Even more, however, and what is really problematic here, it takes hours of play. While this is not necessarily wrong, it is an issue that I believe we at least need to consider as we design educational spaces online.
MOOs are public spaces, and the coding, building, and talking is, in effect, published.
Online forums such as Rhetnet and MOOs and MUDs are, after all, conversations. A traditional scholarly article, even one in hypertext, is somehow finished. It may be seen as a contribution to an ongoing conversation, yet it is fixed in time and fixed in space, it is thought out and developed, and it comes to some sort of conclusion . But in hypertextual forums such as Rhetnet , it is the process rather than the product that is foregrounded. Publications in synchronous communication sites and online forums, then, can be seen as the actual conversations, disclosing the process of development of the ideas and arguments, including the authors' errors and omissions and, ultimately, too, the corrections and additions written perhaps by subsequent authors to the text.