Distributing to every Internet researcher at Åbo Akademi. Feel free to forward.

Dear colleagues,

Many of us are doing Internet research, but few of us know about each other. To correct this I’m organizing a networking meeting for every researcher and PhD student conducting Internet research at Åbo Akademi, and of course anyone interested in Internet research are welcome to join us. The meeting will take place on April 24th at 2pm in ASA C122 (Lilla Auditoriet).

The goal with this meeting is to network and to learn more about each other and the research we are doing. A long term goal is to increase collaboration between the Internet researchers at Åbo Akademi, and perhaps even organize joint methods seminars and workshops in the future. A second goal for the meeting is to discuss how we should continue from here.

It will be an informal event with free coffee/tea and cake (thanks to prorector Malin Brännback) with Pecha Kucha style presentations by all attendees and with plenty of time for networking. Please prepare two PowerPoint slides for the presentation, one with your contact details and one about your research. Send the slides to me and I’ll put them all together into a single presentation.

Please register by sending an email to kim.holmberg [at] abo.fi on April 19th at latest (so that I know how much cake to get). Please mention any dietary restrictions.

Hope to see you all on the 24th of April.

With kindest regards,

Kim Holmberg

PS. If you can’t come to the meeting this time, but would like to keep posted about possible future events then please let me know.

The 4^th annual workshop on Learning and Research  in Second Life aims to improve the understanding of Second Life as a Learning and Research environment by inviting researchers and educators to share experiences, discuss and develop research and education in and about Second Life and virtual worlds. This year the workshop invites discussion on the aspects of the main conference topics of sustainability, participation and action in addition to other current issues of research and education in Second Life. The workshop will consist of networking, group work and short keynote presentations.

ORGANIZERS

• Kim Holmberg (Åbo Akademi University, Finland) Ph.D. (Kim Zwiers in SL)
• Isto Huvila (Uppsala University, Sweden and AVO-project at Åbo Akademi University, Finland) Ph.D. (Ab Marvin in SL)
• Professor Terry Beaubois (Montana State University, US) Director, Creative Research Lab (Tab Scott in SL)

FEES & LOGISTICS

• Date: Wednesday, October 20, 2010.
• Time: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Location: Chalmers student union building, room TBA and in Second Life.
• Fee: 330 SEK (~35 EUR) for onsite participation.
• Lunch and coffee included.

SUBMISSION & PARTICIPATION

To apply to the workshop, you are expected to send your CV and a short Letter of interest (1 page) describing your interest and experience in Second Life and virtual worlds, and topic(s) and/or questions you would especially like to discuss during the workshop. Indicate clearly in your application whether you intend to participate in Gothenburg or via Second Life. Submissions are open from this date onwards and should be sent as soon as possible by email to isto.huvila(a)abm.uu.se.  Invitations will be sent to selected applicants starting from 15 August, 2010. The final deadline for applications is September 15, 2010 or when 35 invitations have been sent.

Applicants from organizations that require an accepted refereed paper to participate in the workshop, may submit a full paper that will be formally peer-reviewed on request.

Submissions are encouraged from professionals, faculty and graduates.

CONTACT

Isto Huvila, isto.huvila(a)abm.uu.se  or by IM (Ab Marvin) in SL.

Some time ago I was invited to a Virtual Worlds -workshop in Denmark, to which I in fact attended a couple of weeks ago. The workshop was organized by the Virtual Worlds research group at Roskilde University (http://worlds.ruc.dk/) and the workshop gathered experts on virtual worlds from all over the world. It was a very productive and interesting workshop. Great opportunity for meeting old friends, networking and meeting others interested in virtual worlds. There were also some very interesting keynotes (that are available at http://nordicworlds.net/?p=437).

What was interesting and almost surprising was to realize how much is being done in Scandinavia. A lot of interesting research projects are being done or are about to start in especially Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The problem (as often with research in general) is that we really don’t know what the others are doing. We should have more collaboration and joined meetings to discuss research and to get to know each other.

This problem, or this challenge, led to the idea that we should and we will organize meetings in world and take turns in organizing. The first meeting will be organized by myself on EduFinland islands at the end of summer. The goal is to gather researchers from Scandinavia to meet, network and learn more about what we all are doing. More information about the meeting will be posted here and on http://edufinland.fi in good time before the meeting.

Huvila, I., Holmberg, K., Ek, S. & Widén-Wulff, G. (2010). Social capital in Second Life. Online Information Review, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 295-316 (full text).