The Positioning of Pooky: a semi-professional's utilization of a virtual world for experimenting with television

Abstract

The emergence of the Web 2.0 paradigm has brought more attention on to the idea of Internet-based interactive television where the audience is allowed and even encouraged to participate in and interact with the stages of television production, distribution and exhibition. This paper focuses on virtual worlds as one Internet-based platform within which people are experimenting with how to produce such egalitarian television programming. For this paper, virtual worlds television is seen through the experiences of one virtual worlds entrepreneur. The analysis focuses on how this entrepreneur, Pooky Amsterdam, positions herself as a producer of virtual worlds television by positioning herself in relationship to the users or audiences of her shows. The analysis considers her comments on how she is trying to position herself against the traditional power dynamics of television broadcasting paradigms by positioning herself as an entrepreneur in a new(er) power dynamic. Thus, her positioning of herself relates to how she endorses the Web 2.0 paradigm as a user herself of virtual worlds technologies.