Saturday, August 2, 2008

Opportunities on offer - NMC virtual learning prizes + JVWResearch call for papers

In my 'travels' I noticed a couple of opportunities on offer. I've copied some scant details from the respective sites just to pique interest.

NMC still has Virtual Learning Prizes on offer for 2008-2009

The New Media Consortium will continue to award Virtual Learning Prizes until the $100,000 pool for this 2008-2009 initiative is fully dispersed. Visit the following page for details:
http://virtualworlds.nmc.org/2008/05/15/virtual-learning-prize/

These are "intended to create a collection of innovative open-source learning experiences that make use of the unique attributes of a virtual learning environment"... with this year's focus on Second Life and Project Wonderland.

Each of the US$5,000 awards will provide a cash incentive paid to the awardee of $500 as well as $4,500 in expert development assistance from the NMC Virtual Worlds team to create the learning experience. The range of inworld services available to awardees to actualize the proposed ideas includes professional building, scripting, design, animation, avatar design, and/or related services.

I really like the philosophy of the NMC: all materials and content produced through these funds will be "licensed for broad use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Proposal authors will retain full copyright to finished products, and all funded materials will be made available to educators and educational institutions at no cost via either the NMC's Educational Resource Center on Learning in Second Life or via the NMC's website, as applicable".

Another opportunity - Call for Papers
Mia Consalvo, one of the team of authors for the TerraNova blog, has posted a call for papers to be published in the The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. Visit the following site for details:
http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/06/call-for-papers.html#more

CALL FOR PAPERS
Journal of Virtual Worlds Research
Special Issue: Culture of Virtual Worlds
Deadline: September 30, 2008
Publication Date: November 20, 2008

Guest Editors
Mark Bell, Indiana University
Mia Consalvo, Ohio University

This special issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research is dedicated to exploring the issue of culture in virtual worlds. We welcome articles from academic researchers and practitioners in areas such as communications, sociology, psychology, anthropology, information systems, political science, game studies and cultural studies.

Topics of interest include (but not limited to):
• Definitions of Virtual Cultures
• Ethnographies of Virtual Worlds
• Social mechanics and networking in Virtual worlds
• Historical development of Virtual Worlds
• Identity
• Differing goals of play versus non-play centric spaces
• Emergent practices, player-generated content, activities
• Dynamics of economies
• "Serious" uses of Virtual Worlds
• Transnational game spaces, player groups

Guidelines and Deadlines
We welcome submissions in the form of essays, papers, original research, interactive online exhibits with accompanying detailed descriptions, and other forms of scholarship. For specific submission instructions visit: http://jvwresearch.org.


These opportunities look to be well worth exploring,

Janice