Ambient learning and self authorship : human minds, cultural tools, immersive worlds

Abstract

This thesis begins with an examination of the Marinetta Ombro project, a lengthy exercise in building a virtual culture, carried out by staff and students at Arcada, a university of applied science. Arcada's experience in Second Life revealed much about the ways people think, feel and act inside synthetic worlds, and about the ways in which they live their lives as narrative. The second part of the thesis examines the implications of these findings with reference to the work of artists and writers, philosophers, theologians and neuro-scientists. It looks at how we relate to the world, where our ideas come from, what "it is like to be" us; and concludes that, in contrast to our usual view of ourselves, "we are stories all the way down". In the final part of the thesis the author looks at how we can apply this knowledge socially and politically, in a world of ambient learning; and what tools we can build to assist us in authoring our (social) selves.