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

Mckenna, Brad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2219-7508, Gardner, Lesley and Myers, Michael David (2012) The co-evolution of the “social” and the “technology": a netnographic study of Social movements in virtual worlds. In: 33rd International Conference on Information Systems, 2012-12-16 - 2012-12-19.

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Innovation, Technology and Operations Management
Related URLs:	http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2012/proceed...
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	20 Apr 2016 12:03
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2022 12:34
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58324
DOI:

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