Prices: Virtual Life Books

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  Life Online: Researching Real Experience in Virtual Space (Ethnographic Alternatives)

  Alienating for some, yet most intimate and real for others, emerging communications technologies are creating a varied array of cyberspace experiences. Nowhere are the new and old more intertwined, as familiar narratives of the past and radical visions of the future inform our attempts to assess the impact of cyberspace on self and society. Amidst the dizzying pace of technological innovation, Annette N. Markham embarks on a unique, ethnographic approach to understanding internet users by immersing herself in on-line reality. The result is an engrossing narrative as well as a theoretically engaging journey. A cast of characters, the reflexive author among them, emerge from Markham's interviews and research to depict the complexity and diversity of internet realities.While cyberspace is hyped as a disembodied cultural arena where physical reality can be transcended, Markham finds that to understand how people experience the internet, she must learn how to be embodied there—a process of acculturation and immersion which is not so different from other anthropological projects of cross-cultural understanding. Both new and not-so-new, cyberspace provides a context in which we can ask new sorts of questions about all cultural experience.

  $33.95

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  Robots Unlimited: Life in a Virtual Age

  Consider this -- Robots will one day be able to write poetry and prose so touching that it will make men weep compose symphonies that rival the work of Mozart judge a court case with absolute impartiality and fairness converse with the natural ease of your best friend. Robots will one day be so life-like that a human could fall in love and marry one. Thought Provoking and controversial? Certainly. Farfetched? Not at all. In the 50 years since the inception of Artificial Intelligence, computer scientists have made remarkable achievements that can be seen in computer games, childrens toys, your home PC and nearly every facet of human life. In this popular approach to understanding AI, David Levy captures the essence, excitement and potential of Artificial Intelligence. He lays the factual foundations for his intriguing speculations by presenting the history of AI from its earliest conception to present day. He then considers the most recent advances and makes predictions about the future of this burgeoning science.

  $45.00

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  The Virtual Worlds Handbook: How to Use Second Life and Other 3D Virtual Environments

  Step into the world of virtual reality with your newly created avatar and begin to experience the tools that make this world interactive! During their infancy stage, virtual environments were largely based upon the gaming community and over time have been adapted to meet the growing number of users and educators. The Virtual Worlds Handbook, with CD-ROM, provides a user-friendly approach that will help trainers and educators create an effective and interactive environment within the Second Life virtual world. This book was written to help the novice user tackle the natural learning curve while providing the experienced user with tips, tools, and tricks to help any educator or trainer meet their professional goals faster. The opportunities using virtual reality are limitless and provide online students with a unique opportunity to connect both physically and educationally to one another, to faculty, to university, and to a worldwide market.

  $49.95