This paper introduces the ludic ethics approach for understanding the moral deliberations of play... more This paper introduces the ludic ethics approach for understanding the moral deliberations of players of online multiplayer games. Informed by a constructivist paradigm that places players' everyday ethical negotiations at the forefront of the analysis, this study utilises a novel set of game-related moral vignettes in a series of 20 in-depth interviews with players. Reflexive thematic analysis of these interviews produced four key themes by which participants considered the ethics of in-game actions: 1) Game Boundaries; 2) Consequences for Play; 3) Player Sensibilities; and 4) Virtuality. These results support the conceptualisation of games as complex ethical sites in which players negotiate in-game ethics by referring extensively-though not exclusively-to a framework of 'ludomorality' that draws from the interpreted meanings associated with the ludic digital context.
This paper examines key discussion points among VR-interested Reddit users regarding a controvers... more This paper examines key discussion points among VR-interested Reddit users regarding a controversial case of VR groping reported in 2016. Through a mixed-methods approach that includes qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative coding, this paper identifies four key discussion themes: 1) Conceptualization-what is the act of groping? 2) Ethics-what is (un)acceptable about the act? 3) Action-what should be done about it? and 4) Vision-what does this act mean for the future of VR? Within these themes, most comments were dedicated to the questions of whether the act of groping in VR constitutes sexual assault or sexual harassment, whether it is the individual's responsibility to respond to this act, and whether this act causes harm. These results assist in the formation of a framework for understanding and addressing concerns related to unwanted sexual behaviours in VR and other digital play spaces.
Proceedings of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction, 2019
Players are sometimes understood to hold an 'amoral' stance in games, morally disengaging from ga... more Players are sometimes understood to hold an 'amoral' stance in games, morally disengaging from game content and in-game player behaviours because 'it's just a game'. This amorality is often seen as problematic and in need of refuting or amendment, particularly if we wish to encourage more ethical play online. However, few studies have approached a theory of player amorality from the player's perspective in multiplayer games. This study aims to address this gap by conducting 20 in-depth interviews with a wide range of multiplayer game-players, exploring players' ethical views towards problematic or disruptive in-game behaviours. Preliminary results show that while players do exhibit a certain amorality regarding in-game actions, players express, justify and explain this amorality in a variety of considered ways that go beyond notions of 'it's just a game' and the 'sociopathic griefer', and step outside the framework of moral disengagement. This paper puts forward a preliminary framework of player amorality termed 'Apathetic Villager Theory', encapsulated by six key attitudes/themes that highlight the nuances involved in the (un)ethical standpoints of a range of players. It is hoped that this framework will be useful in approaching and responding to player amorality in a way that gives due recognition of the various voices and understandings involved in multiplayer digital gameplay.
New media technologies are a source of anxiety and concern for many parents. In this paper, we re... more New media technologies are a source of anxiety and concern for many parents. In this paper, we report on the parent-child relationships that surround children's use of the Internet, television, video, DVD, and electronic games. We present three case-study vignettes ...
This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemp... more This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemporary Western home and the role these technologies play in the affective shaping and constitution of gender, identity, and intersubjective family relations. In particular, we focus ...
This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemp... more This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemporary Western home and the role these technologies play in the affective shaping and constitution of gender, identity, and intersubjective family relations. In particular, we focus ...
10 Journal of Family Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, May 2006, pp. 10-12 ... Correspondence: Dr Michael ... more 10 Journal of Family Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, May 2006, pp. 10-12 ... Correspondence: Dr Michael Arnold, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia. ... The Sociology of Associations in Family Research and Practice
Hobby boardgaming is a serious leisure pastime that entails large commitments of time and energy.... more Hobby boardgaming is a serious leisure pastime that entails large commitments of time and energy. When serious hobby boardgamers become parents, their opportunities for engaging in the pastime are constrained by their new family responsibilities. Based on an ethnographic study of serious hobby boardgamers, we investigate how play is constrained by parenting and how serious boardgamers with these responsibilities create opportunities to continue to play boardgames by negotiating the context, time, location and medium of play. We also examine how these changes influence the enjoyment players derive from boardgames across the key dimensions of sociality, intellectual challenge, variety, and materiality.
In this article we discuss the role that the physicality of dice has in
the experience of the non... more In this article we discuss the role that the physicality of dice has in the experience of the non-digital tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40,000. Numerous previous approaches towards the digital augmentation of non-digital games have considered dice rolling a menial or tedious computational task to be designed away. We disagree. In this article we argue that the physicality of dice has a positive effect on players’ experience and enjoyment of the game. This occurs through their tangibility, their role as a representational object (situationally, imaginatively and audibly), and through enabling shared experiences. Thus, while digital augmentation of physical games has the potential to make strong contributions to game play experiences, more careful consideration should be given to what might be lost through such efforts.
This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed p... more This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed photographs shared on public profiles tagged with ‘#funeral’. We found that the majority of images uploaded with the hashtag #funeral often communicated a person's emotional circumstances and affective context, and allowed them to reposition their funeral experience amongst wider networks of acquaintances, friends, and family. We argue that photo-sharing through Instagram echoes broader shifts in commemorative and memorialization practices, moving away from formal and institutionalized rituals to informal and personalized, vernacular practices. Finally, we consider how Instagram's ‘platform vernacular’ unfolds in relation to traditions and contexts of death, mourning, and memorialization. This research contributes to a broader understanding of how platform vernaculars are shaped through the logics of architecture and use. This research also directly contributes to the understanding of death and digital media by examining how social media is being mobilized in relation to death, the differences that different media platforms make, and the ways social media are increasingly entwined with the places, events, and rituals of mourning.
Interest in personal and domestic technology is growing rapidly. In this paper, we explore what i... more Interest in personal and domestic technology is growing rapidly. In this paper, we explore what it means to understand and support the most personal of human acts–maintaining intimacy between family members. Intimate acts are different to other domestic behaviours; are challenging to study; and, we speculate, provide opportunities for technologies quite different in form and purpose to those appropriate for other aspects of home life.
By and large interactive design has been concerned with information exchange – technologies for t... more By and large interactive design has been concerned with information exchange – technologies for the collection, processing and transmission of informational content. This design sketch discusses preliminary ideas about an alternative way to think about interactive technologies – phatic technologies – that are less concerned with capturing and communicating information and more about the establishment and maintenance of social interaction. Drawing on insights and inspiration gleaned from a recent field-based study of the role of interactive technologies within intimate relationships we outline our preliminary ideas concerning technologies to support phatic interaction. Using these materials collected during our fieldwork as design inspirations, we developed design sketches for phatic technologies intended to support playful connection between intimates. One of these sketches – SynchroMate – is presented. SynchroMate is a phatic technology design to mediate intimacy by affording serendipitous synchronous exchanges.
Intimacy is a crucial element of domestic life that has received insufficient attention from Huma... more Intimacy is a crucial element of domestic life that has received insufficient attention from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers despite their rapidly growing interest in the design of interactive technologies for domestic use. Intimate acts differ from other activities, and there are unexplored opportunities to develop
interactive technologies to support these acts.
This paper presents the first phase of a two-part study exploring
the potential of interactive technologies to support intimate relationships. We contribute to this uncharted domain of HCI research a literature review of concepts useful in understanding intimacy and methods for its investigation. We conclude with preliminary results and suggestive design ideas for interactive technologies intended to support intimacy.
Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '14, 2014
ABSTRACT Advances in sensing technologies have led to research into exertion games that support p... more ABSTRACT Advances in sensing technologies have led to research into exertion games that support physically effortful experiences. Despite the existence of theoretical frameworks that can be used to analyze such exertion experiences, there are few tools to support the hands-on practice of exertion game design. To address this, we present a set of design cards based on the "Exertion Framework", grounded in our experience of creating exertion games for over a decade. We present results demonstrating the value and utility of these Exertion Cards based on our studies of their use in three workshops held over seven sessions with 134 design students and experts. We also articulate lessons learned from transforming a theoretical framework into a design tool that aims to support designers in their practice.
This paper introduces the ludic ethics approach for understanding the moral deliberations of play... more This paper introduces the ludic ethics approach for understanding the moral deliberations of players of online multiplayer games. Informed by a constructivist paradigm that places players' everyday ethical negotiations at the forefront of the analysis, this study utilises a novel set of game-related moral vignettes in a series of 20 in-depth interviews with players. Reflexive thematic analysis of these interviews produced four key themes by which participants considered the ethics of in-game actions: 1) Game Boundaries; 2) Consequences for Play; 3) Player Sensibilities; and 4) Virtuality. These results support the conceptualisation of games as complex ethical sites in which players negotiate in-game ethics by referring extensively-though not exclusively-to a framework of 'ludomorality' that draws from the interpreted meanings associated with the ludic digital context.
This paper examines key discussion points among VR-interested Reddit users regarding a controvers... more This paper examines key discussion points among VR-interested Reddit users regarding a controversial case of VR groping reported in 2016. Through a mixed-methods approach that includes qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative coding, this paper identifies four key discussion themes: 1) Conceptualization-what is the act of groping? 2) Ethics-what is (un)acceptable about the act? 3) Action-what should be done about it? and 4) Vision-what does this act mean for the future of VR? Within these themes, most comments were dedicated to the questions of whether the act of groping in VR constitutes sexual assault or sexual harassment, whether it is the individual's responsibility to respond to this act, and whether this act causes harm. These results assist in the formation of a framework for understanding and addressing concerns related to unwanted sexual behaviours in VR and other digital play spaces.
Proceedings of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer-Interaction, 2019
Players are sometimes understood to hold an 'amoral' stance in games, morally disengaging from ga... more Players are sometimes understood to hold an 'amoral' stance in games, morally disengaging from game content and in-game player behaviours because 'it's just a game'. This amorality is often seen as problematic and in need of refuting or amendment, particularly if we wish to encourage more ethical play online. However, few studies have approached a theory of player amorality from the player's perspective in multiplayer games. This study aims to address this gap by conducting 20 in-depth interviews with a wide range of multiplayer game-players, exploring players' ethical views towards problematic or disruptive in-game behaviours. Preliminary results show that while players do exhibit a certain amorality regarding in-game actions, players express, justify and explain this amorality in a variety of considered ways that go beyond notions of 'it's just a game' and the 'sociopathic griefer', and step outside the framework of moral disengagement. This paper puts forward a preliminary framework of player amorality termed 'Apathetic Villager Theory', encapsulated by six key attitudes/themes that highlight the nuances involved in the (un)ethical standpoints of a range of players. It is hoped that this framework will be useful in approaching and responding to player amorality in a way that gives due recognition of the various voices and understandings involved in multiplayer digital gameplay.
New media technologies are a source of anxiety and concern for many parents. In this paper, we re... more New media technologies are a source of anxiety and concern for many parents. In this paper, we report on the parent-child relationships that surround children's use of the Internet, television, video, DVD, and electronic games. We present three case-study vignettes ...
This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemp... more This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemporary Western home and the role these technologies play in the affective shaping and constitution of gender, identity, and intersubjective family relations. In particular, we focus ...
This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemp... more This paper examines the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the contemporary Western home and the role these technologies play in the affective shaping and constitution of gender, identity, and intersubjective family relations. In particular, we focus ...
10 Journal of Family Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, May 2006, pp. 10-12 ... Correspondence: Dr Michael ... more 10 Journal of Family Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, May 2006, pp. 10-12 ... Correspondence: Dr Michael Arnold, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia. ... The Sociology of Associations in Family Research and Practice
Hobby boardgaming is a serious leisure pastime that entails large commitments of time and energy.... more Hobby boardgaming is a serious leisure pastime that entails large commitments of time and energy. When serious hobby boardgamers become parents, their opportunities for engaging in the pastime are constrained by their new family responsibilities. Based on an ethnographic study of serious hobby boardgamers, we investigate how play is constrained by parenting and how serious boardgamers with these responsibilities create opportunities to continue to play boardgames by negotiating the context, time, location and medium of play. We also examine how these changes influence the enjoyment players derive from boardgames across the key dimensions of sociality, intellectual challenge, variety, and materiality.
In this article we discuss the role that the physicality of dice has in
the experience of the non... more In this article we discuss the role that the physicality of dice has in the experience of the non-digital tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40,000. Numerous previous approaches towards the digital augmentation of non-digital games have considered dice rolling a menial or tedious computational task to be designed away. We disagree. In this article we argue that the physicality of dice has a positive effect on players’ experience and enjoyment of the game. This occurs through their tangibility, their role as a representational object (situationally, imaginatively and audibly), and through enabling shared experiences. Thus, while digital augmentation of physical games has the potential to make strong contributions to game play experiences, more careful consideration should be given to what might be lost through such efforts.
This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed p... more This paper presents findings from a study of Instagram use and funerary practices that analysed photographs shared on public profiles tagged with ‘#funeral’. We found that the majority of images uploaded with the hashtag #funeral often communicated a person's emotional circumstances and affective context, and allowed them to reposition their funeral experience amongst wider networks of acquaintances, friends, and family. We argue that photo-sharing through Instagram echoes broader shifts in commemorative and memorialization practices, moving away from formal and institutionalized rituals to informal and personalized, vernacular practices. Finally, we consider how Instagram's ‘platform vernacular’ unfolds in relation to traditions and contexts of death, mourning, and memorialization. This research contributes to a broader understanding of how platform vernaculars are shaped through the logics of architecture and use. This research also directly contributes to the understanding of death and digital media by examining how social media is being mobilized in relation to death, the differences that different media platforms make, and the ways social media are increasingly entwined with the places, events, and rituals of mourning.
Interest in personal and domestic technology is growing rapidly. In this paper, we explore what i... more Interest in personal and domestic technology is growing rapidly. In this paper, we explore what it means to understand and support the most personal of human acts–maintaining intimacy between family members. Intimate acts are different to other domestic behaviours; are challenging to study; and, we speculate, provide opportunities for technologies quite different in form and purpose to those appropriate for other aspects of home life.
By and large interactive design has been concerned with information exchange – technologies for t... more By and large interactive design has been concerned with information exchange – technologies for the collection, processing and transmission of informational content. This design sketch discusses preliminary ideas about an alternative way to think about interactive technologies – phatic technologies – that are less concerned with capturing and communicating information and more about the establishment and maintenance of social interaction. Drawing on insights and inspiration gleaned from a recent field-based study of the role of interactive technologies within intimate relationships we outline our preliminary ideas concerning technologies to support phatic interaction. Using these materials collected during our fieldwork as design inspirations, we developed design sketches for phatic technologies intended to support playful connection between intimates. One of these sketches – SynchroMate – is presented. SynchroMate is a phatic technology design to mediate intimacy by affording serendipitous synchronous exchanges.
Intimacy is a crucial element of domestic life that has received insufficient attention from Huma... more Intimacy is a crucial element of domestic life that has received insufficient attention from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers despite their rapidly growing interest in the design of interactive technologies for domestic use. Intimate acts differ from other activities, and there are unexplored opportunities to develop
interactive technologies to support these acts.
This paper presents the first phase of a two-part study exploring
the potential of interactive technologies to support intimate relationships. We contribute to this uncharted domain of HCI research a literature review of concepts useful in understanding intimacy and methods for its investigation. We conclude with preliminary results and suggestive design ideas for interactive technologies intended to support intimacy.
Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '14, 2014
ABSTRACT Advances in sensing technologies have led to research into exertion games that support p... more ABSTRACT Advances in sensing technologies have led to research into exertion games that support physically effortful experiences. Despite the existence of theoretical frameworks that can be used to analyze such exertion experiences, there are few tools to support the hands-on practice of exertion game design. To address this, we present a set of design cards based on the "Exertion Framework", grounded in our experience of creating exertion games for over a decade. We present results demonstrating the value and utility of these Exertion Cards based on our studies of their use in three workshops held over seven sessions with 134 design students and experts. We also articulate lessons learned from transforming a theoretical framework into a design tool that aims to support designers in their practice.
This article identifies and outlines some of the more prominent ways that digital media can exten... more This article identifies and outlines some of the more prominent ways that digital media can extend one’s personhood following death. We consider three examples: when the digital persona of the deceased continues to interact with the living through a human surrogate; the emergence of autonomous and semi-autonomous software enabling the dead to use social media to intervene in current events; and finally the operation of algorithmic presence services like Eterni.me, where artificial intelligence creates a re-enlivened form of the deceased. Situating these examples in relation to sociological, anthropological and cultural literature foundational to ideas of distributed personhood and posthumous symbolic immortality, we suggest that digital codes and computational texts stand as key sites for contemporary forms of ‘distributed personhood’, including posthumous personhood.
This article examines the distribution of expertise in the performance of ‘digital housekeeping’ ... more This article examines the distribution of expertise in the performance of ‘digital housekeeping’ required to maintain a networked home. It considers the labours required to maintain a networked home, the forms of digital expertise that are available and valued in digital housekeeping, and ways in which expertise is gendered in distribution amongst household members.
This paper reports on an interview-based study of self-identified hobbyist boardgamers, describin... more This paper reports on an interview-based study of self-identified hobbyist boardgamers, describing the value that they place on boardgames. These people described the important roles that boardgames – and being a boardgame player – play in their lives. Our interviewees described spending large amounts of money on boardgames and associated material, travelling – sometimes internationally – to hobby events, acquiring new skills (e.g. in model-making) to support their boardgaming hobby, and even customizing or selecting their home to accommodate and display their boardgame collection. To these serious leisure practitioners [2], being a boardgamer means more than simply playing or owning games; the games have undergone a process of domestication [1] though which they are not merely appropriated and objectified but are incorporated into the hobbyist’s life and home, and converted through their presentation to others. Through this process, the games acquire new meaning as a representation of the gamer and of their membership in a culture of boardgaming. Associated activities like travel and model-making strengthen that commitment to and identification with boardgaming, reinforcing the enjoyment that these hobbyists associate with the games.
References [1] Silverstone, R., Hirsch, E., and Morley, D., 1992. Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of the household. In Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. Routledge, London. Retrieved from http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/record=b3516141~S30. [2] Stebbins, R.A., 2012. The Idea of Leisure: First Principles. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In this paper, we analyse false death announcements of public figures on social media and public ... more In this paper, we analyse false death announcements of public figures on social media and public responses to them. The analysis draws from a range of public sources to collect and categorise the volume of false death announcements on Twitter and undertakes a case study analysis of representative examples. We classify false death announcements according to five overarching types: accidental; misreported; misunderstood; hacked; and hoaxed. We identify patterns of user responses, which cycle through the sharing of the news, to personal grief, to a sense of uncertainty or disbelief. But we also identify more critical and cultural responses to such death announcements in relation to misinformation and the quality of digital news, or cultures of hoax and disinformation on social media. Here we see the performance of online identity through a form that we describe, following Bourdieu as ‘platform cultural capital’.
This chapter explores the online posthumous memories of Zyzz – an amateur bodybuilder and social ... more This chapter explores the online posthumous memories of Zyzz – an amateur bodybuilder and social media celebrity who died of a heart attack at the age of 22. It compares how memories of Zyzz are distributed and contested across multiple platforms, including niche body-building fan sites, popular social networking sites, and other online information-sharing or discussion forums. Based on a comparative analysis of content from these platforms, the chapter reveals how memories are subject to a tension between coherence and dispersal under the conditions of distributed networks. Digital memories are persistent, replicable, scalable, and searchable; yet they do not remain stable, with digitally networked data often fragmented, incomplete, restricted or obscure. We argue that in these contexts, memories of the dead are susceptible to competing, partial, and disparate accounts, which endeavour to secure a particular view of the deceased and identify a specific legacy that the deceased leaves behind.
The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography, 2017
Death now knocks in an increasingly digital age. When the time is nigh, whether from natural caus... more Death now knocks in an increasingly digital age. When the time is nigh, whether from natural causes at a ripe age, or from accidents or illness when young, the word goes out through a range of technologies and then various communities gather offline and online. Digital ethnography in this "death" sphere has been growing in form and possibility over the past two decades as various platforms are designed and become occupied with the desires of the living and dying. Online funerals and commemorative activities are now often arranged alongside the perhaps more somber rites of burial or cremation (Boellstorff 2008, 128). Services such as LivesOn promise that we shall be able to 'tweet' beyond the grave; members of online communities encounter each other on commemorative online sites where they grieve for a shared friend but never meet each other 'in person'; and it is predicted that soon there will be more Facebook profiles of the dead than of the living. This phenomenon creates a myriad of new converging ideas, behaviors and capacities that raise many evocative questions in and around digital ethnography: What does it mean to die when we continue to be present and enlivened through such media? What responsibilities and rights do those left behind have to their loved ones' posts, tweets, profiles, and avatars? How can we trace the relationships that gather
Management of broadband technology innovation: Policy, Deployment and Use, Oct 2013
Full citation: Arnold, M., Apperley, T., Gibbs, M., Nansen, B. & Wilken, R. Patchwork network: Sp... more Full citation: Arnold, M., Apperley, T., Gibbs, M., Nansen, B. & Wilken, R. Patchwork network: Spectrum politics, the digital home and installation of the Australian National Broadband Network. In J. Choudrie & C. Middleton (eds.). Management of broadband technology innovation: Policy, Deployment and Use (pp. 25-42). New York: Routledge.
The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography, 2017
2017 Van Ryn L, KOHN T, Nansen B, Arnold M, Gibbs M. Researching Death Online, In Hjorth L, Hors... more 2017 Van Ryn L, KOHN T, Nansen B, Arnold M, Gibbs M. Researching Death Online, In Hjorth L, Horst H, Galloway A, Bell G (eds), The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography, London: Routledge.
In this paper we examine the controversies surrounding the posting of online 'selfies at funerals... more In this paper we examine the controversies surrounding the posting of online 'selfies at funerals' that sprung up in late 2013. We argue that the controversies reveal a form of 'boundary work' though which participants and publics are negotiating the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate online practices, as well as legitimate and illegitimate responses to death and the rituals associated with death. In Gieryn's writing, 'boundary work' refers to the rhetorical labour scientists engage in to demarcate legitimate science from illegitimate non-science. We use the term to refer to the rhetoric used by participants to position online practices as acceptable or not, especially those associated with grief, bereavement and other matters deserving of gravitas and respect. Woven through these debates are competing threads in which evolving forms of online and youthful expression become entangled with established notions of respectful mourning.
Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 2017
2017 Nansen B, KOHN T, Arnold M, Van Ryn L, Gibbs M. Social Media in the Funeral Industry: On t... more 2017 Nansen B, KOHN T, Arnold M, Van Ryn L, Gibbs M. Social Media in the Funeral Industry: On the Digitization of Grief, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, V.61(1): 73-89.
2013 Gibbs, M., CJ Bellamy, M. Arnold, B. Nansen, T. KOHN Digital registers and estate plannin... more 2013 Gibbs, M., CJ Bellamy, M. Arnold, B. Nansen, T. KOHN Digital registers and estate planning, Retirement and Estate Planning Bulletin, Vol. 16(3).
Death and Digital Media provides a critical overview of how people mourn, commemorate and interac... more Death and Digital Media provides a critical overview of how people mourn, commemorate and interact with the dead through digital media. It maps the historical and shifting landscape of digital death, considering a wide range of social, commercial and institutional responses to technological innovations. The authors examine multiple digital platforms and offer a series of case studies drawn from North America, Europe and Australia. The book delivers fresh insight and analysis from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies, human-computer interaction, and media studies. It is key reading for students and scholars in these disciplines, as well as for professionals working in bereavement support capacities.
Battlestations are customized desktop computers, typically devoted to gaming. In this paper we pr... more Battlestations are customized desktop computers, typically devoted to gaming. In this paper we present analysis of the all-time top 50 up-voted battlestations on the /r/battlestations subreddit. Through an examination of these highly commended battlestations and the community criteria defining a " good " battlestation we provide insights into the material culture of computer customization and its significance within an internet gaming sub-culture.
The creation of digital accounts, ownership of digital products, and use of digital services are ... more The creation of digital accounts, ownership of digital products, and use of digital services are now common and ordinary, yet they raise significant implications for the constitution of our personal property, its archiving, and its inheritance.
This report considers these issues with regard to a broad spectrum of digital media products and services, paying particular attention to questions of access, rights, and ownership for those wishing to bequeath them, or for those wanting to manage someone else’s digital legacy. This research on digital legacies draws from a mixed-method approach that includes an overview of literature on death and memorialisation in a digital context; terms of service and policies of leading social media platforms and telecommunications companies; and interviews with key informants.
This report gives a background and context to the increasingly important practices associated with managing digital legacies, including issues to do with privacy and property and consumer rights, managing digital archives and legacies, and memorialisation online. It provides some practical advice on creating and managing a digital legacy, covering issues in bequeathing key digital media types, and points to future issues, implications, and resources in this area.
Uploads
Papers by Martin Gibbs
the experience of the non-digital tabletop strategy game Warhammer
40,000. Numerous previous approaches towards the digital
augmentation of non-digital games have considered dice rolling a
menial or tedious computational task to be designed away. We
disagree. In this article we argue that the physicality of dice has a
positive effect on players’ experience and enjoyment of the game.
This occurs through their tangibility, their role as a representational
object (situationally, imaginatively and audibly), and through
enabling shared experiences. Thus, while digital augmentation of
physical games has the potential to make strong contributions to game
play experiences, more careful consideration should be given to what
might be lost through such efforts.
interactive technologies to support these acts.
This paper presents the first phase of a two-part study exploring
the potential of interactive technologies to support intimate relationships. We contribute to this uncharted domain of HCI research a literature review of concepts useful in understanding intimacy and methods for its investigation. We conclude with preliminary results and suggestive design ideas for interactive technologies intended to support intimacy.
the experience of the non-digital tabletop strategy game Warhammer
40,000. Numerous previous approaches towards the digital
augmentation of non-digital games have considered dice rolling a
menial or tedious computational task to be designed away. We
disagree. In this article we argue that the physicality of dice has a
positive effect on players’ experience and enjoyment of the game.
This occurs through their tangibility, their role as a representational
object (situationally, imaginatively and audibly), and through
enabling shared experiences. Thus, while digital augmentation of
physical games has the potential to make strong contributions to game
play experiences, more careful consideration should be given to what
might be lost through such efforts.
interactive technologies to support these acts.
This paper presents the first phase of a two-part study exploring
the potential of interactive technologies to support intimate relationships. We contribute to this uncharted domain of HCI research a literature review of concepts useful in understanding intimacy and methods for its investigation. We conclude with preliminary results and suggestive design ideas for interactive technologies intended to support intimacy.
of the deceased continues to interact with the living through a human surrogate; the emergence of autonomous and semi-autonomous software enabling the dead to use social media to intervene in current events; and finally the operation of algorithmic presence services like Eterni.me, where artificial intelligence creates a re-enlivened form of the deceased. Situating these examples in relation to sociological, anthropological and cultural literature foundational to ideas of distributed personhood
and posthumous symbolic immortality, we suggest that digital codes and computational texts stand as key sites for contemporary forms of ‘distributed personhood’, including posthumous personhood.
References
[1] Silverstone, R., Hirsch, E., and Morley, D., 1992. Information and communication technologies and the moral economy of the household. In Consuming Technologies: Media and Information in Domestic Spaces. Routledge, London. Retrieved from http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/record=b3516141~S30.
[2] Stebbins, R.A., 2012. The Idea of Leisure: First Principles. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
This report considers these issues with regard to a broad spectrum of digital media products and services, paying particular attention to questions of access, rights, and ownership for those wishing to bequeath them, or for those wanting to manage someone else’s digital legacy. This research on digital legacies draws from a mixed-method approach that includes an overview of literature on death and memorialisation in a digital context; terms of service and policies of leading social media platforms and telecommunications companies; and interviews with key informants.
This report gives a background and context to the increasingly important practices associated with managing digital legacies, including issues to do with privacy and property and consumer rights, managing digital archives and legacies, and memorialisation online. It provides some practical advice on creating and managing a digital legacy, covering issues in bequeathing key digital media types, and points to future issues, implications, and resources in this area.