Author: Super User

Past Issues

Managerial and Commercial Applications

The JVWR, Volume 5, No. 3

Published: December 29, 2012

The editorial team for this issue includes:

Shu Schiller, Wright State University, USA

Brian Mennecke, Iowa State University, USA

Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA

This special issue on “managerial and commercial applications” of virtual worlds aims to highlight research that makes a significant and novel contribution in theory and practice about virtual worlds in the business domain. Through the business lens, virtual worlds are often perceived to be promising yet risky and exciting yet formidable for the use and management of individual and collaborative work.

Original Call: CfP: Managerial and Commercial Applications

Managing Editor Corner

From Orlando to Milan: Virtual Worlds Business Disillusionment

Yesha Y. Sivan

Research Papers

Time for a Post-Mortem?: Business Professionals’ Perspectives on the Disillusionment of Virtual Worlds

Patrick J. Bateman, Jacqueline C. Pike, Nicholas Berente, Sean Hansen

Training Evaluation in Virtual Worlds: Development of a Model

Richard N. Landers, Rachel C. Callan

Avatar Identification on a 3D Commercial Website: Gender Issues

Ingrid Poncin, Marion Garnier

Assembled (Rush to Press Papers)

Does Loving an Avatar Threaten Real Life Marriage?

Richard A Kolotkin, Maggie M Williams, Casey Lloyd, Earnest W Hallford

The Cowl Makes the Monk: How Avatar Appearance and Role Labels Affect Cognition in Virtual Worlds

Jorge Peña, Matthew S McGlone, Joseph Sanchez

“Think Pieces”

A Cross-Case Analysis of Possible Facial Emotion Extraction Methods that Could Be Used in Second Life – Pre Experimental Work

Shahnaz Kamberi

Past Issues

Asian Perspectives

The JVWR, Volume 5, No. 2

Published: September 28, 2012

The editorial team for this issue includes:

Kenneth Y T Lim, National Institute of Education, Singapore

Young Hoan Cho, National Institute of Education, Singapore

Michael Vallance, Future University, Hakodate, Japan

In this issue you will find perspectives from East Asia and Southeast Asia; the contrasts and comparisons are at once diverse and revealing – from David Herold’s perspectives on games and gamers from China, to the work of Li and his team with a similar community from Singapore, encompassing several other cultures, sub-cultures and scales of resolution at points in-between.

Original Call: CfP: Asian Perspectives

Managing Editor Corner

East vs. West? More like East and West

Yesha Y. Sivan

Issue Editors’ Corner

Virtual Worlds Asian Perspectives: a Landscape with Peaks and Valleys

Kenneth Y T Lim

Research Papers

Escaping the World: A Chinese Perspective on Virtual Worlds

David Kurt Herold 

The Demographic Distribution and Social Experience of Chinese MMO Players

Li Xiong 

The Abyss Observatory – Designing for Remote Collaboration, Self-directed Discovery and Intuition Development in Multi-user Interactive 3D Virtual Environments

Hajime Nishimura, Kenneth Y T Lim, Koji Koyamada

Assessment and Learning in the Virtual World: Tasks, Taxonomies and Teaching for Real

Michael Vallance, Stewart M. Martin

Effects of Digital Game Play Among Young Singaporean Gamers: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Study

Dongdong Li, Hyekyung Choo, Angeline Khoo, Albert K. Liau

Assembled (Rush to Press Papers)

Collaboration in Virtual Worlds: The Role of the Facilitator

Benjamin G Wigert, Gert-Jan de Vreede, Imed Boughzala, Ikram Bououd

CFPs, Topical Issues CfPs

CfP: JVWR Special Issue on Arts and Virtual Worlds

Call for Papers

Published: February 4, 2013

To be edited by:

Celeste Guichard, Savannah College of Art and Design, GA, USA

Laura Salciuviene, Lancaster University Management School, UK

Gary Hardee, the University of Texas at Dallas, TX, USA

Motivation and Scope

At the end of the year (2012) we looked at all past submissions to find the best papers for the Assembled issue. We had more than 50 submissions.

Apparently, we had several unique papers connecting virtual worlds and the arts. Thus we have decided to make a special issue about “Arts and Virtual Worlds” as Volume 6 No 2 (due for publication around June 2013 — this year!)

So…

  1. We are looking for 1-2 co-editors for this issue — if you have an interest and background in the field as well as experience in academic editing please let us know by sending your CV and cover letter to [email protected].
  2. Current authors who have already submitted relevant papers will be notified, as their papers will start the review process.
  3. Also: if you have a ready FULL paper that you think may fit this issue please submit it ASAP (deadline: 20-Feb-2013).

New authors are invited to submit papers that are innovative, original, and contribute to the advancement of understanding of arts as it applies to virtual worlds. Papers will be considered by the Guest Editorial Board and reviewed by expert referees using our double -open policy. Double-open policy means that in general, authors do not need to anonymize their papers, and reviewers identity is also known to authors. For more details about it see JVWR site –> About JVWR –> For Authors –> Our double-Open Policy.

Submission Instructions

Authors are invited to submit full papers  via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwr.net> about > for authors). Accepted papers will be published online in Volume 6, Number 2 of the Journal, 2013.

Deadlines and Timeline

Please use the Journal publishing system (login at the top right of the journal site, state that your submission is for the Arts issue.)

Tentative Deadlines: (updated)

  • Authors submit full paper: 20 February, 2013
  • Editors send Reviewers’ feedback on the paper, and an indication of acceptance or rejection: 20 March 2013
  • Submission of revised paper (if necessary): 5 April 2013
  • Editors’ decision and comments for accepted papers: 20 April 2013
  • Authors Submission of final version: 5 May 2013
  • Staff editors & authors work till planned Publication Date: 15 June 2013

Further Information

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://www.jvwresearch.org/) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect virtual worlds research. The field of virtual worlds research is a continuously evolving area of study that spans across many disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly work.

Please contact:

Tzafnat Shpak, Coordinating Editor

[email protected]

Events, Events 2012

Augmented Reality in Information Systems: Setting a Research Agenda at ICIS2012 (ARatICIS2012)

December 16, 2012 08:30AM-12:00PM

JVWR special event at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS2012) in Orlando Florida, USA.

Published: November 12, 2011
Last updated: December 24, 2012

Full Program

The International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) is the major annual international meeting of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) https://aisnet.org/, which has over 4,000 members representing universities in over 95 countries worldwide. It is the most prestigious gathering of academics and practitioners in the Information Systems IS discipline and provides a forum for networking and sharing of the latest ideas and highest caliber scientific work among the IS professions. Each year, over 1,000 IS academic professions from around the world participate in the conference program, which includes about 60 sessions and 180 presentations, in addition to keynotes, CIO panels, and research panels.

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (https://jvwr.net), following a successful workshop in Shanghai at ICIS 2011, will host a special face-2-face workshop on Augmented Reality.

Background About AR

Augmented Reality (see for example http://mashable.com/follow/topics/augmented-reality/) is one of the “hottest” topics in IT/IS. The rise of high-end mobile cameras, GPS, and devices with on-cloud computation allow for many new opportunities. Theoretical research in the field (see for example http://www.ismar11.org/) is now being further developed into applications.

Confirmed Speakers

Yesha Sivan, Jon Preston, Jeff Chastine, Dov Teeni, Arijit Sengupta, Shu Schiller, Lester Leavitt, Anna-Kaisa Sjölund

Agenda

08:30–09:00 — Breakfast & Welcome
09:00–09:30 — Status of AR Today (followed by the “SIGHT” Movie.)

Prof. Yesha Sivan, JVWR Managing Editor, Tel Aviv-Yafo Academic College, Israel. A review of the current state of the field, and its potential impact.

009:30–10:00 — Combining Virtual and Physical Worlds

Jon Preston, Associate Professor,  Computer Game Design and Development, Southern Polytechnic State University, GA , USA, and Jeff Chastine, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Software Eng., Southern Polytechnic State University, GA, USA Present a new breed of AR computing services and applications to explore collaborative, location-aware augmented reality. Such a system could be visually based, but could also be passive and be working within a user’s pocket while they go about their daily activities. We foresee applications of gamification and encouraging positive behaviors such as attending meetings, courses for students, and visiting stores from a marketing perspective based upon this system. Our approach is novel in that it explicitly asks what is possible via non-visual augmented reality and how far this passive computing system can be expanded with virtual interactions. We will demo this fully-functional system at the workshop and seek partners in expanding this research.

10:00–11:00 Submitted Presentations

Arijit Sengupta, Professor of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, Faculty of Information Systems and Operations, Raj Soin College of Business, Wright State University, OH, USA;  and Shu Schiller, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information Systems and Operations, Raj Soin College of Business, Wright State University, OH, USA.

The aim of this research is to create an augmented reality architecture and application, the Virtual Assistant, to link the real world and the virtual equivalent using mobile technology.  The presentation will cover the model, its underlying architecture, applicability and extensibility in current AR research, and provide a working demonstration of the developed application that implements this concept.

Lester Leavitt, Graduate Assistant, School of Public Administration, Florida Atlantic University.
This presentation outlines an augmented reality socio-technical governing institution that has been designed singularly for marginalized minority groups and global solidarity movements such as those witnessed in 2011. Beyond providing a simple virtual office environment or legislature, the ICT and database algorithms described in this presentation outline how the creation of a global, crowd-sourced, multimedia “institutional memory” that supports progressive “collectivethought” policy-making will serve to incubate comprehensive, community-sized, virtual collectives from which entire web-based economies might emerge, complete with brick-and-mortar extensions.

Anna-Kaisa Sjölund, Doctoral Student, researcher at Digital Culture, University of Turku, Finland
This presentation is about creating AR–tools and describing how to use them in immersive way. Paramedic students and teachers from Turku University of applied sciences will have a course in Second Life to test AR–tools in two-way, to and from virtual world.

11:00–11:30 AR in IS

Dov Teeni, Professor of Information Systems in the faculty of Management at Tel-Aviv University, Israel

11:30–12:00 Review and Discussion

How to Register

Please register soon, space is limited.

You can register to this event in three ways (a) as part of your ICIS registration or (b) just for the workshop (c) fax based registration.

(a) The registration for ICIS 2012 including the AR workshop (you will see it in the list on ancillary events) is now open at http://icis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/conf-registration. Choose the first option. You must use your AIS member information to log in and register.

(b) You can attend just the AR workshop: register here http://icis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/conf-registration and choose the second option.

(c)  If you need fax based registration go here: http://icis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/conf-registration and choose the third option (this is NOT recommended).

We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

Thankfully,

Yesha Sivan
Professor and Head of the Management Information System Program
Tel Aviv Academic College
Managing Editor, The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

Shu Schiller
Associate Professor
Department of Information Systems & Operations Management
Raj Soin College of Business
Wright State University

Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah
Professor of Business & Information Technology
Department of Business & Information Technology
Missouri University of Science and Technology

Event pictures

Events

Augmented Reality AT ICIS2012

Augmented Reality in Information Systems: Setting a Research Agenda

Pre-ICIS 2012 JVWR Workshop:
December 16, 2012 08:30AM-12:00PM

at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS2012)
to be held in Orlando Florida, USA from December 16-19, 2012

Google AR Eyewear

1. Google Project Glass

 

 

2.VirtualDinor

2. Virtual Dinos – Japan 2009

3.BMW-AR

3. BMW Augmented Reality

 

4.Headset & Gloves

4. AR Headset & Gloves

 

5.AR Immersive Cocoon

5. Immersive Cocoon

6. AR Business Card

  

ICIS http://icis2012.aisnet.org/ is the major annual international meeting of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), which has over 4,000 members representing universities in over 95 countries worldwide. It is the most prestigious gathering of academics and practitioners in the IS discipline, and provides a forum for networking and sharing of latest ideas and highest caliber scientific work among the IS professions. Each year, over 1,000 IS academic professions from around the world participate in the conference program, which includes about 60 sessions and 180 presentations, in addition to keynotes, CIO panels, and research panels.

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://jvwresearch.org), following a successful workshop in Shanghai at ICIS 2011, will host a special face-2-face workshop on Augmented Reality.

Background About AR:

Journal web: http://www.jvwresearch.org
Event page: http://jvwresearch.org/index.php/component/content/article/11-events/42
“Sight” – a vision of AR in the near future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPMggzUlcDc
Intro to the workshop in Google Hangout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7yGo2P96g

Augmented Reality (for example: http://mashable.com/follow/topics/augmented-reality/) is one of the “hottest” topics in IT/IS. The rise of high-end mobile cameras, GPS, and devices with on-cloud computation allow for many new opportunities. Theoretical research in the field (see for example: http://www.ismar11.org/) is now being further developed into applications.

Confirmed Speakers:

Yesha Sivan, Jon Preston, Jeff Chastine, Dov Teeni

Agenda:

08:30–09:00 Breakfast & Welcome
09:00–09:30 Yesha Sivan – The status of AR today, followed by the “SIGHT” Movie
09:30–10:00 Jon Preston and Jeff Chastine – Augmented Reality: a Narrative, Symbiotic Approach in Combining Virtual and Physical Worlds
10:00–10:30 Submitted papers
10:30–11:00 Submitted papers
11:00–11:30 Dov Teeni – AR in I.S.: Setting a Research Agenda
11:30–12:00 Review and Discussion

Call for papers:

Given the exploratory purposes of this workshop, we invite well-articulated papers (2-3 pages including visuals) with one-page bio and background of the author(s). We particularly seek experimental and forward-looking papers. We also welcome conceptual papers with theoretical flavor, as well as completed research papers or research-in-progress papers. Some of the submitted papers may be invited for fast-tracking to the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.

Suggested research topics include, but are not limited to (#x refers to the image in the JVWR web site):

•    Devices (See example #1, #4)
•    AR definitions and technologies
•    Commercial uses of AR
•    Educational use of AR. (#2)
•    Research methodologies for AR
•    Medical uses of AR. (#5)
•    Defense related AR
•    Standards and tools for AR (#3)
•    What should CIOs know about AR
•    The relation of Mobile and AR
•    Web and AR, WebGL, Edb3D, etc.
•    And more…

How to Submit:

Authors/Presenters: Send 2-3 page description with one-page bio and background to [email protected].

Deadlines:

Submission by authors: Oct 19, 11:59 EST (New York time)
Decision to authors: By Oct 21, 11:59 EST (New York time)

How to Register:

Please register soon, space is limited.

You can register to this event in three ways (a) as part of your ICIS registration or (b) just for the workshop (c) fax based registration.

(a) The registration for ICIS 2012 including the AR workshop (you will see it in the list on ancillary events) is now open at http://icis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/conf-registration. Choose the first option. You must use your AIS member information to log in and register.

(b) You can attend just the AR workshop: register here http://icis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/conf-registration and choose the second option.

(c)  If you need fax based registration go here: http://icis2012.aisnet.org/index.php/conf-registration and choose the third option (this is NOT recommended).

We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

Thankfully,

Yesha Sivan
Professor and Head of the Management Information System Program
Tel Aviv Academic College
Managing Editor, The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research

Shu Schiller
Associate Professor
Department of Information Systems & Operations Management
Raj Soin College of Business
Wright State University

Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah
Professor of Business & Information Technology
Department of Business & Information Technology
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Events

Augmented Reality ala 3D3C

Augmented Reality ala 3D3C (Google+  Hangout remote meeting)

there’s more to it than Google Glass

Tue, Sep 4, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT+03:00
Google+ Hangout

Join us on Google+Hangout

In future, the real world is set to combine with the virtual.

+Google Glass got a lot of hype recently. Did you know that BMW has their own glasses too? Have you heard of the i-Cocoon? A device that allows you to be part of an intuitive and holistic experience where your interface is YOU.

Prof. +Yesha Sivan is the Managing editor of the Journal of Virtual Worlds research and Head of the Management Information System Program at the Tel Aviv Academic College. He is also the man behind the 3D3C theory that talks about the 3 critical component s to the 3D reality: community, creativity and commerce.

Join Prof. Yesha and +Yifat Cohen and discover the latest devices and ideas in augmented reality today, and more importantly – let’s discuss how we can make money out of them.

We’ll Cover

– The critical components of Augmented Reality today.
– The broad settings of 3D3C (Community, Creation and Commence)
– The future business models.
– Business opportunities in this field.

Join us on Google+Hangout

 

See the recording on Youtube.

 

More Information about Prof. Sivan

Prof. Yesha Sivan is the head of the Management Information Systems (MIS) Program (http://is.mta.ac.il) at the School of Management and Economy at the Tel-Aviv-Yaffo academic college (http://www.mta.ac.il). He is also the founder of Metaverse Labs (MVL) – a leading think tank focusing on connecting virtual and real worlds. Sivan’s professional experience includes developing and deploying innovative solutions for corporate, hi-tech, government, and defense environments (see for example: the Harvard 9-Keys for Knowledge Infrastructure). He published numerous papers in the areas of Strategy and IT, knowledge, 3D3C virtual worlds, and standards. Sivan received his doctorate from Harvard University. His avatar is Dera Kit, and his blog is http://www.dryesha.com. He has taught EMBA, MBA, engineering and design in the areas of strategic value of IT, the emergence of virtual worlds, and software development in virtual worlds.

Official website: http://www.gplusgotogal.com/live-hangout-on-air

 We connect with relevant virtual worlds’ events to advance the agenda of high-level research. If you would like to cooperate with JVWR regarding an event, please contact [email protected].

We invite you to join us also at our ARatICIS2012 event (December 16, 2012)

CFPs, Topical Issues CfPs

CFP: Enterprises Welcome Virtual Worlds

CFP: Journal of Virtual Worlds Issue on Enterprises Welcome Virtual Worlds

Call for papers on “Enterprises Welcome Virtual Worlds” in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.

 

A special issue edited by: Imed Boughzala, Telecom Business School, Institut Mines-Telecom, France; Gert-Jan de Vreede, The Center for Collaboration Science, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA and Moez Limayem, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, USA.

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research – JVWR  is happy to announce this call for a special Issue number 3 of Volume 6 to be published on Q3/ 2013.

JVWR (http://jvwresearch.org) is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual world research.

Motivation and Scope

Virtual worlds provide a visual window to a persistent and synthetic world inhabited by avatars that are deeply involved in social interactions, along with economic, organizational and commercial activities. They present challenges and opportunities for enterprises. Enterprises have to overcome limitations originating from sharing different physical space and opportunities while virtual worlds offer possibilities that are sometimes impossible in the real world. Today’s virtual worlds bring a variety of opportunities with respect to team collaboration, virtual project management, immersive virtual education, product marketing, simulation and design. Several companies are already using virtual worlds but others are hesitating to jump in for different reasons: technology readiness or investment, evidence of proof of value and proof of use in the field.

This special issue on “Enterprises Welcome Virtual Worlds” will highlight research that makes a significant and novel contribution in theory and practice about virtual worlds in the enterprise field domain.  We are looking for papers that provide new directions for research by examining organizational, individual/group, design, and/or social perspectives of virtual worlds in intra or inter organizational and business activities and environments. We especially welcome innovative and creative research that enables our audience to see the opportunities and obstacles offered by virtual worlds.

Authors are invited to submit original manuscripts that will make significant contributions to the advancement of our understanding of enterprise applications with virtual worlds (experiments, case studies, action research, design science, empirical investigation, comparative research, prototyping and experimental engineering emphasizing technical and methodological dimensions of virtual worlds). There are no preferred methodological stances for this special issue: it is open to qualitative and quantitative research, to research from a positivist, interpretivist, or critical perspective, to studies from the lab, from the field, or developmental in nature.

Themes and Topics of Relevance Include, but are not limited to:

– The impact of virtual world on organizational and business performance

– Success factors of virtual worlds applications

– Change management using virtual worlds

– Factors influencing virtual world adoption, adaptation, and diffusion in the field

– Introducing virtual world technologies and processes in organizations and cross organizational collaborations

– Facilitation, management and leadership styles in virtual worlds

– Skills, knowledge, and abilities to successfully work, play and learn in virtual worlds

– Creativity and innovation in virtual worlds

– Approaches and processes for repeatable tasks in virtual worlds

– Best practices, collaboration techniques, and pattern languages for virtual world processes

– Theories, guidelines and strategies for designing virtual world processes, technologies and systems

– Policies, risks and phenomena in virtual worlds

– Enhancing robustness, flexibility, and longevity of virtual world applications, processes, and technologies

– Modeling techniques and frameworks to support virtual world processes and applications

– Embedded technologies for virtual worlds

– Information access, processing, and dissemination in virtual worlds

– Collaboration and co-creation styles in virtual worlds

– Cultural perspectives on virtual worlds

– Approaches to training virtual world skills

– Serious games and Mobile learning applications

– Knowledge management through virtual worlds

– Knowledge transfer from virtual to real world

– Ethical issues surrounding virtual worlds

Submission Instructions

Authors are invited to submit original scholarly papers of up to 6000 words including footnotes, references, and appendices. Interested authors should submit a two-page extended abstract by the deadline indicated below. All submissions (abstracts and papers) should be made via the JVWR publishing system. All submissions will be reviewed in accordance with JVWR double-open policy. See details on the Journal’s site in About JVWR> For-Authors. Accepted papers will be published online in Volume 6, Number 3 (2013) of the Journal.

Deadlines and Timeline

Authors submit abstract: September 15, 2012

Editors return comments on abstracts: September 30, 2012

Authors submit full paper: March 1, 2013

Editors return review report and initial decision: May 1, 2013

Authors submit revised paper: June 1, 2013

Editors return final comments and decision: July 1, 2013

Authors submit final version: September 15, 2013

Publication: November 1, 2013

HICSS46 logo

Connection with HICSS 46: 7-10 January 2013, Grand Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

Interested authors are welcome but not required to submit papers to the  “Enterprises Welcome Virtual Worlds” minitrack at HICSS. This is a good opportunity to receive feedback and comments to enhance your paper. See original call here (PDF) or http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu.

Please Contact:

Imed Boughzala: imed.boughzala AT telecom-em.eu

Gert-Jan de Vreede: gdevreede AT mail.unomaha.edu

Moez Limayem: MLimayem AT walton.uark.edu

Visit us on Facebook – search the “Journal of Virtual Worlds Research”.

Past Issues

Assembled 2012

The JVWR, Volume 5, No. 1

Published: May 18, 2012

The editorial team for this issue:

David Kurt Herold, Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Shailey Minocha, Department of Computing, The Open University,UK

Natalia Rybas, Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University East, USA

Virtual worlds research, it appears from the papers in this issue, is still in its infancy. As these five papers highlight that role of virtual worlds in student experience, identity in virtual worlds, and use of virtual worlds by people with disabilities are some of the areas that require further investigation, experimentation, analysis, and discussion.

Original call: CfP: SLACTIONS 2011 & Assembled (2012)

Managing Editor Corner

Welcome to the First Issue of 2012

Yesha Y. Sivan

Issue Editors’ Corner

An Assembled Issue

David Kurt Herold, Shailey Minocha, Natalia Rybas 

Research Papers

Who is Portrayed in Second Life: Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? The Extent of Congruence Between Real Life and Virtual Identity

Bernadett Koles, Peter Nagy

Samarita Ibanez: An Identity Journey from First Life to Second

Samara Mamatovna Anarbaeva

Between Purpose and Method: A Review of Educational Research on 3D Virtual Worlds

Sahoon H. Kim, Jiyeon Lee Lee, Michael K. Thomas

Second Life and Academia – Reframing the Debate between Supporters and Critics

David Kurt Herold

How do People with Disability Use and Experience Virtual Worlds and ICT: A Literature Review

Karen Stendal

Assembled & General CfPs, CFPs

CFP: SLACTIONS 2011 & Assembled (2012)

CFP: SLACTIONS 2011 & A Special Assembled Issue

This special issue will attempt to move beyond a narrow focus on specific instances of using a virtual world (Second Life) to achieve measurable results to include questions about the general effect the engagement with the virtual metaverse has on human interactions.

A part of the special issue might be devoted to papers presented at SLACTIONS 2011 on November 18, 2011. The presenters were sent the following email:

I would like to invite you now to submit a revised version of your paper for possible inclusion in an issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://jvwresearch.org/). If you are interested, please consider the following points during your revision:
1. Broaden the scope of your paper
Most presentations at SLACTIONS 2011 had a very narrow and largely technical focus, without considering wider implications for virtual worlds, theorizing about them, or human engagement with virtual worlds. For publication in a journal, the narrow studies of the papers have to be embedded in the wider discourses. Questions to address include ‘Why was this study conducted?’ (‘We wanted to see whether …. was possible’ is NOT enough), what was the theoretical thinking behind the study, what implications do the outcomes have for human engagement with the metaverse?
2. Lengthen the paper substantially
The papers as they were submitted are far too short. For your re-submission you will need 5000-7500 words. Please follow the journal’s requirements:
– 5000-7500 words total
– APA Style (see http://www.docstyles.com/apacrib.htm or http://www.docstyles.com/archive/apacrib.pdf)
– Complete bibliography
– Abstract (no more than 300 words) and keywords (a minimum of 3)
– Peer review requires the cover page with name and affiliation of the author(s) and the paper be submitted as separate documents.
– Only .doc or .rtf formats.
– Single-spaced
3. Write for a general audience
Users of virtual worlds have a wide variety of backgrounds. They might be interested in the points you are making, but will NOT read your paper if it contains too much technical jargon or requires detailed knowledge of e.g. physics, programming, maths, etc. Please, bear this in mind.
4. Write for the journal
Please look at the past issues and published articles of the journal. To fit into the journal, you article should be similar in style. This does NOT mean that you should copy them, BUT your article should read ‘as if it belongs’ in the journal.
5. Submission does NOT equal publication
After you submit your paper, it will undergo a blind review process. Acceptance for publication will depend on this review process, and IS NOT AUTOMATIC.
 
DEADLINE for submission of your revised paper is Monday, January 16, 2012.  –  LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Please submit your revised paper to the Chair of the organizing committee for SLACTIONS 2011, David Herold (ssherold AT inet DOT polyu DOT edu DOT hk) as an email attachment.
I’m looking forward to reading your revised papers.
SLACTIONS2011-banner

Call For Papers – November 17-20 2011

SLACTIONS 2011 is an international conference held for the third time simultaneously online, and in countries around the world to engage in exchanges on the digital metaverse.

The conference focuses on the development of and human activities in the metaverse, and invites discussion of platforms as diverse as Second Life, OpenSim, World of Warcraft, Open Croquet,  Activeworlds, Sony Home, Habbo Hotel, IMVU, There, Project Wonderland, 3D web, etc., providing a forum for the user community to present and discuss innovative approaches, applications, techniques, processes, experiences and research results.

The introduction of Metaverse platforms into education, business, entertainment, etc. has come under intense scrutiny, and many articles and books have been published advocating their use. SLACTIONS 2011 is hoping to move beyond a focus on the introduction of Metaverse platforms, to a discussion of the integration and daily use of the Metaverse in offline activities, with particular regard to the effects this has on individual humans and their identity, agency, sense of community, integration into society, etc.

Scope

We are looking forward to presenting a program of presentations, videos, and posters based on the results of extensive and intensive research that conference participants can adapt to their own requirements and re-purpose for application in their own practice.

We are calling for paper and panel proposals from the full spectrum of intellectual disciplines and technological endeavours in which metaverse platforms are currently being used.

Topics covered may include but are not limited to:

– Accessibility in metaverse platforms
– Advanced scientific visualization in metaverse platforms
– Automatic content generation
– Behavioral studies in the metaverse
– Blended environments: Metaverse mixes, or the metaverse and offline society

– Combination of metaverse platforms with external systems (e-learning, ebusiness, etc.)
– Communicational paradigms in the metaverse
– Content management
– Course / materials management and the metaverses, e.g. MOODLE & SLOODLE
– Creativity, design, and arts on the metaverse
– Cultural and media study in the metaverses
– E-business and e-commerce applications
– Educational research, applications, and case studies
– Embodiment in metaverses and Gender Studies
– Formative and Summative assessment in the metaverses
– Game-based learning in the metaverse
– GIS/metaverse mash-ups
– Integration between metaverse platforms
– Language learning in the metaverses
– Machinima in the metaverse
– Nonprofit activities and fundraising
– Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies
– Social Sciences studies in or through metaverse platforms
– Space representation, use, and management in metaverses
– Using metaverse platforms for cooperation

Submissions

Authors are invited to submit an abstract of 500-600 words via the conference website (http://www.slactions.org/) including their name, contact address, and affiliation. Additionally, authors should include a note indicating what type of presentation they intend to give:

– A full paper presentation
– A shorter “work in progress” presentation

– A panel of 3-4 grouped papers (please provide a short abstract for EACH paper)
– A Poster presentation
– A Video
– A virtual workshop
 

All submissions will be subject to a double blind reviewing process. Authors of accepted abstracts are required to submit a full paper of up to 7,000 words, which will be made available to conference participants. Full papers should follow the publication guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA 6th).

Publication Venues

All accepted, full papers will be made available to registered conference participants. Journal and/or edited volume publication will be subject to an additional rigorous blind reviewing process. The Scientific Committee will invite authors of selected full papers to provide revised and expanded versions for publication in the special issues of affiliated journals* and/or (an) edited volume(s) published with an academic publisher*.

* Negotiations with selected journals and publishers are currently underway.

Please check http://www.slactions.org regularly for further information and developments.

CFPs, Topical Issues CfPs

CFP: MPEG-V and Other Standards

CFP: MPEG-V and Other Standards

Call for Papers on “Standards for Virtual Worlds” in The Journal of Virtual World Research

A special Issue edited by Jean H.A. Gelissen, Philips Research, Netherlands, Marius Preda, Institut TELECOM, France, Samuel Cruz-Lara, LORIA / INRIA Nancy Grand Est, France, Yesha Sivan, Metaverse Labs and the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, Israel.

The Journal of Virtual World Research http://www.jvwresearch.org/ is an online, open access academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect virtual worlds research. The field of virtual world research is a continuously evolving area of study that spans across many disciplines and the JVWR editorial team looks forward to engaging a wide range of creative and scholarly work.

While the notion of virtual worlds in an evolving concept, to provide a base to build upon, we consider virtual worlds to be computer-based simulated environment where users interact with other users through graphic or textual representations of themselves utilizing textual chat, voice, video or other forms of communication. The term virtual worlds includes, is similar to, or is synonymous to the terms of virtual reality, virtual space, data-scape, metaverse, virtual environment, massively multiplayer online games, collaborative virtual environments, and immersive virtual environments.

After several issues addressing the technological, societal and economic aspects of Virtual Worlds, JVWR is calling for contributions related to standards, “formalized by standardization bodies” or “de facto ones”, that have or may have an impact in the large deployment of VW services, applications and products. Recent examples are the MPEG-V standard (http://wg11.sc29.org/mpeg-v/), published by ISO in 2011 and addressing interoperability of virtual objects and avatars and Web3D technologies for Real-Time 3D Communication (http://www.web3d.org).

Authors are invited to submit their work, under the form of short paper for blind reviewed by the international Program Committee. The papers must be innovative, original, and contribute to the advancement of understanding virtual worlds related standard technologies. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • User Interfaces to access and manipulate objects in virtual worlds
  • Money and solutions for virtual trading with real economical impact
  • User Identity
  • Scalability with respect to the number of concomitant users and complexity of virtual worlds
  • Dependency
  • Communication protocols and interchange media formats
  • Cross-platform and multi-platform access to virtual worlds
  • Multilinguality and e-inclusion

Submission instructions

Authors are invited to submit papers of up to 5 pages in PDF format via the JVWR Submission Site. Upon acceptance, the final revised paper is required also in electronic form. Accepted papers will be published online in the Volume 4, Number 2 of the Journal.

Deadlines

  • 30 March: submission of one page abstract
  • 15 April: reviewers’ feedback on the abstract
  • 30 May: deadline for full paper
  • 15 June: reviewers’ decision and comments for accepted papers
  • 30 June: submission of final version
  • 15 July: publication