Guest Thinkers — February 16, 2011 Virtual world tidbits Scott McLeod Copy a link to the article entitled http://Virtual%20world%20tidbits Share Virtual world tidbits on Facebook Share Virtual world tidbits on Twitter (X) Share Virtual world tidbits on LinkedIn A few choice items related to virtual worlds… Dr. Judith Donath hypothesizes a day when spammers will use avatars to scam money from us. Dr. Edward Castronova, author of the fabulous book, Synthetic Worlds, is finding that gender bias may also occur in virtual worlds. For example, female EverQuest avatars fetch 10 percent less in the market, even when they have the same powers and skills as male avatars. Check out some of his other work too.Virtual Congress, anyone? (I wonder if it will include scandals…)Finally, check out this funny real-world simulation of Second Life (brought to you by Blackboard).
Hard Science Gaiasignatures: A new way to search for alien life "I hope we take a mindset where we are willing to look for weird life in weird places."
Neuropsych Rhyme as reason: The cognitive quirk that makes bad advice seem wise Beer before wine and you'll feel fine? Well, it depends.
Starts With A Bang The better way to measure cosmic time For some reason, when we talk about the age of stars, galaxies, and the Universe, we use "years" to measure time. Can we do better?
Hard Science Why a James Webb Space Telescope mystery doesn’t (necessarily) break cosmology The JWST's observations of well-developed galaxies early in universal history may coincide with accepted astronomical theory after all.
Business “Cultures of growth”: How small changes can build stronger, more successful teams Psychologist Mary C. Murphy explains why growth-mindset teams outperform those centered around a lone genius.
Guest Thinkers Vision challenge – Part 1 Here’s a challenge for all of us educational technology advocates… Can we articulate in a few short sentences or paragraphs what the end result looks like? Children learning collaboratively, students […]