Penikese island, MA: Penikese was a "virtual" field site for Harvard Prof Agassiz (1873) ... or an "as if" site, a) it involved sea transportation to get there (in a boat - with parallels to information technologies) to a different bounded separate "world," b) it was a field site (for the study of natural history of the Elizabeth Islands) in an isolated, separate environment (both Penikese and Cuttyhunk islands were probably deforested in the 1600s) with much potential for comparison with other places/field sites, both actual and virtual, and c) it was for academic learning and study - and explicitly by observation (with parallels to anthropological field work as participant observation), and specifically for learning not by recitation of books, I hope the realistic virtual earth WUaS plans to create in something like Google Street View/Maps/Earth with Time Slider and OpenSim, for ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy, will become a STEM field site and classroom for matriculated WUaS students to learn ... as if a Harvard or Stanford online, with parallels to Penikese, Agassiz at Penikese in The American Naturalist from 1898, Local origins of famous Cuffe family re Cuttyhunk

Penikese Island was a "virtual" field site for Harvard Prof Agassiz ...

or an "as if" site, and "c) as something “that is so in essence or effect, although not formally or actually” (Complete OED 1971) so something not physical, but also “almost” or “nearly as described”;" (MacLeod, Naked Harbin Ethnography, 2016:18 - http://bit.ly/HarbinBook) ... I'd say, in that as an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a) it involved sea transportation to get there (in a boat - with parallels to information technologies) to a different bounded separate "world," b) it was a field site (for the study of natural history of the Elizabeth Islands) in an isolated, separate environment (both Penikese and Cuttyhunk islands were probably deforested in the 1600s) with much potential for comparison with other places/field sites, both actual and virtual, and c) it was for academic learning and study - and explicitly by observation (with parallels to anthropological field work as participant observation), and specifically for learning not by recitation of books ... (see below).

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Penikese Island was a "virtual" field site for Harvard Prof Agassiz https://t.co/SiBbXeFc1C https://t.co/zQkkhR0IZa https://t.co/0RyUkuA3ZI

— scottmacleod (@scottmacleod) November 21, 2016

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Found this at the top of my Twitter feed this morning ...

Off to Penikese... pic.twitter.com/yXm4D8CbHk

— Lulu Miller (@lmillernpr) November 21, 2016

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Louis Agassiz: “I must make hard work a condition of a continued connection with the school, and desire particularly to impress it upon the applicants for admission that Penikese Island is not to be regarded as a place of summer resort for relaxation. I do not propose to give much instruction in matters which may be learned from books. I want, on the contrary, to prepare those who shall attend to observe for themselves. I would therefore advise all those who wish only to be taught natural history in the way in which it is generally taught, by recitations, to give up their intention of joining the school.” (Wilder 1898: 190 - https://www.jstor.org/stable/2452464)

Agassiz at Penikese

Burt G. Wilder

The American Naturalist

Vol. 32, No. 375 (Mar., 1898), pp. 189-196

Published by: The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of Naturalists

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2452464

Page Count: 8

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2452464

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I hope the realistic virtual earth WUaS plans to create conceptually in something like Google Street View/Maps/Earth with Time Slider and with OpenSim for group building, for ethno-wiki-virtual-world-graphy, will become a STEM field site and classroom for matriculated WUaS students to learn in ... as if a Harvard or Stanford online, with parallels to Penikese for the Swiss Louis Agassiz ... re ...

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Tips for college freshmen -- and college applicants https://t.co/LZzqEuyRWz via @UKnowHGSE pic.twitter.com/xt3ebglQ4y

— Harvard Education (@hgse) November 20, 2016

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Also re Cuttyhunk Island, nearby to Penikese:

Westport researchers uncover local origins of famous Cuffe family

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/special/20161118/westport-researchers-uncover-local-origins-of-famous-cuffe-family

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Having grown up on Cuttyhunk in summers since I was little (1966), I've visited Penikese many, many times, mostly getting there by small sail boat (Bullseyes and Lasers), which I sailed myself there, or by power boat (mostly Makos and Boston Whalers, ~ 16 feet speed boats).

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penikese_Island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Agassiz

(See, too, nearby: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttyhunk_Island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha%27s_Vineyard)

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