archiving virtual worlds for social science research
How would an organization like webarchive.org or someone archive all of Second Life, in the aggregate in real time, as well as the rest of the virtual worlds. Might one be able to create a record of all emerging virtual worlds from day 1? Is there a way to retrieve an online SL conversation with actions from years ago? Some virtual world web-page centric archives exist, but do other kinds of archives exist? Scott -- http://scottmacleod.com This email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of this email message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and destroy/delete all copies of the transmittal. Thank you.
On Aug 29, 2007, at 9:44 AM, Scott MacLeod wrote:
How would an organization like webarchive.org or someone archive all of Second Life, in the aggregate in real time, as well as the rest of the virtual worlds.
well in sl... you would have to just have the complete object database with all object properties, the scripts, etc. the movement database and the conversation/avatar dbs. from there you could likely recreate a live archive... but really, do you really want to do that? and what makes you think it should be done?
Might one be able to create a record of all emerging virtual worlds from day 1?
nope, much is lost.
Is there a way to retrieve an online SL conversation with actions from years ago?
no, not unless someone saved it in logs
Some virtual world web-page centric archives exist, but do other kinds of archives exist?
i am unaware of them. there are a few projects to preserve some thing... however.. i do not know of any large project.
Thanks. The value of archiving this development of 'real' virtuality and virtual worlds is very high, I think. I compare this time in the information technology revolution, of which virtual worlds are a very fascinating aspect, to the cultural, artistic, and intellectual flourishings that occurred in ancient Greece, where now only about 3% of texts, etc. remain from that time. Many people in the future may well try to reconstruct any elisions in data from the early development of virtual worlds to understand this amazing developments. So the more successful we are at preserving the beginnings of information technology (thank you, Brewster Kahle - http://www.c-span.org/congress/digitalfuture.asp - see Monday, December 13, 2004, for example), the more we will be able to learn about how cultural innovation and change work. How to virtualize the idea of the library? Does anyone know how the internet archive - http://www.archive.org/index.php - is approaching these questions? Scott On 8/29/07, Jeremy Hunsinger <jhuns@vt.edu> wrote:
On Aug 29, 2007, at 9:44 AM, Scott MacLeod wrote:
How would an organization like webarchive.org or someone archive all of Second Life, in the aggregate in real time, as well as the rest of the virtual worlds.
well in sl... you would have to just have the complete object database with all object properties, the scripts, etc. the movement database and the conversation/avatar dbs. from there you could likely recreate a live archive...
but really, do you really want to do that? and what makes you think it should be done?
Might one be able to create a record of all emerging virtual worlds from day 1?
nope, much is lost.
Is there a way to retrieve an online SL conversation with actions from years ago?
no, not unless someone saved it in logs
Some virtual world web-page centric archives exist, but do other kinds of archives exist?
i am unaware of them. there are a few projects to preserve some thing... however.. i do not know of any large project.
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On Aug 29, 2007, at 11:12 AM, Scott MacLeod wrote:
Thanks.
The value of archiving this development of 'real' virtuality and virtual worlds is very high, I think. I
what do you mean by value here? and how do you measure that on a scale that would relate to high and low? for instance... when i was a kid and really bored... i would pursue the art of penny stacking... and building penny bridges... i would claim that to archive those, one only needs to take a picture... but as the materiality of the object is replicable by anyone with enough pennies and enough intuition about weight, even the pictures can be valueless ephemera. how are virtual worlds different from penny stacking?
compare this time in the information technology revolution, of which virtual worlds are a very fascinating aspect, to the cultural, artistic, and intellectual flourishings that occurred in ancient Greece, where now only about 3% of texts, etc. remain from that time. Many people in the future may well try to reconstruct any elisions in data from the early development of virtual worlds to understand this amazing developments.
but you see... the scholarship is in the puzzle, the translation, and the inferences. if we had complete records from greece and a total picture of it... would there be any scholarship?
So the more successful we are at preserving the beginnings of information technology (thank you, Brewster Kahle - http://www.c-span.org/congress/digitalfuture.asp - see Monday, December 13, 2004, for example), the more we will be able to learn about how cultural innovation and change work.
Really? and how might that inference be constructed? I've been reading literature in that field for ages, and while you often find solid scholarship that maps an example well, the competing theories generally are not read through all examples, and thus we don't, and likely won't ever make a theory of how they work. What we tend to have is a theory of how they might work in a highly situated context if we examine the parts in just the right way. The question then becomes if we have all these things changing that add up to something modelable in society, are we talking about culture anymore?
How to virtualize the idea of the library? Does anyone know how the internet archive - http://www.archive.org/index.php - is approaching these questions?
hmm, i don't think it is. i think the ELO is.
Scott
On 8/29/07, Jeremy Hunsinger <jhuns@vt.edu> wrote:
On Aug 29, 2007, at 9:44 AM, Scott MacLeod wrote:
How would an organization like webarchive.org or someone archive all of Second Life, in the aggregate in real time, as well as the rest of the virtual worlds.
well in sl... you would have to just have the complete object database with all object properties, the scripts, etc. the movement database and the conversation/avatar dbs. from there you could likely recreate a live archive...
but really, do you really want to do that? and what makes you think it should be done?
Might one be able to create a record of all emerging virtual worlds from day 1?
nope, much is lost.
Is there a way to retrieve an online SL conversation with actions from years ago?
no, not unless someone saved it in logs
Some virtual world web-page centric archives exist, but do other kinds of archives exist?
i am unaware of them. there are a few projects to preserve some thing... however.. i do not know of any large project.
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jeremy hunsinger Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series
I do not know how one should go about "properly" archiving the interwebthingie. but I do know that the Library of Congress is very interested in trying . . . that they've had a task group looking at the issue (along with a GOB of other new media-related questions) for about 3 years now . . . They are tasked with the virtually impossible job of archiving as much published stuff as they can. As one can imagine, a MAJOR stumbling block with the interwebthingie and the LoC are the IP rights associated with copying published stuff. And when I was there last March they weren't even talking about virtual worlds . . . On Aug 29, 2007, at 9:44 AM, Scott MacLeod wrote:
How would an organization like webarchive.org or someone archive all of Second Life, in the aggregate in real time, as well as the rest of the virtual worlds. Might one be able to create a record of all emerging virtual worlds from day 1? Is there a way to retrieve an online SL conversation with actions from years ago? Some virtual world web-page centric archives exist, but do other kinds of archives exist?
Scott
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This email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of this email message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and destroy/delete all copies of the transmittal. Thank you. _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D. Associate Professor, Multimedia Program and Department of Communication Co-Director, New Media Center 1501 W. Bradley Bradley University Peoria IL 61625 309-677-2378 <http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/index.html> <http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/> AIM/IM & skype: dredleelam Second Life: Professor Beliveau
participants (3)
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Ed Lamoureux -
Jeremy Hunsinger -
Scott MacLeod