Events, Identity and Expression, Second Life

Metanomics Monday: Masterclass on Culture, Anthropology and the Meaning of Life

OK, so not much ground to cover on tomorrow’s Metanomics when I host Tom Boellstorff, noted anthropologist and author of the seminal work Coming of Age in Second Life.

The discussion lifts off of my previous post on the future of Second Life to which Tom graciously responded in the comments.

In follow-up chats with Tom, we toyed with a show focused on the merger of the Teen and Main Grids. We thought we might discuss how our journey as avatars in a virtual world isn’t unlike our journey as humans – from “noob” to “teen” to wiser and more mature (um, OK, the latter is subjective and has nothing to do with parcel ratings).

I can’t help thinking how true this is – when you first arrive in Second Life, you’re like a little kid. This is followed by your teen years of trying to fit in, lots of shopping, and endless hours dancing and chatting. (OK, so my own teen years were nothing like that, but you get the idea).

With Tom, however, there’s so much ground you can cover that it’s tough to restrict yourself to one topic. So we’re going to just stick to the topic of “everything” and see where it takes us.

I’ve interviewed Tom previously for this blog and if you want some homework before the show, it’s worth a read. Or have a glance at a wonderful post that Jennette Forager put together in preparation for the show.

But prepared or not, please join us on Monday as I welcome Tom Boellstorff to Metanomics, 12:00 pm Pacific Time.

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