Bonnie A. Nardi

A book about the online computer game, World of Warcraft (WoW), by an professor with an Anthropology background who teaches in a university department of Information and Computer Sciences, and who, reluctant to squander time on frivolous video games, took up the game to understand what was exciting her students so much, and ended up playing the game herself and sharing their excitement. The author describes the book as an Ethnographic investigation of the game. Ideas from philosopher John Dewey on the aesthetics of play, and methods from a social science approach known as “Activity Theory” are used.

The Introduction and the Chapter 1 are my favorite sections because they accurately describe the experience of someone, like myself, discovering multi-person online game for the first time. In the following chapters, WoW players will enjoy the insightful discussions about the game: online social camaraderie, raiding, “theorycraft” (i.e. the rules, formulas or logic that define how the game is played), the gender issue in computer games, as well as the dreaded WoW “addiction”. There is an interesting discussion about some rule changes for Raids parties which occurred with one of the games “expansion packs”. The change in Raid size was probably intended as an improvement, by permitting a Raid to be formed with fewer players (10 instead of 20). However, apparently it also resulted in the more skilled players advancing faster and leaving slower improving players farther behind. This in turn often strained social ties among players. This example illustrates how “social media” rests upon a large base of complex software whose influence on user experience is not always appreciated - until a change is made to the software.

WoW has lost a lot of popularity in recent years, but former players will find the book enjoyable, if nostalgic, reading. Researchers in fields like sociology or anthropology should find it to be an excellent study of the social use of computers.

Aside on US Senator Tom Colburn's “Wastebook 2010” report:
The research project which led to this book received some undeserved, negative publicity in 2010, when it was included in U.S Senator Tom Colburn's report “Wastebook 2010”. This report lists examples of Federal spending that Senator Colburn considers wasteful and contributing to the large Federal deficit. I am no more qualified that Senator Colburn to evaluate the merits of social science research projects.
However, it should be noted that the total funding listed in “Wastebook 2010” (12 billion dollars) amounts to just under one percent of the 2010 Federal Deficit (1.3 trillion dollars), or about 1/10'th of one percent of the total National Debt (13 trillion). (The WoW research project funding (3 million) was about 0.03% of that one percent of the Federal Deficit.) So if funding for all of the “waste” listed in “Wastebook 2010” was eliminated, the impact on the national debt essentially would be undetectable.… (mer)

Shares a simliar title with Davenport and Prusak's Information Ecology, but has a different focus. Rather than breaking down all the elements of an information ecology as Davenport and Prusak's book does, it focuses a lot on people's perceptions of technology and how an ecology functions or doesn't function, along with some case studies for illustration. I wasn't as engaged on first read, but looking back feel that the book helps to more easily grasp the concept of an IE and how people act within it.… (mer)