| 03.02.08 | |
The best-selling games of 2006 (Feb. 2006-Feb. 2007) were studied as part of a series of communication studies. Along the way, we captured 30 minutes of each game, and those videos are all archived here for non-commercial research and use. The 30-minute segments were the first 30 minutes of the game as played by a fairly skilled player on the default skill setting.
The games were selected based on sales data supplied by the NPD group. When a title occurred on multiple platforms the most advances platform was selected. At least 15 games per platform were used (PC, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gameboy, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, PS3, Gamecube).
Questions about the archive can be sent to Dmitri Williams, email: dmitri DOT williams the-at-sign usc dot edu
Apr. 5, 2007: Ergin Bayrak on "Licensing or Commons: The Welfare Effects of Spectrum Management Regimes," Francesco Sobbrio on "Indirect Lobbying and Media Bias," and Amit Gandhi on "Post Merger Product Repositioning and Media Concentration"
Speaker: Francesco Sobbrio's expertise is in applied microeconomics and political economy. Sobbrio is a Graduate Fellow.
Gandhi, an ACC Postdoctoral Fellow, specializes in Microeconomics, Econometrics, Industrial Organization, and Media Mergers and Regulation.
Ergin Bayrak is a USC Economics Graduate Student.
Apr. 12 , 2007: François Bar Discusses "Mobile technology appropriation in a distant mirror: baroque infiltration, creolization and cannibalism" and Laura Robinson on "Parallel Systems and Cultural Difference in Art Auctions: French and American use of eBay"
Abstract: (Bar) In recent years, mobile phone penetration has increased dramatically throughout Latin America. But rising penetration numbers only tell part of the story. To fully grasp the social, economic and political impact of mobile telephony, we need to understand appropriation: the process through which mobile phone users go beyond mere adoption to make the technology their own and to embed it within their social, economic, and political practices. The appropriation process fundamentally is a negotiation about power and control over the configuration of the technology, its uses, and the distribution of its benefits. Within the Latin American context, today’s negotiation surrounding mobile technological appropriation echoes earlier creative tensions about the appropriation of cultural objects, people, and ideas from abroad. This paper reviews existing theoretical approaches to the study of technology appropriation, re-considers them within the Latin American cultural context, and proposes a theoretical framework that can inform an in-depth study of the social, economic, and political impact of mobile phones in Latin America.
(Robinson) This study extends previous research into online auctions by introducing a comparative cross-cultural dimension and focusing on heterogeneous goods. Samples of artwork auctions taken from two independent eBay sites - eBay USA and eBay France - are analyzed in order to detect culturally specific patterns of seller and bidder behavior. In examining French and American online art auctions, the work illuminates culturally constructed approaches to parallel new media venues in that French and American users employ the same auction system in different ways. The analysis of these two samples reveals systematic differences in the types of art auctioned, winning bids, starting prices, and price dynamics, as well as bidders' "flocking" behavior and sellers' reliance on reserve auctions and other risk-management strategies. In elucidating these differences, the research builds upon previous work on high and low trust cultures to make a contribution to the body of work on the comparative cultural use of new media.
Speaker: Bruce Zuckerman, a Local ACC Fellow, studies the ancient Near East, Northwest Semitic languages and literatures, and the archaeology of the Near East and the Greco-Roman world. He is an expert in reproducing ancient biblical and Near Eastern documents, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, and is the Director of the West Semitic Research Project (WSRP).
Abstract: Under the direction of Bruce Zuckerman, InscriptiFact creates a capacity to bring together, view, and compare images of rare and fragile text-fragments that are located at various institutions around the world, and would normally be difficult or impossible to study in association. The inscriptions and artifacts represent ancient religious and historical documents that serve as the foundation and point of reference for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the cultures out of which they emerged. The photos are created at high resolution, often under various sources of illumination, using the latest techniques to create the most legible images of these texts found anywhere.