interaction teach us? The
researchers will explore this question by studying how people with
disabilities create and interact
socially in virtual worlds, and how
they use different kinds of devices
in their homes to experience these
on-line environments.
The result is a series of studies,
widely varied in nature and
content, some of which - such as
Jadyn's own Reconstructing Identity
After Disability. This is a beautifully
presented and moving story of how
she has come to deal with her
bipolar disorder after the condition
Twenty 32x32 meter studio parcels left her unable to continue in her
career as an assistant professor at
have been made available to
the University of Texas, Austin, and
applicants with disabilities, who
how the use of virtual spaces in
have been invited to share their
experiences, insights, and thoughts Second Life and the friends she has
made here have empowered her
on their disability: what impacts
has it had on them in terms of their creativity in both the digital and
physical realms.
experiences, social interactions,
dreams, and how have they used
it? How have they used it to change "When I sent in my application to
their experiences living with that participate in the project, I did not
know yet what I wanted to build,"
disability?
Jadyn says of the installation. "All I
How applicants use their space has knew was, I wanted to create an
deliberately been left open, altinstallation that somehow
hough some pointers were given as represents the many-faceted, (re)
to how they might think about
enabled life that SL has made
using it: for expression through 2D possible for me, but I had no idea
or 3D art, thought media
exactly what I was going to build.
presentations / displays, as a space
"I started looking back in my
in which they can develop art or
expression through external media inventory to things that dated back
to my earliest days in SL, and
such as blogs, or the creation of
interactive spaces designed to give realized it essentially documents
others insight into their experience my entire time in SL. From that I got
or as a game - or any combination the idea of perhaps doing my build
as a sort of museum exhibit, telling
of these ideas.
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