New Campus Program - Positive action?

New Campus Program - Positive action?

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I've been reading a lot of responses and reactions n this forum to the New Campus Programs sponsored by three universities.

Robin's post:

/3/38/25847/1.html

While I think this is a great idea in principle, the mechanics of it obviously disturbs some people here, whether one thinks it logical or not given the circumstances in SL (some people have written their opinions in this vein).

Many people have been upset by certain material posted by students and a prof on a blog associated with the University of Pittsburg.


http://www.richardparent.net/fs0003...metaverses.html
http://www.blogger.com/profile/4196180
http://www.richardparent.net/
http://www.richardparent.net/FS0003.pdf

I don't read similar complaints about the other 2 schools. However, community resistance and discomfort is obviously an issue the Lindens need to address in further detail and are probably doing so as we speak. The question is this, what can we do as a community to deal with it? Now and more importantly in the future. They're here. Now what?

I suggest throwing an Event such as a Welcome Party for the students to be listed in the the General listing in-game. This will inform the General Population about their presence (those who don't read the Forums) and enable them to give their input and hopefully give us all the chance to meet and inform students about SL etiquette and the TOS as well as help them get acclimated to this new world. And perhaps see things in a more balanced perspective because if word of this negative interaction gets around no one is likely to talk to them at all. And there could be some positive benefits from this interactions from a research standpoint and from a LL marketing perspective. This goes for not just the present groups but any institutional groups in the future (regardless of whether they're intereacting with people at all - an art class, engineering, etc.).

Although, we probably know that our communications are capable of being closely monitored, the awareness that we're being possibly publicly studied and our words broadcast, could have a chilling ripple effect on residents interactions with each other; particularly with "new" residents. Since there'd be a latent suspicion (alt research account) that this person might be a researcher.

As far as the problems with Richard Parent's class, It doesn't seem that voicing our objections will make much of a difference to him. If we really want him to moderate his behavior (and those he's responsible for) we should consider contacting his University directly about our concerns over sloppy oversight and possible unethical behavior. In my experience people are usually consistently considerate or unconsiderate. Chances are he and his students (the disrespectful ones) are clueless in others areas and informing his administration about a potential area of trouble in the future might be a positive thing. RL reaches into SL! SL reaches into RL! ahhh...consequences! cause and effect...who would have thought? Thus we make ourselves no longer an abstraction, we'll be real people to him.

http://www.pitt.edu/
Here's their Contact Directory: http://www.english.pitt.edu/people/directory.html
The Department: http://www.english.pitt.edu/people/index.html
Admin - http://www.english.pitt.edu/people/administration.html
Office of the Dean : http://www.fcas.pitt.edu/deans.html

I recommend contacting them and cc'ing Linden Labs on your communicaitons. If they judge things to be above board and ethical, great! Perhaps alos contact the Associations/Unions that oversee ethical behavior in the professions? Just some thoughts.

On a more positive note, perhaps we should be proactive expressing our concerns to the other universities (to head potential problems off at the pass) as well as congratulatng them for their profs/students current behavior.

In the long run, I believe educational insitutional involvment in SL may have many benefits for our SL and the RL world. However, this incident is valuable in that it serves as wake up call that this issue need to be addressed in greater detail and with more community involvement.

Thoughts? Other constructive suggestions?

i also think this is a great idea. but it needs to be implemented with care. there are very good reasons why university activities (even something that is simply a demonstration as this freshman writing class is) are governed by protocols. that these protocols were not carefully worked through, and that the results of that review were not made official is a problem.

additional contact information:
the office of research contact information at upitt is at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~offres/contact.html
this is the group that oversees research at u pitt

Hmmm - writes note to self to look out for certain last names now - From one of the students postings -

sighs - we are in SL to relax not be studied.

I would like all the schools/students to use the same SL last name, reserved just for them, so that at a glance we can identify them and choose not to partake in there observations. Also a banner note in their profile.

They already have been given sir names particular to the student grouping. And there is a scheduled event on Wed at 4pm pst. I am not a believer in the old dogs can't learn new tricks rule. This is a brand new program being done in a world barely in the toddler stage. Lets not be hasty to condemn...I vote work with the proffesor and students to help them have a better sl experience. They are not studying sl residents. They are studying their own behavior in sl. Future experiments may be done. For those research experiments, we do need to decide on a framework for legal and ethical boundaries. Though it is very likely (as I have said before) that future studies with research in mind will be accomplished by solo researchers joining sl without even LL's knowledge.

Stone...the reason the protocols were not followed is because this is not a research study...it is an expository writing class.

It should be noted that, by throwing them a welcome party, you are giving radically incorrect data.

-Ansi

Two things to note (as an academic myself and said elsewhere at least once)...

1. Any sense of "pure observation" for these students has been thrown out the window already for those of us reading the threads relating to this matter. Simply knowing that we ARE subjects of observational study has affected us consciously whether we know it or not AND will affect us to one extent or another unconsciously in our dealings with others. A significant barrier has theoretically been erected that was not there before this ruckus ebgan.

2. "Branding" the stuedents as such will cause #1 to come into play in any interactions with such students - regardless of intent on the non-branded person. Whether this is merely a writing program or not (speaking of the Pitt students mostly here, but it does relate to the other two groups of students as well), they know they are labelled already. They have or will certainly discuss amongst themselves the effect of this labelling and whether or not it makes things different for them than for other SL residents - if Herr Professor has any ethical/academic integrity at all, this will be discussed in class. That said, this project is inherently threatening to the SL policy of inclusion vice exclusion. It sets them up as second class citizens... demostrably so.

I said two...but I am on a roll so here's a bonus..

3. While the surnames will identify these three groups, what if this program takes off and next semester there are six groups, then ten , then 20? Will residents have to remember that many names as "researchers"? Won't that inherently change the nature of SL? If one solution IS to give them all the same surname due to too many classes, then is the solution to have them allowed to be in only one group - a class group - and not able to join others - but won't THAT solution inherently change THEIR experience fro that of therest of us?

I'd like to think of this as a positive thing for SL... I just see another new unanswered question every time I turn around and rethink answers to any questions that have arisen so far.

Edited to add: what originally made me reply here was the "throw them a welcome party" idea. Where was mine when I joined? See? That is making their experience inherently different than mine.

actully if you read how human subjects policies read, what is happening falls under the category of demonstration study.

even if the study didn't/doesn't need human studies approval, proper protocal in an academic setting is to confirm that this will not run afoul of the human studies ploicies. failing to check if it needs human studies oversight is a failure of academic ethics.

please note: i'm not cirticizing the students, or the study in particular. i'm criticizing the instructor for failing to do his job.

sort of agree with you but then I would have to follow the rules every time I walk into a mall and write something wthin 30 minutes of that encounter. We all know the instructor made an error... but as said before this is going to happen. This world, once again, is young we are going to stomp toes and eat crow. A solution is needed not an observation. So I agree with both you and Aimee Webber in saying that both scientific and journalistic protocols need to be considered when starting a project of this magnitude. But again we did not know this untill now.

Here is how I see things working. if they bring the colleges over to SL then there is a problem with mature events/land. This means that SL will have to be more strict and cutting down on what mature content goes on in game. Because there is soooo much to do and see on second life, a lot of students would be tempted to skip and go to some erotic night club. I do admit several times I have gone to a college class and played The sims on a laptop when I should have been paying attention. If the colleges had their own sever, their own map and not connected to the main map then I don't see it to be a problem. Otherwise its kinda useless.

If you're paranoid about being studied, get off the system. People can enter 2L EVERY SINGLE DAY with a free account and a new 'regular' name and still be unethically "spying" on individuals. However, come what may, observation is not illegal.

Pittsburgh isn't doing a study. they're doing observation. it's a fundamentally different thing to ask someone to join a community, have a personal experience, and then reflect on it in a paper. If people violate a TOS or EULA because they haven't read it, it's still their fault. These are freshman, first semester, first year students who are NOT educated in IRB standards or how and why an experiment works. They should be, but in reality, it doesn't apply here.

As you may have guessed by my name, I am a college student as well. Hailing from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Formerly Ariel Stravinsky on Second Life, I accepted the 2L: Campus account to uniformly be identified by individuals who choose to communicate with me on an official basis. If you read my profile on Second Life, you'll realize that I am one of two researchers from my 'family'. Everyone else is on to experience 2L for what it is, and simply observe interactions.

This is an excerpt from our approved research proposal, submitted and accepted by the IRB at Illinois:
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Protecting Confidentiality of Responses:
Data are notes, transcripts and observations that students may record while participating in the community. Students will be directed to use pseudonyms for any subject. Data are accessible only by the individual students.

The vast majority of subjects that the students will "meet" will be anonymous because of their on-screen identities. In these cases, students could not identify the actual identities even if they wanted to. Still, they are required to change the names of the subjects an additional time in their write-ups.

However, there are some communities where the identity of the subjects is or can be known. In these cases, students will be directed to use pseudonyms in their write-ups and to erase any data that could identify the subject.

Lastly, students may take "screen shots" of an online environment. Any identifying information about subjects will be removed from such images.
All data, including recordings, images, sounds and statements of consent, will be stored in a secure location for three years.
//////////////////////////////////////////

Ultimately, here's what i'm trying to say......in brief

1. individuals themselves are NOT being studied. However, their nteractions and actions may be observed and collected as 'aggregate data'
1b. aggregate data meaning something allong the following. " only 20% of registered 2L users are female, yet at times 60% of the population plays female characters. On a typical hour spent in 2L,i encountered 20 individuals, and 8 of them were role playing as a different gender" <---- see ?
2. all 'research' /collegite individuals are distinctly identified by last name
3. it's your choice whether or not you interact with an individual in 2L. No one person knows anyone else's motives for joining a community/program.
4. Ostracization will not help here. People will just join 2L in a more anonymous fashion, and then you (as 2L community members) will have NO say in the process


sorry for the rant, i'm just tired of seeing poor generalziations and ignorant people bouncing off the walls here. Imagine if you had a sign over your head that made your experience different. It would be a sad day for the world to stick us all in greater socially constructed categories.

-Leslie Walkabout

"If you have any questions or complaints about my project, you can contact the professor who is directing my project: Dmitri Williams, Assistant Professor, Department of Speech Communication, [email]dcwill@uiuc.edu[/email]; (217) 333-3617. He can be found on the Second Life program under the avatar: Dmitri Walkabout
You may also contact the University’s Institutional Review Board at [email]irb@uiuc.edu[/email]; (217) 333-2670.

You can also contact me with any questions, comments, or to see my final paper.
email: [email]runaround@gmail.com[/email]
2L: Leslie Walkabout
aim: UIUC SecondLife

Remember, today, at 5 PM, there is an event at Sedig (162, 132) hosted by pandastrong Fairplay and Richard Pitt:

ANOTHER EDIT!!! The event has been postponed until 5:00pm game time for scheduling reasons.





How do you, as an SL resident, feel about university classes and their role in SL's new Campus Program?



How do students participating in these programs feel about their role in the community?



This discussion will be co-hosted by Richard Pitt, and his class will be in attendence.



Topics that will be covered include SL Etiquette, Privacy, and anything else you, the professor, or the students wish to address.



Some helpful links to bring you up to date on current happenings that have transpired leading us to this event:



/120/f7/25820/1.html

/120/f8/25857/1.html

/120/fc/25940/1.html

http://www.richardparent.net/fs0003/

http://secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/researching-the-researchers/

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/10/27/mmo_anthropologists_.html

Hi Leslie,

Thanks for your detailed response. I had hoped that my post would try to encourage some positive action. That was its purpose. I was tired of generalizations too, which was why I chose to pose the question in a sep thread from the main ones, emphasizing that action instead of words was needed. Hopefully, LL and the residents will take up some of your suggestions. If you compare and contrast my response to the situation I think you'll find that it is pretty moderate compared to many of the messages you'll find on the Forums. And I thought that I made it very clear that I appreciated the lack of criticism from members about the other school programs, which indicates that you guys were doing something right. My thread was created in large part to forestall future problems of this nature.

You said:

"If you're paranoid about being studied, get off the system. "

Step back and ask youself why LL felt it should announce your presence and activities. Doesn't this imply that your situation is a bit different than most users joining?
If this wasn't much of any issue then I don't think you'd have heard any sort of hue and cry from people. Are ALL of us just paranoid? Do we not have any legit concerns? Are we all ignorant? Have none of put together cogent arguments that deserve to be addressed, as well as constructive guidelines apart from superficial protests? Go back and read the posts if you doubt that they haven't...

To be honest, I really don't care about this issue anymore. I merely brought it up to try to benefit a community I cared about and attempt to culitvate its growth. After recent events in the US, I'm concentrating my efforts upon developing more of my life outside of the virtual community and towards the people I love in RL, trying to create a viable future in what I see as a more hostile environment and to be a more active member of that community.

This isn't to say that I haven't met many wonderful people here and that it hasn't been a fantastic experience. I 've learned far more than I ever thought I would about myself and others just playing this "game".

Because on many levels, for lots of people, this is more than a game and it is truly a community. Perhaps the most fully realized of its kind so far. A second life. Or more aptly, another Aspect of Real Life. Just as things said on the phone or watched on TV effect us, so do events and issues in SL and vice versa. Too many, it is an extension or enhancement of Life and for some people who have disabilities, are shut-ins or have other conditions which don't permit them to interact in a typical fashion with their RL community, it can be the difference between being effectively isolated or connected to their fellow humans. To have "normal" interactive experiences and explore alternate modes of living. To be taken on what they say and how they act, rather than for the color of their skin, their gender or good looks.

One definition of Reality is a Shared Experience in which we have the opportunity to contribute and interact with each other. By that defintion, Second Life qualifies as a reality, although perhaps with a smaller "r".

Anyway, people have made real connections here and feel that it is something precious that needs to be defended. This is not something that immediately occurs. It's more of a gradual process.

It's not your typical MMPOG, first person shooter, quest simulator (not that those aren't neat too). The messages you as researchers are receiving stem from this feeling.

The situation is similar to when someone wants to study your child. You're flattered but you're also concerned. And the well being of your child is the thing that is your primary concern, not the needs of researchers. It may not be altogether rational but that's the feeling.

So I suppose you'll get your wish Leslie. I am leaving, at least for a while.

Tonight I'm saying goodbye to the friends I've made here and telling them how much they've added to my life. Maybe, you'll make some friends here too. I hope so. Perhaps at the meeting tonight.

that's a rather poor attitude. "if you don't like something in someone is doing in your environment, then leave your envirnoment."

anyhow, the difference between you and the pitt group is that your group is following the protocol for studies where consent cannot or will not obtained.the problem i have with all this, is twofold.

first, there is the fact i don't want to be a human subject for anyone's study. i also don't want to pay so much for my college tuition. neither of which are actually things i can control. however, i have preferences.

but second, and this is the important one, there are ethical standards for studies that involve human subjects. and these are things that institutions beyond myself have requirements.

the pitt group violated larger ethical standards, beyond any personal preference.

Dear Leslie,

I do hope that you enjoy your time in SL in your "researcher's" account as well as your personal account.

I hope that someday you reach the maturity level to realize that insulting the very people that you want to observe makes for "bad karma" between you and your subjects. While some will rant backatcha, others will simply walk away. Because we don't care about your study, we don't care how / why/ when / or even *how* you analyze and group *us.*

I truly hope that this class teaches you something about humanity.

That each individual person is unique in their own special way, no matter how much you research, digest, study, observe and analyze.

Trying to study "subjects" on the internet is akin to asking a gerbil to power the asset server in SL. It simply doesn't work, even if you give yourself a margin of -5% to -15% error rate on the responses received.

Studying individuals on the internet is similar to all those news sites that want you to *register* so that they can get a demographic on your age, sex, location, income, etc. That is why www.bugmenot.com was created -- so many got tired of being 73-year-old, retired but institutionalized males making an income of <10K per year with a fake email address of [email]xxxxx@xxx.com[/email]

Your data will always be flawed.

But please, continue your studies, and your ranting at some of the individuals here in SL who have stated that they don't like the idea of researchers "studying" them. Don't take the time to interact with them, learn about SL, and the people who *make SL what it is.*

After all, research from just "observing" on the internet rather than "interacting" with those same individuals is so much more... conclusive, detailed and concise to the point of precision.

i have to say this WHOLE post was double talk the entire way through...you talk about welcoming yet you have already decided to shun them...as for the whole "As far as the problems with Richard Parent's class, It doesn't seem that voicing our objections will make much of a difference to him" bit i think that you have gone to far here....it was ONE incident that was CLEARED UP....stop draggin it out further than it needs to be! and stop baiting the poor students its wrong!

I agree that I wasn' t thrilled to learn how the Pitt class had been conducted so far. I think that much is obvious, but double-talk? NOTHING I said was pertinent to any SL'ers concerns? The WHOLE thing was just something better left ignored? Doesn't look like it to me from the prevous posts... (i just love those capitals, they make everything look so...forceful) Maybe you don't see it as an issue, but we did.

And I hadn't decided to shun them. I'd be perfectly willing to talk to them once ground rules have been laid out (in actuality). I just pointed out some possible ramifications of this issue if it isn't addressed to satisfaction. Go back to my other post in the thread where I explain why it's possible that we're so darn touchy.

What would you rather have?
"Students Bad. SL people Good. We just say...uhm...they're doing Bad things. Bad guys. We're Good guys. We don't like, we should do...something.They keep doing Bad."
There. I'm speaking singletalk. And I'm not saying people in the Forums were doing that. That's the implication of your assessment of my posts as to the kind argument I should have presented. Or I guess I should have kept quiet and not said anything at all...

Do you prefer lots of people nashing their teeth on the Forums and rumors flying about criticizing the students or the opportunity for they and us to meet "face to face' and talk about these issues, theirs and ours...? It also wasn't my intention to "bait" the students but to speak to our community.

As far as the Richard Parent's "clearing" up the issue, I believe that if you'll read some of the other threads on this topic, he explictly pooh-poohed the so-called "5 page flamefest", of which admittedly there were many. I found that patronizing, which is why I recommended further action to address the situation and make our displeasure known. I have a suspicion that there may have been certain reprecussions which might have served to motivate him to "CLEAR" up the issue so quickly. I congratulate him on doing so!

And yes, it's just one incident, but it's how these things will be handled in the future that really concerned me. Is your constructive suggeston just to ignore things until they get out of hand? Is that the way to approach anything in life?

I'll reiterate what I said before. I really do think that the idea of institutional educational involvement might be a good thing for SL.

Fortunately there was an event tonight to discuss these issues. I'd like to think I did my part to get a real dialogue going and encourage clearer communication between all parties. My thanks to Torley, Richard and Panda for organizing it!

Like I said, I'm leaving SL for a while and unsubscribing from these threads, so any posts after won't be read by me and will be better addressed to the community at large. Insulting me won't get any response.

thanks

I stopped reading the post after this somewhat arrogant sentiment. I've been ambivalent about the whole subject until now, but I'm certainly not going to have anything to do with any Walkabout avatar from now on.

Was this the intention of your post?

First, the critical thing to keep in mind is that that these studies are associated with colleges and universities, which are mandated by their larger collegial associations, by the states and organizations that fund them, and by common academic ethics, to adhere to higher standards of behavior. When students, professors, and study regimes don't adhere to higher standards, they deserve criticism. It does not matter whether it's research, observation, a study done by professionals, or an expository writing class -- and it does not matter whether the subject of study is Second Life or the aboriginal peoples of the Amazon rain forest -- the behavioral ethic must be uniformly high.

Second, Leslie Walkabout clearly doesn't understand meaning of the IRB protocols he/she tries to cite. Her/his attitude is exactly the kind that violates IRB ethics, can expose her/his university to professional censure and legal action, and will hopelessly contaminate any work he/she plans to do. It is a breathtaking example of the arrogance of ignorance that IRB and human studies standards protocols have sought to minimize over the last forty years. Clearly the professor needs to talk with this student. I hope he doesn't share her/his attitudes; if he does, he's the source of the problem.

Third, I'll point out again -- these problems seem to be surfacing with courses in academic disciplines that do not have experience with human studies protocols -- cultural studies, English language studies, speech communication, etc. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I seriously doubt you'd find these issues or attitudes -- to this magnitude -- among professors, students, researchers, or classes in psychology, sociology, or even political science. Since standard academic protocols are not working in Second Life for certain disciplines, maybe the thing to do is establish standard protocols in Second Life, for Second Life. The gateway should be here, in other words, and not with IRB's and other campus processes that may not function well.

ed. sp.

Yeah, didn't someone do a study on SecondLife recently and it was wildly and enthusiastically praised? I even think someone on SecondLife donated them a bunch of money so they could go ahead and finish it.

I think Leslie and friends should investigate what they did versus what they are doing. You may find that if you simply approach this all differently, you'll get much better results and much more acceptance.

any minutes from this meeting?

did a linden attend by any chance?