When a virtual journalist for a virtual newspaper reporting on the digital world of an online game lands on the real-world front page of the New York Times,it just might signal the dawn of a new era. Virtual journalist Peter Ludlow was banned from The Sims Onlinefor being a bit too good at his job--for reporting in his virtual tabloid The Alphaville Heraldon the cyber-brothels, crimes, and strong-arm tactics that had become rife in the game--and when the Times,the BBC, CNN, and other media outlets covered the story, users all over the Internet called the banning censorship. Seeking a new virtual home, Ludlow moved the Heraldto another virtual world--the powerful online environment of Second Life--just as it was about to explode onto the international mediascape and usher in the next iteration of the Internet. In The Second Life Herald,Ludlow and his colleague Mark Wallace take us behind the scenes of the Heraldas they report on the emergence of a fascinating universe of virtual spaces that will become the next generation of the World Wide Web: a 3-D environment that provides richer, more expressive interactions than the Web we know today. In 1992, science fiction writer Neal Stephenson imagined the "Metaverse," a virtual space that we would enter via the Internet and in which we would conduct important parts of our daily lives. According to Ludlow and Wallace, that future is coming sooner than we may think. They chronicle its chaotic, exhilarating, frightening birth, including the issue that the mainstream media often ignore: conflicts across the client-server divide over who should write the laws governing virtual worlds.

This text on Second Life, the virtual world with more than 240,000 residents, will help all residents fully enjoy the metaverse. The guide explores every aspect of this multilayered world, including scripting, building objects, buying and selling items, and socializing.

Cyber Zen ethnographically explores Buddhist practices in the online virtual world of Second Life. Does typing at a keyboard and moving avatars around the screen, however, count as real Buddhism? If authentic practices must mimic the actual world, then Second Life Buddhism does not. In fact, a critical investigation reveals that online Buddhist practices have at best only a family resemblance to canonical Asian traditions and owe much of their methods to the late twentieth-century field of cybernetics. If, however, they are judged existentially, by how they enable users to respond to the suffering generated by living in a highly mediated consumer society, then Second Life Buddhism consists of authentic spiritual practices. Cyber Zen explores how Second Life Buddhist enthusiasts form communities, identities, locations, and practices that are both products of and authentic responses to contemporary Network Consumer Society. Gregory Price Grieve illustrates that to some extent all religion has always been virtual and gives a glimpse of possible future alternative forms of religion.

This collection of new essays explores issues of identity, work and play in the virtual world of Second Life (SL). Fourteen women discuss their experiences. Topics include teaching in Second Life, becoming an SL journalist, and using SL as a means to bring human rights to health care; exploring issues of identity and gender such as performing the role of digital geisha, playing with gender crossing, or determining how identity is formed virtually; examining how race is perceived; and investigating creativity such as poetry writing or quilting. The text is unique in that it represents only women and their experiences in a world that is most often viewed as a man's world.

Imagine an enormous, breathtaking virtual world to explore, where land can be bought for less than a dollar and new construction is limited only by your imagination. An online tourist destination where you can shop for virtual designer clothes in a shopping mall atop a live volcano, teleport to an underwater gig by U2, before taking a new friend back to your personal spaceship for virtual coffee or...well, you get the idea. The Unofficial Tourists' Guide to Second Life is a fast, fun guidebook that introduces first-time visitors to the endless wonders offered by this exciting and rapidly developing online world. All of Second Life is here, including: - The Essentials. What to wear and how to behave. - The People. Finding likeminded souls-or soulmates. - The Major Destinations. Must-see tourist hotspots, shops, and shows. - Shopping and Nightlife

Virtual worlds are most often three dimensional locales, where people create virtual personae (called avatars) who come to play, socialize, and work. This edited collection of groundbreaking research on virtual worlds offers a wide-ranging look at the sociology, politics, and communication practices in virtual worlds from a group of scholars in the United States and abroad.

Addresses current issues of research into socio-technical systems (STSs). Provides suggestions on how social knowledge can synergize with technical knowledge.

If you are one of the many who have read about and heard about virtual worlds but do not really understand what a virtual world is, or even how to use appropriate terminology when discussing them, then this is the book for you."--Jacket.

This book provides research assistance for 99 current and provocative issues students can use to write a brief argumentative paper. In 2030, it is projected that 65 percent of the population will be over 65. The U.S. Government Census Bureau reveals that over an adult's working life, college graduates typically earn close to $1 million more than high school graduates. About 43 percent of American families spend more than they earn each year. These three factoids represent a tiny fraction of the potential research subjects contained in 99 Jumpstarts to Research: Topic Guides for Finding Information on Current Issues, Second Edition, a completely revised follow-up to the original edition. Every jumpstart—each focused upon a current, timely issue—contains ideas for narrowing the topic, research keywords, suggested best books and databases, and Internet sites. This book supports both faculty and students in identifying compelling topics, effectively evaluating and selecting resources in today's information-overload world, and deriving enjoyment from the research and writing process.

The present book has been brought into being in view of incessant demand pertaining to the subject Journalism, inherently requires that stories be told in-depth. Many newspapers have cut out long articles even before the Internet. They have followed the example set by television news. They have been hit by the rising price of newsprint, and the renewed emphasis on cost cutting. They are convinced that readers are pressed for time, impatient with detail, and conditioned to ingest the news in pellet-like form. The bulk of broadcast news is reporting in the sense that is used is different rather than journalism. It is epitomized by the two-minute wire service radio bulletin on the hour already a fast disappearing format. In this incisive and well-presented work, the book has synthesized the findings to lay down principles of sound journalism for both those in the industry and the citizens, who rely on the free press as a fundamental element of democracy. First and foremost among these principles is journalism's obligation to the truth. It will immensely benefit students, teachers, mass communicators, theoreticians and practitioners alike. Something usable today, a ready reckoner for years to come and a collector's item for all times. A must read endurable and preservable