Presenter:Teri Shamp-Bjerede, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

The aim of this study is to look at the users and the avatars they create. With this as a foundation I will then study the cultural/humanistic choices involved. This will be a case study that centers on the avatars that inhabit Second Life. The goal of the study is to understand how human elements such as wants and desires to be other than ones self, drive the creation process of the avatar. Taylor states that “they [avatars] facilitate not only the production of identities (shaping persona through the look and actions of an avatar) but social relationships and communication. They are not neutral, and indeed their power lies in the very fact that they cannot be” (Taylor 117). Taylor goes on to affirm that these avatars are just as important as our physical bodies are in real life. For my conclusion I am looking to find a link between the human side of the avatar and its ultimate creation and how “we” (my quotes) can become more in a virtual world than in the physical world.

Reference material:
Cooper, Robbie, Tracy Spaight, and Julian Dibbell. Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators . Chris Boot , 2007. Deuchar, Sue , Nodder, Carolyn . “The Impact of Avatars and 3D Virtual World Creation on Learning”. UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland, NZ. June 4, 2007 .
Kolko, B. E.. “Representing Bodies in Virtual Space: The Rhetoric of Avatar Design “. The Information Society July 1999 : 177-186.
Taylor, T.L.. Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. United States: MIT Press Books, 2006.