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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.
INTERDEPENDENTLY YOURS (MELTING POT OR DIASPORIC DIVIDE?)
OCT 8, 2007 - 10:54AM PDT
Posted by Joshua S Fouts
All posts by this author
(This blog originally appeared on the MacArthur Foundation's Spotlight)
For the past four years Doug Thomas and I have been exploring the potential role of virtual worlds as entry point for cultural dialog through our Public Diplomacy and Virtual Worlds Initiative. We began our research looking at the virtual world/MMOG, Star Wars Galaxies. At the time, the game presented itself as a rich hybrid: players could both play a game and live in it. Residents built and ran cities, they “owned” homes and decorated them (and, more importantly, invested in them emotionally) in myriad self-expressive ways. What was most exciting was that a respectable portion of the players were not from the United States: The world was coming together under the tapestry of a “Lucasian” mythos.
It was about two years into our project that we noticed the increasing internationalization of Second Life. It seems a lifetime since then—with the registered user base was a little over a 100,000 and the U.S. was over 75% of the base. Today the registered user base is perilously close to 10 million and of that, the U.S. percentage is roughly 20%. Germany is on the ascent in second place and Brazil, ever the early adopter of new technology trends, is a close third.
Can’t make a sound when you’re a world within a world.
Two weeks ago, I lead a panel in Mexico City at the fifth annual Interdependence Day conference. Our panel was part of our new MacArthur Foundation project exploring the Role of the Foundation in Virtual Worlds. The conference, the brainchild of Dr. Benjamin Barber, was launched in 2001 following the attacks of September 11. It’s thesis is simple
phrase: The attacks of September 11 illustrate not how divided we are as a world, but how interdependent we are. Since 2002, the conference has been held in a difference city throughout the world—last year in Morocco, for example.
The conference gathers a lofty list of scholars, philosophers, theologians, artists and activists. This year was no exception and included Polish Solidarity Founder Adam Michnik, American television anchor Tavis Smiley, Remin University professor Jin Canrong (China), celebrated Mexican sculptor Sebastian, Independent Sector President Diana Aviv, Hungarian parliamentarian and scholar Ivan Vitanyi, Princeton Professor Cornel West, Nashville singer and composer Pam Rose, Belgium Theater and Dance director Guy Gypens, playwright and filmmaker Josh Fox, distinguished Columbia University globalization scholar Saskia Sassen, Vatican scholar and chancellor of the Pontificial Academy of Social Sciences Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, former U.N. Undersecretary Olara Otuna, New York Library of the Performing Arts Director Jackie Davis, Mexican writers union (SOGOM) president Victor Hugo Rascon Banda Rascon, Afghani writer and filmmaker Tahir Shah, Fez Sacred Music Festival director Faouzi Skali (Morocco), Metro Newspaper publisher and Remedee Foundation President Sophie Stenbeck and New York N.G.O. DEMOS president Miles Rapoport. And on ...
In a diversion from the usual panel topics, which focus on more traditional political and ethical topics, ours asked what role virtual worlds play in issues central to interdependence: migration, democracy and linguistic diaspora. Our panel featured a cross-section of virtual world experts: Peter Singer, former CTO of Vivendi/Universal; Mark Wallace, virtual worlds journalist; Gilberto Gil, Brazilian Minister of Culture; and Jose Murilo Junior, who directs technical innovation for the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.
In a nod to our Second Life community, some of our panelists appeared in person and some in Second Life. As if to highlight to the distance between the two worlds, I found myself in the unique position of having to “protect” the Second Life panelist’s right to speak—since not being physically present meant that they could only advocate for themselves virtually ...
The panel pushed the boundaries of most people’s understanding of what’s going on in virtual worlds. For many, this was the first time they had actually seen a virtual world. In fact, the audience sat mostly in a stunned silence until Ben Barber jumped in as catalyst, declaring that the unmentioned side of these spaces is that “99% of the people in [virtual world] ... couldn’t care less about politics, feeding the hungry.”
The audience jumped in with a fervor at this point attacking the panel for everything from being facile to racially homogeneous. Ironically, we hadn’t yet gotten to a compelling presentation by Gilberto Gil and his chief technology deputy, Jose Murilo.
Democracy Matters.
The attack on virtual world’s capacity for vice was cogently subsumed in the comments of philosopher Cornel West, who surmised that reflecting on sex in Second Life, was a bit too much emphasis on the “Night side” of life instead of the opportunity to do good. Dr. West suggested that Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, who preceded us, might have a few things to say about the “night side” of the Catholic Church as well.
Our superb intern, Mariel, from Global Kids who is a high school student in Mexico City did an excellent professional and personal write-up. She was equal parts cynical and stunned.
Most importantly, dialog ensued: a rich, three-day tapestry of conversations about what role virtual worlds should and should not play in life; whether they are art or distraction; and most of all acknowledgment that they are a complex manifestation of life that we do not yet begin to understand, ignore at our peril and approach in isolation to the loss of us all. Interdependent, indeed.
Read Comments (2) | Add Your Own
 Read Comments:
Mary Finnigan on October 9, 2007 @ 1:20 am:
Faouzi Skali is no longer Director General of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music. He left after the 2006 festival. He co-founded the festival in 1986 with Mohammed Kabbaj.
Mary Finnigan on October 9, 2007 @ 1:21 am:
Ooops! Should read 1996.
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