Upcoming AERA presentations

We have a couple of presentations at AERA this week, including hosting one symposium concerning methods, ethical issues, and findings from studying learning across spaces in people's lives.

Kafai, Y. B. & Fields, D. A. (2009, April). The development of participatory competencies in virtual worlds. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Fields, D. A. (organizer), Kafai, Y.B. (chair), Jacobs, G., Steinkuehler, C., Duncan, S., King, E., Simkins, D., Fahser-Herro, D., Alagoz, E., Satwicz, T., Stevens, R., McCarthy, L., Giang, M., & Lam, E. (2009, April). Tracing learning across, within, and between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ worlds: A discussion of methods, ethics, and findings. Symposium to be conducted at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

New Whyville Article Out!

We have a new Whyville article out this month - a full journal article in the International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Here's the abstract and reference with a link if you want the full article. It's about learning between peers across spaces (like an after school club and Whyville) and the creative methods we developed to trace it. You can also learn how to teleport, in case you didn't already know. :)

Fields, D. A. & Kafai, Y. B. (2009). A connective ethnography of peer knowledge sharing and diffusion in a tween virtual world, International Journal of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, 4(1), 47-68.
http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s11412-008-9057-1.

Abstract:
Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups around assigned tasks yet have not begun to account for widespread knowledge sharing in more native, unstructured group settings found in online games and virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and analyze how an insider gaming practice spread across a group of tween players ages 9–12 years in an after-school gaming club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world called Whyville.net. In order to understand how this practice proliferated, we followed the club members as they interacted with each other and members of the virtual world at large. Employing connective ethnography to trace the movements in learning and teaching this practice, we coordinated data records from videos, tracking data, field notes, and interviews. We found that club members took advantage of the different spaces, people, and times available to them across Whyville, the club, and even home and classroom spaces. By using an insider gaming practice, namely teleporting, rather than the more traditional individual person as our analytical lens, we were able to examine knowledge sharing and diffusion across the gaming spaces, including events in local small groups as well as encounters in the virtual world. In the discussion, we address methodological issues and design implications of our findings.

A two-car Whyville household

I have upped my status in Whyville with a new car. I had lost my other second car after too much international travel last summer where I didn't remember to log into Whyville everyday to get my salary, my loan went into default and I eventually lost it. Yes, this can happen on Whyville.

So I saved money, putting most of it in cds (they earn 3% if you put them in for six weeks - they must be compounded quite a lot because I think I earned more in clams that I do on my cd with dollars) until a cool special edition car came out on Valentine's day. Note the nifty accessories - under car glow, why wheels (I was tempted with smiley face wheels but thought these fit the design better), roof rack, and lights. Complete with a license plate number. I didn't even know Whyville was an "island" until I read the title. And I paid in 'cash' (clams) so no need to make loan payments.

I finally have a "cool" look

I was finally told by a Whyvillian (someone who participated in our 2008 after school club) that I have a cool look. After two and a half years of being on Whyville, I finally achieved this?! The look? A Goth body with flowing hair (flowing hair seems to be "in" these days), crossed arms and a half-smile for a little attitude, anime eyes (to contrast with the Goth look), an emerald necklace of my own design (a popular seller on Whyville), face paint from a character in the Naruto anime series, and of course my medals for long-term participation on Whyville.

Is this when ethnographers feel a measure of success - recognized as 'cool' in their society of study?

Recent Whyville Presentations 2008

This spring and summer we've presented many times about our research on Whyville. Here are a few titles - with papers being written this fall.


AERA: March 2008

Fields, D. F., Giang, M. & Kafai, Y. B. (2008, March). Girl gamers in virtual worlds: Portraits of participation and positionings in a tween gaming club. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

Cook, M. S., Fields, D. F. & Kafai, Y. B. (2008, March). “Should I get this skin color for my head?” Conversations about race in a tween gaming club. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.


Cultures of Virtual Worlds: April 2008

Fields, D. F. & Kafai, Y. B. (2008, April). Race, gender, and trading face parts: A case study of identity construction in a tween virtual world. Paper presented at the Cultures of Virtual Worlds Conference, Irvine, CA.


ICLS: July 2008 (see http://www.isls.org/icls2008/ for pdfs of papers)

Fields, D. F. & Kafai, Y. B. (2008). Knowing and throwing mudballs, hearts, pies, and flowers: A connective ethnography of gaming practices. In V. Jonker , A. Lazonder, & C. Hoadley (Eds.) Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Utrecht, Netherlands: University of Utrecht.

Kafai, Y. B. & Wong. J. (2008). Real Arguments about a Virtual Epidemic: Conversations and Contestations in a Tween Gaming Club Paper


Games + Learning + Society: July 2008

Fields, D. F. & Kafai, Y. B. (2008, July). How does someone become a Whyvillian? Issues of race, gender, and trading face parts in a case study of tween play in a virtual world. Paper presented at the annual conference of Games + Learning + Society 4.0, Madison, WI.


ISCAR: September 2008

Fields, D. F. & Kafai, Y .B. (2008, September). Projectile throwing as a tool to mediate relationships: A connective ethnography of a gaming practice in a tween virtual world. Paper presented at the biannual conference of the International Society of Cultural and Activity Research (ISCAR), San Diego, CA.

Try a New Avatar Look for a Week

So based on our research on race in Whyville (see the papers section of our blog) in our *new* club this year we are currently having a try-a-new-avatar-look-for-the-week experience. We were actually surprised at how resistant the 4th-6th graders in our after school club were to this idea so we sweetened the deal by making a contest - to be judged at the end of the week. Clams, a cheat, and the chance to help me pick out my new Scion (I've been saving for awhile) are first prize.

Part of the idea is to see how having a different look on Whyville will change how people act with you. One of the leaders of the club switched from a girl to a boy and was flirted with pretty soon thereafter (and insulted as a newbie - our club members went to defend her).

So far one boy has made his avatar a girl, a girl has gone from a cute tan girl look to a green pimpled monster with gracefully tipped wide-brimmed black straw hat, and one girl slapped on a bunch of total newbie parts. I myself became Goth for a week. *Very* different from all of my previous looks. What do you think?

Virtual Drugs: or, Whypox EVOLVES...

As some of you probably know, much of our research on Whyville has featured Whypox, the virus that at least annually spread around Whyville. Since our research in 2002 and 2005, Whypox has changed dramatically, evolving like the ever changing biological virus it models. It used to be that once your avatar caught Whypox, you began with sneezes, "achoo," and bright red spots on your face. Well, over the past couple years they started adding vaccines, more symptoms, and the possibility to get one symptom and not others. In other words, Whypox has evolved into what must be multiple viruses!

Recentlly in Whyville I wandered into a new pharmacy. Turns out they're now selling treatments for each individual symptom: sniffling, coughing. and those darn pimples. WHAT?! You can treat Whypox?

Will this change how Whypox affects the community? Just last summer we presented on Whypox as a community event. Even if kids didn't have Whypox, they were involved and affected by the epidemic. Some uninfected kids even imitated the "achoo" in their chat! But with these new virtual drugs, will things ever be the same?

Wait a minute, that lady pharmacist just said the drug would only work for two hours. Doh!

Ah well. I'm not infected but I did say "pretty please" to get some "sniff b gone," just in case.

Designing beyond face parts: Climate change on Whyville

Today when I logged on to Whyville (it's been awhile, since we were in Japan at the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) presenting on Whyville last week) I discovered that there are now "rolling black outs" on Whyville due to the energy crisis associated with the Climate Change Center. I went there to discover what was up and one thing I found was "CLIMATE COUTURE."



What is this? Well, it appears that design on Whyville now goes beyond face parts, something that an audience member at DiGRA actually asked about. Now, you can go to Akbars and design parts for alternative energy, which are then somehow ranked with a number related to how good they are for the environment. Here are some of the options below. Note that not all parts actually rank anything at all.



Well, I don't want to be a slacker, so I bought a solar panel and put it on my face, then went back to the Climate Center, rang the bell, and my contribution to solving the energy crisis on Whyville was noted. Hooray! I noted in particular that this is yet more evidence that Whyville is working on community-based science participation that requires an investment of virtual money and time and now a visual show of support (one's avatar on Whyville is quite important - just read our avatar paper: Your Second Selves...). Here's a picture of my new solar panel in front of the Climate Center. I think we need more research on this...

Ugh - dead fish!

Ick. I went on Whyville today and noticed that the beach looks absolutely disgusting. The water is a deep maroon color and there are now dead fish lying around. I never noticed that before. So I went to check out the red tide thing. Not sure if it's my imagination but I think it got worse and that there's more of one type of plankton that like urea. Bought 50 seedlings, got in my boat, and planted them at an area of relatively high concentration.

Meanwhile, I also went on a major shopping spree since my old parts expired. After having invested in a bunch of new sunscreen at Target today I was tired of being pale-skinned so I when for a tan look but kept a different version of red hair. I've also always wanted to play Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz so purchased a Toto in basket. Not sure what I'm going for with the umbrella and glasses, but I *have* been writing a lot of papers (about Whyville) recently, so maybe it's a studious thing?

Off to Digra soon... Oriahsiri/Debbie

Global Warming on Whyville?

Looks like yesterday Whyville started a global warming center with opportunities to go back in time and study temperatures in Whyville and Earth. My guess is that this is hitting a hot point with Whyvillians because on one BBS post I saw around 140 separate replies by different individuals about whether they were concerned about global warming. The arguments are heating up as some are very very concerned and others aren't concerned at all (the minority from my peripheral readings of the posts).

If anyone is interested in kids' argument and evidence I recommend this for reading. Some make reference to rising or falling numbers of polar bears, to rising water levels, and so on though without actually listing their sources. Fascinating. Can't wait to travel back in time!

Your pixie reporter in Whyville,
Oriahsiri

Garlic Splats - Who Knew?

We recently decided to further study projectile throwing on Whyville - did you know that you can throw stuff at other folk on Whyville? This is a useful practice for 'reaching out and touching someone,' flirting (throwing hearts), and creating elaborate tag-like wars with your friends.

In pursuit of this fascinating topic, I though it would be valuable scholarship to buy some projectiles and throw them. I bought some oldies - blue balloons, mudballs, hearts - and some newies - maggots, garlic, spiders, and christmas lights. Now, some projectiles just stick to your target for a few seconds and disappear - like hearts. But some splat, like mudballs. Much to my delight and utter surprise, garlic splats. Who can explain the delight of throwing a head of garlic at someone and seeing it splat all over their face (see my target practice in the picture above)!

In fact, maggots also splat - a virtual and scintillating mix of body parts and blood.

In contrast, spiders mostly splat blood and little black legs.

Think about all the implications for context specific learning how to throw projectiles on Whyville - who to throw at, what to throw for what purposes, and how to respond when kids say "who did that?!"

latest fashion trends in Whyville

Every once in awhile I browse through Akbar's Face Mall (where all the face parts are available for shopping) to see what's the latest and greatest, or at least the oddest in looks on Whyville. Yesterday I went through the "Hall of Fame" and "New Arrivals" to see what was around. Here are some of the interesting new things I found.


Musical iPods are everywhere - I especially liked this one with the music exuding from it. Rock on!

Hand signs seem to be in, in multi-colored skin tones, which is encouraging. Here are a couple that I found. Anything to show expression in a static, non-animated avatar?

A puzzler - can someone enlighten me on this one? - is that I've seen several signs with dorks and hearts, for instance: "I love dorks" or the one pictured ot the right. Is being a dork or loving dorks cool now?

Finally, I found this gorgeous hair, called "proud to be African". I combined it with a face that I myself designed - I think it looks beautiful, though the face needs to be one skin tone lighter since some of the extra cornrows don't show up (being the same color as the skin). I'd wear it around, but haven't found a matching body yet, and as a floating head I didn't think it'd be very accepted on Whyville.

Real Car, Virtual Car - Same ANNOYANCE!

This week there was a curious synergy of car problems - both with my real car that I drive to school and such and with my virtual car that I drive around on Whyville. My real car needed a renewed registration - a 3-month long hassle of DMV letters that never arrived, checks sent that were sent back, and finally a last-resort visit to the DMV. My virtual Scion (a limited edition winter scion - see picture with me in my new fedora posing suavely next to it) had a similar barrage of problems this past week as well. Trying to be on top of my Whyville banking, I had paid my weekly car payment early (I owe 1086 clams a week through April) but unfortunately Whyville's server had a bug in it and while the money was deducted, they didn't "see" the payment. This resulted in my receiving a letter about a LATE PAYMENT!

Now, I am doing all right for myself on Whyville, with three accounts now, and one beautiful head selling pretty well, but I can't make two car payments in a week, so I quickly ymailed a City worker who ymailed back and told me to EMAIL City Hall, from whom I recently got an email saying they were investigating it. But meanshile, they've already deducted the extra 1086 clams from my account, as soon as the money had been earned (they watch the bank account carefully, I guess).

I guess virtual cars can be frustrating too, but I wasn't expecting virtual ownership to be such a pill!

Debbie/Oriahsiri

Science Learning reports

Virtual Playground for Millions reviews the three categories of online science games (casual, collaborative, and community) available for users of Whyville.net, and examines the instructional and social significance of each in a 10-week middle school study.

Life in the Times of Whypox focuses on Whypox, a virtual epidemic that took place in Whyville, and how it impacted community life during and after its scourge.
Download PDF here

Patterns in Scientific Problem Solving reports on teens' use of the virtual simulators in Whyville.net during the outbreak of the Whypox disease. Results show that a select number of online players use different approaches, scientific and engineering models, to improve their prediction performances.

Of Monsters and Sick Computers looks at children's folk conceptions of a computer virus such as Whypox and what connections exists between virtual and natural viruses.

Where in the World is the Science in Whyville? Analyses many of the potentials for science learning in Whyville, including participation in science games, responses to the virtual epidemic of Whypox, uses of simulators to understand Whypox, understanding of computer viruses based on Whypox experiences, and uses and influences of player-developed "cheats" on science games.

Community Dynamics reports

Synthetic Play examines gender differences and similarities in gaming on Whyville in an after school club. It compares and contrasts the different approaches that boys and girls employ in designing their avatars and in socializing with others online and offline.
Download PDF here

Tracing Insider Knowledge Across Time and Spaces looks at how a secret command that can only be learned by talking with other people is learned by after-school club members both online and offline.
Download PDF here
Stealing from Grandma or Generating Cultural Knowledge? looks at teen-created cheat sites where kids post answers, guides, and advice about how to succeed in the games on Whyville. We discuss the impact of these sites on kids' learning and the Whyville community as a whole.
Download PDF here

Your Second Selves checks out kids' tools for building avatars (i.e., an online 'look') on Whyville and how there are social constraints to making cool looks even though there are almost unlimited options for designing parts for avatars.
Download PDF here

Blacks Deserve Bodies Too looks at how kids choose to represent race in their avatars (online images of self) and what they have to say about being white, black, or latino/a in Whyville.
Download PDF here

Methodology reports

Mixed Methods for Mixed Reality creates an integrative model to combine qualitative (interviews, observations, field notes) and quantitative data (tracking logfiles, surveys) to understand the multiple facets of avatar creation, play, and evaluation on Whyville.
Download PDF here

early results on speed in Whyville

So I finally got the ruler to work - it's pretty fun. I already had one person race for me and recorded two pieces of data. Then I went to the data upload site where they told me what I recorded "oriahsiri ran 500 pixels in 6.7 seconds" and I had to divide the distance by time to get the speed and submit it.

Then I went to the graphs - here's one. I don't think there' much of a correlation.

But here's a really nifty thing! You can see which data points you entered! In part of my other life as a graduate student I'm working on a project where kids are analyzing statistical data about socially relevant issues (race, income, crime, school 'scores'). They're not collecting their own data, but if they were, and if they were dumping it all together in a collaborative thing, how cool would it be to pick out your own contributions! I was proud of my two data points, seen in the picture here.

:)
Debbie/Oriahsiri

new 'science' research on Whyville

This is pretty funny and kind of cool. I logged in today to find out that there's a new activity on Whyville. Why do some people (i.e. avatars) move faster than others? By collecting data on how fast you can move in different parts of Whyville, and accumulating data as a community (you're awarded 4 clams for each data point you give - i.e. 'oriahsiri moved 300 pixels in 5.4 seconds) they're trying to develop theories about why some people move faster than others. Do too many face parts weigh you down? Does a higher salary make you go faster? It's kind of science, somewhat related to real life (distance = rate x time) but totally done in the context of Whyville.

I already tried to do my part but the 'ruler' and stopwatch aren't working yet, at least not for me. The room had a bunch of people though!

Debbie/Oriahsiri

Keeping up with Fashion: St. Patrick's Day on Whyville

Well, we've been talking about identification and avatars, and March 17, aka St. Patrick's Day is a case in point for me. First, there's a Whyville party (and probably fashion contest as usual). I don't know whether I'll be able to make it, but today I spent 256 clams on my new Irish look. I have to admit, it parallels my own practice on St. Patrick's Day because it's my birthday. Being both Irish (descent on both sides), red haired (first in four generations on either side), and born on March 17, this has always been an important day for me. Before I understood genetic, I actually believed my mom, who would tell people that I got my red hair because I was born on St. Patrick's day (actually since both parents have brown hair, I was quite a surprise coming out of the womb!).

So historically I would always dress to the tee in green, shamrocks, pins, etc. on March 17. In fact, I had an entire set of shamrock jewelry (necklace, earrings, pins) from my great-aunt before it was stolen in high school. And you wouldn't believe the number of birthday cards there are for people born specifically on St. Patrick's Day! I know, because I've probably been given them ALL.

So I had to dress up not just in person (I made sure to wear all three pairs of socks with clovers/shamrocks, shamrocks & Guinness beer this week) but also in Whyville. After all, some kids took the time to make face parts special for the occasion - I'm only sporting a small percentage of them! I tried to make my own emerald necklace but it hasn't been approved yet.

Supporting the fashion economy of Whyville,
Debbie/Oriahsiri

Articles, Papers, and Books, oh my!

Journal Papers and Book Chapters

Kafai, Y. B. (In Press). Synthetic Play: Teens Gaming Together and Apart in Virtual Worlds. In Y. Kafai, C. Heeter, J. Denner, & J. Sun (Eds.), Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Computer Games. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Kafai, Y. B. & Giang, M. T. (In Press). Virtual Playgrounds: Children’s Multi-User Virtual Environments for Playing and Learning with Science. In T. Willoughby & E. Wood (Eds), Children’s Learning in a Digital World. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.

Conference Papers and Presentations

Fields, D. A. (2007, April). Learning by Cheating? Investigating the science in cheat sites for informal educational mutli-user virtual environments. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

Feldon, D., Kafai, Y., Fields, D. A., Giang, M., & Quintero, M. (2007, April). Mixed methods for mixed reality: Overcoming methodological challenges to understand user activity in a massive multi-user virtual environment. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

Kafai, Y. B., Feldon, D., Fields, D. A., Giang, M., Quintero, M., & Peppler, K. A. (2007). Where in the World is the Science in Whyville? Symposium to be held at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

Kafai, Y.B., Feldon, D., Fields, D., Giang, M., & Quintero, M. (2007). Life in the Times of Whypox: A Virtual Epidemic as a Community Event. In C. Steinfeld, B. Pentland, M. Ackermann, & N. Contractor (Eds.), Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Communities and Technology. New York: Springer.

Fields, D. A. & Kafai, Y. B. (2007, July). Tracing Insider Knowledge Across Time and Spaces: A Connective Ethnography in a Teen Online Game World. Paper to be presented at the 8th Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Kafai, Y. B. (2007, July). To cheat or not to cheat? The Purposes, Politics and Psychology of Cheating in Gaming. Symposium to be held at the Games, Learning, and Society 3.0, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Kafai, Y. B., Cook, M., & Fields, D. A. (under review). “Blacks deserve bodies too”: Design and Discussion about Race and Diversity in a Teen Virtual World. Paper submitted to DiGRA07.

Kafai, Y. B., Fields, D. A., & Cook, M. (under review). Your Second Selves: Avatar Design and Identity Play in a Teen Virtual World. Paper submitted to DiGRA07.

Fields, D. A., & Kafai, Y. B. (under review). Stealing from Grandma or Generating Cultural Knowledge? Contestations and Effects of Cheats in a Teen Virtual World. Paper submitted to DiGRA07.

Forthcoming

Kafai, Y. B. (Accepted with Revisions). Of Monsters and Sick Computers: Children’s Folk Conceptions of Computational Viruses. Journal of Science Education and Technology.

Quintero, M. (forthcoming). Who Visits the Virtual Center for Disease Control During an Online Epidemic? A Study of Player Resource Engagement in a Multi-Player World. Unpublished Master Thesis, University of California, Los Angeles.