Tom Boellstorff, Anthropologist and Author of “Coming of Age in Second Life”

Tom Boellstorff (SL Name: Tom Bukowski) author of “Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human” speaks at Alliance Virtual Library on Info Island in Second Life.

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008, a group of 36 SL residents enjoyed a discussion of Tom’s anthropological research in Second Life and his new publication. This voice chat allowed the audience to ask Tom questions that ranged from how and why residents create certain avatar looks and features, to the potential for research and education in SL. Tom shared how in anthropological circles virtual worlds were not thought of as a culture ripe for research but often thought of in the light of gamers, slackers, and losers. (A parallel perhaps to the attitude sometimes encountered in library circles?). Tom said he tried to avoid the use of the term “real life” as in SL vs real life. Second Life IS real life, just taking place in a virtual environment. The group discussed how people are able to use SL to explore and discover aspects about themselves, Bryan Mnemonic, of Virtual Harlem (Associate Professor of English at the University of Central Missouri) agreed saying that one of his students voiced this process as getting to “know” one’s avatar.

Many thanks to the attendees for a lively discussion and to Tom for speaking on Info Island. We are looking forward to hearing him again–he’s agreed to come back when his schedule allows.