19th
inworld discussion of the book “Coming of Age in SecondLife”
Steelhead Public Library Book Discussion - Coming of Age in SecondLife
Sunday August 24, 2pm
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Anteater%20Island/71/108/24
The Steelhead Public Library is proud to sponsor an inworld discussion of the book “Coming of Age in SecondLife” by Tom Boellstorff.
Mr Boellstorff has (sl name Tom Bukowski) been on SL since 2004. In real life, he is a professor of anthropology at the University of California Irvine. This book is an ethnographic study of SecondLife and looks at SL from the standpoint of a cutlural anthropologist.
The author draws heavily upon his knowledge about ethnographic traditions and his previous fieldwork in Indonesia, in order to place his fieldwork in SL into perspective. He does a good job of describing how his study was conducted and the ethical principles he employed while doing it.
“It was a joy to read a book about SecondLife where I kept nodding my head instead of gnashing my teeth. The chapters describing SL activities and social conventions rang true to me and focused on the things I love about SL - it’s culture of community, sharing, and friendship. The author obviously knows SL well and loves being here.”
Riven Homewood
Director, Steelhead Public Library
This event is open to anyone with a serious interest in how we live on SecondLife and the ways in which academics are studying us. The discussion will be held in the American Anthropologist Virtual Auditorium on Anteater Island.
Tom will use voice for the talk and text for q&a.
It is not necessary to have read the book in order to participate, but book’s first chapter is available online at the Princeton University Press website at
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8647.html for those who would like
to read it.
