Download or read book Virtual Society written by Herman Narula and published by Currency. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating, provocative case that the metaverse will not merely transform our virtual experience—it may actually enrich the quality of our lives” (Adam Grant)—from the visionary co-founder of one of today’s most innovative technology companies “This important book offers a highly persuasive argument that the metaverse, a new kind of virtual world, marks a profound next stage in this long human quest for fulfillment through creation.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED The concept of “the metaverse” has exploded in the public consciousness, but its contours remain elusive. Is it merely an immersive virtual reality playground, one that Facebook and other platforms will angle to control? Is it simply the next generation of massive multiplayer online games? Or is it something more revolutionary? As pioneering technologist Herman Narula shows, the metaverse is the latest manifestation of an ancient human tendency: the act of worldbuilding. From the Egyptians, whose conception of death inspired them to build the pyramids, to modern-day sports fans, whose passion for a game inspires extreme behavior, humans have long sought to supplement their day-to-day lives with a rich diversity of alternative experiences. Rooting his vision in history and psychology, Narula argues that humans’ intrinsic need for autonomy, accomplishment, and connection can best be met in virtual “worlds of ideas,” where users have the chance to create and exchange meaning and value. The metaverse is both the growing set of fulfilling digital experiences—ranging from advanced gaming to concerts and other entertainment events and even to virtual employment—and the empowering framework that allows these spaces to become “networks of useful meaning.” Bloomberg Intelligence recently predicted that the metaverse will become an $800 billon industry by 2024. But its implications, argues Narula, will lead to far more awe-inspiring possibilities than a spigot of cash. The arrival of the metaverse marks the beginning of a new age of exploration—not outward, but inward—with the potential to reshape society and open the door to a new understanding of the human species and its capabilities. Rigorously researched and passionately argued, Virtual Society is a provocative and essential guide for anyone who wants to go beyond superficial headlines to understand the true contours and potential of our virtual future.
Download or read book Virtual Society written by Herman Narula and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2022-10-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating, provocative case that the metaverse will not merely transform our virtual experience—it may actually enrich the quality of our lives” (Adam Grant)—from the visionary co-founder of one of today’s most innovative technology companies “This important book offers a highly persuasive argument that the metaverse, a new kind of virtual world, marks a profound next stage in this long human quest for fulfillment through creation.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED The concept of “the metaverse” has exploded in the public consciousness, but its contours remain elusive. Is it merely an immersive virtual reality playground, one that Facebook and other platforms will angle to control? Is it simply the next generation of massive multiplayer online games? Or is it something more revolutionary? As pioneering technologist Herman Narula shows, the metaverse is the latest manifestation of an ancient human tendency: the act of worldbuilding. From the Egyptians, whose conception of death inspired them to build the pyramids, to modern-day sports fans, whose passion for a game inspires extreme behavior, humans have long sought to supplement their day-to-day lives with a rich diversity of alternative experiences. Rooting his vision in history and psychology, Narula argues that humans’ intrinsic need for autonomy, accomplishment, and connection can best be met in virtual “worlds of ideas,” where users have the chance to create and exchange meaning and value. The metaverse is both the growing set of fulfilling digital experiences—ranging from advanced gaming to concerts and other entertainment events and even to virtual employment—and the empowering framework that allows these spaces to become “networks of useful meaning.” Bloomberg Intelligence recently predicted that the metaverse will become an $800 billon industry by 2024. But its implications, argues Narula, will lead to far more awe-inspiring possibilities than a spigot of cash. The arrival of the metaverse marks the beginning of a new age of exploration—not outward, but inward—with the potential to reshape society and open the door to a new understanding of the human species and its capabilities. Rigorously researched and passionately argued, Virtual Society is a provocative and essential guide for anyone who wants to go beyond superficial headlines to understand the true contours and potential of our virtual future.
Download or read book Virtual Society written by Steve Woolgar and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002-09-26 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost all aspects of social, cultural, economic and political life stand to be affected by the new electronic technologies. Virtual Society? is one vision of the consequential impact of these technologies. But to what extent and in what ways are the Internet and other electronic technologies really changing our lives? To what extent are we moving to a 'virtual society'? This collection provides a comprehensive set of detailed empirical studies of the genesis and use of these new technologies, ranging widely across application areas: from cyber-cafés to new media; email and organizational memory: to surveillance-capable technologies in the workplace; virtual reality to CCTV in high-rise housing; stock exchange addicts to student study networks. It offers a unique perspective - analytic scepticism - for making sense of some surprisingly counterintuitive results, and for developing a refreshingly critical view of many taken-for-granted assumptions about the impact of the Internet on social relations and institutions. Each chapter presents a high quality exemplar of its own disciplinary perspective, addressed to a general social science audience. The diversity of disciplinary perspectives is brought to bear in a central message laid out in the opening discussion of the 'Five Rules of Virtuality', that with due reflexive caution and ironic sensitivity, general messages can be drawn from the observations of particular substantive contexts. In particular, claims that we are moving to a 'virtual society' need to be tempered by a reassessment of connections between what counts as 'real' and 'virtual'. This book will appeal to students and researchers in a very wide range of disciplines, both within and beyond the social sciences and management, and to all practitioners struggling with the realities of the new virtual technologies
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities and Technologies written by Dasgupta, Subhasish and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2005-10-31 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This encyclopedia of virtual communities and technologies provides a much needed integrated overview of all the critical concepts, technologies and issues in the area of virtual communities"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World written by Deanna A. Thompson and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a wired world where 24/7 digital connectivity is increasingly the norm. Christian megachurch communities often embrace this reality wholeheartedly while more traditional churches often seem hesitant and overwhelmed by the need for an interactive website, a Facebook page and a twitter feed. This book accepts digital connectivity as our reality, but presents a vision of how faith communities can utilize technology to better be the body of Christ to those who are hurting while also helping followers of Christ think critically about the limits of our digital attachments. This book begins with a conversion story of a non-cell phone owning, non-Facebook using religion professor judgmental of the ability of digital tools to enhance relationships. A stage IV cancer diagnosis later, in the midst of being held up by virtual communities of support, a conversion occurs: this religion professor benefits in embodied ways from virtual sources and wants to convert others to the reality that the body of Christ can and does exist virtually and makes embodied difference in the lives of those who are hurting. The book neither uncritically embraces nor rejects the constant digital connectivity present in our lives. Rather it calls on the church to a) recognize ways in which digital social networks already enact the virtual body of Christ; b) tap into and expand how Christ is being experienced virtually; c) embrace thoughtfully the material effects of our new augmented reality, and c) influence utilization of technology that minimizes distraction and maximizes attentiveness toward God and the world God loves.
Download or read book Virtual Society written by Steve Woolgar and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work investigates the precise effects on society of the new and much vaunted electronic technologies (ICTs). Are fundamental shifts already taking place in the way in which we behave, organize, and interact as a direct result of their implementation? Providing a comprehensive set of detailed empirical studies of the genesis and use of these new technologies, the book also presents some surprising counterintuitive results.
Download or read book Exodus to the Virtual World written by Edward Castronova and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2007-11-27 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtual worlds have exploded out of online game culture and now capture the attention of millions of ordinary people: husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, workers, retirees. Devoting dozens of hours each week to massively multiplayer virtual reality environments (like World of Warcraft and Second Life), these millions are the start of an exodus into the refuge of fantasy, where they experience life under a new social, political, and economic order built around fun. Given the choice between a fantasy world and the real world, how many of us would choose reality? Exodus to the Virtual World explains the growing migration into virtual reality, and how it will change the way we live--both in fantasy worlds and in the real one.
Download or read book Our Virtual World The Transformation of Work Play and Life via Technology written by Chidambaram, Laku and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2000-07-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today's new technologies are dramatically changing the way we work, play and live. Our Virtual World: The Transformation of Work, Play and Life via Technology investigates the ubiquity of the virtual environment and our evolving interactions in this changed context.
Download or read book Trust and Deception in Virtual Societies written by Cristiano Castelfranchi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the major problems in the development of virtual societies, in particular in electronic commerce and computer-mediated interactions in organizations, is trust and deception. This book provides analyses by various researchers of the different types of trust that are needed for various tasks, such as facilitating on-line collaboration, building virtual communities and network organizations, and even the design of effective and user-friendly human-computer interfaces. The book has a multi-disciplinary character providing theoretical models of trust and deception, empirical studies, and practical solutions for creating trust in electronic commerce and multi-agent systems.
Download or read book The Virtual Community revised edition written by Howard Rheingold and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000-10-23 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Howard Rheingold tours the "virtual community" of online networking. Howard Rheingold has been called the First Citizen of the Internet. In this book he tours the "virtual community" of online networking. He describes a community that is as real and as much a mixed bag as any physical community—one where people talk, argue, seek information, organize politically, fall in love, and dupe others. At the same time that he tells moving stories about people who have received online emotional support during devastating illnesses, he acknowledges a darker side to people's behavior in cyberspace. Indeed, contends Rheingold, people relate to each other online much the same as they do in physical communities. Originally published in 1993, The Virtual Community is more timely than ever. This edition contains a new chapter, in which the author revisits his ideas about online social communication now that so much more of the world's population is wired. It also contains an extended bibliography.
Download or read book Virtual Communities written by Felicia Wu Song and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2009 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does contemporary Internet technology strengthen civic engagement and democratic practice? The recent surge in online community participation has become a cultural phenomenon enmeshed in ongoing debates about the health of American civil society. But observations about online communities often concentrate on ascertaining the true nature of community and democracy, typically rehearsing familiar communitarian and liberal perspectives. This book seeks to understand the technology on its own terms, focusing on how the technological and organizational configurations of online communities frame our contemporary beliefs and assumptions about community and the individual. It analyzes key structural features of thirty award-winning online community websites to show that while the values of individual autonomy, egalitarianism, and freedom of speech dominate the discursive content of these communities, the practical realities of online life are clearly marked by exclusivity and the demands of commercialization and corporate surveillance. Promises of social empowerment are framed within consumer and therapeutic frameworks that undermine their democratic efficacy. As a result, online communities fail to revolutionize the civic landscape because they create cultures of membership that epitomize the commodification of community and public life altogether.
Download or read book Virtual Community Participation and Motivation Cross Disciplinary Theories written by Li, Honglei and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2012-03-31 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book gives in-depth coverage of state-of-the-art research on virtual community participation,covering the concept of virtual community participation, followed by several streams of virtual community participation theories"--Provided by publishe
Download or read book Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning written by Sasha Barab and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-29 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Virtual Communities Concepts Methodologies Tools and Applications written by Management Association, Information Resources and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2010-10-31 with total page 2930 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covers the development, design, and utilization of virtual organizations and communities and the resulting impact of these venues.
Download or read book Virtual Community Building and the Information Society written by Christo El Morr and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtual Community Building and the Information Society: Current and Future Directions offers a holistic approach to virtual communities, providing relevant theoretical frameworks and presenting the latest empirical research on virtual technology, infrastructures, content modeling, knowledge modeling, content management, context awareness, mobility, security and trust. It also explores the social impact and applications of virtual communities, providing valuable insights for professionals, researchers, and managers in fields including information systems, computer science, knowledge management, software engineering, healthcare, business, information and communication sciences, education, and sociology who want to improve their understanding of the strategic role of virtual communities in the information society.
Download or read book Virtual Reality written by Howard Rheingold and published by . This book was released on 1992-08-15 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Breaking the reality barrier ; the reality-industrial complex ; virtual reality and the future.
Download or read book Building Power Safety and Trust in Virtual Communities written by Darwish, Dina and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2024-09-27 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtual communities are a new frontier in the digital landscape. While these spaces are only in their infancy, it will not be long before they become a part of much of the population’s daily life. Before that becomes the case, it is important that we instill guidelines and parameters to ensure that those interacting with these digital spaces feel safe within them and are able to use them to their fullest capacity. Building Power, Safety, and Trust in Virtual Communities examines how online groups help people learn and change the way they think. In this book, different people with different academic backgrounds, methods, and personal experience with virtual groups look at this question. Case studies are included to help exemplify these findings. Together, these chapters discuss how virtual communities are built in ways that thinkers, researchers, and practitioners can understand.
