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Chat with Alice
This interactive fictional dialogue game explores the concepts around avatar creation. You will encounter discussions about avatar-making as art-making, self-making, and knowledge-making by selecting dialogues to advance in the game. The selections you make will determine your path through the narrative. Thus, there are unlimited possibilities in regard to creating the narrative.
You are a researcher who is collecting information about avatars and identity. You will be chatting with Alice, a fashion blogger who constantly changes her avatar. In researching your subject, you will discuss various concepts and provide examples in your conversation with Alice about avatar-making. You will be able to choose what you say to Alice, and she will respond with her own ideas. Your conversation with her can range from a few dialogues to hundreds of exchanges. It’s up to you. You are a player, a reader, and an author: not only will you play this game, but you will also read about the debates provoked by avatar-making and author your own text through the decisions you make. Let’s find out what your conversation with Alice will be!
<div id=intro-hd>Chat with Alice</div><div id=intro-bg>You have an online friend, Alice, whom you meet in the virtual world of Second Life (SL). Alice is an SL fashion blogger. She blogs about her avatar fashion and constantly changes her avatar including its shape, skin, hair, and clothing. You know about her from her blog and the pictures of her avatar. She likes Japanese kawaii-style, as shown by the frequency with which she appears in very cute clothes from Japanese designers.
You sometimes run into her at stores in SL when there is a sale or a hunting game for free clothing. Other than her photography studio home and her post stand, stores are probably the only places she visits. Yes, that is what you know about her—and that she spends most of her time mixing and matching clothes. She takes screenshots of her many looks and posts them on her blog a few times a week. She sometimes wears clothes in a creative way and adds accessories to complete the look. Each image tells readers a story about her and the clothes she wears, about how she interacts with these clothes, and the ideas behind the pictures.
Alice likes to chat, too: it seems as if she is online 24-7. You share with her that you are interested in finding out how different kinds of avatar-making experiences tell stories about self-making, in exploring the many ways in which avatars constitute art-making, and in understanding how these experiences create knowledge and become pedagogical. She often shares her opinions about these matters with you, and you collect her opinions to include in your research as well.
<h1><div id=button>[[Alice is calling. Answer her message.]]</div>
<div id=button><a href="https://secondlife.com/" target="_blank">Wait, play Second Life first. </a> 💻</div></h1>
</div>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Hi, what's up? 😁</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Did you see my newest skin? 😄 I finally found one that is closer to my real skin. You know, I am Asian, but there are not many realistic Asian skins in SL. Some Asian skins created by Japanese designers are too dolly-looking, others are too stereotypically Asian with tip eyes, thin eyebrows ... etc. They don’t really represent what I look like. 😩</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Why is looking as close as possible to your real-life body important to you?]]
[[Are you trying to create a self-portrait?]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=intro-hd>Chat with Alice</div><div id=avatars>For this online chat game, please first select an avatar to represent you. <<set $avatar_head to "">>
<p>[img["https://i.imgur.com/Zev0BV7.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/Zev0BV7.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/vyRuLRE.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/vyRuLRE.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/HYGKUau.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/HYGKUau.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/4iRWbl4.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/4iRWbl4.jpg"]] </p><p> [img["https://i.imgur.com/aGWLajJ.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/aGWLajJ.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/itNQRId.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/itNQRId.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/T9WJaXC.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/T9WJaXC.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/eFjzYvg.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/eFjzYvg.jpg"]] </p><p> [img["https://i.imgur.com/zTfzj3d.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/zTfzj3d.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/UYqkOwM.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/UYqkOwM.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/UUXYJDI.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/UUXYJDI.jpg"]] [img["https://i.imgur.com/rhmBCuZ.jpg"][Alice is online][$avatar_head to "https://i.imgur.com/rhmBCuZ.jpg"]]</p>
<div id="user_upload" >Upload your own avatar picture:
<input id="user_avatar" type="file" /><div id="ava_display"></div></div>
<div id=button>[[Use the uploaded Avatar|Alice is online]]</div>
</div>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Why is looking as close as possible to your real-life body important to you?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I want an Asian skin that looks like my real skin because that is the way I want to be presented.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Many people try to create an avatar that looks somewhat like their physical selves.]]
[[Others perfer to have a fantasy avatar. Have you heard of an art project called Becoming Dragon?]]
[[Have you thought of using a different skin?]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Are you trying to create a self-portrait?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Self-portrait? Interesting. I just want to see how close I can get to my own body in SL. I don’t know much about self-portraits. I am not an artist.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Creating an avatar is like using a 3D computer medium to create a self-portrait.]]
[["Portraits have always been combinations of realism and the techniques artists use to communicate the subject’s personality" (Meadow, 2008, p. 106).]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Many people try to create an avatar that looks somewhat like their physical selves.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I create my avatar just like a self-portrait. I created a photo-realistic avatar as a portrait. </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[So what do you think of your portrait-making?]]
[[Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.]]
[[When I think of your avatar portraits, I think of contemporary artist Cindy Sherman’s work.]] </div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Creating an avatar is like using a 3D computer medium to create a self-portrait.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I guess I know what you mean. It is really difficult to create a "perfect" avatar using SL's technology. </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Creating an avatar involves using a 3D technique to “sculpt” a portrait, and what many people do, including you, is to take a photograph of the sculpture to create an image of it.]]
[[There are other ways to create an avatar. A Net art project called Bodies INCorporated uses different elements to create avatars.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>"Portraits have always been combinations of realism and the techniques artists use to communicate the subject’s personality" (Meadow, 2008, p. 106).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>But self-portrait or not, why does it matter? How does self-portrait relate to avatar-making?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[When I think of your avatar portraits, I think of contemporary artist Cindy Sherman’s work.]]
[[I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.]]
[[Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Creating an avatar involves using a 3D technique to “sculpt” a portrait, and what many people do, including you, is to take a photograph of the sculpture to create an image of it.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I know many people see this as art-making. Some of my friends PhotoShop their avatars’ pictures to create artistic effects. If you go to an SL-related Flickr group page, you will see these images. They are like sub-culture pop art.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[So what do you think of your portrait-making?]]
[[Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.]]
[[Have you heard of Eva and Franco Mattes' (aka 0100101110101101.org) Portraits of Avatars?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>So what do you think of your portrait-making?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I didn’t really think of it as portrait-making at first. I thought of it as creating a collection of ideas about body-making.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Your project sounds like art-making to me.]]
[[When I think of your avatar portraits, I think of contemporary artist Cindy Sherman’s work.]]
[[Have you heard of Gracie Kendal?]]
[[Have you heard of Eva and Franco Mattes' (aka 0100101110101101.org) Portraits of Avatars?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Your project sounds like art-making to me.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember when I was in high school, many of my friends drew beautiful anime-like portraits. The avatar portraits on Flickr make me think of this sub-culture art that is popular among youth. Interestingly, many people I know who do this think of it as artistic expression, and it is the only art form that interests them.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[So, it is art-making for many people.]]
[[Yes. And, I see that you are doing something similar, except you are more about body image and identity. Other people are more about fantasy.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>When I think of your avatar portraits, I think of contemporary artist Cindy Sherman’s work.</div><div id=answer3>Sherman creates her art by taking pictures of herself. However, these pictures are not really self-portraits, at least, they aren’t intended to illustrate how her physical body looks. She dresses up in ways that represent many different roles. It is like she created many avatars.</div><div id=answer4>She uses her body as a medium, canvas, and playground to create images and convey different ideas. I remember reading an article about Cindy Sherman by Knafo (1996), who argues that “Cindy Sherman creates a safe space, akin to a child’s playground, in which to play and work through issues of self-image, identity, gender, and object relations” (p. 158).</div><div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds like she is playing a dress-up game.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
<a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/" target="_blank"> Looking at Cindy Sherman's Exhibition at MoMA 💻</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman" target="_blank"> Read more about Cindy Sherman 💻</a></div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of Gracie Kendal?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I don’t think I know about her. </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[She is real-world artist Kristine Schomaker’s avatar in SL.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>She is real-world artist Kristine Schomaker’s avatar in SL.</div><div id=answer3>Kristine Schomaker is a new media and performance artist based in Los Angeles who explores online identity in virtual worlds and social-networking technologies.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is interesting that she has two names.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[The Gracie Kendal Project is a performance art project centered on her interaction with her avatar Gracie Kendal.|The Gracie Kendal Project]]
<a href="http://www.kristineschomaker.net/#!the-gracie-kendal-project/c1foh" target="_blank"> See her <em>Gracie Kendal Project</em> 💻</a>
<a href="http://www.kristineschomaker.net/#!my-life-as-an-avatar/csfq" target="_blank"> See another related project <em>My Life as an Avatar</em> 💻</a>
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer><em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em> is a performance art project centered on her interaction with her avatar Gracie Kendal.</div><div id=answer3>In <em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em>, she talks with her avatar, whom she calls “my self-portrait, my alter ego, my inner conscience.” And, she says, “She is a character in my life story that revolves around the loss of identity, self-awareness and self acceptance” (Schomaker, 2010, para. 2). Part of her project is the opposite of what many people, including you, try to do. She tried to change her real-life body to look like her avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice> 😘 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Interesting, right?]]
[[Want to know more about her project?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.</div><div id=answer3>The word “autopoiesis” means self-creation. Poiesis is Greek for creation or production. It originated in biological science to describe living systems (Mariotti, 1999), but it makes sense to use it here to describe relationships between people and their avatars. </div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice> ∞ 😵 ∞ </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[What do you think?]]
[[Or do you have other ideas to describe this relationship?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>What do you think?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Interesting word. It makes me think of this phrase: “your self-portrait paints you.” Oh, artist M. C. Escher’s Drawing Hands might be a good example to illustrate this idea (Garcia, 1991). </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of Gracie Kendal?]]
[[Have you heard of Eva and Franco Mattes' (aka 0100101110101101.org) Portraits of Avatars?]]
[[Creating avatars could shape your understanding of body image and identity.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>So, it is art-making for many people.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I guess. Except that to create an avatar, I did not "draw" or create different body parts. I use items created by other people.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[You know I do think that your avatar is like an assemblage artwork. You got your hair from one place and your skin from another.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Yes. And, I see that you are doing something similar, except you are more about body image and identity. Other people are more about fantasy.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What do you think you could do if you were your avatar?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I “am” my avatar. My avatar is part of me.]]
[[If I could become my avatar, that would be to say there are some differences between my avatar and me.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.</div><div id=answer3>Highlighted in the exhibition was her early work Film Stills from the 1970s. In these photographs she dressed as different female movie characters, though these film characters are imaginary. These photo-portraits reveal the stereotypical images of females in movies. </div><div id=answer4>I think avatar portraits can, too. At least, I know avatar portraits can change your physical body.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Really? How?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Just like becoming someone different.]]
[[Have you heard of Gracie Kendal?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Want to know more about her project?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I don’t know if that’s possible or not. Did she have plastic surgery?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[No, not really. She used make-up, dyed her hair, and added a piercing, etc.]]
[[Interesting, right?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>No, not really. She used make-up, dyed her hair, and added a piercing, etc.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This sounds like people dressing up or wearing costumes.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of artist Cindy Sherman?]]
[[Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal created another project, 1000+ Avatars.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I “am” my avatar. My avatar is part of me.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I’d like to become my avatar and have a better body shape and tons of clothes (of course this is important 😉). But I also don’t want to become my avatar, because I cannot think of anything important she has besides an attractive appearance. Did you notice that I say “she?” I normally think of my avatar as myself, but in order to become her, I need to separate me from her. This is ironic. I make a self in the virtual world, and my double is not actually me. And, it comes back to reshape me. 😅</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Sounds just like The Gracie Kendal Project.]]
[[The Becoming Drogan project also questions reality.]]
[[I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>If I could become my avatar, that would be to say there are some differences between my avatar and me.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>But I can say that I am also embodied in my avatar body, which is not the same as my physical body.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of an art project called Becoming Dragon?]]
[[Sounds like how Kristine Schomaker is emboided in Gracie Kendal.]]
[[Have you thought of using a different skin?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal created another project, <em>1000+ Avatars</em>.</div>
<div id=alicepic2><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice2>What is this project about?</div><div id=photo2 align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer2>She takes different avatars’ pictures, back and front. But she mostly only shows the back of avatars in the display area in her studio. Sometimes, she posts the fronts of avatars on her blog. She states that her project is “the idea of online anonymity.”</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.kristineschomaker.net/#!1000-avatarsproject/c1rkk" target="_blank"> Here is the information of the <em>1000+ Avatars Project</em> 💻</a>
[[Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]
[[Her project exposes the spectacle of identity representations. Identity is mediated by images.]]
[[The virtual world is about spectacle re/production.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of an art project called <em>Becoming Dragon</em>?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>You can become anything in the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.]]
[[Or, do you want to hear about The Gracie Kendal Project, in which the artist tried to become her avatar?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>You know I do think that your avatar is like an assemblage artwork. You got your hair from one place and your skin from another.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Ha ha, so I am like an artist creating assemblage art. 😜</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of a Net art project called Bodies INCorporated by Victoria Vesna?]]
[[An project that uses collaborative avatar-making to create new bodies is World of Female Avatars created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This spectacle says a lot about computer-meditated culture.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Artist Gregory Little crticized the avatar visual culture through his work A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999).]]
[[SL artist Gazira Babeli used performance art to critique the spectacle of avatar visual culture.]]
[[Have you heard of a Net art project called Bodies INCorporated by Victoria Vesna?]]
[[An project that uses collaborative avatar-making to create new bodies is World of Female Avatars created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Her project exposes the spectacle of identity representations. Identity is mediated by images.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>If the spectacle cannot be stopped from reproducing itself, why don’t we think about how to turn the spectacle into a source of data for our collective consciousness of self?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of a Net art project called Bodies INCorporated by Victoria Vesna?]]
[[An project that uses collaborative avatar-making to create new bodies is World of Female Avatars created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The virtual world is about spectacle re/production.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>So, does this mean when I create my avatar portrait, I perpetuate the spectacle?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Those fashion blogs (including yours) are the spectacle of avatars as well.]]
[[Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It’s true. It’s hard to think of a representation of me. Although I know what my body looks like, I’m not sure if that body represents me. No, I don’t want to have a fixed image about me. Portraits are evil. 😱</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.org) did a project called Portraits of Avatars. They exhibited it in Second Life and real-life galleries in different countries. Their project explores the relationship between identity and virtual representation.|Eva and Franco]]
[[You can think of the avatar or the portrait as "the mask I have constructed to interface with the environment (be it real or virtual) that I inhabit. Since its outset, the aim of the portrait genre has been to immortalize this mask, or in other words, to construct avatars" (Quaranta, 2007, para. 8).]]
[[Have you thought of using a different skin?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.org) did a project called <em>Portraits of Avatars</em>. They exhibited it in Second Life and real-life galleries in different countries. Their project explores the relationship between identity and virtual representation.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember seeing this exhibition in SL.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://0100101110101101.org/portraits/" target="_blank"> See <em>Portraits of Avatars</em> 💻</a>
[[Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "the projection of my identity in a public space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "appearance that I wish to have when I emerge from my private space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal's 1000+ Avatars is about avatar portraits too.]]
[[Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "the projection of my identity in a public space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).</div>
<div id=alicepic2><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice2>That's why many people want to create idealized avatars.</div>
<div id=photo2 align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer2>But there are artists creating works to challenge these idealized avatar body images.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]
[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[And some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "appearance that I wish to have when I emerge from my private space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What's the avatar appearance you would like to have? Which component is more imporant to you?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Skin]]
[[Body size]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>"You can think of the avatar or the portrait as "the mask I have constructed to interface with the environment (be it real or virtual) that I inhabit. Since its outset, the aim of the portrait genre has been to immortalize this mask, or in other words, to construct avatars" (Quaranta, 2007, para. 8).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>The mask metaphor is interesting. You can change your skin, gender, body...etc. to mask your real life identity.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Do you think people would all choose the same skin color, and if so, what color would that be?]]
[[Have you heard of a project called Becoming Drogan? Artist Cárdenas questions the usefulness of categorizing bodies according to gender.]]
[[Creating different avatar bodies can also be used in teaching about body images.]]
[[The art project World of Female Avatars is another way to construct avatars and form a collective identity.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Interesting...😔</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://transreal.org/" target="_blank"> Learn more about Micha Cárdenas 💻</a>
[[The Becomeing Dragon project explores the possibility of becoming an avatar.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The Becomeing Dragon project explores the possibility of becoming an avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Can a person really become an avatar? How?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This mixed-reality durational performance takes as its subject the idea of “becoming” as an embodied process. During the 365-hour performance, the artist lives immersed in SL in the form of a dragon.]]
[[The artist becomes immersed in the identity of the dragon, which, the artist states, is not limited to or by human gender categories.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This mixed-reality durational performance takes as its subject the idea of “becoming” as an embodied process. During the 365-hour performance, the artist lives immersed in SL in the form of a dragon.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Whether or not she is a dragon at the end, does her project change anything?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This is more of a gesture and political statement to question clear-cut identity (and gender and species).]]
[[Cárdenas questions the usefulness of categorizing bodies according to gender.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The artist becomes immersed in the identity of the dragon, which, the artist states, is not limited to or by human gender categories.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It sounds like the artist stepped into the dragon’s skin and became the dragon. But in “reality” the artist is not the dragon.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This is more of a gesture and political statement to question clear-cut identity (and gender and species).]]
[[Cárdenas questions the usefulness of categorizing bodies according to gender.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This is more of a gesture and political statement to question clear-cut identity (and gender and species).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>So does this mean that becoming dragon or not is not important?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is more about making political statement to challenge the status quo.]]
[[The art is not so much about the form of representation, but about the (political) meaning and intention.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Cárdenas questions the usefulness of categorizing bodies according to gender.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>When creating an avatar in SL, you can only choose male or female avatar. I'd rather have a little more flexbility. 😣</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This limits the choice of body shape to only male or female and no in-between.]]
[[But there are many skin colors you can choose from. Does this provide more possibilities or opportunities?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of a Net art project called <em>Bodies INCorporated</em> by Victoria Vesna?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Tell me more.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.bodiesinc.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">See <em>Bodies INCorporated</em> website 💻</a>
[[This project, which was first exhibited in 1996, allows people to log on to the site and build 3D bodies from different components.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>An project that uses collaborative avatar-making to create new bodies is <em>World of Female Avatars</em> created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew.</div><div id=answer3>The project asks visitors to submit images of and text about the female body that make some kind of personal statement. These images and texts are saved on the site to create “the avatar of female bodies” (Stermitz, Kodzoman, Perkovic, & Zbigniew, 2004, para. 1).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds interesting. I would like to participate. 😊</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://females.mur.at/" target="_blank">See <em>World of Female Avatars</em> 💻</a>
[[The new bodies are an assemblage of female identities.]]</div></div><audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This project, which was first exhibited in 1996, allows people to log on to the site and build 3D bodies from different components.</div><div id=answer3>The avatar bodies can be assembled from different sounds and textures, for example, black rubber, blue plastic, and bronze. Each texture is described in terms of its characteristics, such as “hot and dry; it will sublimate at a relatively low temperature; fashion and style element” (Vesna, 1996, Textures, para. 1).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Very cool. 😊</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[The purpose of avatar-body-making in this project is different from avatar creation in SL. These bodies are not used to perform any task, but to form a collection.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The purpose of avatar-body-making in this project is different from avatar creation in SL. These bodies are not used to perform any task, but to form a collection.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>So the avatar bodies constructed in that project have different textures and sounds, and each element carries different messages. I can connect immediately to those textures used in creating my avatar. If each texture has a meaning, re/assembling my avatar is about making and remaking meanings.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Bodies INCorporated is a collaborative project in which a person’s avatar not only contains his/her own message, but also contributes to the creation of a greater community body. This creates knowledge about the assembled bodies in cyberspace.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer><em>Bodies INCorporated</em> is a collaborative project in which a person’s avatar not only contains his/her own message, but also contributes to the creation of a greater community body. This creates knowledge about the assembled bodies in cyberspace.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What you just said about collaborative and community bodies is interesting to me. I think websites like those SL fashion feeds are also communities with collaborative bodies. Fashion bloggers re/assemble their avatars and contribute to the construction of community bodies.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[The art is not so much about the form of representation, but about the (political) meaning and intention.]]
[[An project that uses collaborative avatar-making to create new bodies is World of Female Avatars created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew.]]
[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The new bodies are an assemblage of female identities.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It seems that assembling digital bodies is an eloquent way to present identity in the digital age.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[The art is not so much about the form of representation, but about the (political) meaning and intention.]]
[[Have you heard of a Net art project called Bodies INCorporated by Victoria Vesna?]]
[[Have you heard of Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal's 1000+ Avatars?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The art is not so much about the form of representation, but about the (political) meaning and intention. </div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What do you mean? I know I enjoy the little moment of assembling as something pleasant, but I suppose this is different from those artists’ projects.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[The fun and joyful feeling of assembling an avatar is similar to that of, for example, drawing a figure, yet the figure drawing, though it is often considered art, does not necessarily intend political meanings or impact.]]
[[Viewers of a figure drawing can interpret political meaning, and many will decipher art through historical or other kinds of references.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The fun and joyful feeling of assembling an avatar is similar to that of, for example, drawing a figure, yet the figure drawing, though it is often considered art, does not necessarily intend political meanings or impact.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What you just said about figure drawing reminds me of my childhood doodles. I always liked drawing figures, especially girls. I would create stories for those girl figures. They are not me, but my imagination. I did not intend to make any socially significant statement, but they were important for my personal growth.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I agree.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Viewers of a figure drawing can interpret political meaning, and many will decipher art through historical or other kinds of references.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>So, if we consider the 3D virtual world as a medium, my avatar re/assembling is much like figure drawing from my childhood. As powerless as when I was a kid, I don’t think my avatar creation can have any impact. I am not an artist like those that create political impacts. 😖</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[But you could be.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I agree.</div><div id=answer3>Although you are using the same medium as other artists, the difference is your intention.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I am interested to see how I can express political meanings through my avatar creation.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]
[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Want to learn about an art project called <em>A Manifesto for Avatars</em> (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?</div><div id=answer3>His avatars were created by assembling different body parts. They look like monsters:
<blockquote> Let us construct the avatar as a revolutionary site of resistance inside the belly of an armed-to-the-teeth multinational monster of exchange. Polymorphic, bi-gendered, unstable nomadic, pained and maimed representations of the self as subject could act, in Donna Haraway’s terms, as “trickster figures,” “potent wild cards” to undermine, infect, and terrorize the monster from the inside out. (Little, 1999, para. 25) </blockquote></div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>He sure is a pioneer.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.gregorylittle.org/projects/avatars/index.html" target="_blank"> See <em>Avatar</em> by Gregory Little 💻</a>
[[His project is a political artist’s call for imagining alternative images of avatars.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), <em>Ultimate Submission</em> (2007)?</div><div id=answer3>She uses irony, parody, and humor to challenge the hegemonic visual culture of the virtual world. In the performance, her avatar wore a barrel and performed a strange dance, making movements like those of a chicken in front of advertising images of female avatars in a shopping mall. These images presented hyper-sexual and objectified female avatars for sale, and Babeli staged the performance to parody and challenge the images and all others like them. The strangeness of her dance disrupted notions of what feminine movement and appearance can and should be, and her performance in the shopping mall venue disrupted the representation of the culture of capitalism.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Fun 😃</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a herf="http://gazirababeli.com/ultimatesubmission.php" target="_blank"> See Gazira Babeli's <em>Ultimate Submission</em> (2007) 💻</a>
[[I think her performance is more related to Happenings]]
[[Another project by artist Gregory Little called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) is like a collage project.]]
[[The Becoming Drogan project is another avatar performance.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I think her performance is more related to Happenings.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Although the artist performed by herself, this makes me think of “flash mob” events. I like her strategies of irony, parody, and humor. Making a political statement through an avatar can be fun. Now I feel I want to try it. Maybe, I will make an old fat but fashionable avatar to attend the coming fashion fair. 😉</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I like your idea, but you need to be careful not to be kicked out of the event.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I like your idea, but you need to be careful not to be kicked out of the event.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Ha ha, don’t worry. I am invited as a VIP because I am a well-known fashion blogger. People know me, but they would be surprised to see my new avatar. 😝</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[In fact, you are making a political statement with your avatar. Your avatar automatically becomes political when seen by others.]]
[[Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>His project is a political artist’s call for imagining alternative images of avatars.</div><div id=answer3>He states: <blockquote>The vast majority of avatars inhabiting cyberspace today are drawn from the image database of advertising, fashion, and entertainment. These countless generic representations—big breasted, small-waisted babes, idealized, perfect-skinned, trim and tan hunks, Disney-derived characters, bowling pins, smiley faces, coffee cups, exotic animals, and steroid-driven snarling, hard-bodied war machines—are not just the tools of the user behind the screen, but covert instruments of multinational capitalism. (Little, 1999, para. 8)</blockquote></div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This says much about SL avatar fashions.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[What do you think about his work?]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]
[[SL artist Gazira Babeli has challenged the visual culture of avatars through her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)|Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[Cindy Sherman's self-portraits provide an alternative for exploring self image and are critiqes of stereotypes.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>What do you think about his work?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>The artist makes me feel bad about my own consumption of fashion items. You are right. I assemble my avatars without considering deeper meanings hidden in the images. But I don’t think that I would like to use avatars like he created. Those images are a little scary, and they don’t have too much meaning for me beyond his claim of “freedom of choice.” I think of my avatar as personal, but his idea is political.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Your avatar can be both personal and political. Have you heard of an art project called Becoming Dragon?]]
[[“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Many of the items I pick for my avatar are in direct relation to my real-life experiences and memories. Why did I choose to have my avatar wear an old video game console controller? Because the controller is associated with so many of my childhood memories of playing console games with siblings. By wearing it, I assemble my avatar from these memories or, put another way, my avatar expresses these memories. Turkle (2007) calls these “evocative objects.” She said, “some objects are experienced as part of self” (p. 7), and further, “we often feel at one with our objects” (p. 9). I think this is the reason why I selected specific “objects” to assemble my avatar.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[What if you were to create an avatar to resist the dominant imagery of avatars (stereotypical representations of gender and media standards of beauty)?]]
[[You are right. The bloggers I interviewed also told me that they choice certain clothes, accessories, or objects because of the personal connections they found in these objects.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I see what you mean. Since my avatar is seen by other people, it is public and political, even if I did not intend to make any political statement. People might interpret my message differently. So, if I create an old fat avatar, it might become a political statement about ageism and body image.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I thought you would never change your shape.]]
[[Yes. And doing so could also teach you about body images.]]
[[Just like Cindy Sherman's work.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>What if you were to create an avatar to resist the dominant imagery of avatars (stereotypical representations of gender and media standards of beauty)?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Hmmm... I’ve never thought about it. I might create an old fat body. 😜 But why would I? Even if I really have an old fat physical body, when I have a chance to choose, I would choose a young and thin body instead. Doesn’t dominant imagery of avatars reflect most people’s choices? Why would I want to make a political statement through my avatar?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).]]
[[Just like Cindy Sherman’s portraits, your avatar can provoke viewers to think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
[[But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Is creating an avatar that look like your real-life self (beomcing yourself) important?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I keep thinking about the question you asked about why I want my avatar to be as close as possible to my RL body? I think one of the reasons is that my avatar is my simulation of my body. Through my avatar, I learned how to dress and I can try different outfits on to see what I would look like in RL if I dressed like my avatar.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Creating an avatar can become a powerful and pedagogical tool in that way.]]
[[Creating different avatar bodies can also be used in teaching about body images.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you thought of using a different skin?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Remember the free skin I told you about? It turns out that the creator made it free because it was a dark skin and the demand for dark skin in SL is quite low. I wasted my time getting that free skin because I know I won’t use it. 😞</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I know some people see skin as an accessory and try different skin colors. Why don’t you try it?]]
[[Do you think people would all choose the same skin color, and if so, what color would that be?]]
[[Would choice of skin color eliminate racism?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I know some people see skin as an accessory and try different skin colors. Why don’t you try it?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I don’t see skin color as an accessory. Skin color is not the same as make-up. In reality, it is almost impossible to change one’s skin color (other than to the extent that tanning does). If you could change skin color that easily, there wouldn’t be problems about racism.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is naive and utopian to view skin color as accessory.]]
[[Is racism only about skin color?]]
[[What if our body is composed by different elements, such as wood, rubber, or bronze? Artist Victoria Vesna has imagined this kind of avatar body.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Do you think people would all choose the same skin color, and if so, what color would that be?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I don't know, but if you can create an avatar to express yourself, just like creating an artwork to express yourself, why would you create the same thing as others?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[So, are your saying avatar-making is art-making?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Would choice of skin color eliminate racism?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Probabley not. I think racism is more than skin color.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[But this possibility of changing skin color might be a pedagogical tool to expose institutionalized and internalized racism as a first step toward social justice.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>It is naive and utopian to view skin color as accessory.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I agree. It is not just about living in the virtual world and finding out if being able to change skin color or gender easily would make our society better.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[But this possibility of changing skin color might be a pedagogical tool to expose institutionalized and internalized racism as a first step toward social justice.]]
[[Have you heard of an art project called Becoming Dragon?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>But this possibility of changing skin color might be a pedagogical tool to expose institutionalized and internalized racism as a first step toward social justice.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Do you mean if I were to try the dark skin, other people might treat me differently?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I think that is possible, although it is a little bit too simple to say that. It can become a powerful and pedagogical tool in that way.]]
[[An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I think that is possible, although it is a little bit too simple to say that. It can become a powerful and pedagogical tool in that way.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Do you have an example?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[University professor, Dr. Phylis Johnson, challenged students to look through the lens of their avatars in SL to consider social, political, and economic issues relevant to virtual communities.]]
[[Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>University professor, Dr. Phylis Johnson, challenged students to look through the lens of their avatars in SL to consider social, political, and economic issues relevant to virtual communities.</div><div id=answer3>For example, one of Johnson’s African-American students who kept her real-life identity in SL found her online identity to be significantly different from that of others, and this further indicates the social barrier of race.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is true. Most of my friends in SL are white-looking, although I don't know how many of them are white in real life.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[There are other barriers, such as body image. If you were to create an avatar to challenge the barriers, what would you create?]]
[[Creating different avatar bodies can also be used in teaching about body images.]]
[[Avatar has become "appearance that [many] wish to have when [they] emerge from [their] private space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>How?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[University professor, Dr. Phylis Johnson, challenged students to look through the lens of their avatars in SL to consider social, political, and economic issues relevant to virtual communities.]]
[[Some artists created avatars to be political to examine and challenge these issues.]]
[[Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I thought you would never change your shape.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This is temporary. I am participating in a blogger challenge that asks bloggers to create beautiful “big-sized” avatars. 😉</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Why do you want to participate?]]
[[Creating avatars could shape your understanding of body image and identity.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer>Why do you want to participate?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Well, the purpose of this challenge is to show people that they can be beautiful even if they have a bigger body size than average. My shape is not really “that big,” but it is a little bigger than average avatars. I always have to adjust those prims to make them bigger in order to fit my avatar. But I want to try an even bigger shape as a statement that I support all types of bodies. 😊</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[As you change your clothes so often, why don’t you make your shape smaller so that you can fit into most clothes easily?]]
[[I found that something about shape is important to bloggers through my research interview with some fashion bloggers.]]
[[A blogger challenge makes me think of Eva and Franco Mattes' (aka 0100101110101101.org) Portraits of Avatars.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer>As you change your clothes so often, why don’t you make your shape smaller so that you can fit into most clothes easily?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I thought of doing that, but it doesn’t look like me. I don’t want a body that doesn’t represent me.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It sounds like that your avatar has become "the projection of [your] identity in a public space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Creating different avatar bodies can also be used in teaching about body images.]]
[[Interesting, many bloggers told me that they bring their real-life identities, shapes, and/or other aspects to their avatars.]]
[[Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Creating different avatar bodies can also be used in teaching about body images.</div><div id=answer3>Peggy Sheehy (2008), a middle school teacher, describes her practice of exploring body images through constructing avatars in teen SL. In order to teach students to analyze and contextualize body images presented by media and pop culture, she asked students to create three types of avatars on separate days: avatars resembling their actual appearances as closely as possible; avatars resembling the media’s representation of perfect beauty; and avatars with the opposite gender to their own that also represented the media’s standards for beauty.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This project sounds like a fashion blogger challenge. 😝 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Sheehy found that her students generated in-depth discussions that would have been difficult to duplicate using traditional media education.]]
[[You might have done similar things.]]
[[Artist Kristine Schomaker's Gracie Kendal Project is to explore how her avatar shapes her real life body.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>You might have done similar things.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Not in the class setting, but in the blogging environment, I am doing two of these tasks frequently, except the gender change one, though some of my peers do that.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Do you think you have different ideas and feelings about body image after these experiences?]]
[[Sounds like you are doing body image experiment with avatar-making.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Do you think you have different ideas and feelings about body image after these experiences?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I think that question assumes too much. I don’t know how to measure it. But just like your example, Sheehy’s students were able to discuss their feelings more in depth. I learned about the embodied experience with different bodies, and that is a valuable experience. Changes in how you perceive your body cannot happen overnight.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I agree. Some people prefer to keep some of their real life identities, shapes, and/or other aspects when creating their avatars.]]
[[But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Sheehy found that her students generated in-depth discussions that would have been difficult to duplicate using traditional media education.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>The fact that Sheehy’s students were able to discuss their feelings more in depth is similar to my own experience.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice> [[Is this similar to my experience of creating a genderless body?]]
[[Do you think you have different ideas and feelings about body image after these experiences?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember you told me about it. You were upset to be kicked out of the store becuase of this embodied learning experience.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Yes, although it is just an avatar and no one knows my real name there, this embodied learning experience shows how your avatar affect you.]]
[[Have you heard of Gracie Kendal's avatar embodiment project?]]
[[Have you heard of an artist trying to become her dragon avatar?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Body size</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I agree. But I will be creating a big-size avatar. 😜</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I thought you would never change your shape.]]
[[Is this similar to my experience of creating a genderless body?]]
[[Are you trying to use your avatar creation to challenge the representation of body image in SL?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Is this similar to my experience of creating a genderless body?</div><div id=answer3>Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember you told me about it. You were upset to be kicked out of the store becuase of this embodied learning experience.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Yes, although it is just an avatar and no one knows my real name there, this embodied learning experience shows how your avatar affect you.]]
[[Have you heard of Gracie Kendal's avatar embodiment project?]]
[[Have you heard of an artist trying to become her dragon avatar?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Yes, although it is just an avatar and no one knows my real name there, this embodied learning experience shows how your avatar affect you.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Did this experience teach you anything?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.]]
[[I “am” my avatar. My avatar is part of me.]]
[[Creating different avatar bodies can teach you about body images.]]
[[Although it seems that you can create your avatar as anything, we are still bounded by social norms and dominated assumptions.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=intro-hd>References</div><div id=intro-bg>
<p class="references">Garcia, J. D. (1991). <em>Creative transformation: A practical guide for maximizing creativity.</em> Retrieved from http://www.see.org/garcia/e-ct-int.htm </p><p class="references">Grosz, E. (1994). <em>Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism.</em> Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. </p><p class="references">Knafo, D. (1996). Dressing up and other games of make-believe: The function of play in the art of Cindy Sherman. <em>American Imago, 53</em>(2), 139-164. </p><p class="references">Meadows, M. S. (2008). <em>I, avatar: The culture and consequences of having a second life.</em> Berkeley, CA: New Riders. </p><p class="references">Quaranta, D. (2007). <em>Life and its double.</em> Retrieved from http://domenicoquaranta.com/public/CATALOGUES/2007_01_Mattes_LOL.pdf </p><p class="references">Sameshima, P. (2007). <em>Seeing Red––A pedagogy of parallax: An epistolary bildungsroman on artful scholarly inquiry.</em> Youngstown, NY: Cambria Press. </p><p class="references">Schomaker, K. (2010, May 9). <em>My life as an avatar.</em> Retrieved from http://graciekendal.wordpress.com/2010/05/ </p><p class="references">Sheehy, P. (2008). <em>Exploring body image in Second Life.</em> Retrieved from http://rezedhub.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2047896%3ATopic%3A7172 </p><p class="references">Turkle, S. (2007). Introduction: The things that matter. In S. Turkle (Ed.), <em>Evocative objects: Things we think with</em> (pp. 3–10). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. </p>
</div>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Or do you have other ideas to describe this relationship?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I didn’t know how to describe this relationship, but it feels like a <em>Möbius strip</em>, which “through a kind of twisting or inversion, one side becomes another” (Grosz, 1994, p. xii).</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of Gracie Kendal?]]
[[Just like Cindy Sherman's work.]]
[[This is also like a mixed-reality.]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer>Sounds just like <em>The Gracie Kendal Project.</em></div><div id=answer3>In <em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em>, she talks with her avatar, whom she calls “my self-portrait, my alter ego, my inner conscience.” And, she says, “She is a character in my life story that revolves around the loss of identity, self-awareness and self acceptance” (Schomaker, 2010, para. 2). Part of her project is the opposite of what many people, including you, try to do. She tried to change her real-life body to look like her avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice> 😘 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Interesting, right?]]
[[Want to know more about her project?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Sounds like how Kristine Schomaker is emboided in Gracie Kendal.</div><div id=answer3>In <em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em>, she talks with her avatar, whom she calls “my self-portrait, my alter ego, my inner conscience.” And, she says, “She is a character in my life story that revolves around the loss of identity, self-awareness and self acceptance” (Schomaker, 2010, para. 2). Part of her project is the opposite of what many people, including you, try to do. She tried to change her real-life body to look like her avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice> 😘 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Interesting, right?]]
[[Want to know more about her project?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Or, do you want to hear about <em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em>, in which the artist tried to become her avatar?</div><div id=answer3>In <em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em>, she talks with her avatar, whom she calls “my self-portrait, my alter ego, my inner conscience.” And, she says, “She is a character in my life story that revolves around the loss of identity, self-awareness and self acceptance” (Schomaker, 2010, para. 2). Part of her project is the opposite of what many people, including you, try to do. She tried to change her real-life body to look like her avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice> 😘 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Interesting, right?]]
[[Want to know more about her project?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of artist Cindy Sherman?</div><div id=answer3>Sherman creates her art by taking pictures of herself. However, these pictures are not really self-portraits, at least, they aren’t intended to illustrate how her physical body looks. She dresses up in ways that represent many different roles. It is like she created many avatars.</div><div id=answer4>She uses her body as a medium, canvas, and playground to create images and convey different ideas. I remember reading an article about Cindy Sherman by Knafo (1996), who argues that “Cindy Sherman creates a safe space, akin to a child’s playground, in which to play and work through issues of self-image, identity, gender, and object relations” (p. 158).</div><div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds like she is playing a dress-up game.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
<a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/" target="_blank"> Looking at Cindy Sherman's Exhibition at MoMA 💻</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman" target="_blank"> Read more about Cindy Sherman 💻</a></div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Others perfer to have a fantasy avatar. Have you heard of an art project called <em>Becoming Dragon</em>?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>You can become anything in the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.]]
[[Or, do you want to hear about The Gracie Kendal Project, in which the artist tried to become her avatar?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Your avatar can be both personal and political. Have you heard of an art project called <em>Becoming Dragon</em>?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>You can become anything in the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.]]
[[Or, do you want to hear about The Gracie Kendal Project, in which the artist tried to become her avatar?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of an artist trying to become her dragon avatar?</div>
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice">
<div id=alice>You can become anything in the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.]]
[[Or, do you want to hear about The Gracie Kendal Project, in which the artist tried to become her avatar?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal's <em>1000+ Avatars</em>?</div>
<div id=alicepic2><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice2>What is this project about?</div><div id=photo2 align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer2>She takes different avatars’ pictures, back and front. But she mostly only shows the back of avatars in the display area in her studio. Sometimes, she posts the fronts of avatars on her blog. She states that her project is “the idea of online anonymity.”</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.kristineschomaker.net/#!1000-avatarsproject/c1rkk" target="_blank"> Here is the information of the <em>1000+ Avatars Project</em> 💻</a>
[[Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]
[[Her project exposes the spectacle of identity representations. Identity is mediated by images.]]
[[The virtual world is about spectacle re/production.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal's <em>1000+ Avatars</em> is about avatar portraits too.</div>
<div id=alicepic2><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice2>What is this project about?</div><div id=photo2 align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer2>She takes different avatars’ pictures, back and front. But she mostly only shows the back of avatars in the display area in her studio. Sometimes, she posts the fronts of avatars on her blog. She states that her project is “the idea of online anonymity.”</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.kristineschomaker.net/#!1000-avatarsproject/c1rkk" target="_blank"> Here is the information of the <em>1000+ Avatars Project </em> 💻</a>
[[Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]
[[Her project exposes the spectacle of identity representations. Identity is mediated by images.]]
[[The virtual world is about spectacle re/production.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of Eva and Franco Mattes' (aka 0100101110101101.org) <em>Portraits of Avatars</em>?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember seeing this exhibition in SL.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://0100101110101101.org/portraits/" target="_blank"> See <em>Portraits of Avatars</em> 💻</a>
[[Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "the projection of my identity in a public space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "appearance that I wish to have when I emerge from my private space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal's 1000+ Avatars is about avatar portraits too.]]
[[Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Those fashion blogs (including yours) are the spectacle of avatars as well.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>If the spectacle cannot be stopped from reproducing itself, why don’t we think about how to turn the spectacle into a source of data for our collective consciousness of self?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of a Net art project called Bodies INCorporated by Victoria Vesna?]]
[[An project that uses collaborative avatar-making to create new bodies is World of Female Avatars created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Skin</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Remember the free skin I told you about? It turns out that the creator made it free because it was a dark skin and the demand for dark skin in SL is quite low. I wasted my time getting that free skin because I know I won’t use it. 😞</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I know some people see skin as an accessory and try different skin colors. Why don’t you try it?]]
[[Do you think people would all choose the same skin color, and if so, what color would that be?]]
[[Would choice of skin color eliminate racism?]]
[[What if our body is composed by different elements, such as wood, rubber, or bronze? Artist Victoria Vesna has imagined this kind of avatar body.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Is racism only about skin color?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Probabley not. I think racism is more than skin color.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[But this possibility of changing skin color might be a pedagogical tool to expose institutionalized and internalized racism as a first step toward social justice.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>But there are many skin colors you can choose from. Does this provide more possibilities or opportunities?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is not just about living in the virtual world and finding out if being able to change skin color or gender easily would make our society better.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[But this possibility of changing skin color might be a pedagogical tool to expose institutionalized and internalized racism as a first step toward social justice.]]
[[Artist Gregory Little crticized the avatar visual culture through his work A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999).]]
[[Have you heard of a Net art project called Bodies INCorporated by Victoria Vesna?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Another project by artist Gregory Little called <em>A Manifesto for Avatars</em> (1991–1999) is like a collage project.</div><div id=answer3>His avatars were created by assembling different body parts. They look like monsters:
<blockquote> Let us construct the avatar as a revolutionary site of resistance inside the belly of an armed-to-the-teeth multinational monster of exchange. Polymorphic, bi-gendered, unstable nomadic, pained and maimed representations of the self as subject could act, in Donna Haraway’s terms, as “trickster figures,” “potent wild cards” to undermine, infect, and terrorize the monster from the inside out. (Little, 1999, para. 25) </blockquote></div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>He sure is a pioneer.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.gregorylittle.org/projects/avatars/index.html" target="_blank"> See <em>Avatar</em> by Gregory Little 💻</a>
[[His project is a political artist’s call for imagining alternative images of avatars.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Artist Gregory Little crticized the avatar visual culture through his work <em>A Manifesto for Avatars</em> (1991–1999).</div><div id=answer3>His avatars were created by assembling different body parts. They look like monsters:
<blockquote> Let us construct the avatar as a revolutionary site of resistance inside the belly of an armed-to-the-teeth multinational monster of exchange. Polymorphic, bi-gendered, unstable nomadic, pained and maimed representations of the self as subject could act, in Donna Haraway’s terms, as “trickster figures,” “potent wild cards” to undermine, infect, and terrorize the monster from the inside out. (Little, 1999, para. 25) </blockquote></div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>He sure is a pioneer.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.gregorylittle.org/projects/avatars/index.html" target="_blank">See <em>Avatar</em> by Gregory Little 💻</a>
[[His project is a political artist’s call for imagining alternative images of avatars.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of Gracie Kendal's avatar embodiment project?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I don’t think I know about her. </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[She is real-world artist Kristine Schomaker’s avatar in SL.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>It is more about making political statement to challenge status quo.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Are there other artists use avatar creation to challenge social issues?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Artist Gregory Little crticized the avatar visual culture through his work A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999).]]
[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[We can all use avatar creation to challenge social issues.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The art project <em>World of Female Avatars</em> is another way to construct avatars and form a collective identity.</div><div id=answer3>Created by Evelin Stermitz, Jure Kodzoman, Ljiljana Perkovic, and Loritz Zbigniew,the project asks visitors to submit images of and text about the female body that make some kind of personal statement. These images and texts are saved on the site to create “the avatar of female bodies” (Stermitz, Kodzoman, Perkovic, & Zbigniew, 2004, para. 1).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds interesting. I would like to participate. 😊</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://females.mur.at/" target="_blank">See <em>World of Female Avatars</em> 💻</a>
[[The new bodies are an assemblage of female identities.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>There are other ways to create an avatar. A Net art project called <em>Bodies INCorporated</em> uses different elements to create avatars.</div><div id=answer3>The project is created by artist Victoria Vesna.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Tell me more.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.bodiesinc.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">See <em>Bodies INCorporated</em> website 💻</a>
[[This project, which was first exhibited in 1996, allows people to log on to the site and build 3D bodies from different components.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>What if our body is composed by different elements, such as wood, rubber, or bronze? Artist Victoria Vesna has imagined this kind of avatar body.</div><div id=answer3>The Net art project is called <em>Bodies INCorporated</em>. It was created before the age of SL.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Tell me more.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://www.bodiesinc.ucla.edu/" target="_blank">See <em>Bodies INCorporated</em> website 💻</a>
[[This project, which was first exhibited in 1996, allows people to log on to the site and build 3D bodies from different components.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Cindy Sherman's self-portraits provide an alternative for exploring self image and are critiqes of stereotypes.</div><div id=answer3>Sherman creates her art by taking pictures of herself. However, these pictures are not really self-portraits, at least, they aren’t intended to illustrate how her physical body looks. She dresses up in ways that represent many different roles. It is like she created many avatars.</div><div id=answer4>She uses her body as a medium, canvas, and playground to create images and convey different ideas. I remember reading an article about Cindy Sherman by Knafo (1996), who argues that “Cindy Sherman creates a safe space, akin to a child’s playground, in which to play and work through issues of self-image, identity, gender, and object relations” (p. 158).</div><div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds like she is playing a dress-up game.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
<a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/" target="_blank"> Looking at Cindy Sherman's Exhibition at MoMA 💻</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman" target="_blank"> Read more about Cindy Sherman 💻 </a></div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The <em>Becoming Drogan</em> project is another avatar performance.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>You can become anything in the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.]]
[[Or, do you want to hear about The Gracie Kendal Project, in which the artist tried to become her avatar?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>In fact, you are making a political statement with your avatar. Your avatar automatically becomes political when seen by others.</div><div id=answer3>“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I see what you mean. Since my avatar is seen by other people, it is public and political, even if I did not intend to make any political statement. People might interpret my message differently. So, if I create an old fat avatar, it might become a political statement about ageism and body image.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I thought you would never change your shape.]]
[[Just like Cindy Sherman's work.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>SL artist Gazira Babeli used performance art to critique the spectacle of avatar visual culture.</div><div id=answer3>Her acts (performance), <em>Ultimate Submission</em> (2007), uses irony, parody, and humor to challenge the hegemonic visual culture of the virtual world. In the performance, her avatar wore a barrel and performed a strange dance, making movements like those of a chicken in front of advertising images of female avatars in a shopping mall. These images presented hyper-sexual and objectified female avatars for sale, and Babeli staged the performance to parody and challenge the images and all others like them. The strangeness of her dance disrupted notions of what feminine movement and appearance can and should be, and her performance in the shopping mall venue disrupted the representation of the culture of capitalism.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Fun 😃</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a herf="http://gazirababeli.com/ultimatesubmission.php" target="_blank"> See Gazira Babeli's <em>Ultimate Submission</em> (2007) 💻</a>
[[I think her performance is more related to Happenings]]
[[Another project by artist Gregory Little called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) is like a collage project.]]
[[The Becoming Drogan project is another avatar performance.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Just like becoming someone different.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What do you think you could do if you were your avatar?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I “am” my avatar. My avatar is part of me.]]
[[If I could become my avatar, that would be to say there are some differences between my avatar and me.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer>I found that something about shape is important to bloggers through my research interview with some fashion bloggers.</div><div id=answer3>I know that you don’t change your shape. Why is using the same shape important to you?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I think for me, the shape is something that people (including myself) can recognize as me. Everything, including skin in SL is an accessory that can be changed. So keeping one thing unchanged becomes a way to identify a person.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Interesting, many bloggers told me that they bring their real-life identities, shapes, and/or other aspects to their avatars.]]
[[Why do you want to stay the same if you can be better?]]
[[But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Interesting, many bloggers told me that they bring their real-life identities, shapes, and/or other aspects to their avatars.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I agree. We are extending our body into the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Is creating an avatar that look like your real-life self (beomcing yourself) important?]]
[[Would you say you are being yourself as an avatar?]]
[[Do you think your avatar body is (part of) your real body?]]
[[Just like creating a self-portrait. "Portraits have always been combinations of realism and the techniques artists use to communicate the subject’s personality" (Meadow, 2008, p. 106).]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Why do you want to stay the same if you can be better?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What do you mean by better? I think better is very subjective. Besides, if there is no base, how do you know if it is better or not? If there is no trace of my real-life identity, how could I enjoy making myself better? Like I said, it would be like creating a doll.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Is creating an avatar that look like your real-life self (beomcing yourself) important?]]
[[Would you say you are being yourself as an avatar?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>In a sense I got a whole new self by remodeling my existing body. I might not have that much money or courage to tear down my house and build a new one, but I am satisfied with my remodeled house.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This sounds like you are re-creating yourself through avatar-making.]]
[[With avatar-making, you can experiement and create many new selves.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Would you say you are being yourself as an avatar?</div><div id=answer3>I heard from many of the fashion blogger participants that they are just being themselves.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Being myself? It is hard to say. It also depends on what you mean by yourself. My avatar looks like me, so I am being myself. But I don’t wear fashion clothes in real life like my avatar does, so I am not being myself in this sense. I interact with other avatars like I would interact with people in real life, so I am being myself. I am a famous SL fashion blogger, but in real life, I am not a famous person, so I am not being myself. This can go on forever I think. 😅</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Is this like creating a fictional story for you/your avatar?]]
[[It is like that you are living in a mixed-reality.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer>Just like Cindy Sherman's work.</div><div id=answer3>Sherman creates her art by taking pictures of herself. However, these pictures are not really self-portraits, at least, they aren’t intended to illustrate how her physical body looks. She dresses up in ways that represent many different roles. It is like she created many avatars.</div><div id=answer4>She uses her body as a medium, canvas, and playground to create images and convey different ideas. I remember reading an article about Cindy Sherman by Knafo (1996), who argues that “Cindy Sherman creates a safe space, akin to a child’s playground, in which to play and work through issues of self-image, identity, gender, and object relations” (p. 158).</div><div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds like she is playing a dress-up game.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
<a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/" target="_blank"> Looking at Cindy Sherman's Exhibition at MoMA 💻</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman" target="_blank"> Read more about Cindy Sherman 💻 </a></div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Is this like creating a fictional story for you/your avatar?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>But I am not only constructing a story, I am telling people about my story. My avatar is the story. So these are stories of my selves that would not be seen in real life.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Each blogger I interviewed also has her own stories.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This sounds like you are re-creating yourself through avatar-making.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Being a fashion blogger, I am re-creating my avatar everyday.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Don’t you think your blog is like a visual photo diary of yourself?]]
[[I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Sounds like you are doing body image experiment with avatar-making.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is not just some experiements. Some people are taking this opportunity to experience what they are unable to do in real life.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[You create your avatar, but you are also creating yourself, in a sense.]]
[[This is probably one of the important aspects of avatar-making.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Each blogger I interviewed also has her own stories.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I think maybe you want to let others know that there are these different experiences. And they are all valid stories. You can’t say there is one way how bloggers re-create their selves online, because there is no one way.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Thank you for your advice.]]
[[I am going to use your ideas in my dissertation.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Don’t you think your blog like a visual photo diary of yourself?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>True. I am writing my autobiography through my blog. 😁</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Each blogger I interviewed also has her own stories.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>With avatar-making, you can experiement and create many new selves.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is not just some experiements. Some people are taking this opportunity to experience what they are unable to do in real life.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[You create your avatar, but you are also creating yourself, in a sense.]]
[[This is probably one of the important aspects of avatar-making.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This is probably one of the important aspects of avatar-making.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>People use their avatar to tell their stories, whether or not it is fiction or real.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Each blogger I interviewed also has her own stories.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>You create your avatar, but you are also creating yourself, in a sense.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I agree, my avatar is part of my identity and I am re/creating it over time.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Is this like creating many stories for you/your avatar?]]
[[I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Do you think your avatar body is (part of) your real body?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Yes. By dressing up my avatar, I am also dressing up myself. Because I always think of my avatar body as my body. </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Would you say you are being yourself as an avatar?]]
[[Cindy Sherman uses her real body to create her "avatar."]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I agree. Some people prefer to keep some of their real life dentities, shapes, and/or other aspects when creating their avatars.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I agree. We are extending our body into the virtual world.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Is creating an avatar that look like your real-life self (beomcing yourself) important?]]
[[Would you say you are being yourself as an avatar?]]
[[Do you think your avatar body is (part of) your real body?]]
[[Just like creating a self-portrait. "Portraits have always been combinations of realism and the techniques artists use to communicate the subject’s personality" (Meadow, 2008, p. 106).]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Creating different avatar bodies can teach you about body images.</div><div id=answer3>Peggy Sheehy (2008), a middle school teacher, describes her practice of exploring body images through constructing avatars in teen SL. In order to teach students to analyze and contextualize body images presented by media and pop culture, she asked students to create three types of avatars on separate days: avatars resembling their actual appearances as closely as possible; avatars resembling the media’s representation of perfect beauty; and avatars with the opposite gender to their own that also represented the media’s standards for beauty.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This project sounds like a fashion blogger challenge. 😝 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Sheehy found that her students generated in-depth discussions that would have been difficult to duplicate using traditional media education.]]
[[You might have done similar things.]]
[[Artist Kristine Schomaker's Gracie Kendal Project is to explore how her avatar shapes her real life body.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Thank you for your advice.</div><div id=answer3>You have told me much from the perspective of someone who constantly re-creating your avater. I really enjoyed our chat. 😊</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is great to learn from you as well. I learned about many artists and art projects that I did not know. Now I am going to finish the new look with my new skin and tell the story of this slice of self on my blog. Don't forget to check my new blog post tomorrow morning. Bye. 😘</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Bye.|end]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Is this like creating many stories for you/your avatar?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>But I am not only constructing a story, I am telling people about my story. My avatar is the story. So these are stories of my selves that would not be seen in real life.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Each blogger I interviewed also has her own stories.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This limits the choice of body shape to only male or female and no in-between.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I agree. It is not just about living in the virtual world and finding out if being able to change skin color or gender easily would make our society better.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[But this possibility of changing skin color might be a pedagogical tool to expose institutionalized and internalized racism as a first step toward social justice.]]
[[Artist Gregory Little crticized the avatar visual culture through his work A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999).]]
[[There are other ways to create an avatar. A Net art project called Bodies INCorporated uses different elements to create avatars.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Although it seems that you can create your avatar as anything, we are still bounded by social norms and dominated assumptions.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>That is why many poeople prefer an idealized avatar body.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[What if you were to create an avatar to resist the dominant imagery of avatars (stereotypical representations of gender and media standards of beauty)?]]
[[But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Just like Cindy Sherman’s portraits, your avatar can provoke viewers to think about gender stereotypes or identity.</div><div id=answer3>Sherman creates her art by taking pictures of herself. However, these pictures are not really self-portraits, at least, they aren’t intended to illustrate how her physical body looks. She dresses up in ways that represent many different roles. It is like she created many avatars.</div><div id=answer4>She uses her body as a medium, canvas, and playground to create images and convey different ideas. I remember reading an article about Cindy Sherman by Knafo (1996), who argues that “Cindy Sherman creates a safe space, akin to a child’s playground, in which to play and work through issues of self-image, identity, gender, and object relations” (p. 158).</div><div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds like she is playing a dress-up game.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
<a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/" target="_blank"> Looking at Cindy Sherman's Exhibition at MoMA 💻</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman" target="_blank"> Read more about Cindy Sherman 💻</a></div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Cindy Sherman uses her real body to create her "avatar."</div><div id=answer3>Sherman creates her art by taking pictures of herself. However, these pictures are not really self-portraits, at least, they aren’t intended to illustrate how her physical body looks. She dresses up in ways that represent many different roles. It is like she created many avatars.</div><div id=answer4>She uses her body as a medium, canvas, and playground to create images and convey different ideas. I remember reading an article about Cindy Sherman by Knafo (1996), who argues that “Cindy Sherman creates a safe space, akin to a child’s playground, in which to play and work through issues of self-image, identity, gender, and object relations” (p. 158).</div><div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Sounds like she is playing a dress-up game.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Cindy Sherman’s portraits make viewers think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
<a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/" target="_blank"> Looking at Cindy Sherman's Exhibition at MoMA 💻</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindy_Sherman" target="_blank"> Read more about Cindy Sherman 💻</a></div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Just like creating a self-portrait. "Portraits have always been combinations of realism and the techniques artists use to communicate the subject’s personality" (Meadow, 2008, p. 106).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>But self-portrait or not, why does it matter? How does self-portrait relate to avatar-making?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[When I think of your avatar portraits, I think of contemporary artist Cindy Sherman’s work.]]
[[I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.]]
[[Identity is not just an image, but the setting of the virtual world forces you to chose an image as your identity (at least for a moment), which is like cutting out other parts of you.]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Creating avatars could shape your understanding of body image and identity.</div><div id=answer3>Peggy Sheehy (2008), a middle school teacher, describes her practice of exploring body images through constructing avatars in teen SL. In order to teach students to analyze and contextualize body images presented by media and pop culture, she asked students to create three types of avatars on separate days: avatars resembling their actual appearances as closely as possible; avatars resembling the media’s representation of perfect beauty; and avatars with the opposite gender to their own that also represented the media’s standards for beauty.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This project sounds like a fashion blogger challenge. 😝 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Sheehy found that her students generated in-depth discussions that would have been difficult to duplicate using traditional media education.]]
[[You might have done similar things.]]
[[Artist Kristine Schomaker's Gracie Kendal Project is to explore how her avatar shapes her real life body.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Artist Kristine Schomaker's <em>Gracie Kendal Project</em> is to explore how her avatar shapes her real life body.</div><div id=answer3><em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em> is a performance art project centered on her interaction with her avatar Gracie Kendal.</div><div id=answer4>In <em>The Gracie Kendal Project</em>, she talks with her avatar, whom she calls “my self-portrait, my alter ego, my inner conscience.” And, she says, “She is a character in my life story that revolves around the loss of identity, self-awareness and self acceptance” (Schomaker, 2010, para. 2). Part of her project is the opposite of what many people, including you, try to do. She tried to change her real-life body to look like her avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice> 😘 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Interesting, right?]]
[[Want to know more about her project?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 700)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression and possibily creating transformation.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>How?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[University professor, Dr. Phylis Johnson, challenged students to look through the lens of their avatars in SL to consider social, political, and economic issues relevant to virtual communities.]]
[[Some artists created avatars to be political to examine and challenge these issues.]]
[[Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>There are other barriers, such as body image. If you were to create an avatar to challenge the barriers, what would you create?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Hmmm... I’ve never thought about it. I might create an old fat body. 😜 But why would I? Even if I really have an old fat physical body, when I have a chance to choose, I would choose a young and thin body instead. Doesn’t dominant imagery of avatars reflect most people’s choices? Why would I want to make a political statement through my avatar?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).]]
[[Just like Cindy Sherman’s portraits, your avatar can provoke viewers to think about gender stereotypes or identity.]]
[[But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=intro-hd>Chat with Alice</div><div id=intro-bg>
This interactive fictional dialogue game explores the concepts around avatar creation. You will encounter discussions about avatar-making as art-making, self-making, and knowledge-making by selecting dialogues to advance in the game. The selections you make will determine your path through the narrative. Thus, there are unlimited possibilities in regard to creating the narrative.
You are a researcher who is collecting information about avatars and identity. You will be chatting with Alice, a fashion blogger who constantly changes her avatar. In researching your subject, you will discuss various concepts and provide examples in your conversation with Alice about avatar-making. You will be able to choose what you say to Alice, and she will respond with her own ideas. Your conversation with her can range from a few dialogues to hundreds of exchanges. It’s up to you. You are a player, a reader, and an author: not only will you play this game, but you will also read about the debates provoked by avatar-making and author your own text through the decisions you make. Let’s find out what your conversation with Alice will be!
<h1><div id=button>[[Start|Create your own avatar]]</div></h1>
<h2> © 2016 <a href="http://people.uncw.edu/liaoc/" target="_blank"> Christine Liao</a> All Rights Reserved </h2></div>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>The <em>Becoming Drogan</em> project also questions reality.</div><div id=answer3>It is created by performance and new media artist Micha Cárdenas, whose work explores queer relationality, biopolitics, and mixed-reality technologies.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Interesting...😔</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://transreal.org/" target="_blank"> Learn more about Micha Cárdenas 💻</a>
[[The Becomeing Dragon project explores the possibility of becoming an avatar.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var
audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Interesting, right?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>She is so brave. I would not want to show my real-life pictures to the public. 😆 Besides that, I think her project is very meaningful. Her work materializes her inner self. I see this questioning and drive to become her avatar as a metaphor for transforming real life, making real life better.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression and possibily creating transformation.]]
[[Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal created another project, 1000+ Avatars.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Creating an avatar can become a powerful and pedagogical tool in that way.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Do you have an example?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[University professor, Dr. Phylis Johnson, challenged students to look through the lens of their avatars in SL to consider social, political, and economic issues relevant to virtual communities.]]
[[Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Have you heard of a project called Becoming Drogan? Artist Cárdenas questions the usefulness of categorizing bodies according to gender.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>When creating an avatar in SL, you can only choose male or female avatar. I'd rather have a little more flexbility. 😣</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This limits the choice of body shape to only male or female and no in-between.]]
[[But there are many skin colors you can choose from. Does this provide more possibilities or opportunities?]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>You are right. The bloggers I interviewed also told me that they choice certain clothes, accessories, or objects because of the personal connections they found in these objects.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What are other interesting things you found out from these bloggers?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I found that something about shape is important to bloggers through my research interview with some fashion bloggers.]]
[[Some bloggers only use skin that would represent their real life identity.]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>So, are your saying avatar-making is art-making?</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember when I was in high school, many of my friends drew beautiful anime-like portraits. The avatar portraits on Flickr make me think of this sub-culture art that is popular among youth. Interestingly, many people I know who do this think of it as artistic expression, and it is the only art form that interests them.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[So, it is art-making for many people.]]
[[Yes. And, I see that you are doing something similar, except you are more about body image and identity. Other people are more about fantasy.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>But you could be.</div><div id=answer3>Although you are using the same medium as other artists, the difference is your intention.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I am interested to see how I can express political meanings through my avatar creation.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]
[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>It is like that you are living in a mixed-reality.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Maybe we all live in a mixed-reality.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Artist Micha Cárdenas tried to live in a mixed-reality with the Becoming Dragon performance.]]
[[It is through this mixed-reality that one becomes a learning self.]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Artist Micha Cárdenas tried to live in a mixed-reality with the Becoming Dragon performance.</div><div id=answer3>The Becomeing Dragon project explores the possibility of becoming an avatar.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Can a person really become an avatar? How?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This mixed-reality durational performance takes as its subject the idea of “becoming” as an embodied process. During the 365-hour performance, the artist lives immersed in SL in the form of a dragon.]]
[[The artist becomes immersed in the identity of the dragon, which, the artist states, is not limited to or by human gender categories.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>It is through this mixed-reality that one becomes a learning self.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Do you mean we can learn something from the mixed-reality avatar-making expereince?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Creating avatars could shape your understanding of body image and identity.]]
[[An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.]]
[[You also re-create yourself.]]
</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Some bloggers only use skin that would represent their real life identity.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I understand that. Remember the free skin I told you about? It turns out that the creator made it free because it was a dark skin and the demand for dark skin in SL is quite low. I wasted my time getting that free skin because I know I won’t use it. 😞</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[I know some people see skin as an accessory and try different skin colors. Why don’t you try it?]]
[[Do you think people would all choose the same skin color, and if so, what color would that be?]]
[[Would choice of skin color eliminate racism?]]
[[What if our body is composed by different elements, such as wood, rubber, or bronze? Artist Victoria Vesna has imagined this kind of avatar body.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>I am going to use your ideas in my dissertation.</div><div id=answer3>You have told me much from the perspective of someone who constantly re-creating your avater. I really enjoyed our chat. 😊</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>It is great to learn from you as well. I learned about many artists and art projects that I did not know. Now I am going to finish the new look with my new skin and tell the story of this slice of self on my blog. Don't forget to check my new blog post tomorrow morning. Bye. 😘</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Bye.|end]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Some artists created avatars to be political to examine and challenge these issues.</div><div id=answer3>Although you are using the same medium as other artists, the difference is your intention.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I am interested to see how I can express political meanings through my avatar creation.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]
[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[“The goal of art is the personal but it automatically becomes political when seen by the public” (Sameshima, 2007, p. 268).]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=intro-hd>Chat with Alice</div><div id=intro-bg>Your chat with Alice has ended.
Now think back to your conversation. How many artists did you discuss? What concepts related to avatar-making did you discuss? What can avatar-making do? You are encouraged to play the game multiple times to explore different dialogues. Let's try again!
<h1><div id=button>[[Play Again|Create your own avatar]]</div>
<div id=button>[[References|credits]]</div></h1>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>A blogger challenge makes me think of Eva and Franco Mattes' (aka 0100101110101101.org) Portraits of Avatars.</div><div id=answer3>They exhibited it in Second Life and real-life galleries in different countries. Their project explores the relationship between identity and virtual representation.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>I remember seeing this exhibition in SL.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice><a href="http://0100101110101101.org/portraits/" target="_blank"> See <em>Portraits of Avatars</em> 💻</a>
[[Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "the projection of my identity in a public space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Their exhibition exposes that avatar has become "appearance that I wish to have when I emerge from my private space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).]]
[[Kristine Schomaker/Gracie Kendal's 1000+ Avatars is about avatar portraits too.]]
[[Looking at this large image collection of avatars, I feel a sense of spectacle.]]
[[Look at the avatars in Second Life and the highly commodified avatar body parts. No wonder some people call SL a fetish world.]]</div></div>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, -500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>It sounds like that your avatar has become "the projection of [your] identity in a public space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).</div>
<div id=alicepic2><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice2>That's why many people want to create idealized avatars.</div>
<div id=photo2 align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer2>But there are artists creating works to challenge these idealized avatar body images.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]
[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[And some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Avatar has become "appearance that [many] wish to have when [they] emerge from [their] private space" (Quaranta, 2007, para.8).</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>What's the avatar appearance you would like to have? Which component is more imporant to you?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Skin]]
[[Body size]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Are you trying to use your avatar creation to challenge the representation of body image in SL?</div>
<div id=alicepic2><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice2>hmmm... 😅 I haven't think that much.</div>
<div id=photo2 align=right>[img[$avatar_head]]</div><div id=answer2>Just like some artists create avatars as their political statement for different issues.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Have you heard of SL artist Gazira Babeli and her her acts (performance), Ultimate Submission (2007)?]]
[[Want to learn about an art project called A Manifesto for Avatars (1991–1999) by artist Gregory Little?]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>Yes. And doing so could also teach you about body images.</div><div id=answer3>Peggy Sheehy (2008), a middle school teacher, describes her practice of exploring body images through constructing avatars in teen SL. In order to teach students to analyze and contextualize body images presented by media and pop culture, she asked students to create three types of avatars on separate days: avatars resembling their actual appearances as closely as possible; avatars resembling the media’s representation of perfect beauty; and avatars with the opposite gender to their own that also represented the media’s standards for beauty.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>This project sounds like a fashion blogger challenge. 😝 </div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Sheehy found that her students generated in-depth discussions that would have been difficult to duplicate using traditional media education.]]
[[You might have done similar things.]]
[[Artist Kristine Schomaker's Gracie Kendal Project is to explore how her avatar shapes her real life body.]]</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="answer_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 500)"><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>But some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>In a sense I got a whole new self by remodeling my existing body. I might not have that much money or courage to tear down my house and build a new one, but I am satisfied with my remodeled house.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This sounds like you are re-creating yourself through avatar-making.]]
[[With avatar-making, you can experiement and create many new selves.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>This is also like a mixed-reality.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Maybe we all live in a mixed-reality.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Artist Micha Cárdenas tried to live in a mixed-reality with the Becoming Dragon performance.]]
[[It is through this mixed-reality that one becomes a learning self.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>You also re-create yourself.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>Being a fashion blogger, I am re-creating my avatar everyday.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[Don’t you think your blog is like a visual photo diary of yourself?]]
[[I think your relationship with your avatar is like an autopoietic relationship.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>And some people, like those of fantasy players, would like a whole new self that is different from the normal human body.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>In a sense I got a whole new self by remodeling my existing body. I might not have that much money or courage to tear down my house and build a new one, but I am satisfied with my remodeled house.</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[This sounds like you are re-creating yourself through avatar-making.]]
[[With avatar-making, you can experiement and create many new selves.]]
</div></div>
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<audio preload="auto" id="alice_audio" onloadeddata="var audioPlayer = this; setTimeout(function() { audioPlayer.play(); }, 1000)" ><source src="https://www.dropbox.com/s/sya71zp0y6rb0mv/message.mp3?dl=1" type="audio/mp3" /></audio>
<div id=header align="center">Chat with Alice</div><div id=chatwindow><div id=photo align=right><<= '<img src="' + $avatar_head + '" id=ans_photo alt=answer>' >></div><div id=answer>We can all use avatar creation to challenge social issues.</div><div id=answer3>An avatar can be used as a lens to examine issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression and possibily creating transformation.</div>
<div id=alicepic><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J8j6yol.jpg" alt="Alice"></div><div id=alice>How?</div></div><div id=typewindow><div id=choice>[[University professor, Dr. Phylis Johnson, challenged students to look through the lens of their avatars in SL to consider social, political, and economic issues relevant to virtual communities.]]
[[Some artists created avatars to be political to examine and challenge these issues.]]
[[Remember what happened to me when I created an old lady avatar and went to a sexy female clothes store?]]</div></div>
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