RAPID: The Role of Emerging Virtual Cultures in the Prevention of COVID-19 Transmission

RAPID：新兴虚拟文化在预防 COVID-19 传播中的作用

• 批准号: 2028560
• 负责人: Tom Boellstorff
• 金额: $ 19.56万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-01 至 2021-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2028560&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Role; Emerging; Virtual; Cultures

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed our relationship to the physical world. Social distancing guidelines have led many people to avoid all forms of public life, from concerts and restaurants to everyday interaction in parks, neighborhoods, and the homes of family and friends. In response there has been a massive increase in online interaction: the internet has suddenly become the primary way that many Americans socialize, labor, and learn. It is crucial to gain a better understanding of how the emergence of these changes is related to the pandemic. Even if a vaccine is discovered, preventing catastrophic levels of COVID-19 transmission into the next few years will depend on social distancing that can be sustained and integrated with work, education, and community. This means going online. The starting point for addressing this global challenge is thus the fact that what we call “social distancing” is really physical distancing. Successful physical distancing will rely on new forms of social closeness online. Yet there is not just one “online.” A rapid and effective response requires clarifying the impact of virtual worlds as part of different forms of online interaction that comprise a virtual culture: social network sites, streaming websites, and multiplayer platforms. The project will also train graduate student researchers in methodological approaches for studying online cultures. This research will be conducted in a densely trafficked virtual world. Virtual worlds are places where individuals interact with avatars in online environments. The investigators have conducted research in a virtual world context for over a decade, and thus have detailed baseline data with which to examine what is happening as a large number of individuals enter that virtual world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the sudden move to virtual worlds doing in terms of social closeness and interaction? How does co-presence in virtual place transform intimacy and collaboration? How might this provide innovative strategies for preventing viral transmission, by forging new forms of social closeness in the context of physical distancing? To investigate these questions, the researchers will conduct participant observation, individual interviews, and group interviews. The study will compare individuals who have spent time in the virtual world for years with individuals who have entered the virtual world after COVID-19. Findings from this research will provide insight into the specific possibilities virtual worlds are providing in the circumstances of societies reshaped by COVID-19. In these new circumstances, virtual worlds will be one element of an online ecosystem linking drones, robots, and autonomous vehicles to mobile devices, social network sites, online games and streaming, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics. The research will thus provide a better understanding of the place of virtual worlds in this emerging online ecosystem.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

19009年的大流行改变了我们与物理世界的关系。社会遥远的指南使许多人避免了各种形式的公共生活，从关注和餐馆到每天在公园，社区和家人和朋友的家中的互动。作为回应，在线互动已经大大增加：互联网突然成为许多美国人社交，劳动和学习的主要方式。对这些变化的出现如何与大流行有关，这一点至关重要。即使发现了一种疫苗，也可以防止灾难性的COVID-19向未来几年传播的灾难性水平将取决于可以与工作，教育和社区持续和融合的社会疏远。这意味着上网。因此，应对这一全球挑战的起点是，我们所说的“社会疏远”确实是物理疏远。成功的身体距离将依靠在线社会亲密关系的新形式。但是，不仅有一个“在线”。快速有效的响应需要确定虚拟世界的影响，这是包括虚拟文化的不同形式的在线互动形式的一部分：社交网站，流网站和多人游戏平台。该项目还将培训研究生研究人员研究在线文化的方法论方法。这项研究将在一个密集的虚拟世界中进行。虚拟世界是个人在在线环境中与化身互动的地方。研究人员已经在虚拟世界的背景下进行了十多年的研究，因此拥有详细的基线数据，可以通过这些数据检查发生的事情，这是由于COVID-19的大流行而进入该虚拟世界的情况。从社会亲密和互动方面，向虚拟世界突然进行的转变是什么？虚拟地方的共同主持人如何改变创新和协作？这将如何通过在身体疏远的背景下锻造新形式的社会亲密关系来提供预防病毒传播的创新策略？为了调查这些问题，研究人员将进行参与者的观察，个人访谈和小组访谈。这项研究将比较多年来在虚拟世界中度过的时间的个人与在19号之后进入虚拟世界的个人。这项研究的发现将提供有关虚拟世界在Covid-19的社会情况下提供的特定可能性的见解。在这些新情况下，虚拟世界将是在线生态系统的一个要素，将无人机，机器人和自动驾驶汽车连接到移动设备，社交网站，在线游戏和流媒体，增强现实，人工智能，机器学习和数据分析。因此，这项研究将更好地理解虚拟世界在这个新兴的在线生态系统中的地位。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。