There will be a State of Play/Terra Nova Symposium on December 1-2 in NYC. It seems to be of great interest to my research (even though writing my phd dissertation will prevent me from any trip overseas). I would be tremendously interested by:
2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Methodologies and Metrics As with any interdisciplinary field, the nature of the study of virtual worlds is intimately connected to the nature of the methodology used to study the worlds. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies of various stripes all have their role here, but what role? Ethnographies, case studies, historiographies and related methods allow us to detect and understand certain types of behavior. Empirical and quantitative methods are good at creating generalized insights about behavior, but comparatively lousy in generating insights of how and why and with what meaning. In this workshop we will explore when certain methods are better than others, whether these methods are inconsistent, and what we need to understand about methodologies of virtual world research in order to do interesting work.Panelists: Nic Ducheneaut (PARC); Thomas Malaby (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Dmitri Williams (University of Illinois).
Why do I blog this? because I am doing game research, especially about user experiences matters 8using both quant and qual methodologies).