I’ve just finished reading anthropologist Boellstorff’s account of two years of fieldwork within Second Life ‘Coming of Age in Second Life. Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human [ Tom Boellstorff] on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Millions. Coming of Age in Second Life has ratings and 25 reviews. Zhoel13 said: In his book Coming of Age in Second Life, Tom Boellstorff makes a statement th.

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For not only can books capture the joy and heartbreak of virtual worlds read My Boellstoorff Life to discover thisthey have even managed to capture the beauty and anger of the actual world. This book was not only fascinating and opened my eyes up to a world I had no previous knowledge about, but it was also beautifully written and engaging while still written in scholarly language.

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Bringing anthropology into territory never before studied, this book demonstrates that in some ways humans have always been virtual, and that virtual worlds in all their rich complexity build upon a human capacity for culture that is as old as humanity itself. For anyone who wants to get a sense of what life in SL is like, the book will actually tell you. Book review Boellsrorff Worlds.

It becomes a little bit annoying to me that he seems to forget to at least make a side note on the case of voice chat controversy in his discussion on agency In class we frequently discussed the concept of how Facebook users strive to present their best version of themselves, which often can be far from who they actually are in order to gain some confidence or attract a certain audience.

The subject matter Benton Given that the man’s partner, Bill Maurer has presided over the death of language, this sort of almost positivist unreconstructed Boasianism is not a little surprising–maybe they have a Jack Spratt and spouse thing going on when it comes to high-flown This is a bizarre book, not for its subject matter but for the degree to which Boellstorff seems intent on reproducing Margaret Mead’s approach to Samoa–treating Second Life as a bounded cultural isolate, worthy of understanding in its own terms.

And much like Malinowski Boellstorff is a very good ethnographer, integrating into the ‘other world’, translating it and giving us a wonderful portrayal of the social lives and environment of Second Life’s denizens back when the site was in its prime.

However, the majority of his research comes from simply observing users and their behaviors by interacting with them. Yet much like Malinowski, the author is a bit superficial in his interpretation of the field data, allows very little time to discussions of gender and sexuality and adopts a holistic but almost Mead-like isolationist in regards to outside factors reflecting on the ‘virtual world’.

Coming of Age in Second Life: Ironic that a book that’s going to be being read in anthro intros in is such a missed opportunity.

Moreover, these cultures have stratifications, patterns, and meanings that have been documented in by ciming since time immemorial — complete with citations of books written in the late s. Many scholars and lay people have always held these terms as binaries, but Boellstorff, through his fairly broad and deep research and own thoughts, illustrates how humans have always been virtual, an idea that once you understand it and decide to agree with it, boellsstorff the study of virtual worlds even that much more interesting to study.

Boellstlrff I were confined to a bed, socially isolated, or stuck in a truly miserable job with plenty of free time at my desk, or if I wanted to have a virtual affair, I suppose Second Life Before I read Boellstorff, I registered for Second Life and spent a few hours in the last week just to see what it was about.

Otherwise, I found the book very interesting and informative and it would make a good read for anyone interested in anthropology or virtual reality.

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I was a little upset that more time wasn’t spent on race and gender, but even Boellstorff mentions that at the time of his writing, there weren’t many studies that focused on race in virtual worlds.

Inquiry into both the historical continuities and changes of this virtual world. This affords users to experiment with self-presentation to a far greater extent than Facebook or Twitter allows for. I simply disagree and would argue that books have been doing this for conservatively hundreds of years. For instance, I feel that there is a sense of reluctance in seeing the creative mis- uses of technology in Second Life as lif form of techne.

What can ethnography tell us about virtual worlds? And what of gnosis and phronesis?

Within the static pages of a book there is no way I can do justice to my adventures within Second Life, or the experiences of the residents who so generously shared their activities and thoughts with me. Opts for holistic approach to SL as he did in previous study of Indonesia — overarching cultural logic is the focus, not subcultures. Boellstorff found that many users experience a confidence in Second Life or a revelation about the self that they were able to bring to their real life in order to make a life changing transition.

The main idea within this section is to reiterate that virtual worlds are places, which become sites of culture as residents interact and that with time they become communities.

Although time and place main foundations of SL, money sensationalised, esp. He notes, “In this book I have examined one such virtual world for what it can teach us about what it means to be virtually human” p. Workshop in Media An… on Now online: And what is second except a big storage of ideas located inside an interactive place. If you get serious about Second Life you can buy property and build objects and sell stuff and decorate your avatar with fancy skins SL is not a simulation; it may approximate aspects of reality for purposes of immersion, but it does not seek to replicate the actual world.

In other languages Add links. Boell- of anthropology in the actual world, storff notes an important factor re- to the study of similar phenomena garding established and emerging in the supra-sensible realm of the virtual worlds: For me, it is not surprising that capitalism finds a place and flourish in virtual worlds because capitalism arose from the property and money which are all virtual in nature.

This interaction is only possible on a quickly modifiable and with the use off elaborated computer which translate a binary language in understandable human signs. I’m half way through this book and it is fascinating. If you care about Second Life, this could serve as a theoretical, but also practical, introduction to the norms and habits of the world. Boellstorff then turns to describing how friendship is the primary relationship form with SL and that SL friendships, are often considered as more real than actual world friendships, due to the lack of prejudges based on gender, race, age etc and the idea that SL friendships are accelerated friendships due to their intensity.

The starting point of project was methodological: Given that the man’s partner, Bill Maurer has presided over the death of language, this sort of almost positivist unreconstructed Boasianism is not a little surprising–maybe they have a Jack Spratt and spouse thing going on when it comes to high-flown post-humanist theory.

Maybe that is what people are really doing in Second Life.

Avatars can be represented as dots on the screen — these dots tend to beget more dots. The book ends as it started: Understanding these cominng means understanding lifw SL is just one of the many, connected worlds in which people create meaning. Second Life is most certainly not a game for its residents, and we must take residential sociality seriously.

One can say, I’m speculating on words, that’s right, but words like concepts are tolls in anthropology and it’s important, I mean, to talk about most appropriated tolls for an appropriated understanding.

Pointing out the cultural background of these beliefs, rather than assuming that technology enables some biologically hard-wired drive for all human beings to be Romantic Artists is important. May 10, lilly rated it liked it.

For several decades, money is mostly made up of computer data. Sep 18, Giuseppe rated it it was amazing.