Katie, Hiya. I spent 6 years working with nonprofit and other communities within Second Life and met a few different people along the way who worked on things related to these topics. Some of them may even be on this list... A few people who come to mind who either know about this or who might know of resources/contacts you may want to reach out to: - Susan Tenby <http://susantenby.com/> (aka Glitteractica Cookie in SL) - works with Tech Soup to organize nonprofits, more info here: http://www.techsoup.org/community/secondlife/index.cfm - she might know of nonprofits in the deaf communities inworld. - <http://www.techsoup.org/community/secondlife/index.cfm>Joe Essid (aka Ignatius Onomatopoeia in SL) - professor who had his writing students work on "Second Life and Race" http://slbeat.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/slbeat/skin08/, might have info on "passing" and discrimination more broadly - Dr. Robert Vernon <http://home.comcast.net/~dbsocialwork/> (aka Gabrielli Rossinit in SL) - runs Cape Able, sim that supports the deaf and hard of hearing communities inworld. Contains private residences, art gallery, social services resources, etc. Part of the Virtual Ability<http://virtualability.org/>project. SLurl <http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cape%20Able/135/176/> to Cape Able. Good luck and let me know if I can do any intros. My avatar name in SL is the same as my RL name: Jeska Dzwigalski, drop me a note! Cheers, Jeska On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 4:00 AM, katie vizenor <kvizenor@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi!

I am a PhD Student in Anthropology at University at Buffalo and will soon put together my advanced exams and topical defense.

My plan is to study Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community in VWs. My primary site will be Second Life, but I may look at World of Warcraft as a comparison site at some point.

My Question and Request: Could anyone recommend articles or other materials related to this topic?

My particular areas of interest/concern are:

Community formation and maintenance (particularly through the creation and design of space and objects) Relationship to other disability/impairment groups and broader "Disability" groups "Passing" in game play Discrimination Activism, Protest and Resistance

Thank you so much for any and all help. I always find the conversation and advice here immensely helpful!

All my best,

Katie Vizenor, MA, MLS PhD Student, Anthropology University at Buffalo _______________________________________________ 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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