"how do you understand afk beyond a literal interpretation?"

[14:36] Tom Bukowski: okay, lemme find the next question
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: Extropia DaSilva: "I really liked your study in to the term 'AFK' and how it can mean so much more than a literal interpretation. could you talk a bit about that?"
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: One thing that anthropologists usually like to do is get away from the controversies of the day
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: and we certainly have plenty of those in Second Life, lol
[14:37] Forelle Broek often wishes he could go AFK during faculty meetings
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: look at the little things
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: the things that even seem boring
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: and try to learn from them
[14:37] Tom Bukowski: so if you read the book, I have a whole section on afk
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: which probably seems boring
[14:38] Heidi Ballinger: nooo
[14:38] Forelle Broek: not at all - one of the best parts of the book
[14:38] Caliburn Susanto: that was an interesting analysis in the book.
[14:38] Marilena Basevi: I agree -- AFK part was fascinating -- you saw many layers in something that is relatively invisible
[14:38] Roy Smashcan: I actually was afk a couple of minutes ago - making tea :-)
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: but if you really study some examples
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: It can tell you a lot, about really basic issues like the relationships between time and space in virtual worlds
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: how time resists getting virtualized
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: in a way space does not
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: doesn't matter where
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: we are all here, logging in from around the world
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: but we have to be here at the same TIME
[14:38] Tom Bukowski: there is asynchronic sociality of course
[14:39] Tom Bukowski: like when a group of people take turns working on a building, etc
[14:39] Tom Bukowski: but for some things, the social interaction needs to be synchronic
[14:39] Riven Homewood: that is a great term - synchronic
[14:39] Tom Bukowski: so it's just one example of how I love to learn from the little things, not the headlines (although those are interesting too, of course)