Dr. Jimmie Ivory in Communications here on campus has been working extremely hard to initiate a gamer/virtual worlds colloquium series on campus. His hard work has paid off as the first speak in the series will be Dr. Dmitri Williams from the Annenberg School at USC. More on his talk follows:

2009 VT G.A.M.E.R. Lab Virtual Guest Scholar
(via videoconference)

Dr. Dmitri Williams
Annenberg School for Communication,
University of Southern California

“The mapping principle and other oddities:
Recent findings from the Virtual Worlds Exploratorium”

Thursday, 26 February 2009
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.    
123A Burruss Hall

• Open to all Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students.
• Scholar’s presentation will be followed by Q&A and discussion.

Dmitri Williams is an Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School for
Communication at the University of Southern California. His research
interests lie in the social impacts of newcommunication technologies and
online communities, with a special interest in games and virtual worlds.

More on the series and upcoming talks can be found on the series flyer.

A new book has been released by MIT Press, Digital Culture, Play, and Identity A World of Warcraft Reader. I’m looking forward to getting a copy of this for two reasons. First, I’ve struggled with the balance of being a researcher and a gamer. Up until now, I’ve been unable to legitimate extensive game play as part of my agenda. With the introduction of this text, it should be easier to do so. Second, the notion of spending extensive time in WoW has been daunting, again, as I try to justify it as part of my responsibilities as a scholar. As with writing this blog, it has been a cautious effort, making sure that other responsibilities do not get delayed or sidelined in favor if this yet to be sanctioned activity.