Session 2

Governance

McKnight

“By ‘politics’ I mean how social goods are thought about, argued over, and distributed in society.

‘Social goods’ are anything that a group of people believes to be a source of power, status, value or worth, whether this be ‘street smarts,’ academic intelligence, money, control, possessions, verbal abilities, ‘looks,’ age, wisdom, knowledge, technology, literacy, morality, ‘common sense,’ and so on through another very long list.”

Gee, p.2

Arizona Revised Statutes - Title 13 Criminal Code - Section 13-1406 Sexual assault; classification; increased punishment

13-1406. Sexual assault; classification; increased punishmentA. A person commits sexual assault by intentionally or knowingly engaging in sexual intercourse or oral sexual contact with any person without consent of such person.

Arizona Revised Statutes - Title 1 General Provisions - Section 1-213 Words and phrases

1-213. Words and phrasesWords and phrases shall be construed according

to the common and approved use of the language. Technical words and phrases and those which have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law shall be construed according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.

CAL. PEN. CODE § 261 : California Code - Section 261

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/cacode/PEN/3/1/9/1/s261

• no definition of “sexual intercourse,” though statutes provide broader and specific definitions of “sexual contact” in connection with child abuse and regulating business and professional conduct.

How did Mr. Bungle force his victims?

How was he punished?

“Code is law.”

-- Lawrence Lessig

How does code create

affordances

and

constraints

for governance in WoW?

approaches to governance:

top-down

bottom-up

top-down– central planning – planned communities (CC&Rs)– statutory law– Hobbes’ Leviathan– prescriptive, rather than descriptive

bottom-up– common law– Locke’s Two Treatises on Government– US Constitution– descriptive, rather than prescriptive

Does “top down” always make for bad law?

What is required for “bottom up” to be effective?

“the scope of customary law often appears to outsiders as lacking in organization and consistency. But the absence of highly differentiated rules and customs may actually contribute to the negotiated relationships that allow flexibility within social situations.”

“custom reinvigorates both ambiguity and alternatives to the flow of power….. the ordering of law and local practice is far more dependent on the culture of the group involved than on the mere imposition of rules from the sovereign.”

“By comparison, the disenchantment with customary law that occurred in 12th-century Europe was…connected with the rise of cities, the uncertainty of social arrangements, and the ‘discovery of the individual’ – all of which cast custom in a new and less satisfying light.”

Rosen, pp. 35-37

Borderlands/La Frontera

“Ludicrously excessive by RL's lights, woefully understated by VR's, the tone of exu's response made sense only in the buzzing, dissonant gap between them.

“Which is to say it made the only kind of sense that can be made of MUDly phenomena. For while the facts attached to any event born of a MUD's strange, ethereal universe may march in straight, tandem lines separated neatly into the virtual and the real, its meaning lies always in that gap.”

These gaps are where law is made– descriptively, from customs, norms and

course of dealing– prescriptively, from the involvement of

external authority

3 “political” positions

(and answers to the question, “who should have power?”)

– build a legal system [the lawyers]– restore the all-powerful wizards [the wizards]– deploy code [the geeks]– anarchy [Mr. Bungle]

Does deliberation reduce consensus?

Many recent studies indicate it does.

Thus, Noveck distinguishes deliberative and collaborative democracy

anonymity

versus

pseudonymity

Where did much of the debate over Mr. Bungle take place?

Transmedia

Where does deliberation take place?

How do technological affordances/constraints shape deliberation?

Who is privileged/disempowered?

How do deliberation and collaboration interplay?

Who sets the agenda?

Who chooses the medium?

The shape of the table is the shape of the discourse.