NMC Campus Observer

Avatars, appearance and identity - all a buzz

Corwin Carillon (aka Nick Noakes) : Jul 24, 2007 08:57pm

What’s your dress code?

Mon 23 Jul saw a vibrant and open discussion with people sharing views on avatars, appearance and identity for teachers in Second Life.

Picking up on a recent (and recurring) discussion on the Second Life Educators list (SLED), the discussion was wide ranging covering the varied reasons for choice of avatar types and appearances. Some opted for having a least one alternate avatar to keep professional and personal separate. Whilst others opted for just one, but perhaps dressed differently depending on the situation. Zachary Carter, a reporter with the Second Life News Network, also raised the question about teachers avatar choice and sexuality. People were very open about this and it naturally led to a discussion of boundaries between the personal and the professional. It was apparent from the discussion that these boundaries are fluid and that the degree of fluidity probably, at least in part, varies with teaching context, such as across student age-groups (K-12, adult, etc) and cultures.

With some 38 avatars participating, the screen scroll became intense with multiple threads running pretty much continuously for the hour. You can see this for yourselves from the full transcript on the NMC Campus wiki! Don’t forget to check the photos on Flickr too!

I’ll leave this quick report with a, near-end-of-session, quote from Veritas Variscan:

SL is a vehicle for whatever people want to make it. It all depends upon where we choose to focus. I personally see it as a vehicle for human communication that can eventually lead to the bridging of barriers between peoples all over the world, and that it will cease to be such a ’separate’ world over time. The media - especially RL media - loves to take a short look at SL and presume that it is all about sex, but they are terribly mistaken. … but make no mistake, sex is not what drives SL - it is the desire for connection that drives it.

Post your views about avatars, appearance and identity for teachers in SL in the comment box below!

And don’t miss the next Teachers Buzz session with Sean McDunnaugh and Jokay Wollongong discussing and showcasing Second Life education resources from Australia on Mon 6 Aug at 7am SLT/PDT.

Story filed under: Teacher's Buzz, Teaching and Learning

See all stories by Corwin Carillon (aka Nick Noakes)