Massive investigation about spatial behaviors and practices of avatars in virtual worlds

[Gehan Kamachi]

My name is Jean-François Lucas and I am a French Phd candidate in sociology at the University of Rennes, France. Now, I am a Visiting Graduate at the University of San Diego, California, USA. I do a Phd about “the city and virtual worlds” (http://www.gehan-kamachi.net)

 

I launch a massive investigation about spatial behaviors and practices of avatars in Second Life and Open Sim : http://research-sl.blogspot.com

 

This study has 2 major steps for now :

• A very short questionnaire about practices of individuals in virtual worlds. This questionnaire is anonymous and you need less one minute to fill it : http://bit.ly/kBDLOW

• The "Magic Ring" Project. The goal of this investigation is to analyze « trajectories » of avatars in Second Life and OpenSim to highlight different styles of spatial experiences and behaviors. Each avatar can wear an object like a tracker but it's a massive investigation and it's anonymous. For now, I have less 400 000 results. So, my goal is to compare trajectories of many avatars, not to “track” each avatar. More information :

  - about the project : http://bit.ly/mdsNRl

  - about privacy : http://bit.ly/kPery4

 

Thank you for participating in this study.

You can contact me for any questions you may have.

Best,

 

Jean-François / aka Gehan Kamachi

[Sabine Reljic / Willow Shenlin]

 

How interesting! How far along are you? Do you need more participants? If you are interested, I would be happy to offer you the forum provided by ARVEL SIG Inworld Discussion. This series meets twice a month on Wednesdays at 1pm SLT/PST. This one-hour roundtable format can help you discuss questions and or issues you are encountering in your research. The audience is generally composed of academic researchers as well as instructors interested in what advancements are being executed in virtual environments.

How long do you estimate a participant would spend on each step of your study?

I can help you  promote your research and or a call for participants by forwarding your message oabe to other listserves. Let me know.

Sincerely

S.

ARVEL SIG Communication Chair