Wheelies - In Second Life, not on motorcycle

This is a great story about a dance club in SL for RL disabled people to kick it, literally ...hmmm, well, at least virtually ;).



This brings me back to the question of whether emotions experienced in virtual spaces can be more intense or important than those experienced in RL. Perhaps we experience emotions during para-authentic virtual events - virtual events which have RL corollaries (e.g., my virtual motorcycle) - differently than we experience emotions during completely artificial virtual events. This seems obvious - someone who doesn't have a motorcycle in RL experiences a virtual motorcycle in a very different way than I do. Do they love it more or less than I do?

The more salient question is how the disabled person who tends to avoid RL dance clubs feels in the virtual dance club. It seems obvious that they enjoy it more than RL dance clubs. But if they don't go to RL dance clubs, then is the virtual dance club a para-authentic or artificial virtual event. Further, do they enjoy the virtual dance club more or less than I do?

More thoughts for the eventual dissertation? I have a feeling that if I contemplated this for awhile longer I could come up with a theoretical framework to organize how we experience emotion in virtual environments depending on whether it is an artificial or para-authentic event. But I've got more short-term thinking to get back to.

----UPDATE----
After reading this posting, Simon sent me an email saying he doesn't like RL dance clubs but dancing in SL makes him feel great. He also offered me an interview, which I will most likely follow up on when I have an official (IRB sanctioned) research project.

Beatbox Chef Cooks up a Storm

This is another posting that may or may not relate to media or technology. Regardless, the chef boxes a succulent beat to titillate your hip-hauditory taste buds.