Example of an information ground - World of Warcraft
In the example that I explore below I have tried to identify a social scenario where the defining characteristics of an Information Ground are present. Namely, where a group of people collectively gather for a common primary purpose and where this leads to a beneficial, serendipitous exchange of information. In this case it is an electronic environment known in the computer gaming industry as an MMORPG (a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), these have been a huge commercial success in Asia but recently have been gaining an avid following in the west. Several companies have produced hugely successful games of this type in Europe and North America such as Dark Age of Camelot, City of Heroes, Everquest (1 and 2) and World of Warcraft.
Role-playing is an intensively interactive activity whereby real-life players assume a persona or character and dictate their actions in a shared imaginary universe. The game is run along well set predetermined rules and mathematical formulae are employed to mimic variable phenomena within the world, it is also a hugely social and enjoyable, albeit time-consuming activity. As a result of the time-consuming nature of the activity there is often plenty of scope for social interaction and chitchat where the topics of conversation may frequently stray out of character. As in the type of social milieu envisaged by Fisher (nee Pettigrew) this affords, often unconsciously, a wide array of opportunities for information exchange, particularly as people interact and conversation touches upon aspects of their real daily lives. The basic premise of such games is not dissimilar from that of a classic 'pen and paper' RPG but the advent of broadband connectivity and advanced hardware/graphics cards has enabled the creation of online fantasy environments that can literally accommodate tens of thousands of players simultaneously online.
In the game I am most familiar with - World of Warcraft (WoW) players are divided into two realms that compete against each other and take up personae across a series of skill sets or character 'classes'. The manner in which it differs from the traditional setting is that the players do not get to see each other - only their character or avatar, and with the rare exception of players who may have voice capability (such as Ventrilo) communicate exclusively by means of onscreen text. Interestingly, due to the fact that it is huge online environment players may be brought together from a wide range of locations across the world.
One recent casual survey of players of my acquaintance indicated that members online at the time represented countries as diverse as Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden and France. Conversations may be transmitted in a dyadic manner (between two participants only) or sent to a group of players in an in game 'guild' or broadcast to all people currently online in a given environment. Naturally enough as people play together in the shared environment and build up (weak) ties and alliances; there is much scope for informal information exchange even though the primary activity is the fantasy game.
The image below is a screenshot of one MMORPG: World of Warcraft, showing a group of players in a shared electronic fantasy environment. Recent technology developments have allowed the creation of realistic shared electronic environments. Recent information exchanges have been varied and sometimes serious in nature including such diverse topics as separation of the church and state in Poland, the possible side effects of medication in the treatment of depression, the leadership vote of the Liberal Democrat party in the United Kingdom and the ethics of 'farmers', who are frequently barred by the game administrators (a farmer is a player who is hired by a commercial company to play an online game in order to sell in-game cash and equipment for money in the real world). Similarly, information on effective study techniques and dealing with problems such as dyslexia would not be uncommon topics of information exchange. Again, current affairs such as Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent relief effort garnered much attention among players.
The unique difference of an information environment such as an MMORPG is that it is largely anonymous and like any other Internet based environment hugely based on trust; by and large you will not know the people you are exchanging information with personally and will have to take even basics such as age, gender and country of origin at their word. Friendships that develop are more transitory and conversation more awkward and condensed due to the limits imposed on potential information exchange in a setting where conversation, by default, occurs primarily by means of text. For this reason a huge body of acronyms and abbreviations have arisen in such gaming environments as an aid to effective communication.
Ultimately, however I believe that the MMORPG environment can legitimately be regarded as a good example of an information ground in that even though a wide range of agents come together in a shared environment (even if there is no actual physical proximity) for a shared primary purpose the setting generates a huge amount of opportunity for incidental, secondary information exchange.
Eoin Kelly, undergraduate student,
School of Information and Library Studies
University College Dublin, Ireland.
Lecturer: Jessica Bates Module: Human Information Behaviour
References
Fisher, Karen E. (2005) 'Information Grounds' in Fisher, K., Erdelez, S., & McKechnie, L. (eds.) Theories of Information Behavior. Medford N.J: Information Today, Inc. on behalf of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.
Pettigrew, Karen (1999) 'Agents of Information' in Wilson, T., & Allen, D. (eds.) Exploring the Contexts of Information Behaviour: Proceedings of the Second International Conference On Research In Information Needs, Seeking and Use in Different Contexts, 13/15th August 1998, Sheffield, UK. London: Taylor Graham Publishing.
Pettigrew, Karen (1999) 'Waiting for Chiropody: contextual results from an ethnographic study of the information behaviour among attendees at community clinics' in Information Processing and Management 35, 1999 pp. 801-817.
General Information Resources on MMORPGs
World of Warcraft (WoW) http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/guide.html
Dark Age of Camelot http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/about/
City of Heroes http://www.cityofheroes.com/gameinfo/synopsis.html
Anna Stolyar, Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI), UW School of Medicine