Over at Savage Minds theres an interesting discussion surrounding Tom Boellstorff’s ethnography, Coming of Age in Second Life. I’ve been looking at anthropology online with an eye for “new audiences, new participants, new ways of speaking” etc, and I think the following quote from Dusan Writer shows how anthropology IS spreading beyond its normal confines. Dusan writes:
“First, let me express my biases: I am NOT an anthropologist, I am a fan of Second Life in particular and virtual worlds in general, and Tom’s book accomplished a few things for me: it helped to create a framework for understanding sociality in Second Life, and it made me interested in learning more about anthropology – so if nothing else, it may serve as a recruiting tool for what I see as an important field of study to help make sense of the rapidly expanding domains of human expression.”
So we have an ethnographic study generating interdisciplinary interest, and a public space to discuss it. Very cool.
another anthro blog 
Posted by Blog authors and audiences « Picking Up Sticks on November 25, 2008 at 4:41 am
[…] academics. Blogging about your research means people outside of academic institutions, or even people outside the anthropological field, as Owen highlights, will be more likely to come in contact with your work. Secondly, blogging […]