[Air-l] suggestions?

[Florence Chee]

Dear Charles,

You may be interested in an ebook chapter Richard Smith and I published a
year ago:

Chee, F., & Smith, R. (2005). Is electronic community an addictive
substance? An ethnographic offering from the EverQuest community. In S.
Schaffer & M. Price (Eds.), Interactive Convergence in Multimedia – Probing
the boundaries (Vol. 10): The Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Which can be found here on page 137 on the pdf:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/idp/eBooks/icindex.htm

There is a reasonable discussion talking about perceptions of addiction,
community (rather than technology) as the compelling element, and some
ethnographic study acting as a counterbalance to the apparent moral panic
surrounding the destructive 'addictive' nature of online games.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Florence

-- 
Florence Chee

PhD Candidate
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
Bloggings and bio @ Constructing Amusement: http://florencechee.blogspot.com


On 10/2/06, Charles Ess <cmess at drury.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi AoIRists,
>
> I've been asked by a local TV station to comment on a story they're doing
> titled "Techno Detox".  They have one volunteer (so far) to engage in the
> following:
>
> > We are looking for individuals who are "addicted" to technology (iPod,
> cell
> > phone, texting, email, facebook/myspace, etc)
> > We would like to have those individuals tell us why they love their
> gadgets
> > and then have them go cold turkey for a few days.  We'll check in to see
> how
> > they're doing and then wrap up at the end of the week as they are
> allowed to
> > once again use those coveted items.
> > Now, failure can also be part of the story.  We just want people who are
> > willing to give it an honest effort, and candidly tell us about their
> > experience.
>
> 1.  I know that someone(s) at AoIR in Brisbane mentioned a similar sort of
> process, but done (if memory serves - always a shaky assumption) as an
> academic study.  If anyone on the list who was also at AoIR in Brisbane
> can
> remember this conversation - can you please contact me offlist with the
> details of the study?
>
> 2.  I have a number of qualms about participating in the story as a local
> "expert" - but hope that by doing so I might be able to defuse some of the
> prevailing dichotomies that seem to shape reporting on media (beginning,
> in
> this instance, by using the disease model of addiction as the primary
> frame).  Stated another way, I'm hoping to provide more informed and
> nuanced
> commentary that would help both the reporter and the audience move away
> from
> these sorts of notions of technology (good or bad? cure or disease?
> blessing
> or curse, etc.) - notions that fuel the sorts of "moral panic" reporting
> on
> new media (currently, e.g., connections between violent video games and
> recent episodes of violence in schools, etc.)
>
> So ... does anyone have good research relevant to these concerns and the
> phenomena in question that you would recommend as useful background
> reading
> as I prepare for the interview?
>
> Many thanks in advance -
> charles
>
>
> Distinguished Research Professor,
> Interdisciplinary Studies <http://www.drury.edu/gp21>
> Drury University
> 900 N. Benton Ave.              Voice: 417-873-7230
> Springfield, MO  65802  USA       FAX: 417-873-7435
> Home page:  http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html
>
> Information Ethics Fellow, 2006-07, Center for Information Policy
> Research,
> School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee
> Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org>
> Vice-President, Association of Internet Researchers <www.aoir.org>
> Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes
> <http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php>
>
> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23
>
>
>
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