Comments on: Virtual Darfur, and why I don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/ EthanZ's musings on Africa, media and international development Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:45:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The Metaverse for Change « The Electric Sheep Company http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-1387430 The Metaverse for Change « The Electric Sheep Company Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:45:10 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-1387430 [...] don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore. I thought the post was short-sighted but the discussion that has sprung up around it has been [...] [...] don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore. I thought the post was short-sighted but the discussion that has sprung up around it has been [...]

]]> By: Scratchpad http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-1087520 Scratchpad Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:39:15 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-1087520 [...] First, in his words, has “(t)he conflict in Darfur has been reducible to a fairly simple media narrative, with good guys and bad guys… even thought this narrative doesn’t accurately reflect the reality on the ground.”   This view is an extension of an argument posted in 2006 detailing why he thought a simulated refugee camp in Second Life was so unrepresentative of a real refugee camp that he thought it performed a disservice beyond any public awareness value it offered (”Virtual Darfur, and why I don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore”). [...] [...] First, in his words, has “(t)he conflict in Darfur has been reducible to a fairly simple media narrative, with good guys and bad guys… even thought this narrative doesn’t accurately reflect the reality on the ground.”   This view is an extension of an argument posted in 2006 detailing why he thought a simulated refugee camp in Second Life was so unrepresentative of a real refugee camp that he thought it performed a disservice beyond any public awareness value it offered (”Virtual Darfur, and why I don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore”). [...]

]]> By: …My heart’s in Accra » Media, reality, representation: what are we paying attention to when we pay attention to Darfur? http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-1077666 …My heart’s in Accra » Media, reality, representation: what are we paying attention to when we pay attention to Darfur? Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:42:37 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-1077666 [...] so much as a simulated Darfur, “Second Life Darfur”, as my friend put it, referencing a rant I posted two years ago about a simulated refugee camp built in Second Life designed to call attention to the conflict in Darfur. The situation in Darfur is incredibly [...] [...] so much as a simulated Darfur, “Second Life Darfur”, as my friend put it, referencing a rant I posted two years ago about a simulated refugee camp built in Second Life designed to call attention to the conflict in Darfur. The situation in Darfur is incredibly [...]

]]> By: video vidi visum : virtual » Games for Change panel : Virtual Activism http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-347183 video vidi visum : virtual » Games for Change panel : Virtual Activism Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:43:43 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-347183 [...] This panel focused almost exclusively on Second Life but didn’t touch what I felt to be the most important issue facing not just Games for Change but the entire realm of online activism: translating “awareness” into action. The mention of Camp Darfur brought to mind Ethan Zuckerman’s critique of Second Life from a year ago. [...] [...] This panel focused almost exclusively on Second Life but didn’t touch what I felt to be the most important issue facing not just Games for Change but the entire realm of online activism: translating “awareness” into action. The mention of Camp Darfur brought to mind Ethan Zuckerman’s critique of Second Life from a year ago. [...]

]]> By: 2006-05-16 This weeks links [Late is better than never :)] « Visible Procrastinations http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-225076 2006-05-16 This weeks links [Late is better than never :)] « Visible Procrastinations Wed, 25 Apr 2007 04:16:23 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-225076 [...] Virtual Darfur, and why I don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore Ethan Zuckerman’s blog, ” … I wondered how Sibley, a guy with a tremendous social conscience, could be so excited about a platform that involves so few people and has such high barriers to entry - if Sibley really believed in global inclusion and economic development, why work in a walled garden occupied mostly by highly wired alpha geeks? …” http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545 [Ethan Zuckerman] [...] [...] Virtual Darfur, and why I don’t get invited to technology conferences anymore Ethan Zuckerman’s blog, ” … I wondered how Sibley, a guy with a tremendous social conscience, could be so excited about a platform that involves so few people and has such high barriers to entry – if Sibley really believed in global inclusion and economic development, why work in a walled garden occupied mostly by highly wired alpha geeks? …” http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545 [Ethan Zuckerman] [...]

]]> By: Ethan http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-153023 Ethan Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:18:09 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-153023 That looks great, Jordan/Maria - it's behind a pay firewall on the web, so I may need to get to my local library to read it, but it looks worth the trip... That looks great, Jordan/Maria – it’s behind a pay firewall on the web, so I may need to get to my local library to read it, but it looks worth the trip…

]]> By: Jordan & Maria Seidel http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-152948 Jordan & Maria Seidel Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:01:33 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-152948 ethan, i don't know if you know, but there was a relevant article in the atlantic monthly a few years ago, below is the intro...just an fyi: The Atlantic Monthly | April 2002 Seeing Around Corners "The new science of artificial societies suggests that real ones are both more predictable and more surprising than we thought." "Growing long-vanished civilizations and modern-day GENOCIDES on computers will probably never enable us to foresee the future in detail—but we might learn to anticipate the kinds of events that lie ahead, and where to look for interventions that might work." by Jonathan Rauch ethan, i don’t know if you know, but there was a relevant article in the atlantic monthly a few years ago, below is the intro…just an fyi:

The Atlantic Monthly | April 2002
Seeing Around Corners

“The new science of artificial societies suggests that real ones are both more predictable and more surprising than we thought.”

“Growing long-vanished civilizations and modern-day GENOCIDES on computers will probably never enable us to foresee the future in detail—but we might learn to anticipate the kinds of events that lie ahead, and where to look for interventions that might work.”

by Jonathan Rauch

]]> By: …My heart’s in Accra » Charles Nesson’s lunch at Berkman: what does it mean for a university to be “open”? http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-95967 …My heart’s in Accra » Charles Nesson’s lunch at Berkman: what does it mean for a university to be “open”? Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:49:30 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-95967 [...] Hoping to provoke me, I suspect, Charlie asks me whether I would support a Harvard project to build “an open source metaverse”. He knows that I’m on record as being skeptical about the hype around the Second Life project. And he’s teaching a class with his daughter this semester which takes place, in part, in Second Life. Taking the bait, I argue (somewhat disingenuously) that there’s an open source alternative to Second Life in Open Croquet, that Charlie’s decision to run a Harvard class in Second Life gives Linden Labs a great deal of free publicity, and that Charlie must be mad to create intellectual property in a format that can’t be freely moved to another server. Hilarity ensues, culminating in Charlie miming his death from my vorpal rhetorical blows and collapsing to the floor. [...] [...] Hoping to provoke me, I suspect, Charlie asks me whether I would support a Harvard project to build “an open source metaverse”. He knows that I’m on record as being skeptical about the hype around the Second Life project. And he’s teaching a class with his daughter this semester which takes place, in part, in Second Life. Taking the bait, I argue (somewhat disingenuously) that there’s an open source alternative to Second Life in Open Croquet, that Charlie’s decision to run a Harvard class in Second Life gives Linden Labs a great deal of free publicity, and that Charlie must be mad to create intellectual property in a format that can’t be freely moved to another server. Hilarity ensues, culminating in Charlie miming his death from my vorpal rhetorical blows and collapsing to the floor. [...]

]]> By: CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion » What is “real”? Virtual Chainmail vs. Doggie Day-Care http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-65430 CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion » What is “real”? Virtual Chainmail vs. Doggie Day-Care Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:40:31 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-65430 [...] So does Benkler describe a fantasy world built on top of the very real toiling of very real people, made possible by skimming the profits of our day jobs to feed our Second Lives? On the one hand it seems this new world fufills Marx’s hope that we would one day transcend capitalism, become our essential productive/creative selves, and “fish in the morning, hunt in the afternoon, and write criticism in the evening.” On the other, are only we, the privileged, able to experience that freedom precisely because we’ve succeeded in squeezing our luxury-time from others? When we look at the new New Economy and imagine a decentralization of power, are we merely looking at a new form of slacktivism in 3D incarnation? [...] [...] So does Benkler describe a fantasy world built on top of the very real toiling of very real people, made possible by skimming the profits of our day jobs to feed our Second Lives? On the one hand it seems this new world fufills Marx’s hope that we would one day transcend capitalism, become our essential productive/creative selves, and “fish in the morning, hunt in the afternoon, and write criticism in the evening.” On the other, are only we, the privileged, able to experience that freedom precisely because we’ve succeeded in squeezing our luxury-time from others? When we look at the new New Economy and imagine a decentralization of power, are we merely looking at a new form of slacktivism in 3D incarnation? [...]

]]> By: Ruby Sinreich http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2006/05/10/virtual-darfur-and-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-technology-conferences-anymore/comment-page-1/#comment-64319 Ruby Sinreich Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:21:49 +0000 http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=545#comment-64319 Ethan, thanks so much for this thoughtful discussion of the many issues and challenges around trying to use SL for social good. I have many of the same concerns, but it seems to be a matter of HOW - not WHETHER - social action will happen in SL. You've already got politicians visiting, etc. In fact, there are a group of nonprofit-types who have been meeting in SL weekly to discuss the various ways that NPs can establish a presence in SL and use it ti advance their own missions. I wonder if you'd be willing to come join us as a guest speaker some time? Finally, regarding the following comment, they're called "Bush voters." They live among us. <i>if you’re so deeply disconnected from the reality I live in that a Second Life space is the first time you’ve encountered this issue, then we don’t have much common context. (Do such people exist? Do they vote?)</i> Ethan, thanks so much for this thoughtful discussion of the many issues and challenges around trying to use SL for social good. I have many of the same concerns, but it seems to be a matter of HOW – not WHETHER – social action will happen in SL. You’ve already got politicians visiting, etc.

In fact, there are a group of nonprofit-types who have been meeting in SL weekly to discuss the various ways that NPs can establish a presence in SL and use it ti advance their own missions. I wonder if you’d be willing to come join us as a guest speaker some time?

Finally, regarding the following comment, they’re called “Bush voters.” They live among us.
if you’re so deeply disconnected from the reality I live in that a Second Life space is the first time you’ve encountered this issue, then we don’t have much common context. (Do such people exist? Do they vote?)

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