{"id":6227,"date":"2018-05-08T20:03:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T19:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=6227"},"modified":"2018-05-08T20:03:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T19:03:31","slug":"congressional-briefing-to-feature-excerpt-from-our-digital-selves-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=6227","title":{"rendered":"Congressional Briefing To Feature Excerpt From Our Digital Selves Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Our Digital Selves : My Avatar is me” is a documentary produced with a large slice of work from Draxtor Despres<\/a>, well known virtual world filmmaker and also known as Bernhard Drax.<\/p>\n

The documentary follows\u00a0Tom Boellstorff<\/a>, UC Irvine and\u00a0Donna Z. Davis<\/a>, University of Oregon as they lead discussions regarding the connection between people with varied disabilities and their engagement with virtual worlds such as Second Life, High Fidelity and Sansar.<\/p>\n

The documentary itself is part of a research project<\/a>\u00a0supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology and Science, Technology, and Society).\u00a0The project is supported by\u00a0the University of California, Irvine; the University of Oregon; and the National Science Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, Wednesday May 9th, Congressman Alan Lowenthal will be hosting a Congressional Briefing on Disability, Mental Health, and Virtual Worlds<\/a>\u00a0which will discuss the findings of this research project.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The blurb regarding the briefing states :<\/p>\n

You\u2019re invited to join Congressman Alan Lowenthal, UC Irvine, and the University of Oregon at an exclusive congressional briefing on findings from a National Science Foundation-funded research project exploring disability experience in \u201cvirtual worlds\u201d \u2013\u00a0three-dimensional, immersive online spaces where people can appear any way they choose and do things they may not be able to do in the physical world. Featuring an excerpt from a forthcoming documentary about the research, the briefing will include a discussion\u00a0<\/em>regarding what disability experience in virtual worlds reveals about creative uses of online social interaction. Learn more about this featured work and check out a sneak peek of the documentary.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alan Lowenthal will provide introductory comments and panelists will include\u00a0 Tom Boellstorff, Professor, UC Irvine; Donna Davis, Assistant Professor, University of Oregon; Jeffrey Mantz, Program Director, Cultural Anthropology Program, National Science Foundation and\u00a0Fay Cook, Associate Director, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

Apparently food and beverages will be provided at this briefing.<\/p>\n

I will write more about this research project in future blog posts, the documentary is currently scheduled for an official release on May 18th, here’s a teaser.<\/p>\n