1. Building Community in Virtual
Worlds
Steve Bronack
Appalachian State University
Amy Cheney
Appalachian State University
Roni Linser
Fablusi, P/L

2. Agenda
• Introductions
• Purpose
• Overview of virtual worlds / community
• Demonstrations / Discussion
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

3. Introduction
• Panel Participants
• Partnerships
• Projects
• Special Issue - IJWBC
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

4. Purpose
• IJWBC – Building Community in Virtual Worlds
• Topic
• Aim
• Guiding Questions
• Discussion, feedback, & relevant work
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

5. Overview
What types of communities can be expected
and/or developed using virtual worlds?
• Communities where communication matters
• Communities where identity matters
• Communities where others matter
• Communities where validity matters
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

6. Overview
How are virtual worlds uniquely suited to the
creation of communities?
• Enable communication in meaningful ways
• Enable connections
• Enable knowledge management &
relationship design
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

7. Overview
What strategies are most effective in creating
community in virtual worlds?
• Tap into unique characteristics of virtual
worlds to help communities gather, share,
perform, and verify
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

8. Strategies
Supports which can foster a sense of community in online environments
include:
•Meaningful and authentic exercises and requirements
•Extended opportunities for collaboration
•User-friendly communication tools which move beyond alphanumeric
exchange such as email and threaded discussion
•Tools for organizing, evaluating and publishing knowledge which are
available to all group members
•Effective means for making group decisions
•Respect for individual members, including flexible accommodation of
multiple goals, foci, and learning needs, and room for private exchanges.
Wilson, Brent G. (2001, July). Sense of community as a valued outcome for electronic courses, cohorts and
programs. VisionQuest PT3 Conference, Denver, CO. Retrieved December 21, 2007, from
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/SenseOfCommunity.html.
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

9. Overview
How are presence and co-presence manifest in
unique ways in virtual worlds?
• Being there
• Being there with others
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

10. Overview
What is the impact of presence and co-
presence in the creation of purposeful
communities?
• Organic/epigenetic
• Behavior is shaped by environment of
others
• Manufactured/prescriptive
• Validity and likelihood of desired results
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

11. Presence and Co-Presence
Our own experiences with teaching in this type of
immersive learning environment supports studies on
social presence by Rovai (2002) and Tu (2002), which
suggest that this sense of presence and co-presence is
a critical factor in the creation of online communities.
Rovai, Alfred P. (2002). Building sense of community at a distance. International Review of Research in Open
and Distance Learning, 3(1). Retrieved January 16, 2007, from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.1/rovai.html.
Tu, Chih-Hsiung. (2002). The measurement of social presence in an online learning environment. International
Journal on E-Learning 1(2), 34-45. Retrieved January 20, 2003, from www.aace.org/dl/files/IJEL/IJEL1234.pdf.
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

12. Overview
How can virtual worlds best be designed as
both formal and informal spaces for
learning, socializing, communicating, or other
intentional or serendipitous purposes?
What are the important factors that must be
accounted for? Achievement? Intent to persist?
Meaningful participation? Efficacy and
enjoyment?
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

13. Overview
What kinds of tools and capabilities must be
imbedded in virtual, immersive worlds to
promote the creation of different types of
communities (i.e. task-oriented, socially-
oriented)?
What are the core functions members of a
community need to exist online?
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

14. Overview
What research questions are most important as
virtual worlds continue to evolve for specific
purposes?
• What new models and methods must emerge to get
the most of the media we know have available?
• Which ways of judging quality are worth
keeping, and which ones are not?
• What existing challenges still remain – or are
exacerbated – and which ones become moot?
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

15. Important Dates
Abstract Submission: 1 October 2008
Paper Submission: 1 December 2008
Notification to authors: 19 January 2009
Questions/submissions to:
Dr Amelia Cheney
Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology
Department of Leadership and Educational Studies
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
Email: cheneyal@appstate.edu
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

16. Discussion / Demonstration
Thoughts?
Questions?
See some examples?
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

17. For Further Information
This presentation:
http://www.lesn.appstate.edu/iadis2008.htm
AET Zone:
http://www.lesn.appstate.edu/aetz/default.htm
Fablusi:
http://www.fablusi.com
http://www.simplay.net
CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=986

18. Thank you!
Steve Bronack – bronacksc@appstate.edu
Amy Cheney – cheneyal@appstate.edu
Roni Linser – roni@simplay.net