About this Issue

With the February-March posting of Interface, the e-journal of the Berglund center for Internet Studies at Pacific University, we enter our sixth year of publication.  This issue was particularly fun to produce as not only, we believe, do we have an excellent series of contributions, but we also can announce several new initiatives at the Berglund Center.

For an extended discussion of our past successes and future plans, see “From the Editor:  Beginning Our Sixth Year of Publication” at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/sixthyear.php and an announcement of a new initiative at the Center, Peer Review, at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/peerreview.php

We lead off our issue with a report from Berglund Fellow Professor Eli Dressner of Tel Aviv University, “Textual Multi-Tasking in CMC: Implications and Applications."  Professor Dressner is one of the leading scholars of Computer Mediated Communications and here draws some exciting conclusions about how to improve communications within chat-oriented electronic environments.  See his report at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/dresner.php

Our book reviews include Edward Castronova's Synthetic Worlds, The Business and Culture of Online Games.  This work is reviewed by “IProfess,” who presents himself as a character from one such online game.  See the review at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/castronova.php#2

Our second review discusses Steven Johnson’s work, Everything Bad is Good for You. Mr. Johnson, a highly regarded commentator on the impact of the Internet, argues that popular culture and particularly electronic materials such as games and the Internet, are making audiences smarter.  See it at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/johnson.php

A piece which might well be read with the review by IProfess of Castronova’s work is by a scholar of computer gaming, Beth Dillon.  See her “Glowing Rhinos Out in the Wilds: Jumping into Digital Games Studies” at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/dillon.php Beth also references the Digital Games Research Association Conference of 2005

Pat McGregor, One of our marvelous privacy and security editors, presents her usual witty and informative piece, in this case, “Calling for backup: even lawyers might need it” Pat gives us all wonderful advise on how to protect our data against likely, as opposed to catastrophic, threats.  See it at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/mcgregor.php

Our Funding and Education Editor, Mark Szymansky, presents “What Do You Learn?  It Depends on Your Digital Point of View Part Two: The Human Eye View” found at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2006/01/szymanski.php This is the second in a three part series on this topic by Mark.  For the initial part see: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2005/07/szymanski.php

We hope that you, our audience, are enjoying the signs of spring as much as we are in rainy Oregon.  We post again in early April, when we will have the pleasure of announcing yet additional Berglund Center initiatives. Please look for us.

Jeffrey Barlow
Director,
the Berglund Center for Internet Studies
Pacific University