ALISE 2016 Doctoral Poster

Hollister, J. M. (2016).  In- and out-of-character: The digital literacy practices and emergent information worlds of active role-players in a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game.  Poster to be presented at the 2016 ALISE Jean Tague-Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Poster Competition, Boston, MA, January 5-8 2016. [In- and Out-of-Character ALISE 2016 Doctoral Student Poster .pdf].

Short Abstract

This dissertation explores and describes the information worlds and digital literacy practices of role-players, those that enact and embody their characters’ or avatars’ stories, within WildStar, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.  Preliminary findings from ethnographic observation, participation, and semi-structured interviews, conducted both in- and out-of-character, suggest that digital literacy practices of role-players are primarily impacted by the information value systems of their communities.  Implications for practice, method, and theory will also be discussed.

Final Poster References

Carbine Studios. (2015). WildStar [computer game].  Aliso Viejo, CA:  NCSOFT.  Available at http://www.wildstar-online.com

Gee, J. P. (2009). Games, learning, and 21st century survival skills. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 2(1), 3-9.  Retrieved from   http://jvwresearch.org/

Gillen, J. (2009). Literacy practices in Schome Park:  a virtual literacy ethnography. Journal of Research in Reading, 32(1), 57-74.

Hine, C. (2000). Virtual ethnography. London: SAGE.

Jaeger, P. T., & Burnett, G. (2010). Information worlds: Social context, technology, and information behavior in the age of the internet. New York, NY: Routledge.

Knoblauch, H. (2005).  Focused ethnography.  Forum:  Qualitative Social Research, 6(3), 1-14.

Martin, C. (2011). An information literacy perspective on learning and new media. On the Horizon, 19, 268-275. doi:  10.1108/10748121111179394

Martin, C. (2012).  Video games, identity, and the constellation of information.  Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 32(5), 384-392.

Martin, C., & Steinkuehler, C. (2010).  Collective information literacy in massively multiplayer online games. E-Learning and Digital Media, 7(4), 355-365. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/elea.2010.7.4.355

Martin, C., Williams, C., Ochsner, A., Harris, S., King, E., Anton, G., Elmergreen, J. and Steinkuehler, C. (2012). Playing together separately: mapping out literacy and social synchronicity. In G. Merchant, J. Gillen, J. Davies (Eds.), Virtual Literacies: Interactive Spaces for Children and Young People. London:  Routledge.

Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2011). Information, media, and technology skills. Retrieved from http://p21.org/overview/skills-framework/61

Pearce, C. & Artemesia (2009). Communities of play: Emergent cultures in multiplayer games and virtual worlds. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Steinkuehler, C. (2004). Learning in massively multiplayer online games. In Y.B. Kafai (Ed.), ICLS 2004: Embracing diversity in the learning sciences: proceedings: June 22-26, 2004, University of California Los Angeles, Santa Monica, CA (pp. 521-528). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.