SL(Z) Bolton

An MA student is proposing putting a 'Live Wall' in the social learning zone with windows onto second life for students to see and interact with. Take a look at Cy's Blog and let him know what you think.

A curious (light) article on The Psychologyof Twitter in 'Pychology Today', Interestingly, the last time I mentioned this app on here I, fairly randomly, argued against it on the basis of it not meeting Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'; the author of this article offers a fairly compelling argument for how it DOES (and hence its pull). See what you think.

A Disclosure too Far

"An army has jailed a soldier and cancelled a military operation after he published its details on Facebook. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had to call off an incursion into a West Bank village because the soldier revealed his combat unit, the location of the operation and when it was set to take place". Full story here

So you guys know a bit about formal models of cyberpsychology now...so what do you think might contribute to explainng this type of online behaviour? Lack of social presence? Social Context Cues attenuated leading to deindividuated, self-absorbed behaviour? Weak public self-awareness / heightened private self-awareness? Tell me...

A little fun :)

Last night we were talking about the necessity for social context cues in interaction...that we have to be armed with this observable information on those we're talking to (which we are in f2f) to be able to pitch our verbals appropriately...or we deindividuate and self-focus. Sometimes, the written linguistic style is enough to provide a very salient social context template even in the absolute absence of 'facts' about those we speak to....such as when we read something written in txtspk. It yells social context with a thunderous roar. See what you would 'look like' talking in the style of a 12 year old AOL chatter. IT DAFINIETLEY SAYS MRO3 THAN DA WORDS.SE!!1!!1!111!!11!11!!11!1 OMG WTF LOL C U SON AL

(Yeah...whut ^ said)

"Soldiers Get Virtual Reality Therapy for Burn Pain"

Youtube video here.

The comments underneath the video provoke interesting thought. Is it simply distraction or a specific feature or quality of VR / of that game?

Immersion in Cyberspace: Pause for Thoughts

"Sitting almost motionless at a computer, our eyes fixed to a screen, our fingers tapping at a keyboard, can we free our minds from the physical body, reaching across space and time to the minds of others, expanding it outward into a universal human Mind? Or, attached to a mostly dormant body, will our cyberminds wander off into a dangerous territory of unrestrained illusion? Perhaps the many millennia of evolution of the mind-body human have reached a point where we can progress beyond the physiological side of that integrated duality. Or maybe we are slapping Mother Nature in the face. If we try to leap out of those millions of years of evolution, maybe we are leaping right into disaster.

These are complex scientific, philosophical, and religious questions. At the moment, we have no answers. Good solutions usually show themselves as a compromise, a Middle Way. In the future, we won't have to choose between cyberspace and the f2f world. We'll choose between different ways of combining the two. In the meanwhile, if we're going to entertain any hypothetical but enlightening ultimatum, consider this one: If you had to choose between spending the rest of your life only in cyberspace, or in the f2f world, which would you pick?"

So which would you pick? Think carefully before you answer...pros and cons stated.

(The above came from a recommended article in Suler' EBook. Read it here) This article on The Two Paths of Virtual Reality is also a good and easy read).

Students' Brains Re-wired by Internet

"British students are unable to concentrate on reading an academic book because the internet is 're-wiring' their brains a new documentary claims".

Take a look at the article. Hold any validity? (from your experience)?