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• Schedule 2005-2006
• Schedule 2004-2005

Can you hear me now? The impact of voice in online games

Tuesday, 2nd May 2006, 17:15-19:00
University of Tampere, lecture hall 1096, PinniB
Video venue: University of Art and Design Helsinki, Media Centre Lume, Sampo Auditorium

Dmitri Williams, Assistant Professor, Department of Speech Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The now-famous New Yorker cartoon which reads "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" has been a clever way to illustrate issues about anonymity, social networks and interpersonal relationships. But what happens when someone gives the dog a microphone? This talk discusses the results of a controlled field experiment in which voice communication was introduced into an existing online community (guilds within the popular game "World of Warcraft"). Qualitative and quantitative results will be compared to a control group and will focus on social capital, interpersonal relationships and psychological variables.