An excellent and far-reaching anthropology of the 1960s-70s forward, counterculture, virtual worlds and information technology, which looks at actual Harbin on-the-ground since 1972-present, and virtual Harbin in a 3D interactive multimedia world (for ethnographic field work), which is planned for ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy - http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/sea....

After you check in at the gate at Harbin, one resident who has worked there for years often says, "Go play." This ethnography of Harbin Hot Springs in northern California explicitly and theoretically brings together approaches to the comparative study of both the actual and virtual, by developing new methodologies in studying Harbin - as a kind of hippy or Alternative haven from modernity. Through this anthropological book and conceiving of virtual Harbin, you can begin not only to "be there" - to visit Harbin virtually in the text, as it were - but also to revisit the 1960s and its related freedom-seeking movements. Moreover, Harbin Hot Springs' clothing-optionality, spirituality and alternative culture are attractive in mysterious ways. In the way that Margaret Mead's work was theoretical and gained widespread attention at the same time, this book will appeal due to the broad interest in emerging interactive virtual worlds, as well as 1960's informed alternative Harbin's exotic, yet familiar, attractiveness, now mediated digitally. As information technologies and wondrous developments like virtual worlds continue to develop rapidly, I hope to engage you, the reader, further in the conversation about the creativity in countercultural thinking, in virtual worlds, in comparative ethnography, and in the experiences of interacting in this virtual Harbin, even as visitors to actual Harbin enjoy visiting this hot springs' retreat center.

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/201...