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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.

Posts by Joshua_Fouts

THE “ROI” ON VIRTUAL WORLDS, THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
OCT 29, 2007 - 1:50PM PST
Posted by Joshua S Fouts
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This article first appeared on the MacArthur Foundation's Spotlight blog.

I spent the past week at the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo in San Jose, California.

There were a number of interesting panels, but two themes caught my attention that I’d like to discuss here: 1) Concern for ROI or Return on Investment in Virtual Worlds; and 2) The Rise of China.

ROI

As interest in virtual worlds and the 3-D Immersive Web continues to peak, there has been much-ballyhooed media coverage about the flood of corporations rushing into the space; some who missed the boat during the dotcom boom... FULL TEXT
 
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THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED: ON BLACK WATCH AND THE U.S. MEDIA BUBBLE
OCT 28, 2007 - 12:20PM PST
Posted by Joshua S Fouts
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A few months ago I had the pleasure of a nice lunch in West Los Angeles with a team from the British Council out from Washington, D.C. The team was led by Ms. Sarah Frankland, Arts Manager, from the British Council.

The topic was theater and public diplomacy. The Council was trying something new in their programming -- bringing what could be a controversial play to the United States. Not only controversial, but a play that addressed one of the most volatile subjects in the U.S. and the world today: The U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The play explored the war... FULL TEXT
 
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INTERDEPENDENTLY YOURS (MELTING POT OR DIASPORIC DIVIDE?)
OCT 8, 2007 - 11:54AM PST
Posted by Joshua S Fouts
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(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... FULL TEXT
 
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STATE OF PLAY 5 (IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL)
SEP 26, 2007 - 1:08PM PST
Posted by Joshua S Fouts
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I’m just back from the State of Play V conference in Singapore. Congratulations to Dan Hunter, Beth Noveck and Aaron Delwiche for having the vision to host State of Play in Singapore, and the perseverance to keep it there despite the challenges of fundraising for and coordinating a conference 8,000 miles away. Thanks to the MacArthur Foundation for supporting it financially.

As with previous State of Plays I came away intellectually enriched. Moreover, I learned something new and unexpected—and not necessarily from the sources I anticipated.

Thanks to the generous invitation of Drs. Chee-Kit Looi and David Hung, I had... FULL TEXT
 
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