Confirmation Seminar - Governance in Virtual Environments

My PhD confirmation seminar is up this Wednesday 07 March 2007. Professors Brian Fitzgerald (QUT Law), Greg Hearne (QUT Creative Industries), and Terry Fisher (Harvard Law) will be on the panel; it should be a good two hours of discussion on virtual worlds and regulation. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

• Date: Wednesday 7 March

• Time: 1.00pm

• Room: B506, Gardens Point Campus, QUT, Brisbane, Australia.

Virtual environments are becoming increasingly popular and diverse. These worlds challenge us to consider established concepts of place, relationships, economics, property, play, culture, and many other aspects of social life. They provide an excellent opportunity for interaction of all types, including play, commerce, teaching and learning, and research. As activities which were previously performed in real world spaces become commonplace within virtual worlds, some very interesting questions are raised about the nature of regulation, the distinction between public and private spaces, the distribution of power, and the way in which that power is exercised within virtual environments.

This thesis will take a critical approach to examine the roles of participants, platform owners, and territorial governments in the regulation of virtual environments. Much of the analysis carried out to date in this area is limited by an over-reliance on a property-based paradigm, coupled with a failure to recognise the multitude of roles and motivations of both participants and proprietors, and a tendency to essentialise the behaviours of each these groups. This research will attempt to unravel some of the complex interrelationships which exist between participants, platform owners, and regulators, and aims to provide a framework for the evaluation of regulatory approaches. In essence, this thesis considers a facet of digital constitutionalism - the principles governing the allocation of power amongst actors in and around virtual environments.