YOUR SECOND LIFE?

This article examines the performativity of intellectual property in digital gaming environments, with a focus on Massively Multi-Player On Line Games (MMOGs). The analysis centers on the creation and management of goodwill, an intangible asset of considerable value to corporations based on affective bonds between consumers, corporations, and their commodities in the marketplace. Most critical analyses of intellectual property consider neither the centrality of goodwill to corporate management of their intellectual properties in digital environments, nor the significance of the legal conditions that structure activity in such contexts. We develop a theoretical framework based on cultures of circulation involving network sociality, circuits of interactivity and the extensibility of the computer/user interface. This enables us to better understand shifting relations of power and reciprocity between corporations and consumers in digital gaming contexts, where the division between player-consumption and player-production is increasingly blurred. Technological capacities for consumers to become producers of gaming content changes the terrain upon which conflicts between corporations and consumers about intellectual property are negotiated and enhances the value of goodwill. An examination of Linden Lab's Second Life – one of the fastest growing MMOGs and the first to affirm players’ intellectual property rights in their digital creations – provides an illustration of both the limits and possibilities afforded by goodwill as a form of emerging governance in game worlds.     

‘I Became a Mom’: Identity Changes in Mothers Receiving Public Assistance

ABSTRACT

This phenomenological study used individual, semistructured, face-to-face interviews to explore motherhood experiences among 15 women receiving public assistance in a large urban area on the West coast. A primary phenomenon observed was that motherhood was described as an experience of identity change, with resulting emotional, behavioral, and sense-of-self changes. Within this broad theme, two categories emerged: the experience and process of change, and consequences of change. It was concluded that motherhood may serve as an important catalyst for change in some women and that the context of poverty is essential for understanding the motherhood experience. These results suggest that interventions aimed at leveraging emerging motherhood identities may be beneficial in setting women on the path out of poverty, drug addiction, and incarceration. Future research should examine the consequences of maternal change within the specific context of the stages of change documented in the recovery process from drug addiction.     

Test procedures in coyariamce analysis assuming a general correlation pattern

The analysis of covariance procedure is considered when the observations in each cell are equicorrelated. A correction procedure is given, A computationally easier conservative test statistic is also given. The conservative test statistic allows one to more readily determine the consequences of ignoring correlations, even slight correlations, in the analysis of covariance procedure. The difference of the corrected test and the conservative test is shown to converge in probability to zero. This conservative test is easy to implement on statistical computer packages, It is shown, that for the general correlation pattern, any test involving the regression coefficients of the covariables is an exact test. An example illustrates the procedure     

Abstinence-Based Versus Service Learning Prevention Education in Small Groups: Effects on the Life Plans of Young Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of two types of pregnancy prevention programs on youths’ behavioral intentions. Before and after participating in a series of adolescent pregnancy prevention support group meetings guided by abstinence OR service learning curricula, 88 youth, ages 13 and 14 years, forecasted their future life plans. Repeated measures analysis with two groups by two time points was conducted to assess changes in life forecasts over time and differences between the programs. From pre-test to post-test in the abstinence-based program there was reduction in plans to have first baby before marriage (p < .05). There were no significant changes in youths’ forecasts regarding sexual debut in either group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Economic and Psychological Benefits from Employment: the experiences and perspectives of mothers of disabled children

This qualitative research explores the perspectives and experiences of employed mothers of disabled children particularly with respect to the potential benefits of employment. Forty families with at least one disabled child, representing a variety of family structures and work situations, participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study clearly illustrate that the economic, psychological and social benefits for mothers of disabled children from participation in paid work are strikingly similar to those for employed mothers of non-disabled children. This suggests that the low level of labour force participation of mothers of disabled children in comparison with other mothers is most likely a consequence of the inherent ideological and structural barriers these women face, rather than their qualitatively differing needs. Streamlining of the benefits system, integration both within and between health, education and social services, increased flexibility in the workplace, and dialogue and co-ordination between all of these elements, may go some way to providing the support these mothers need.