Avatars at Work and Play brings together contributions from leading social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on virtual environments used for collaboration and online gaming. They present a well-rounded and state-of-the-art overview of current applications of multi-user virtual environments, ranging from highly immersive virtual reality systems to internet-based virtual environments on personal computers. The volume is a follow-up to a previous essay collection, a ~The Social Life of Avatarsa (TM), which explored general issues in this field. This collection goes further, examining uses of shared virtual environments in practical settings such as scientific collaboration, distributed meetings, building models together, and others. It also covers online gaming in virtual environments, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of users and presents an opportunity for studying a myriad of social issues. Covering both a ~worka (TM) and a ~playa (TM), the volume brings together issues common to the two areas, including:

What kind of avatar appearance is suitable for different kinds of interaction? How best to foster collaboration and promote usable shared virtual spaces? What kinds of activities work well in different types of virtual environments and systems?

Avatars at Work and Play will be required reading for computer scientists and social scientists who are researching and developing virtual worlds. It will be useful on courses in New Media and human-computer interaction

After the collapse of communism, many states are faced with the challenges of democratization; they need to establish their legitimacy in an uncertain economic climate and within a geopolitical order. This book brings Max Weber's sociology to bear on this transformation of the political landscape. The essays in this volume develop Weberian concepts and apply his comparative-historical method with the aim of deepening our understanding of these problems. They cover a wide range of examples, from the United States to Western and Eastern Europe, and from Russia and Japan to the Islamic states.

This study, first published in 1984, presents an explanation and critical examination of the theories of Sartre, Heidegger, Husserl and Hegel on the fundamental relationships between persons. It also synthesizes the results into a new conception of one's relation to other people. Sartre's famous discussion of 'the Look' in his early treatise, Being and Nothingness, is the point of departure and central text. Since Sartre critically responds to his three famous predecessors, these thinkers are given an independent hearing. The book demonstrates various ways in which persons are internally related to one another, shows that one's access to other people typically does not compare unfavourably with one's access to oneself, and establishes the importance of a prior comprehension of the status of other people for an adequate treatment of knowing them.

This study, first published in 1984, presents an explanation and critical examination of the theories of Sartre, Heidegger, Husserl and Hegel on the fundamental relationships between persons. It also synthesizes the results into a new conception of one's relation to other people. Sartre's famous discussion of 'the Look' in his early treatise, Being and Nothingness, is the point of departure and central text. Since Sartre critically responds to his three famous predecessors, these thinkers are given an independent hearing. The book demonstrates various ways in which persons are internally related to one another, shows that one's access to other people typically does not compare unfavourably with one's access to oneself, and establishes the importance of a prior comprehension of the status of other people for an adequate treatment of knowing them.

Digital technologies have changed the public arena, but there is little scholarly consensus about how they have done so. This Element lays out a new framework for the digitally mediated public arena by identifying structural changes and continuities with the pre-digital era. It examines three country cases - the United States, Germany, and China. In these countries and elsewhere, the emergence of new infrastructures such as search engines and social media platforms increasingly mediate and govern the visibility and reach of information, and thus reconfigure the transmission belt between citizens and political elites. This shift requires a rethinking of the workings and dysfunctions of the contemporary public arena and ways to improve it.

Michael Mann is a central figure in contemporary sociology. His analysis of how the four sources of social power - ideological, economic, military and political - have shaped world history is a major contribution to social science. In this volume, distinguished scholars assess Mann's work, focusing on his final two volumes of Sources of Social Power, which deal with the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. They tackle some of the major themes in Mann's work including globalisation, American empire and the recent financial crisis. They also question his stance on some perennial topics in sociology: is the trajectory of American society 'exceptional'? How is military power different from the other sources of power? What is the role of agency and ideology in social change? How do the relations between states affect domestic social development? Global Powers will provoke debate among all those interested in understanding the next phase of globalisation.

Avatars at Work and Play brings together contributions from leading social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on virtual environments used for collaboration and online gaming. They present a well-rounded and state-of-the-art overview of current applications of multi-user virtual environments, ranging from highly immersive virtual reality systems to internet-based virtual environments on personal computers. The volume is a follow-up to a previous essay collection, The Social Life of Avatars, which explored general issues in this field. This collection goes further, examining uses of shared virtual environments in practical settings such as scientific collaboration, distributed meetings, building models together, and others. It also covers online gaming in virtual environments, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of users and presents an opportunity for studying a myriad of social issues. Covering both work and play, the volume brings together issues common to the two areas, including:

What kind of avatar appearance is suitable for different kinds of interaction? How best to foster collaboration and promote usable shared virtual spaces? What kinds of activities work well in different types of virtual environments and systems?

Avatars at Work and Play will be required reading for computer scientists and social scientists who are researching and developing virtual worlds. It will be useful on courses in New Media and human-computer interaction"

Michael Mann is one of the most influential sociologists of recent decades. His work has had a major impact in sociology, history, political science, international relations and other social science disciplines. His main work, The Sources of Social Power, of which two of three volumes have been completed, provides an all-encompassing account of the history of power from the beginnings of stratified societies to present day. Recently he has published two major works, Fascists and The Dark Side of Democracy. Yet unlike other contemporary social thinkers, Mann's work has not, until now, been systematically and critically assessed. This volume assembles a group of distinguished scholars to take stock, both of Mann's overall method and of his account of particular periods and historical cases. It also contains Mann's reply where he answers his critics and forcefully restates his position. This is a unique and provocative study for scholars and students alike.

Virtual reality technology has been developed commercially since the early 1990s but it is only recently, with the popularity of the internet, that it has become feasible to link many users simultaneously in shared virtual environments. This raises a number of interesting questions such as: what is the difference between face-to-face and avatar-to-avatar interaction? What patterns govern the formation of virtual communities? How does the appearance of the avatar change the nature of the communication? There has been much speculation about issues such as these but research is still at a relatively early stage. This is the first book to bring together work from relevant disciplines to form a reference guide for practitioners, students and researchers interested in how we interact in computer-generated environments. It contains contributions from most of the key people in this area (including Microsoft Research's Virtual Worlds Group) and presents their findings in a way which is accessible to readers who are new to this field or who come from related areas. It is divided into 2 parts; chapters 2-6 deal with internet-based virtual worlds which have been widely used by the public; chapters 7-10 deal with networked VR systems which have been primarily used in pilot studies and research. Some chapters take the viewpoint of a participant observer, whilst others take a more experimental approach and assess the results of relevant trials. This book will be essential reading for anyone involved in developing, using or researching virtual worlds, and will also be of interest to students on courses such as VR and Computer-mediated communication.

These essays bring Weber's sociology to bear on the current transformation of the political landscape. After the collapse of communism, many states are faced with the challenges of democratization: they need to establish their legitimacy in an uncertain economic climate and within a new geopolitical order. The essays in this volume develop Weberian concepts and apply his comparative-historical method to deepen our understanding of these problems. They cover a wide range of examples, from the United States to Western and Eastern Europe, and from Russia and Japan to the Islamic states.

Michael Mann is one of the most influential sociologists of recent decades. His work has had a major impact in sociology, history, political science, international relations and other social science disciplines. His main work, The Sources of Social Power, of which two of three volumes have been completed, provides an all-encompassing account of the history of power from the beginnings of stratified societies to present day. Recently he has published two major works, Fascists and The Dark Side of Democracy. Yet unlike other contemporary social thinkers, Mann's work has not, until now, been systematically and critically assessed. This volume assembles a group of distinguished scholars to take stock, both of Mann's overall method and of his account of particular periods and historical cases. It also contains Mann's reply where he answers his critics and forcefully restates his position. This is a unique and provocative study for scholars and students alike.

Virtual environments provide places for 'being there together', for avatars to interact with each other in computer-generated spaces. They range from immersive systems in which people have life-size tracked avatar bodies to large-scale spaces such as Second Life where populations of users socialize in persistent virtual worlds. This book draws together research on how people interact in virtual environments: What difference does avatar appearance make? How do avatars collaborate and play together? How do the type of system and the space affect how people engage with each other? How does interaction between avatars differ from face-to-face interaction? What can social scientists learn from experiments and other studies of how people interact in virtual environments? What are the ethical and social issues in doing this research, and in the uses of this technology? And how do virtual environments differ from other communication technologies such as videoconferencing systems and other new media? This book is a state-of-the art survey of research on these topics, and offers a framework for understanding this technology and its future implications.

Michael Mann is a central figure in contemporary sociology. His analysis of how the four sources of social power - ideological, economic, military and political - have shaped world history is a major contribution to social science. In this volume, distinguished scholars assess Mann's work, focusing on his final two volumes of Sources of Social Power, which deal with the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. They tackle some of the major themes in Mann's work including globalisation, American empire and the recent financial crisis. They also question his stance on some perennial topics in sociology: is the trajectory of American society 'exceptional'? How is military power different from the other sources of power? What is the role of agency and ideology in social change? How do the relations between states affect domestic social development? Global Powers will provoke debate among all those interested in understanding the next phase of globalisation.

"Rethinking Science, Technology, and Social Change" challenges the prevailing notion that science and technology are constructed or socially shaped. The text puts forth a case for technological determinism, based on a realistic and pragmatic account of science and technology, informed by historical comparisons.
Schroeder begins by exploring the social organization of scientific and technological advances; the intersecting trajectories of big science and technological systems; and the impact of science and technology on economic change. He goes on to discuss the social implications of technology, including the way that it affects politics and consumption. The book then rethinks traditional theories about the relationship between science, technology, and social change. The argument presented shifts the debate on topics such as the relationship between growth and sustainability, and thus has important policy implications. This book will be of great interest to scholars, scientists, and anyone interested in understanding how science and technology are transforming our world.

Diplomarbeit aus dem Jahr 1995 im Fachbereich BWL - Investition und Finanzierung, Note: 1,7, Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen (Wirtschaftswissenschaften), Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Inhaltsangabe: Einleitung: In einer Zeit zunehmender Globalisierung und Liberalisierung der Markte sind die unternehmenspolitischen Aktivitaten von Bankbetrieben vielfach darauf gerichtet, durch Ubernahmen oder Fusionen die eigene Marktposition zu starken und die Marktprasenz auszubauen. Die Entscheidung uber eine Ubernahme oder einen Zusammenschluss setzt eine Bewertung des entsprechenden Unternehmens voraus. Unter dem Unternehmenswert soll im Rahmen dieser Arbeit ein Preis verstanden werden, den ein potentieller Kaufer des Unternehmens maximal zahlen kann, ohne sich schlechter zu stellen als vor dem Kauf. Zur Ermittlung dieses Kaufer-Grenzpreises wird ein in der Beratungsfunktion tatiger Bewerter unterstellt, der dem potentiellen Kaufer Entscheidungshilfen zur Grenzpreisermittlung liefern soll Da es in Deutschland keine rechtlich vorgeschriebene Methode zur Bewertung von Unternehmen gibt, besteht der erste Schritt fur den Bewerter in der Auswahl eines Bewertungsverfahrens. Im wesentlichen lassen sich die Verfahren der Unternehmensbewertung mit dem Liquidationswert-, dem Substanzwert- und dem Ertragswertverfahren aufzeigen. Der Liquidationswert geht von der Uberlegung aus, dass das Unternehmen aufgelost wird und die Einzelteile veraussert werden. Charakteristisch fur die Ermittlung ist die Bewertung zu Verausserungspreisen. Der Substanzwert dagegen geht von der Annahme aus, dass das Unternehmen weitergefuhrt wird und orientiert sich an einer Unternehmensreproduktion. Er ergibt sich aus dem Wiederbeschaffungswert der einzelnen Vermogenspositionen abzuglich der Schulden und stellt die Hohe der Ausgaben dar, die aufgrund vorhandener Wirtschaftsguter zukunftig gespart werden konnen. Im Gegensatz zu dem Liquidations- und Substanzwert, die bewerten, was tatsachlich vorhanden ist, richtet s