My Paper on Inclusion in Synthetic Worlds Accepted For 2008: ICTs for Social Inclusion: What is the Reality?

My abstract for the Prato 2008: ICTs for Social Inclusion: What is the Reality? has been accepted - so I'm trying to get everything together to head to Prato, Italy for October 27th through 31st. I'm hoping I can spend a little extra time exploring Europe, but that has a lot to do with finances and scheduling - both of which are on an upswing but are a bit unpredictable at this point.

My paper, Inclusion in Synthetic Worlds, will deal with inclusion issues in (you guessed it) synthetic/virtual worlds that affect participation and determine how the worlds themselves are used. The abstract, which was accepted:

Synthetic worlds, popularly known as virtual worlds, are 4 dimensional worlds that are extensions of the internet. As with the internet, a variety of people participate from around the world interact and even transact business through these worlds. It seems intuitive that if synthetic worlds are not the future of internet usage, the role that they will play is going to be large enough to have an impact.

From an economic perspective, synthetic worlds as an extension of the internet present a unique opportunity for those who can create goods that fall under copyright law, as in the case of Second Life (tm).

Not everyone can access virtual worlds at a technological level. There are hardware requirements, internet access and even computer literacy in the context of synthetic worlds that need to be addressed.

From a cultural perspective, synthetic worlds can offer a true melting pot - but can also magnify biases and outright prejudices against people of varying skin color (avatars), presentation of an avatar, language, religion and other factors.

Internet governance issues will also play a large part in this.

A part of the future of technology revolves around the communities and societies that develop the technologies. As an increasing number of people around the world gain access to broadband, it is logical that the increase would be reflected in synthetic world usage. How this shifts the use of synthetic worlds will also shift how the technology for these worlds are developed - impacting economies, cultures and technological subcultures, as well as real economies.

The premise of the paper, therefore, is to collect and present as much information as possible, as well as capture real incidents that have occurred in these worlds. Such a capture will allow derivative works to happen, and most importantly, may attune more people to the environment in which many people will not only play in, but conduct business in as well.

You'll note that I am mentioned synthetic worlds are 4 dimensional instead of the popular use of 3 dimensional. This is because time is a dimension that is often overlooked.

I am presently accepting anecdotal evidence of inclusion issues within these worlds, as well as outside of them. While Second Life® may well be the focus due to the issues of copyright and trademark law, it is not the sole synthetic world that will be mentioned.

If you have anecdotes you wish to include, feel free to email them directly to me at cnd_AT_knowprose.com (remove _AT_ and use @ instead), and let me know if you wish to remain anonymous or not.