2010/04/23 [6705ELPC2010]

Volume 1, Issue 1

Protecting Identity
with Avatars
How many people use avatars in their online
communication?
By avatar, I am not referring to the blue skinned, humanoid
bodies used in a recent feature film of the same name.
I am referring to picture that a person ther to hide behind or to embrace
uses to graphically represent them- something different, or an image to
selves on computer services such as from which to project a new or old in-
Twitter and Facebook, forums and dis- terest. Where the personality of the
cussion boards. Whether it is a photo- user changes as the avatar changes, the
graph of the user or a famous actor, an personality become the avatar’s per-
image from a film or drawing, this rep- sonality.
resentation becomes the user’s avatar
on that service (“Avatar”, n.d.). So the
aforementioned bodies used in the film
Avatar to explore the alien world are
indeed avatars for that context.

The answer to the initial question is:

almost everyone who communicates
online, as there are very few services
that do not provide options for user
avatars.
My Avatar Creator
While a person’s avatar could be a
http://www.myavatareditor.com
photograph of themselves, there is a
This editor produces avatars identical
general view that a photo is not an ava-
to the Miis found on the Nintendo
tar. In this way, the user’s avatar be-
Wii console and is very simple to
comes the image, and even the person-
use. From the popularity of Miis,
ality, that the user wishes to project
most students will enjoy these ava-
onto that community. For some, the
tars.
avatar becomes a different person, ei-
Protecting Identity with Avatars
DoppelMe
http://www.doppelme.com
A free avatar creator which restricts
most of its customisation options to
registered users. It creates interesting
avatars that students should enjoy.
Warning: before clothing is selected
the avatar is naked apart from appro-
priately placed fig leaves.
The use of avatars is also reflective of
the social context in which the discus-
sion is occurring. When discussion oc-
curs on open networks, where the use
of “real names” is discouraged, a clear
majority of avatars are not photo-
graphs. The avatar chosen may be re-
flective of discussion topic or may
show the user’s personality differently.
When I was part of the Browncoat
community of the TV series Firefly,
the majority of forum users had avatars
picturing their favourite character or
locales of the TV series. Those users
whose avatar was not drawn from Fire-
fly generally used avatars from other
science fiction series. In these circum-
stances, avatars may be transported be-
tween services, allowing established
relationships to continue elsewhere, or
[6705ELPC2010]
it may be isolated to a single service
and discarded when no longer required.
In closed networks used to continue ex-
isting social interaction, where commu-
nication is restricted to those that one
knows, there is less of a restriction to Avatars pro-
use of real names and photos. On these
services, such as the chatting tools vide a means
AIM and MSN Messenger, the avatar
for students to
(originally called a “buddy icon”) may
be a cool picture the user has found, a
protect their
short message or a personal photo. In
this environment, a particular avatar real identity
may have a short lifetime, each reflect-
ing a different facet of the user’s per- while online.
sonality. From my own experience, my
avatars on MSN Messenger were snip-
pets of pictures from web comics, TV
shows or photos of effects in science;
the avatars reflected my interest or
mood at the time. However, some
closed network services have a public
face, and care must be taken with ava-
tars at this boundary.
Avatars have been seen by educators as
a means for students to have an online
representation, to change the "sea of
gray square faces" (Allen, 2010, para.
Alan Burt
2 ) when using online services for class
activities. By using avatars, we educa-
Is a graduate education stu-
tors are providing a chance for student
dent at the University of
self-representation with less risk of ex-
Canberra.
posing students to online predators as
would occur we used photographs
This image is an avatar
(Feldman, n.d.). They also provide a produced at
means for students to protect their real http://www.evolver.com
identity while online. Safety is an im- Inappropriately realistic for
portant consideration, as educators we identity protection.
have to plan for the safety of our stu-
dents during class activities, inside or
 Protecting Identity with Avatars [6705ELPC2010]

outside the classroom or school. The relevance of this finding. Students will
Internet is outside of school grounds need to be educated, by us, in appropri-
just as much as the park located down ate content for avatars while we edu-
the road. I am not saying that students cate them in the reasons for their use.
using the internet is something to be Communication with parents about
feared, as there are as many learning avatars, use and appropriateness, will
opportunities on the Internet, if not also needs to occur, to ensure there is a
more, as there are in that park. consistent message between home and
school.
While avatars provide a means for stu-
dents to protect their identity, particu- Education on the use and content of
larly their age and gender, care must be avatars could easily occur alongside
taken with the choice of avatar. A pic- the creation of student avatars in a les-
ture of Hannah Montana doesn't tell son. There is a large variety of tools
me that I am talking to an 8 year old available on the internet for the crea-
girl, but it strongly suggests that I am. tion of avatars (see the examples
Simpsons Avatar throughout this article). Remember that
Although, the user of a Hannah Mon-
www.simpsonsmovie.com the simplest avatars can be students'
tana avatar still has their real identity
This creator allows stu-
protected, which makes it harder for
dents to create avatars
someone to identify them in the real
which look like characters
world. It should also be remembered
out of The Simpsons. The
that an age and gender neutral avatar is
hosting site is a promo-
useless for protection if age, gender
tional site for The Simp-
and/or location are listed in profile in-
sons Movie.
formation. Avatars are only a compo-
nent of internet safety.

While an avatar can provide protection

for a student’s real identity, when an
inappropriate avatar is used it can be a
source for unwanted attention. Re-
searchers have found that "girls who
present themselves provocatively in Build Your Wild Self
http://www.buildyourwildself.com
body and clothing choices [for their
This tool is provided by the New York
avatar] are more likely to have had
Zoo and Aquarium and allows students
online sexual advances" ("Study:
to create avatars which combine human
Abuse, provocative images increase
and animal components. It would be
Internet risks for girls", 2009, para.
excellent for class self-representation
21). From the information presented, I
exercises. Unfortunately there are only
suspect the researchers were using ava-
child sized bodies, so the avatars will
tars in three dimensional virtual
suggest that the user is a child.
worlds, but this does not detract from
 Protecting Identity with Avatars
existing work, scanned or photo-
graphed and uploaded to the online ser-
vice. Creating avatars can be part of a
self-representation exercise, particu-
larly in the primary school years. As a
Mini-Mizer
http://www.reasonablyclever.com/?
page_id=29
Allow the students to create avatars
based on Lego minifigs! A great tool for
students who like Lego. This version is
promoted as “Kid-Safe”.
Meez
http://www.meez.com
A free creator which can be used to cre-
ate 2D static or 3D animated avatars.
Most customisation options are free,
however some must be purchased. The
site’s intent is that the avatars are used in
the hosted and advertised games, with
some advertisements for sites or prod-
ucts.
[6705ELPC2010]
class or in small groups students could
discuss what they would show, why they
would use it as their virtual self and how
it relates to the networked service. In my
secondary mathematics classroom, avatars
could be created while exploring visuali-
sations of fractals. Student would create
their avatar from a portion of a fractal and
discuss why that portion appealed to
them. This task combines exploration of a
topic in modern mathematics and discus-
sion online student self-representation.
Avatars provide an excellent means for
students to protect their identity and main-
taining a means of self-representation
while using the Internet. As educators, our
role is educate students on the appropriate
use of avatars, establish their use in online
classroom activities and encourage the use
of them outside of the classroom.
References
Allen, B. (2010, January 5) Pick a Personality
[web log post]. Retrieved from http://
techeduk8ing.edublogs.org/2010/01/05/
avatars-for-students/
Avatar. In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 20,
2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Avatar_%28computing%29
Feldman, B.J. (n.d.) Social Networking Safety
Tips for Kid. Retrieved April 21, 2010 from
http://www.surfnetparents.com/
social_networking_safety_tips_for_kids-
18837.html
Study: Abuse, provocative images increase
Internet risks for girls. (2009, May 26) CNN
Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/
TECH/05/26/girls.internet.study/