tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129911402011-11-23T09:13:10.263+01:00University Life from My Corner of the WorldMiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.comBlogger3291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-86312669925842026212011-10-30T15:39:00.007+01:002011-10-30T17:08:02.950+01:00

It has been a long time since my last post. Life has been busy. We moved to Malmö over the summer, the children started new schools, and everything seemed great, but on September 16 we were in a car crash. A moose ran very fast across the road just in front of us and the hit was pretty bad, removing half the roof of our new car. As a result I (the driver, since my partner T. was at home with the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-3917188166797852482011-06-30T10:16:00.003+02:002011-06-30T10:54:12.621+02:00

Having defended my PhD a month ago, it is now time to leave. Today is my last day at the Blekinge Institute of Technology. Tomorrow, my family and I will be moving to a house in Klagshamn just south of the Öresund bridge in Skåne in southern Sweden. I have, as of yet, no work waiting for me in the autumn, but I do hope something will materialize. This is a time of endings — and beginnings.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-20753195483385016132011-05-30T13:21:00.006+02:002011-05-30T16:44:40.356+02:00

Earlier today they called from the local radio station, Radio Blekinge, asking me if I could drop in for an interview about my research, and I agreed to do so. This link leads to the archived interview, which begins approximately 12 minutes and 50 seconds into the clip (in Swedish).

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-58522057410259278662011-05-29T19:25:00.003+02:002011-05-29T19:48:34.214+02:00

I successfully defended my PhD thesis on Friday and it was a truly wonderful experience. I couldn't have had a better and more wonderful opponent than Robin Teigland, who was simultaneously amazingly well-prepared, interesting, and extremely generous. Robin, as well as the equally wonderful and supportive grading committee consisting of Sisse Siggaard Jensen, Lisbeth Klastrup and Susan Kozel,

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-88160982055285523392011-05-12T21:52:00.000+02:002011-05-13T22:27:42.964+02:00

It was really both fun and interesting to receive comments and questions as I encountered the very nice and friendly members of the Nordic Virtual Worlds Network in Second Life. A summary of yesterday's monthly meeting can be found here. Robin Teigland, who invited me, shared some of the snapshots she took inworld. Thank you so much, Robin!

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-63210300070847125942011-05-11T08:18:00.005+02:002011-05-11T08:25:15.627+02:00

Robin Teigland has invited me to do a presentation of my PhD thesis on the Stockholm School of Economics island in Second Life later today, at 4 to 5 pm CET (7 to 8 am SLT). More information, with information about the location, can be found here.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-44346653011190767242011-05-09T16:09:00.002+02:002011-05-09T16:14:04.994+02:00

Många människor runt om i världen spenderar numera mycket tid i olika sociala och performativa sammanhang i digitala miljöer som spel och/eller sociala världar. Min studie utforskar hur medlemmar i fyra olika rollspelsgrupper på den tredimensionella sociala plattformen Second Life utformar dramatiska såväl som sociala roller. Förhållandet mellan rollspelaren och hans eller hennes roll, mellan att

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-73730525238207205882011-05-04T13:05:00.003+02:002011-05-04T13:49:17.745+02:00

I received a hard copy for proof-reading last week and I made a few alterations in the document before I handed it in to the printer's again this morning. After that I sent it to the opponent (associate professor Robin Teigland at the Stockholm School of Economics), the grading committee members (professor Sisse Siggaard Jensen at Roskilde University, professor Susan Kozel at Malmö Högskola, and

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-69889549935909459422011-04-14T21:21:00.004+02:002011-04-14T21:34:29.299+02:00

Today I handed in the final manuscript of my PhD thesis, which is called Power Games: Rules and Roles in Second Life, to the printer's. 226 pages. I've really enjoyed doing research for it, talking about it, and writing it. It's amazing to be able to focus on something in this manner. In the last almost five years I've met so many people, heard so many points of view, and been intrigued and

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-17221240072570714472011-04-08T19:29:00.003+02:002011-04-08T19:49:38.677+02:00

Friday evening. I've just had a long Skype meeting with my colleague Mikala Hansbøl and it was great. Her comments and questions really helped me articulate some of the things I need to add to the concluding chapter of my PhD thesis. In reality, our discussion built upon a discussion my supervisor, Mikael Jakobsson, and I began last Wednesday, as Mikael pointed to the need to articulate and

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-6437519909578272242011-04-03T21:22:00.004+02:002011-04-03T21:41:41.993+02:00

I've been working pretty hard on my PhD thesis most of the weekend. My former teacher and colleague at Karlstad University, Mark Troy, who has the eyes of a hawk, has been kind enough to go through it, comment on it, and suggest changes wherever it is needed. At this point I'm slightly more than halfway through his comments and it has been really great to get the feedback. He clearly has not lost

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-31160980078018470532011-03-18T14:49:00.002+01:002011-03-18T14:54:52.991+01:00

Now I know when I'm supposed to defend my doctoral dissertation: on May 27th. The people who will be a part of my grading committee have accepted and my opponent has as well. It feels great and I'm really looking forward to it.The editing of my draft is progressing and the deadline for handing it to the printer's is April 14, and I believe I will be done by then.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-11074381824905437652011-02-21T10:08:00.006+01:002011-02-21T12:02:46.074+01:00

After the mock defense last Friday, the work on my dissertation has moved into its last phase. My mock opponent, Bjarke Liboriussen, was great as he pointed out things I have missed and ought to address. Thank you so much, Bjarke!In the next month or so I intend to address the following issues: Introduction: Position myself and my research, methods, and theories more clearly.Theory chapter: Check

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-18425041519701933862011-02-08T15:18:00.005+01:002011-02-08T15:24:28.658+01:00

On Friday the 18th of February it will be time for my mock defense. Bjarke Liboriussen has kindly agreed to act as my opponent and, while being slightly nervous, I'm also really looking forward to hearing his comments and ideas on my text. Additionally, plans are currently being made for my final defense and the target date right now is in late May or early June. More details will be posted as

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-14452291707199463242011-01-19T14:12:00.004+01:002011-01-19T14:25:50.293+01:00

The new year has had a pretty slow start, but now things have begun to pick up. I rewrote quite a lot before Christmas and I have finished yet another minor revision of my PhD thesis today, in which I have added a section on community, groups, culture and subcultures. At the moment I'm mainly focused on tying up various lose ends and I'm also finishing the Time Machine I course at the Blekinge

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-60151160433454102372010-12-13T22:15:00.004+01:002010-12-13T22:28:23.801+01:00

I sent the first version of the entire dissertation to my supervisors earlier today. It's a 206 pages long document, and although it clearly isn't entirely finished, it is at least closer to completion than it ever has been. Not that it says that much, though... ;) Anyway, it feels pretty good. I'm looking forward to hearing the comments of both Jay Bolter and Mikael Jakobsson, and then I'll try

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-6898138162183659042010-12-02T19:24:00.004+01:002010-12-02T19:36:29.562+01:00

Yesterday, I handed in a first draft of my chapter on the Independent State of Caledon. It focuses on the covenant and its effects on both role-play and community discussions, primarily the discussion on Linden Lab decisions and what these have led to. It is one of the few communities in SL that have a clause on free speech, and I think this is significant in terms of their interaction and their

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-27706885975127556422010-11-17T13:11:00.006+01:002010-11-17T15:02:18.849+01:00

Using the Imprudence viewer, I have checked out some new "worlds" lately (for instance InWorldz, the OSGrid, and the Reaction Grid). Yesterday, I decided to accept Enrico Nirvana's offer of free land on Aurora and above you can see the result — my own Aurora "research centre" — which is situated on the south-west corner of Aurora Libeccium. The Imprudence interface is pretty much the same as the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-18407408220063347232010-10-28T13:30:00.003+02:002010-10-28T13:41:09.209+02:00

I'm preparing for the next chapter right now, catching up on news about the Independent State of Caledon in Second Life. I have followed this community on and off since it was founded in February 2006, and I think it is one of the most interesting communities on this online platform. Talented programmers and content creators have built a wonderful "country," and the community discussion has often

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-65172326653658814012010-10-26T13:59:00.003+02:002010-10-26T14:14:22.134+02:00

I have just sent my latest chapter to my supervisors. It deals with the power games and structures in Second Life Gor. Although portraying itself as a role-playing community, it also houses a comparatively large contingent of "lifestylers," people who live out the Gorean philosophy in their everyday lives. The boundaries between role-play and lifestyle, "out of character" and "in character,"

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-8679722505078369752010-10-24T15:22:00.005+02:002010-10-25T16:41:15.700+02:00

Returning from the Culture of Ubiquitous Information Seminar in Copenhagen, I decided to take some time to change a few things on my blog. Among the changes you might notice are a few new pages in the menu to the left, which creates space for a bit more information. I hope you like the alterations. Please notify me if you find something that does not work in the new layout.UPDATE: I have now

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-76676570536742290472010-10-22T14:28:00.003+02:002010-10-22T15:15:40.007+02:00

Summarizing these last three days, Ulrik Ekman then continues to point to what happens next. A first journal issue, treating the question of "Ubiquitous Digitalization of Urban Life and Auditory Culture," is due with a call for papers due in mid November. The proposal deadline in January.Seminar no. 2, Mobile Communication and User-Driven Innovation, will take place in at the Media Lab at the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-82762216539838511802010-10-22T13:57:00.005+02:002010-10-22T14:25:56.161+02:00

Søren Bro Pold and Christian Ulrik Andersen have written a paper focusing on the provincial town and call it an "information space in the periphery." Søren Bro Pold argues that such spaces are losing their meaning, as young people do not spend time in the city centre any more, preferring an online environment. Their Talkaoke project is intended to re-establish a common place or space.The Digital

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-80115084537213669182010-10-22T13:35:00.003+02:002010-10-22T13:57:08.283+02:00

The game Jo Dugstad Wake at the University of Bergen is talking about is called Premierløitnant Bielke, and in his presentation he focuses on the content and intentions and the technological architecture. The purpose of the game is to teach and learn the local history of Bergen during the Napoleonic wars, using mobile technology.He also talks about an empirical study of the particulars of

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-22629174259395489152010-10-22T11:40:00.004+02:002010-10-22T13:26:06.889+02:00

Per Linde at MEDEA, Malmö University, is interested in new media, collaborative cross-media and social innovation and how it opens up for "ways in which contemporary power and control are structured — through both discourses and infrastructures." Place-centric computing = even if we are mobile, we are still in one specific place at one specific point in time. Time-space compression (Massey,

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-60232421743950931072010-10-22T11:21:00.003+02:002010-10-22T11:40:56.700+02:00

Geoff Cox discusses social media and its effect on the democracy concept. "Today the enemy is not called Empire or Capital. It's called Democracy." (Badiou) Seppukoo, the antithesis of Facebook, perform suicide or unfriending yourself from a social network. "The production of subjectivity ceases to be only an instrument of social control ... and becomes directly productive, beacuse the goal of

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-90508948567365552412010-10-22T10:00:00.004+02:002010-12-05T19:10:45.752+01:00

Maria Poulaki discusses disorientation in space in film. The example she refers to is Roberto Saviano's movie Gomorra.• Ubiquitous multiplicity of perspectives and disorientation (shifts in narrative, in point of view and scale, and in lens focus).• Cinematic ubiquity - "based on the (new) conditions of visibility and presence that include invisibility and virtual presence" (T.Elsaesser World

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-32963332157521035282010-10-22T09:36:00.004+02:002010-10-22T10:36:12.038+02:00

Body Movies by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is in focus for Pepita Hesselberth, who primarily discusses its cinematic, photographic and temporal aspects, perspectives, shadows and projections.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-61709634450831655072010-10-22T09:01:00.005+02:002010-10-22T09:36:02.841+02:00

Having a background in graphic design, Lilia Pérez Romero calls herself primarily a practitioner, but academically she has focused on installations.Examples of inspiration:Edie Sedgwick's Screen test, 16 mm film, Andy Warhol, 1964[present condinuous past(s)] Closed circuit video installation, Dan Graham, 1974[portrait of Cati], Interactive installation, Stephan Agamanolis, 2001[spotlight] Orit

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-367374020256141972010-10-21T15:17:00.006+02:002010-10-21T16:11:48.812+02:00

Merete Carlson discusses affect linked to interactive/relational art and installations and draws on theorists Brian Massumi and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. She describes her own reactions when interacting with an installation, Rafael Lozano Hemmer's Pulse Park, which measures the pulse of the visitors and visualizes its rhythm in light. Her focus is the emotions and relational architecture and she

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-2760423780159254152010-10-21T14:53:00.004+02:002010-10-21T15:42:10.268+02:00

My colleague at the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Lissa Holloway-Attaway, discusses various digital transformative spaces. Theoretical influences: 1. The Futurist Manifesto2. Flattening, de-stabilizing (Ed Soja, Rem Koolhas, Scott McQuire)3. Co-presence, co-constitution 4. User-generated content, user-configured space (McQuire)Mixed reality and virtual co-presence. Examples: Flicker Big Art

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-49397367980969972842010-10-21T14:34:00.004+02:002010-10-21T14:53:49.296+02:00

Lotte Philipsen at Århus University is interested in computer art and interaction. One of the theorists she relies on is Dominic McIver Lopes (A Philosophy on Computer Art, 2010). Work/display interaction (Lopes). Interactivity requires that the audience generates the display, explores the work, as well as attends to the work partly by attending his or her doing. Jens F. Jensen is the second

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-85624769009262604912010-10-21T14:22:00.003+02:002010-10-21T14:33:26.878+02:00

Giving us an opportunity to get to know each other, we had a so-called speed-dating session which focused on the concept "dwelling." For three minutes we were supposed to talk to one of the other participants and then we were to switch tables and talk to someone else. It was interesting to see how some focused on the technology, with which we all work and its implications on the our dwellings,

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-16689604103375362182010-10-21T13:05:00.004+02:002010-10-21T13:25:27.749+02:00

Pirkka Åman at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology and Musiquitous, looks at various platforms for location based music services with research and design-oriented goals: to develop new kinds of music service concepts and gather expert knowledge about these features. Three main concepts: "Sounds of Helsinki," "Musical Geocaching," and "Musical hotspots/Soundtrails." How to

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-51972752693298073372010-10-21T10:18:00.006+02:002010-10-21T11:37:42.766+02:00

Sussex University's "Professor iPod", Michael Bull, is interested in looking at how people live in cities. Utopian as well as dystopian images of the city. The aesthetics of the city. Audio-visual experience of iPod users as opposed to the visual take usually favoured. Bull argues that people do not aestheticize the city anymore, since people move through the city at a higher pace (in a car), but

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-15194780242133167682010-10-21T09:32:00.003+02:002010-10-21T10:18:09.740+02:00

Daniel Pargman paints a picture of a world of limitation — climate change, ecological crisis, pollution, overpopulation, limitations of food production etc. We take "a world of possibilities" is the norm for us, whereas a "world of limitation" is seen as an anomaly. Contrasting perspectives of the future, but Pargman argues that a world of limitations is indeed the direction in which we are

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-76231383752620907902010-10-21T09:08:00.002+02:002010-10-21T09:29:58.083+02:00

The aesthetics and fashion of mobile devices is what Celia Yanqing Zangat Mobile Life Centre focuses on in her presentation. Fashion-ology (Kawamura). Fashion system is an institutional and cultural arrangements that use particular cultural objects to be adorned in a specific way. Create the constant fluctuation of taste, and link industrial production to the variations in consumer values. These

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-91570182685051549102010-10-20T16:58:00.002+02:002010-10-20T17:03:42.287+02:00

The discussion continues, but I'll be shutting down for now. A snack has been scheduled for 5 pm an after that we'll be off to the hotel after a rather long day. My colleague from the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Lissa Holloway-Attaway, left Karlskrona before 5.30 this morning and I'm sure many more of the participants have had similar schedules today.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-37302449745592085412010-10-20T16:15:00.005+02:002010-10-20T16:53:08.847+02:00

Pål Aam from Volda University College talks about the various ways in which we watch and interact with video today, annotating, touching, clicking etc. Voss became the location for this particular project as well, since a lot of young people are gathering there. Four videos were shot there over two weeks last summer. The interface they have created, HyperNytt, allows for the clicking between

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-17479681327102294822010-10-20T15:56:00.004+02:002010-10-20T16:15:26.634+02:00

Kjetil Vaage Øie at the Volda University College, who has worked together with Solveig Bjørnestad and Lars Nyre, gives details of how the Loka project was used by a test group of 89 students. About 220 texts x 3 versions were produced. The students quickly learned to cope with the technology, addressing location was not a problem, but they did not particularly like, or were not used to, this type

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-64376115150434765952010-10-20T15:29:00.006+02:002010-10-20T15:56:46.401+02:00

Lars Nyre focuses on the journalistic aspects of the previously mentioned project at the University of Bergen. Hyper-local news, news that only affect a geographically small area, perhaps only a few hundred metres. The experiment lasted for a week, the "Extreme Sports Week," and Nyre describes it as attempting to create a new type of public, very local sphere, a few square kilometres in the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-73610985738649192832010-10-20T14:35:00.008+02:002010-10-20T15:39:48.649+02:00

Solveig Bjørnestad tells us about a project at the University of Bergen which she, Bjørnar Tessem, and Lars Nyre have done. Its aim is to create a mobile servie to create a location-based service for mobile phones using GPS and the content is journalism. A journalist is to tag news stories with geo-location and writes three versions of the same story, each targeted to the audience at a different

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-78736310146510678332010-10-20T14:10:00.009+02:002010-10-20T16:54:08.507+02:00

Implementation, co-written by Scott Rettberg and Nick Montfort, is a located narrative text, a stickers novel with its own website. It is supposed to be read as hypertext. A Flickr account with all the images, tagged with different types of meta data (GPS data included), has been created as well.Rettberg discusses the impact of the stickers on the environment, but also the effect the environment

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-65263971100181098752010-10-20T13:28:00.006+02:002010-10-20T16:02:43.080+02:00

Working at the University of Copenhagen, Arild Fetveit focuses on the links between maps and photography. Digitalization has led to three phases for photography: digital alteration, digital distribution, new software enhanced connections and augmentations (pattern recognition, tagging, photographic mapping). Lev Manovich argues that photos are more "graphic" than ever.Various key words or phrases

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-67370573022277992212010-10-20T11:39:00.009+02:002010-10-20T12:39:11.001+02:00

Location, position, orientation... From the School of Geography at the Queen Mary, University of London, geographer, David Pinder highlights the manner in which we tend to use terms like these when navigating and explaining new media. Coco Fusco (2004) argued that viewing new media spaces as a map makes it possible to rule or control it. It "eliminates time, focuses disproportionately on space

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-38183848388664233222010-10-20T10:56:00.006+02:002010-10-20T16:56:56.215+02:00

Ulrik Ekman welcomes everyone to the The Culture of Ubiquitous Computing Information Seminar, a seminar originally supposed to take place in April 2010 in Århus. We are now in Copenhagen, however, and Ekman begins by mentioning upcoming events in the Culture of Ubiquitous Computing seminar series. He pushes for a book he has edited: Throughout: Art and Culture Emerging with Ubiquitous Computing.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-85018637558780116152010-10-11T10:24:00.005+02:002010-10-13T14:54:03.325+02:00

Last week I finished a first draft of the chapter on the friendly, playful and laid-back Nekos (cat people) in Second Life, which I then sent to my supervisors Jay Bolter and Mikael Jakobsson. Then I began to write the chapter on Gor, the large, hierarchical community which is based on the dichotomy between masters and slaves.There are so many differences between the two communities, and I have

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-22112855997313893522010-09-09T07:23:00.006+02:002010-09-09T07:46:36.193+02:00

It almost feels as if I have abandoned my blog, but I'm hoping to be able to write more blog posts in the autumn. The summer has been wonderful. We have spent a lot of time abroad, in Denmark as well as in France. On August 9, I finished a first draft of the theory chapter for my dissertation and my supervisor Professor Jay Bolter seemed to be happy with it. It relies on the works of, for

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-35264351366217103062010-06-09T14:02:00.006+02:002010-06-09T15:21:18.724+02:00

This has been three really full, productive and informative days, and I will try to write more about it soon. Right now the workshop is drawing to a close and John Lester is in the middle of his talk: "Knowing When to Let Go: The Mind, the Metaverse, and Metaphor." Why the Metaverse? Perceptual Immersion leads to emotional immersion, shared creativity, our brains and hearts need it. What is the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-10990185600453419342010-06-08T13:17:00.002+02:002010-06-08T21:00:03.889+02:00

An extremely fast-moving session has been scheduled right before lunch, and it is in this session I'm presenting my work. In six minutes and forty seconds each presenter is to present 20 slides programmed to change every 20 seconds. The time is certainly limited and the challenge is to decide on an idea that is not too complicated, but still interesting enough to capture the audience for the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-63918372834055733032010-06-08T09:33:00.005+02:002010-06-08T10:50:05.455+02:00

I'm at a beautiful conference centre north of Copenhagen at the moment. The workshop began yesterday and the day was really full with talks by, among others, Jeremy Hunsinger and Ted Castronova. Really interesting, but I'm rather sad that I did not have time to blog then.Today begins with a keynote speech by Mia Consalvo: "When casual became hardcore, and social went asynchronous: Exploring the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-26818954268868868252010-06-04T10:14:00.003+02:002010-06-04T11:05:17.709+02:00

I was taken aback when I realised it has been a month and a half since I last wrote a blog post, but this has, on the other hand, been six very productive weeks. I have finished a draft of the Midian City role-play chapter, in which I'm addressing the rules and norms shaping the role-play as well as the organization around it. Actually, all of it can be viewed as a role-play, but it is a

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-88505474914446986142010-04-20T15:36:00.003+02:002010-04-20T15:46:12.125+02:00

I was supposed to be at the "Interweaving Technologies" seminar in Århus the rest of the week, but yesterday I received an e-mail telling me that the seminar unfortunately had been cancelled. Yet another thing to blame on the volcano eruptions in Iceland. Although I would have been able to go there quite easily by train myself, this was not a possibility available to a substantial part of the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-54922910272850909372010-03-25T09:28:00.004+01:002010-03-25T11:28:28.403+01:00

Why do people come to the conclusion that a community, of which they have been a part for a long time, suddenly is not the right one for them? Does it have to do with changed rules, aims or goals, with friends leaving, or simply boredom? I would be really happy if anyone reading this blog, who might have been in this position or know of developments or decisions like these, would post their

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-2143874988183858542010-03-15T13:06:00.004+01:002010-03-15T13:23:30.251+01:00

I have almost finished the first draft of my introduction and at the same time I'm reading books for the "Popular culture and Videogames" course I'm taking with professor Jay Bolter as my teacher. The social aspects of both Edward Castronova's Synthetic Worlds and Lawrence Lessig's Code 2.0 have been both illuminating and fun and also a bit closer to what I'm interested in, whereas the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-68355119690519967692010-02-03T18:44:00.005+01:002010-02-03T20:05:57.191+01:00

I had a meeting with Jay Bolter yesterday and we talked about my research project. I have become a lot clearer about my focus and wrote a new version of my outline earlier today. I wrote the following as a summary: For my dissertation I am studying the rules that govern various role-playing communities in Second Life, and analyzing the interplay between the strategies and intentions of the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-84602427584006293842010-01-26T18:54:00.004+01:002010-01-26T19:11:15.744+01:00

Today I had a meeting with my supervisor Mikael Jakobsson and we talked about the method's chapter I finished a first draft of last week. It was great to talk to him and he seemed to like most of what I had written, had a few pointers in some areas and a few questions about things I need to clarify. After our discussion I have tried to address most of the things that came up, and I will continue

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-34133743683986592212010-01-20T18:11:00.004+01:002010-01-20T18:24:17.948+01:00

I've just finished a first draft of my method's chapter, and even though I'm sure I will rewrite it a bit, it still feels good to be done. I have also written the first few pages of my introduction, and I will continue with that tomorrow. There is something about the extreme focus when writing that I really like. It leaves me completely drained, but also euphoric at the same time.I have also

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-50931017498661738762009-12-24T14:26:00.003+01:002009-12-24T14:31:33.893+01:00

Snow, lights, Christmas tree, plenty of food... I'm looking forward to a really nice, relaxing Christmas and an interesting and wonderful new year. I wish you all the same!

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-33823254569516886832009-12-02T10:25:00.004+01:002009-12-08T07:30:26.702+01:00

Nico Carpentier begins by commenting that discourse studies can be very confusing simply because of the lack of clarity in the definition of discourse. (Foucault has actually made the definition of discourse even more varied.) Carpentier argues that discourse is reality. Reality is social discourse. Text can function on a continuum between micro and macro levels, the same goes for context. Micro

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-22581745044025352432009-12-01T19:26:00.006+01:002009-12-01T20:31:58.075+01:00

Erica Burman describes her "discursive history" as one of critical/feminist psychology (hence a tactical engagement, also often sidelined away from methodological contributions). She is critiquing the discipline of psychology and how we now live in a psychological culture. She has no secure disciplinary position and her work can be described as a critique of psychology, rather than a

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-69916444127629244772009-12-01T11:46:00.004+01:002009-12-01T22:50:07.729+01:00

...or the construction of the journalist detective. Interplay between the voice of the presenter and the visual material on the television news on identity and belonging. Birgitta Frello shows a clip from DR1 Dokumentar which is entitled "Den danske terrorist" to show us examples of how primarily muslims are framed in Danish television media.Frello has mainly been focusing on the verbal rhetoric

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-70381844613286953512009-12-01T10:25:00.003+01:002009-12-01T11:44:26.815+01:00

Together with Steven Griggs at De Montfort University, David Howarth focuses on the importance and impact of media in the political field. Mediatization of politics (Hajer). The media has problematized the classical-modernist image of politics where media is the messenger and reporter. Government and policymaking is mediatized, they become a part of government. How does communication thus work?

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-18031741751473223262009-11-30T13:13:00.004+01:002009-11-30T14:12:17.472+01:00

Paul Chilton's background is in cognitive linguistic. The science of seeing and science of linguistics. Visual perception/cognition. What and where visual pathways (Milner, A. D. and Goodale, M.A. (1996) The Visual Brain in Action). Where: locates object relative to the individual.What: Object recognition and classification, uses knowledge in cognitive frames, stereotypes (racial gender etc) and

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-21042913581898309052009-11-30T13:11:00.002+01:002009-11-30T14:28:18.315+01:00

Ruth Wodak calls CDA "a mixed bag of things." Not only are there several types of CDA, these types are also in a constant flux. They also have different histories. CDA is primarily a linguistic enterprise. CDA is a way of analyzing intricate social phenomena, analyzing problems. European Media in Crisis. Context is important. There is so much you don't know when you just look at a picture. Media

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-64826878281281634902009-11-30T13:09:00.001+01:002009-11-30T13:11:32.137+01:00

I'm at Roskilde University again and this time it is to attend the PhD course on Critical Discourse Analysis. In the absence of Louise Phillips, who is away for family reasons, professor Kim Schrøder welcomes us and tells us all the practical details we need to know.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-33255286179258083932009-10-13T21:09:00.010+02:002009-10-16T13:17:41.608+02:00

Tomorrow's workshop at Umeå University will focus on creating sculpties and importing them into Second Life. There are indeed a number of applications to choose from, but we will begin by using a very basic and free one, Rokuro. It is available in both Mac and PC format and can be downloaded here: http://kanae.net/secondlife/rokuro09/index.htmlThursday's workshop will centre on creating textures

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-70051880287667397322009-10-12T20:58:00.002+02:002009-10-12T21:15:21.220+02:00

Apart from finishing Goffman's book, I have also moved from one office to another (again) today. Seven big boxes of books to pack and then unpack. Luckily I didn't have to carry them myself, but it did take some time for it all to arrive. I still haven't received my desk, but hopefully it will have arrived at some point tomorrow.On Wednesday I will be flying north to Umeå. I'm going to do two

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-58271479521366880572009-10-12T20:27:00.002+02:002009-10-12T21:15:37.080+02:00

The last seven pages of The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life made me change my mind about Erving Goffman.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-6860380464590598222009-10-11T18:58:00.001+02:002009-10-11T18:58:51.227+02:00

I really don't like Goffman!

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-59006499932396819472009-10-09T17:36:00.003+02:002009-10-09T17:44:38.227+02:00

I have worked really hard the whole week, partly with interviews of Nekos and role-players and partly with course readings (right now it is Erving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life for the Ethnography course). Additionally, I'm preparing the character I intend to play in Midian City. Today has been a day of wrapping things up, but this evening will definitely prove more festive.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-14466177128681095942009-10-03T13:31:00.003+02:002009-10-03T13:54:55.814+02:00

I've "landed" after a pretty eventful week. As you might have realised, the PhD course on methods and methodology at Roskilde university was very, very interesting. I learned so much about the importance of articulating my own methodological approach and I look forward to exploring this much further in the upcoming months. I'm currently half-way into an ethnographical methods course taught by my

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-69017871493031924952009-10-01T09:39:00.008+02:002009-10-03T14:01:27.362+02:00

"How to analyse knowledge production processes in collaborative research on virtual worlds: an interdisciplinary approach combining dialogic communication theory, STS and action research." Louise Phillips have noticed that research projects usually involves working together to produce knowledge and she argues that the people who often are called informants or respondents are indeed co-researchers

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-52150717657006733962009-09-30T13:14:00.006+02:002009-09-30T15:38:44.473+02:00

Sisse Siggaard Jensen describes her way of conducting video-filmed interviews, and describes the variables when conducting in-situ "videoviews." She prefers to do these in a setting that is the common one for the the interviewee(s) even though the situation of course is influenced by her being there with her camera.Prior to recordings (Step 1):• Analytical design• Relevance, selection and impact.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-8488934597469447712009-09-30T10:36:00.014+02:002009-09-30T15:39:14.185+02:00

Sisse Siggard Jensen's talk is entitled "Researching Virtual Worlds: analytical strategies and methodologies" and describes a small part of her research in Second Life. The dissertation she is writing at the moment is tentatively called "Making Sense of Virtual Worlds." Her five analytical foci (the word is appropriate since she is mainly doing video-analysis) are: The actors' decision to move in

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-60454294388317155412009-09-30T09:35:00.008+02:002009-09-30T10:37:33.905+02:00

"Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology: Applications to Interviews and Experiments." CarrieLynn Reinhard use SMM in media reception studies. Consider where methods can be in empirical work (both qualitative and quantitative): • data collecting famework methods• data collection methods• data analysis methodsThe "gaps" (questions/confusions, muddles/riddles, angst) are essential in sense-making studies

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-70274543953226775962009-09-29T10:36:00.009+02:002009-09-30T10:58:14.691+02:00

"Actor Network Theory: An inroad to the study of 'the virtual building'" is the title of Ursula Plesner's talk. She discusses the implications of ANT as a method for doing research in online worlds. Levels from the core to the outer limit: Action/interaction - A particular site or social sphere - the virtual/immaterial - the real/material. How do we hold on to the insight that there is a constant

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-34799785683669315012009-09-29T09:33:00.012+02:002009-09-29T10:34:02.881+02:00

T.L. Taylor's talk "Bricolage, play and the games researcher" is the first one today. What are our objects of study? Is it "just the game" or does it include websites, third party additions, forums etc? Taylor indeed thinks so and found that her object of study was larger than she had imagined. Multi-faceted ethnography: Follow the people, the thing, the metaphor, the plot/story/allegory, the

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-51576500589837504672009-09-28T13:01:00.018+02:002009-09-29T10:35:17.057+02:00

I'm live blogging from Roskilde, Denmark. From Roskilde University. Right now Sisse Siggaard Jensen is welcoming us all and presenting the today's speakers, Thomas Kohler from Innsbruck University and Greg Wadley from the University of Melbourne. Siggard Jensen gives us plenty of information about the very old city of Roskilde and the work of their group at the university, before asking us to

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-74962437129916113292009-09-23T09:12:00.003+02:002009-09-23T09:15:56.634+02:00

The Second Swedish Net University, a small piece of land owned by the Blekinge Institute of Technology that has been used mainly as a platform for Second Life-related courses at the university, has now been closed down.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-28434337765602513712009-09-23T07:21:00.007+02:002009-09-23T09:16:57.967+02:00

At this point I have interviewed fourteen residents inside SL, and they are a pretty diverse group. Most of the people I have interviewed categorize themselves as Nekos and they are either engaged in roleplay (in Midian City or in Ulthar) or they take part in the Second Life Nekos forum. With some of them I have talked about what it's like to be a Neko (and this ranges from people who wear ears

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-74396449073924494952009-09-17T11:22:00.005+02:002009-09-22T09:07:13.274+02:00

I'm in the middle of conducting a series of interviews in Second Life at the moment and I have received so much help from the members of the Second Life Nekos forum and its founder, Stacia Villota. This morning I had the opportunity to ask a female Neko (cat people in SL) about links between the SL Nekos and cosplay. Yesterday evening I spent a good hour with a male Neko discussing both

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-69820045614503666902009-09-13T16:14:00.003+02:002009-09-13T16:38:57.783+02:00

At the moment I'm writing a 5-page paper for the Analytical strategies and methodologies for the study of virtual worlds workshop at Roskilde University, and the pros and cons of research methods are certainly on my mind. Due to my literary background, textual analysis has indeed been my favoured method, but I'm moving more and more into ethnography and, among the tools of this field, I have

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-25936534054843505402009-09-07T16:35:00.005+02:002009-09-07T16:42:13.614+02:00

I just checked the Continuum website and noticed that the Literary Art in Digital Performance volume edited by Francisco J. Ricardo, in which I have a chapter, will be out on October 1st in the U.S. and two months later in the U.K. I'm really looking forward to seeing it in its printed form. Somehow it just seems a bit more material when I see it on the Continuum website like this.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-19574259070473980742009-09-01T14:24:00.004+02:002009-09-01T15:59:05.164+02:00

Today I received my new 13" 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro with the brand new Snow Leopard MacOS. I've been downloading everything from my old MacBook and tweaking it in between reading a few more chapters. I'm going to have a Skype seminar with my supervisor Jay Bolter later today, and I really hope the technology will do my bidding. Right now I have no reason to think otherwise. Happy!

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-61123389885361008722009-08-28T16:44:00.004+02:002009-08-28T17:19:16.859+02:00

It has been a really good summer. We've made several trips, visiting places in the Nordic countries as well as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Additionally, I have worked quite a bit, having had recurring seminars with my main supervisor, professor Jay David Bolter, throughout the summer, in which we primarily have discussed the relationship between performance studies and online worlds

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-72283944101973916702009-05-13T20:27:00.006+02:002009-05-14T10:00:00.193+02:00

I haven't been posting in a long time and I'm sorry for that. Things have been extremely busy, since I've been teaching two courses simultaneously, while at the same time taking one on Performance studies with Jay Bolter as my teacher, while at the same time moving out of my old office and into a new one. And the list goes on.Today I've been in Malmö meeting with Jay and my secondary supervisor,

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-55654922702276132932009-04-01T17:03:00.004+02:002009-09-13T11:16:55.999+02:00

The following conference proposal has just been submitted to the Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer conference at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton, UK:Based on as sources as varying as for instance Japanese manga fiction, Egyptian mythology, Batman’s Catwoman, the musical Cats and conceptions of what “cats are like,” the Neko culture has become one of the most visible subcultures in

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-12540447000804291872009-04-01T16:26:00.004+02:002009-08-28T17:08:52.292+02:00

It has now been confirmed that I'm going to change supervisors. It won't be a major change, however. Jay Bolter, who was my secondary supervisor, has now taken on the responsibility of being my main, and Craig Lindley, who was my main supervisor, will step down slightly, but still continue as a secondary one. Additionally, Mikael Jakobsson at Malmö Högskola will step in as a secondary

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-5217291177256376322009-03-27T08:39:00.003+01:002009-03-27T08:54:48.166+01:00

I'm planning a lot of things at the moment. On Monday I have two course introductions, one of them is Language and Communication 2, where I will teach essay writing, and the second one is Digital Cultures, where I will focus on blogs, online worlds and mobility. I'm also preparing a three-hour lecture on Second Life for physical planning students on Wednesday next week. It seems as if SL might be

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-1516975514591610002009-03-23T19:48:00.004+01:002009-03-23T20:00:41.944+01:00

This somewhat weird blog title is about to be explained: I'm planning two conference papers at the moment and I've decided to focus on the communities and groups centered around nekos — hybrids of cats and humans in Second Life — in the first one and graveyards and memorials in SL in the second one. I promise I'll get back to this later on...

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-8264854326013824282009-03-20T13:46:00.004+01:002009-03-20T14:37:03.497+01:00

I've just finished reading Mikael Jakobsson's dissertation (Informatics, Umeå University, 2006) with the abovementioned title. It's an easy read, which gives a good survey of what it's like in online environments, with quite a few things I found really interesting. Micke has looked at three different online environments: the two-dimensional The Palace, and the three-dimensional Active Worlds and

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-71263037200671870792009-03-07T17:13:00.004+01:002009-03-07T17:19:30.038+01:00

Sometimes I just love these, although I honestly can't say that I recognize this one from my own life as a PhD candidate. More can be found at phdcomics.com.

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-74907588840622875762009-02-25T12:31:00.004+01:002009-02-25T12:41:24.138+01:00

”The thing called power is characterized by immanence of field without transcendent unification, continuity of line without global centralization, and contiguity of parts without distinct totalization: it is a social space" (Gilles Deleuze, 27). If we elaborate on Deleuze’s definition of power, I interpret it as something that is inherent in all fields and all situations, but it is not

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-38718060444106775892009-02-20T08:58:00.001+01:002009-02-23T15:14:25.400+01:00

Next week I'll begin to work on conference proposals and other kinds of writing. Until I start teaching again in late March I need to focus on cleaning up the chapters I have already written for my dissertation and on the article on ethics in Second Life I'm co-writing with my colleague, Åse Nygren.[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-78801320754109856012009-02-16T12:27:00.005+01:002009-02-16T12:45:44.044+01:00

I'm working from our home in Århus, Denmark, right now and I have just gone through e-mails with answers to 2001: A Space Odyssey study questions the LCDM 1st year students have responded to. Overall the result is really good and it does reflect the stimulating discussions we had in class last week.Right now I'm looking forward to having some lunch, but after that I have planned to start reading

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-28570632598955494642009-02-07T13:02:00.005+01:002009-02-07T13:17:03.638+01:00

I find the possibilities for fan fiction and similar things very interesting in Second Life. Soon after Disney's WALL*E was released, avatars looking like WALL*E and EVA were created and are now available, with the appropriate attire, in stores inworld. Residents can choose to play out the movie for themselves or create alternative stories about the two robots. I think I'm going to look into this

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-26238695925486521922009-02-06T09:45:00.004+01:002009-02-06T13:16:44.666+01:00

This morning I've mainly been preparing for next week, which will be a busy one. I'll be teaching Kubrick/Clarke's movie/novel 2001: A Space Odyssey on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and on Tuesday I'll be at the University board meeting the whole day and then teach inside Second Life in the evening. The upcoming Thursday and Friday will be filled with meetings as well, so I guess I know what

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-34887361257627754382009-02-05T21:48:00.003+01:002009-02-05T22:17:33.044+01:00

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12991140.post-27692206807494330402009-02-05T17:54:00.004+01:002009-02-05T18:08:23.624+01:00

I just got back from a preliminary meeting with the chairman, Joacim Petersson, and previous chairman, Martin Bagge, of the Student Union at Blekinge Institute of Technology, in which we went through the reading material for next Tuesday's University Board meeting together. The next meeting will center around a organisation plan, budget issues and the annual report for the university.Returning

Miahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08989551551540559533noreply@blogger.com0