Following the jump is my interview with Tom Boellstorff, author of Coming of Age in Second Life at the recent Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference.
As always, he was amazing although I’m the first to admit I’m a gushing fanboi when it comes to Tom.
His comments in particular on techne versus episteme and the role of ideas in a virtual world really struck home. While it may seem like 45 minutes is a lengthy chunk of your day, I can pretty much guarantee that the following is well worth watching.
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Tom is an awesome guy. I really wish I had made it to this! Ah well.
I liked Boellstorff’s book but with reservations.
I think the terms techne and episteme are utterly ridiculous and purposefully obscure. As if he was trying to conflate the importance of his work.
Don’t get me wrong, I think he is a pioneer already in his exploration of VR. But he doesn’t need to make more of it than it is right now.