seeking participants for *quick* academic survey

[Mercury Blue]

Hi all,

I’m a grad student in the University of Leicester’s Museum Studies Program looking for 20 Kitely residents over the age of 18 interested in taking a brief survey about museums in virtual worlds, even if you’ve never been to one. This research seeks to develop a better understanding of these virtual institutions in-context - what they do, what they don’t do, who uses them (or doesn’t) and why. My research also includes lots of other worlds in addition to Kitely – ActiveWorlds, Kaneva, Blue Mars, OSgrid, Second Life, etc etc., so if you’re a resident in any others as well, I’d love to hear from you!

The survey is quick – at most 5 to 10 minutes - and data collection is completely anonymous and used exclusively for my dissertation. No emails, names, usernames, or IP addresses are requested or collected.

While I've been able to offer limited compensation in a few other surveys, as I’m researching a large number of worlds I'm unfortunately unable to offer any compensation for this particular survey beyond my gratitude and the knowledge that your time goes to support a legitimate academic cause. But I would love to gain some insight from residents older than myself, so if you’re involved in the cultural scene of virtual worlds or interested in contributing to their study, I would be extremely grateful if you would consider sharing the benefit of your thoughts and experience.

The survey can be found here - if you’re interested, please check out the first page for more detail about purpose and confidentiality, etc., or feel free to IM me or email me at jat41@leicester.ac.uk with any questions.

Thanks!
-Mercury

[edited to clarify study compensation]

[Graham Mills]

I'm curious as to how you define museum as opposed to, say, an interactive historical or technological exhibit used in teaching or recreation (though I'm not sure whether the latter includes role-play). Is it the nature of the intent, the interpretation or the level of access? I just did a search for "museums" in the Kitely public worlds, for example, and it failed to identify Lisbon 1755 or the Titanic build. I have been recreating part of the university for which I work as it was in the Victorian era with a focus on some of the notable scientists who worked there at the time. I've used it with students but it's not open to the public. Is it a private museum?

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Graham,

The Public Worlds search algorithm depends on world names, world manger names, and world descriptions. If none of these mentioned the word museum then that world won't be indexed for that search term.

[Graham Mills]

I appreciate that Ilan. It was more a question of whether the builders concerned or visitors would necessarily regard the worlds as museums whereas, of course, there are RL museums with similar content, and often modelled rather than actual historical artefacts. I'm thinking of outdoor museums that are reconstructions of iron age settlements or boat museums containing miniature models of RL ships. They may even have VR content so the crossover is even more blurred. I should add that, of course, the involvement of an "expert" may be another factor but The Tech museum in SL, for example, sourced much of its content from third parties (probably with a degree of moderation).

Hi Graham,

The Public Worlds search algorithm depends on world names, world manger names, and world descriptions. If none of these mentioned the word museum then that world won't be indexed for that search term.

[Ilan Tochner]

That's a good question. In an environment where everything was created by one person or another, what differentiates art from just another high-quality object? Or is every high quality object art?

[Constance Peregrine]

I did the survey just now, mainly because I saw it on 2 forums I watch so I figured it is less likely to be spam....lol

[Graham Mills]

... and we can also segue easily from digital heritage into the area of edutainment. Ultimately it's all in the eye of the beholder anyway...

That's a good question. In an environment where everything was created by one person or another, what differentiates art from just another high-quality object? Or is every high quality object art?

[Deuce Halsey]

FYI to the OP:

I attempted to take this survey just now. Unfortunately I got to a question where none of the options were valid responses for my situation. The survey would not allow me to continue without picking one of the selection of invalid options, so I quit the survey.

[Mercury Blue]

I'm curious as to how you define museum as opposed to, say, an interactive historical or technological exhibit used in teaching or recreation (though I'm not sure whether the latter includes role-play). Is it the nature of the intent, the interpretation or the level of access? I just did a search for "museums" in the Kitely public worlds, for example, and it failed to identify Lisbon 1755 or the Titanic build. I have been recreating part of the university for which I work as it was in the Victorian era with a focus on some of the notable scientists who worked there at the time. I've used it with students but it's not open to the public. Is it a private museum?

Hi Graham, thanks for the thoughts! It's such an interesting question, and a complicated one. There are so many things in-world that are like museums IRL but are not self-identified as museums, and by the same token so many things that self-identify as museums but are nothing like what we would traditionally consider a "museum". That's part of what I'm interested in - the way that these spaces provide people with the ability to explore what "museum" means to them and blur the boundaries that have traditionally defined what a museum is, does, and looks like. As a result I've intentionally stayed away from defining what "museum" means, as the only definition I could provide would necessarily limit the scope essentially to things that qualify IRL as museums, which I'm not convinced is a meaningful defining criteria for in-world museums. In short, I've avoided a definition because I'm interested to hear about what residents consider a museum within an in-world context. Apologies for the incredibly long answer, I hope this answers your question!

[Mercury Blue]

FYI to the OP:

I attempted to take this survey just now. Unfortunately I got to a question where none of the options were valid responses for my situation. The survey would not allow me to continue without picking one of the selection of invalid options, so I quit the survey.

Hi Deuce, sorry to hear that! If you don't mind my asking, what was the question? I'm always interested in learning how I can improve it. Thanks for taking a look at my survey though, your interest is greatly appreciated!