CRDM 701

Week 10 - Kelly

I?m going to use the blog to discuss thoughts on my research topic because it has changed this week ? I hope some of my thoughts will still be relevant for the rest of the class. Currently, I hope to examine the visual culture of virtual environments (Second Life, There and IMVU) with a focus on the visual nature of the 3D avatars within those environments. I felt like this week?s readings seemed to support why it is important to look separately at the visual elements of virtual environments?largely because people are learning to ?accept as ?real? much that is apprehended through only a single sensory mod? (Adams, 1998, p. 100). In the case of the casually immersive environments this is the sense of vision. Actually, Adams (1998) also points out that it is not only in virtual worlds where sight is the preferred sense. He explains using examples, ?A modern supermarket reveals another realm in which sight has been given priority over the other senses? (p. 100) and, ?modern suburbs are essentially odorless, flavorless, and textureless compared to the residential environments of most human history? (p. 100).

In a sense, avatars are similar to the nonhumans described by Latour. They are representations of a virtual self but they are used for tasks like machines. Latour illustrates through metaphor, ?He/she [the avatars] will fully play the administrative machinery (p. 270) ?Machines are lieutenants; they hold the places of the roles delegated to them? (1995, p. 275). Avatars are symbolic representations and I believe that trends arise in the visual appearance of the avatar. Castells (1996) writes, ?Symbolic communication between humans, and the relationship between humans and nature, on the basis of production (with its complement, consumption), experience, and power, crystallize over history in specific territories, thus generating cultures and collective identities (p. 15).  I think as symbolic representations, avatars contribute to collective identities over time. I think influence from the actual world generates visual aspects of an avatar and I think it is possible an avatar can be ?carried into ?real-world? contexts?. Adams (2005) cites Gerbner (2002) ?Bits of identity picked up in virtual context such as television and video games adhere to the self and are carried into ?real-world? contexts, where people externalize what they have previously internalized?. A really interesting study on the use of avatars found that ?anthropomorphic avatars were perceived to be more attractive and credible, and people were more likely to choose to be represented by them. Participants reported masculine avatars as less attractive than feminine avatars, and most people reported a preference for human avatars that matched their gender? (Nowak & Rauh, 2006, p. 153). The implications from this study that if given a choice people often choose avatars that are similar to their actual appearance. Perhaps this indicates people hope their avatar is more like an extension of their self as opposed to a fantasy?

Adams (1998) also explains that ?the costumes in cyberspace are constructed of words, and therefore are created during, rather than before, the moment of interaction? (p. 101). This would not be the case when using avatars. If someone chooses how he/she is visually represented prior interaction does that tell an audience anything about the person? Even if the avatar is similar to the actual appearance of the person communicating there are certain choices that have been made about the person is represented visually that indicate of how he/she wants to be represented. I think ?costume? is a great word to describe how a person represents him/herself online. In the case of the casual immersive worlds I think the avatar is an important piece of this costume.

The idea that computer networks ?desexualize the body and replace it with a disembodied gaze? (Adams, 1998, p. 101) is an idea presented by both Adams and Hillis (1999). This seems important in regards to the avatar because, visually, avatars within adult virtual environments are very sexualized. The boundary between male and female is one border that remains heavily guarded despite new technologized ways to rewrite the physical body in the flesh?? (Balsamo, 1995, p. 217). If anything, instead of disappearing, the distinction between feminine and masculine appears to be exaggerated in cyberspace (Biocca & Nowak, 2002). Adams also references Haraway?s ?Cyborg Manifesto? and I think it is relevant to the discussion the avatar that she states in the manifesto, ?technologies of visualization recall the important cultural practice of hunting with the camera and the deeply predatory nature of a photographic consciousness. Sex, sexuality and reproduction are central actors in high-tech myth systems structuring our imaginations of personal and social possibility (p.169). I am not making an argument that avatars are sexist, as Adams (2005) points out ?to dismiss all discussions of disembodied (or embodied) agency as sexist does not serve any symbolic or strategic purpose? (p. 14). I think the addition of the 3D avatars in the virtual environments might alter a ?disembodied gaze? or their addition could at least be discussed.

Oh, and ditto Karla ? Happy Halloween!

Posted at 03:51PM Oct 31, 2007 by klnorris in General  |  Comments[0]