Summary of journal Week 2

Interaction takes place in a spatial context and in many ways is influenced or shaped by this context. Interaction also discursively creates space. In this article, authors aim to analyze the recreation of interactional architecture and spatial positioning in one specific virtual world, i.e. Second Life, in order to explore the ways in which the interactants deal with the differences between physical life and virtual life.

In this case of study, the authors use the virtual world of Second Life, a computer-driven, simulated three-dimensional virtual world inhabited by graphic avatars. They use two different sets of data. In Section One, they rely on data compiled by Jucker and Berger as part of an explorative study of Second Life in 2009 and 2010. In that study, they focus on events that are strongly framed, i.e. that were announced with an event note, that were scheduled with a beginning and ending time and that were moderated by one resident. They collect data on three event types: lectures, discussion events and parties. They attend three instances of each event type, recorde the event with a screen recording programme, make screenshots and copy the log files from open chat as well as from IM chats (sometimes Berger is asked questions concerning the research) into a Word document. In Section Two, they rely on data from a follow-up study conducted by Berger. Berger focused on how text-based discussion groups are organized in Second Life and how the three-dimensional virtual setting is employed for that purpose. 

Their investigation has revealed the limits of the understanding of the interdependence between space and interaction. It has become apparent how architectural space in physical life provides affordances for specific types of communication and how spaces can be created communicatively through interaction. Space in virtual life, such as Second Life, imitates many aspects of space in physical life, but some of the affordances of physical life which enable specific forms of communication turn into flags in virtual contexts. They are not needed to enable communication but they serve as indicators or frames of the specific type of communication that is taking place. 

Berger, M. (2016). Interaction and space in the virtual world of Second Life. Journal of Pragmatics, 101(3), 83-100. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2016.05.009