CfP: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds

Reinventing Ourselves: Contemporary Concepts of Identity in Virtual Worlds
Provisionally to be published in 2011 in Springer’s Human-Computer Interaction Series

Editors: Anna Peachey (Eygus Ltd / The Open University) and Mark Childs (Coventry University)

Invitation to Submit:
We invite abstracts of between 500 and 650 words describing the proposed chapter. Abstracts should be supported further by up to 500 words explaining the theoretical underpinning to the chapter, and a brief summary describing how this chapter will contribute to the book. If the work has been previously published in any format, or is under consideration elsewhere, please indicate details of this with your submission.

Submissions should be sent as a Word or RTF document attachment by email to virtualworlds@open.ac.uk, by 31 July 2010.
Authors will be notified of acceptance by 31 August 2010.
Final chapters, of between 8,000 and 10,000 words, will be due by 30 October 2010, before a double-blind review and revision period.
Completed manuscripts to be submitted on 15 December 2010.

Objectives:
We anticipate that this book will:
Explore how living, working and learning in virtual worlds is changing notions of who we are and how we mediate our identities;
Develop understanding and awareness about the diversity of identity issues in virtual worlds;
Contribute to the theory and development of good practice in identity management and research in virtual worlds;
Propose visions for future practice and research relating to identity management and research in virtual worlds;
Provide examples and case studies from key areas of professional practice.

Further details, including a more detailed guide to content, can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/virtualworlds/p2_1.shtml

Call for Papers: Learning in 3D

Special Issue of the International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL): Learning in 3D

Guest editors: Carlos Delgado Kloos and Daniel J. Livingstone

Download copy of call for special issue on 3D learning (pdf)

Journal Aims

IJTEL fosters multidisciplinary discussion and research on technology enhanced learning (TEL) approaches at the individual, organisational, national and global levels. Its key objective is to be the leading scholarly scientific journal for all those interested in, researching and contributing to the technology enhanced learning episteme. For this reason, IJTEL delivers research articles, position papers, surveys and case studies aiming:

  • To provide a holistic and multidisciplinary discussion on technology enhanced learning research issues
  • To promote the international collaboration and exchange of ideas and know how on technology enhanced learning
  • To investigate strategies on how technology enhanced learning can promote sustainable development

Subject Coverage of Special Issue

This special issue seeks to bring together research, from different perspectives, on a range of 3D technologies that may be used to enhance or support learning.
Suitable topics may relate to, but are not limited to, the use of a range of 3D technologies in enhancing learning:

  • Virtual Worlds
  • Game-based Learning
  • Immersive Simulation
  • Augmented Reality
  • Cross and mixed-reality
  • Assessment in 3D environments
  • Pedagogies for TEL in 3D environments
  • Communities of Learners in 3D environments
  • Standards and Interoperability

Submission

Prospective authors are invited to notify the intention to submit a paper by
sending a one-page abstract to the editors by 6th August 2010 and submit the full
paper by 6th September 2010.
Abstracts may be sent to the editors at cdk@it.uc3m.es or
daniel.livingstone@uws.ac.uk
Final papers should be submitted electronically via the InderScience online
submissions system at: http://bit.ly/ijtel

Important Dates

6th August 2010: Title and Abstract deadline (optional)
6th September 2010: Full paper submission deadline
15th October 2010: Decision notification
12th November 2010: Camera-ready version
Early 2011: Publication (tentative)

Guest Editors

Carlos Delgado Kloos, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Leganés (Madrid, Spain), cdk@it.uc3m.es
Daniel J. Livingstone, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE (Scotland, UK), Daniel.Livingstone@uws.ac.uk

Editorial Committee

Ignacio Aedo, UC3M, Spain
John Belcher, MIT, USA
Josep Blat, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Darryl Charles, University of Ulster, UK
Thomas Connolly, University of the West of Scotland, UK
Abdulmotaleb El Saddik, University of Ottawa, Canada
Lesley Gourlay, Coventry University, UK
Miguel Lizondo, Deimos-Space, Spain
Judith Molka-Danielsen, Molde University College, Norway
Mariano Rico, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Pilar Sancho Thomas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Kath Trinder, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK

CAL 2011 – Learning Futures

The CAL Conference 2011

Learning Futures: Education, Technology & Sustainability

April 13-15 2011, Manchester, UK

CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) is one of the leading international conferences in the field of education and technology. It brings together researchers across all education sectors, from primary years, to informal learning, to higher education, and across a range of disciplines from psychology to computer science, media and cultural studies.

In 2011, the conference will lead a challenging international debate about the future of research and practice in educational technology. CAL 11 aims to:

  • Explore the role of educational technology research in addressing questions of global and social justice, widening participation and digital democracy
  • Assess what role educational technology might play in the context of low carbon, energy constrained futures
  • Explore how emerging technologies from diverse fields (e.g. gaming, AI, biotech, ubiquitous computing) might offer new environments for learning
  • Examine the informal learning practices emerging in children, youth and adults’ digital cultures and their implications for education
  • Reflect on what lessons have been learned over the last thirty years of education technology research, and what these might mean for the future of research in the field.
Our four themes for the conference are:

Theme 1: Sustainability, globalisation and social justice
Theme 2: The future of learning technologies
Theme 3: Informal learning and digital cultures
Theme 4: Looking back to look forward

More…

Conference format

Within the main conference individual paper sessions, workshops and symposia are organised around the four themes. An informal fringe activity is run by the local organising committee to give a chance for participants to showcase and experiment with emerging technologies. If researchers wish to informally ‘demo’ innovative learning resources during the conference, please contact the conference chairs to discuss this possibility.

The CAL Conference 2011 is organised by Elsevier Ltd, publishers of the international journal Computers & Education.

CfP: Virtual Worlds: play or education?

ITALICS Call for Papers: “Virtual Worlds: play or education?”

Mon 1st Dec, 2008 FROM HEA ICS

The third issue of ITALICS for 2009 will be a special issue on Second Life and other Virtual Worlds in use in higher education.  The editors are seeking case studies and research papers discussing integrating virtual worlds with social media, VLEs and traditional teaching methods. More below…

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Virtual Communities and eDemocracy – Call for Papers

The following strand at the 3rd International Conference on e-Democracy (Next Generation Society: Technological and Legal Issues), taking place 23 – 25 September 2009, Athens, Greece might be of interest to some readers of this blog:

Virtual Communities

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CfP: VS-Games 2009

Glad they have the short name VS-Games as the full name is something of a mouthful…

VS-GAMES 2009
1st International Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications
23th, 24th March 2009, Coventry University, UK

Theme: “Environment, Cultural Heritage, Health, Smart buildings, V-commerce and Education”

EDIT: Updated conference link

Program chairs are Sara de Freitas, Kurt Squire and Edward Castronova. So a good line up there.

Second Call for Papers: ReLIVE08

Second Call ReLIVE08

The Open University is pleased to announce a second call for abstract submissions for the international conference for Researching Learning in Virtual Environments to be held at its campus in Milton Keynes on the 20th and 21st of November 2008.
If you are currently researching learning in a virtual world, for example There, CyberTown, Second Life etc, then we invite you to submit an abstract to ReLIVE08. We are seeking presenters and participants who have experience of designing and delivering learning in virtual worlds, and the ability to reflect on and share that experience within an analytical framework. Please note that the closing date for the second call is the 20th of June.

With researchers and practitioners attending from around the globe, this excellent opportunity for networking promises an interesting, stimulating and exciting 2 days. The conference will begin with a reception on the evening of the 19th November, and the first full day will see the opening keynote from Edward Castranova and an invited panel debate chaired by Sara De Freitas, Director of Research at The Serious Games Institute, as well as a varied programme of paper presentations and workshops. The conference gala reception and dinner will be supported by a variety of entertainers, including a digital caricaturist, live music and an after dinner speaker (details to be announced shortly), and the second day of presentations and workshops will be wrapped up by Roo Reynolds. All delegates will receive a conference goodie bag and an electronic copy of the conference proceedings. Selected papers will be invited to submit chapters for an edited book with a major publisher in the field (tbc).

Please find more details at our website on http://www.open.ac.uk/relive08

We hope to see you in November.

CFP: Researching Learning in Virtual Environments – ReLIVE 08

It’s not often that I get to say “I hope to see you in Milton Keynes in November”, but this is one of those rare times…

Researching Learning in Virtual Environments – ReLIVE08

20th and 21st November 2008.

Keynote speakers: Edward Castranova and Roo Reynolds.

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Calls for papers

Kind of losing track of all the different calls for papers for conferences, etc., so here are a bunch in one place. Most of these I am not really considering – I have only so much time and money for conferences, but these do look interesting. Quite a few have very imminent deadlines. Covering Game development, game research, games in education, learning technology, computers in education, and games for change… more below:

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elearningpapers

Noticed a new European Commission supported online journal on e-learning, elearningpapers. First issue is online now, and includes one paper that I think is relevant to the use of Second Life in education – although it isn’t about SL at all – “User-defined content in a constructivist learning environment” by Johnson and Dyer.

I have not yet had a chance to read the whole paper, but the following para from the abstract explains it quite well:

This research argues that … user-generated content has an important part to play in defining new pedagogical approaches to learning. Where the social constructs of community build confidence and self-esteem, individuals are able to take charge of their own learning and develop a sense of ownership through “community pull”.