1. The Uses of
Avatars
Business, Communications, Government, and Academics
Presented by:
Jennifer Nasipak,
Jessica Solomon,
Victoria Henderson
2.
3. • Why Avatars? The answer is as simple as
they are – because they have a multitude of
uses, and keep us safe when we need to
present a face to the World Wide Web.
• Also, Avatars are fun, creative and they are
everywhere.
4. Elements of Avatars
• Name comes from Hindu mythology -
temporary body a god inhabits while visiting
Earth.
• In cyberspace, the term was used to
describe the visual embodiment of users
• Represent the real time embodiment of
people in a graphical image of a user,
• alter ego, a body double
5. Avatars in Business
Gartner suggests six guidelines to make the best
use of avatars in the business world:
– Help users learn to control their avatars
– Recognize that users will have a personal affinity
with their avatar
– Educate users on the risks and responsibilities of
reputation management
– Extend the code of conduct to include avatars in
3D virtual environments
– Explore the business case for avatars
– Encourage usage and enterprise pilots.
6. Avatars in Communication
• Advertising/ Pop- • SIMs
Up People • SecondLife
• Avatar mail • MMORPGS
• Chatting Situations
• Social Networking
7. Avatars in Government
• new meeting of human
communications.
• SecondLife
• Federal Government tests out new
policies and ideas
9. Wrap Up
• Avatars are useful
• They are varied in representation format
• Avatars represent your digital self
• Businesses, Classrooms, and the Government
use them for various situations and reasons
• Avatars are EVERYWHERE, not just on the
Internet!
10. References
• Muni Gov 2.0,
https://sites.google.com/site/munigov20/Home/second-life
• Gravatars, http://en.gravatar.com/
• Dr. Angela Thomas, Avatars as Communication,
http://www.slideshare.net/anya/the-avatar-as-communication
• Bob Pearson, Common Sense Blog,
http://www.csmg.us/2009/10/guidelines-for-using-avatars-in-
business.html
• NuRelm, Avatars in E-Learning,
http://www.nurelm.com/resources.jsp?pageId=2161392210281162
147507764
• Byron Reeves, Leighton Read, the Harvard Business Review,
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/01/avatars_at_work.html
