Cyberspace and Metaverse Culture
S.R. Ameli; M. Akhavan
Abstract
Metaverse, a hypothetical iteration of the Internet, is the result of the convergence of industry and imagination, which allows users to have a three-dimensional and immersive presence there with their avatars, and a kind of dual specialization of life experience in the real world and digital environments. ...
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Metaverse, a hypothetical iteration of the Internet, is the result of the convergence of industry and imagination, which allows users to have a three-dimensional and immersive presence there with their avatars, and a kind of dual specialization of life experience in the real world and digital environments. Games are the pioneers of the metaverse and by combining simulation and intimate technologies, they form virtual worlds. Zepeto is the largest metaverse platform in South Korea with users from all over the world. With the increasing popularity of Korean wave products such as K-pop among Iranian teenagers, Zepeto has become a popular game among them. Based on this, two issues have been addressed in this exploratory article. First, in the framework of the technology acceptance model, the focus is on the user experience in Zepeto and the study of the determining factors that affect the willingness of Iranian users to play in Zepeto. Second, based on Zepeto's content format, the challenges of this platform for its Iranian users have been examined. The target population in this research is Iranian users of Zepeto, and with the Simple Random Sampling method, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 40 Zepeto users. The findings show that Zepeto is a promoter of western lifestyle in the field of entertainment and based on its capacity to shape the taste and attitude and behavior of Iranian users, it provides a window for cultivating a non-Islamic lifestyle.
Cyberspace and Metaverse Culture
F. Khoshnevisan; M. Talaei; S. Sharifi
Abstract
The ever-increasing use of information and communication technologies and virtual networks has created a possibility for educational development and transformation in the metaverse context. This possibility is related to the infrastructural development capabilities on the one hand and the content and ...
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The ever-increasing use of information and communication technologies and virtual networks has created a possibility for educational development and transformation in the metaverse context. This possibility is related to the infrastructural development capabilities on the one hand and the content and structural aspects of education in society on the other hand. Despite its positive and negative aspects, this subject requires serious attention to achieve meta-education. This study, by taking into account the perspectives of experts, intends to analyze the challenges of education in the metaverse. Here, a qualitative content analysis method was adopted, with the data collection tool being semi-structured interviews with 12 people until reaching the saturation level. The data was analyzed through an inductive approach and the reliability of contents was checked by "independent coders and expert group" method. The findings showed that the educational challenges in the metaverse include themes such as deconstruction of education, gamification, the conflict of diversity and singularity, the challenge of unknownness, the intellectual property interest, educational justice, perceived compatibility, the challenge of conflict, dependence and post-realism learning. It seems that the capabilities of using the educational metaverse in Iran are still not available due to the aforementioned challenges. Since capacities and capabilities are necessary for educational development, preparing grounds for its use by the next generation through a planning based on the findings of this paper can greatly increase the utilization rate of its positive aspects.
Cyberspace and Metaverse Culture
S. Khosravi
Abstract
The online learning process during the recent Covid-19 pandemic gave us an input about the significance of technological requirements for improving learning experiences in long-distance education. Scanning textbook pages, typing course materials, playing videos of scientific experiments, asking students ...
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The online learning process during the recent Covid-19 pandemic gave us an input about the significance of technological requirements for improving learning experiences in long-distance education. Scanning textbook pages, typing course materials, playing videos of scientific experiments, asking students to record a vide while doing homework, discussions in the chat-box, and even using an interactive whiteboard in virtual classrooms are all examples of technologies used, but they are not unavailable or inaccessible cutting-edge technologies any more. Increasing students’ performance and satisfaction requires adoption and adaptation to other technologies. Therefore some schools and universities in Iran have been equipped with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software. Metaverse labs in some schools s well as universities have been launched; although its effectiveness is questionable. But the main question is if the metaverse is accessible to learning outside of academia, why do we need universities anymore? Is expansion of the metaverse synonymous with the reduction of the university? May universities use the metaverse in learning activities, but keeping their function to formal higher education? Will universities be transferred to (and transformed in) the metaverse? Will organizational structure (and social role) of universities change in the metaverse? Answering such questions wants us to reconsider the linguistic construct and the social relation of university, technology, and society - which needs returning to the conceptions and conceptualization of the university, turning points of great expectations for/from the university, and megatrends of socio-digital transformations. In this paper, we reviewed John Henry Newman’s idea of a university in its historical context, the discursive turn of higher education (HE) from university to Clark Kerr’s multiversity, and the resurgence of the idea of the metaverse (i.e. a single, universal, and immersive virtual world) as a consequence of pervasive prevalence of alternative technologies. Attempts are to re-articulate those concepts, draw a big picture of their social relations (in what Karl Popper called world 3), and provide an epistemological criticism of current debates on consistencies and controversies of university and the metaverse.
