I just signed a petition calling for Norwegian universities to use research expertise on AI when deciding how to implement it, rather than having decisions be made mostly administratively. , If you are a researcher in Norway, please read it and sign it if you agree – and share with anyone else who might be interested. The petition was written by three researchers at UiT: Maria Danielsen (a philosopher who completed her PhD in 2025 on AI and ethics, including discussions of art and working life), Knut Ørke (Norwegian as a second language), and Holger Pötzsch (a professor of media studies with many years of research on digital media, video games, disruption, and working life, among other topics). This is not about preventing researchers from exploring AI methods in their research. It is about not uncritically accepting the hype that everyone must use AI everywhere without critical reflection. It is about not introducing Copilot as the default option in word processors, or training PhD candidates to believe they will fall behind if they do not use AI when writing articles, without proper academic discussion. Changes like these should be knowledge-based and discussed academically, not merely decided administratively, because they alter the epistemological foundations of research. Maria wrote to me a couple of months ago because she had read my opinion piece in Aftenposten in which I called for a strong brake on the use of language models in knowledge work. She was part of a committee tasked with developing UiT’s AI strategy and was concerned because there was so much hype and so few members of the committee with actual expertise in AI. I fully support the petition. There are probably some good uses for AI in research, but the uncritical, hype-driven insistence that we must simply adopt it everywhere is highly risky. There are many researchers in Norway with strong expertise in AI, language, ethics, working life, and culture. We must make use of this expertise. This is also partly about respect for research in the humanities, social sciences, psychology, and law. Introducing AI at universities and university colleges is not merely a technical issue, and perhaps not even primarily a technical one. It concerns much more: philosophy of science, methodological reflection, epistemology, writing, publishing, the working environment, and more. […]
Trevor Dodge
Hi Jill,
My podcasting partner Shane and I are getting ready to pull together an entire episode dedicated to discussing your book Digital Culture, Play and Identity. I posted a comment on here a couple months back and you expressed interest in possibly participating; might we be able to make this happen after all?
Many thanks and continued best wishes!
Trevor
Chris Hotz
Hello all!
I’m working on a special project currently based on deviancy in WoW. After finding this out, my mother (who is working towards a doctorate in teaching) bought me your book, which I jumped to reading. I’m not sure how active you guys are right now (I couldn’t find you on armory). Regardless, I wanted to see if I could get in contact with you at all, maybe join the guild (Unfortunately, I’d join as a death knight, simply because I’ve already got two 80s, and I personally don’t want to grind another. Their names are Kornith and Rogthane).
Thanks for your time!
Jill Walker Rettberg
Chris, I wrote you a separate email – I’m not playing WoW myself anymore, but the research guild is still active. Contact Torill Mortensen who’s the guild mistress. Our guild is on the EU servers though, your email address suggests you’re in the US…
Allison Kendrick
Hi, I not only have 4 80s so far on WoW, but I am researching WoW’s achievement system for my doctorate in Instructional Design for Online learning. I am attempting to ascertain how such an system uses the affirmative domain, and then how to use a similar system to help Asperger Syndrome (Autistic learners who are high functioning, have trouble with social skills, and usually focus on one area of content to the exclusion of all others) learn content they are not as interested in. I have your book, but thought that joining up with your research group might help me to write about WoW from a professional point of view.
Thanks,
Allison Kendrick
Simona Klaus
Hi, I’m a postgraduate student at University of Ljubljana, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, and currently working on my PhD. I have been playing Warcraft for many years now, which also got me thinking about games in the context of my studies. I have written an article comparing heroes in contemporary FRP games to heroes in ancient mythologies. The article has been well accepted at a conference and is due to be published later this year. I wish to continue researching in this area, and have just bought your book, the Warcraft reader. I find your idea highly interesting and would like, if possible, be given the chance to join your guild and discuss with your colleagues. I would like to know if that is possible and also on which server you play, so I can find you. I tried getting in contact with Torill Mortensen via email, but have not been able to get her email address anywhere. Can you help me?
Thank you very much and best regards,
Simona Klaus
Jill Walker Rettberg
Allison, I don’t play WoW anymore, but you can find Torill’s email address by searching for her name at the IT University in Copenhagen, which is where she currently works.
http://mit.itu.dk/ucs/people/find_person.sml
‘It’s all for research, honest!’ – my return to Azeroth « From 8-bit To DX11
[…] Then I started my Masters year of uni, and settled on character design as a base for my thesis. And, of course, which type of video games give you the most character customisation? And which of these is the most popular worldwide? You can’t argue with over 12 million subscribers around the world. This game is big. It also helped that my project supervisor is a WoW player; but is also part of The Truants guild, made up of academics and scholars who often use their in-game experience to write essays and articles about game culture. He suggested a book to help me with my research- and I wasn’t too surprised to hear it was a WoW Reader. What I am surprised by is how much I’m enjoying reading it; it was adding a whole new dimension to the game, from the type of academic-analysis point of view that I can relate to. […]