[iDC] Virtual Worlds, Education, & Labor

[Ryan Griffis]

i'm wondering if anyone thinks that the body of research surrounding  
mobility and tech in geography/tourism studies is of any relevance here?
it seems extremely significant to me, especially if we consider the  
population/depopulation of software sites like SL to be a form of  
mobility. There is a line of inquiry, for example, into the role of  
travel-based websites in global tourism. See Jennie Germann Molz's  
"Playing Online and Between the Lines: Round-the-World Websites as  
Virtual Places to Play" in Tourism Mobilities (2004, Ed. Sheller/Urry)
Even Saskia Sassen's analysis of info tech actually centralizing and  
condensing power in global cities rather than decentralizing and  
distributing power seems relevant.
(see: "The New Centrality" 1997 and "The Topoi of E Space" 2001)
http://www.sarai.net/publications/readers/01-the-public-domain
i recently came across a paper by Stephen Graham called "Software- 
Sorted Geographies" that analyzes the automation of ideology through  
connections between software and regimes of spatial control (my  
interpretation). it has some similarities with A. Galloway's critique  
of protocols. anyway, i think it's worth a read, even if more  
applicable to locative media.
http://eprints.dur.ac.uk/archive/00000057/
best,
ryan