Digital native identity development in virtual worlds

In the transition from childhood to adolescence, teens are engaged in defining who they are and finding a place in the wide world creates insecurity. Digital natives are growing up as part of digital generation where technology is ubiquitous in a young person’s life. One online technology commonly used by digital natives are virtual worlds. Increasingly, they have come to rely on this digital media to help them navigate the challenges and issues they face in this period of life. This paper presents a research framework designed to provide a road map for the IS community in conducting research into this new and exciting area of virtual worlds and their impact on digital native identity development

Analysing qualitative data from virtual worlds: using images and text mining

There is an increasing interest within both organisational and social contexts in virtual worlds and virtual reality platforms. Virtual worlds are highly graphical systems in which avatars interact with each other, and almost every event and conversation is logged and recorded. This presents new challenges for qualitative researchers in information systems. This paper addresses the challenges of analyzing the huge amounts of qualitative data that can be obtained from virtual worlds (both images and text). It addresses how images might be used in qualitative studies of virtual worlds, and proposes a new way to analyze textual data using a qualitative software tool called Leximancer. This paper illustrates these methods using a study of a social movement in a virtual world

Chaotic worlds: an analysis of World of Warcraft

Virtual worlds provide new forms of collaboration and social interaction. The World of Warcraft (WoW) is one such virtual world. It is the most popular example of what is called a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG). In this paper, we analyze players’ outcomes with WoW using chaos theory. Our paper suggests that players are highly sensitive to initial conditions which are impacted by style of play and the social structure of groups

Exploration of location-based services adoption

As mobile technologies become more ubiquitous in the general population, it is reasonable to assume that individuals will consume services and software to enhance their aspirations and entertainment desires. This paper discusses a controlled experiment to explore aspects of user perceptions of their use of location-based services. This study examines a location-based service prototype experiment and analysis based on the UTAUT model. The results show significant indicators that suggest behavior patterns of early adopters of location-based services are being observed. We discuss these influences and attempt to explain their significance. Moreover, more curiously we discuss why some of our model was unsupported and postulate why

The co-evolution of the “social” and the “technology": a netnographic study of Social movements in virtual worlds

Virtual worlds provide new forms of social interaction. They offer alternative spaces where social functions can be carried out in online three-dimensional virtual environments. One social phenomenon which has moved into the virtual world is the social movement, which are an important means of bringing out social, cultural and political changes through collective action. These social movements exist in an immersive technological ecosystem which is constantly evolving as designers release patches which change the way users “live” within these environments. Using a biography of artifacts approach, we explore not just the evolution of the technological artifact itself (the virtual world), but also its co-evolution with the social phenomena (a social movement). Using Netnography, a modified version of ethnography, and actornetwork theory, we explore a social movement in World of Warcraft, and observe how it evolves over time as changes to the virtual world are implemented

Social movements in world of warcraft

Virtual worlds provide new forms of social interaction. They offer alternative spaces where social functions can be carried out in online three-dimensional virtual environments. In this paper we explore how collective action on a global scale is enabled by these virtual worlds. We used qualitative research to examine the organization of one social movement in World of Warcraft (WoW), the most widely used massively multiplayer online role playing game in the world. Using New Social Movement Theory, our paper suggests that there are a number of differences between real world and virtual world social movements, namely in their (a) locality, (b) issues, (c) periods of activity, (d) hierarchies, and (e) membership

Issues in the study of virtual world social movements

Virtual worlds are online three-dimensional worlds that are often constructed to look much like the real world. As more people begin to use these virtual worlds, virtual communities are emerging enabling various social activities and social interactions to be conducted online. Based on a literature review of social movements, virtual communities and virtual worlds, this paper suggests a framework to guide IS research into this new and exciting area

Consumer information technologies in intercultural tourism: a case study of Chinese outbound backpackers

Backpacker sociality is a networking sociality, which is created through intersecting movements between physical and virtual space (Castells, 2002). Interweaving with physical sociality, Chinese backpackers (CBs) are highly active on their virtual world. This study, focuses on connectedness of CBs and their daily social networks through Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). CBs with embedded Chinese values therefore tend to practice and perceive information services uniquely. This paper aims to explore the relationships among cultural values, information services perceptions and adoption, as well as how these service affect CBs perception of the value of technology. To achieve this aim, we investigate the use and acceptance of information technologies by Chinese outbound backpackers in Europe, by exploring their perceptions, practice and preferences of different types of ICT services in an intercultural context

Knowledge creation in information technology and tourism research

We critique Information Technology and Tourism (ITT) research and make recommendations to enhance its theoretical and methodological development. Our recommendations are based on four critiques: 1) ITT is primarily a self-referential research area; 2) ITT is popular with tourism academics, but not in other technology-related disciplines; 3) ITT does not synchronize with its mother discipline of information systems; and 4) ITT is primarily focused on business applications of technology, with limited engagement of theoretical developments in social science. We firstly suggest ITT researchers should engage with wider disciplinary knowledge through their parent fields of Information Systems and Tourism. Secondly, we suggest a shift from the user-centric and over-crowded applied business studies focus of ITT and encourage theorizing IT and tourism in a larger social context critically and reflexively. Thirdly, we encourage academics to develop ITT specific guidance to offer rigorous directions and instructions of theoretical and methodological development