so often hear about the dark side of technology. But I think that Tom and I have found that there is a bright side. People can connect in these virtual spaces in really important and meaningful ways.”

The National Science Foundation has funded his study, contributing $277,000 US dollars. Boellstroff "is writing a second book" about his research on the disabled and hopes that his efforts "will cause technology developers to pay heed to the issues of disabled people when creating virtual reality products."

Read more on the LA Times article (Here) 

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "Our Digital Selves: My Avatar Is Me"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

From Draxtor Despress on May 17, "'Our Digital Selves: My Avatar is me!' tells the story of 13 global citizens and their avatars as they transcend their various disabilities through artistic expression and making a home for themselves in the VR Metaverse. The film follows researchers Tom Boellstorff and Donna Davis as they facilitate deep connections between real human beings in virtuality by giving away digital land to build anything the participants of this project can dream up. As Boellstorff and Davis finish up their 3-year study made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation [entitled 'Virtual Worlds, Disability and New Cultures of the Embodied Self'], the film provides a window into a world of seemingly unlimited possibilities for borderless human interaction, irrespective of physical location and or ability. 'Our Digital Selves' weaves together physical and virtual cinematography as the protagonists’ backstories are re-enacted via Machinima. The film will is available for free on YouTube and as a download for qualifying institutions at http://ourdigitalselves.com/documentary "

 Contact Drax at draxtor.com for more information

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Virtual Ability would publish three interviews of people in the video. Alice Krueger would interview Tom Boellstorff and  Donna Davis. Gentle Heron would talk to iSkye Silverweb and Slatan Dryke in her interview article. 

Press Release: Disability and Virtual Worlds - New Frontiers of Appropriation

 PRESENTERS: Tom Boellstorff, Donna Davis, Gentle Heron (panel at AoIR)
SATURDAY October 26, 9:30-11:10 am SLT
Sojourner Auditorium, Virtual Ability Island

Virtual Ability (54/170/23)

Three SL researchers will present a panel at the Association of Internet Research (AoIR) conference titled "Disability and Virtual Worlds: New Frontiers of Appropriation." The panel will occur in both real life and SL simultaneously.

After the 3 panelists present, there will be an opportunity for the "live" and SL audiences to interact. You won't want to miss this opportunity to chat and answer questions from Internet researchers.

PRESENTER BIOS:
Tom Boellstorff is the author of Coming of Age in Second Life, and co-author of Ethnography and Virtual Worlds:
A Handbook of Method.
Donna Davis is doing research with the Creations group, for people with Parkinsons.
Gentle Heron is the head of the Virtual Ability community in Second Life. She is a former educational researcher,

Voice + text transcription.