I decided to create an avatar to see what all the fuss was about using Voki, but for technical reasons could not make it appear on my blog, however clicking on My Avatar will open it in another window !
In case you were wondering I don’t actually sport whiskers
and cat ears in real life, I got a little carried away with the abundance of
avatar options there were..
Sim-Ulacra to me is when something is created in a ‘fake’
world to represent something in the real world. I use the word ‘fake’ as I am
convinced it is just that.. It is not the real thing.
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| Salvador Dali Painting - THE TRANSPARENT SIMULACRUM OF THE FEIGNED IMAGE 1983. www.artwallpapers.org |
Jean Baudrillard describes it more succinctly “Simulation is no longer
that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation
by models of a real without origin or reality. A hyper real, It is no longer a
question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of
substituting the signs of the real for the real"
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| litteramedia.wordpress.com |
However bizarre as the concept of Second Life seems to me, I picked apart what I saw were positives
and advantages to what this concept can do especially when it comes to
collaboration and learning. One thing, which I thought was advantageous, was
learning a new language; on Simple Life you can learn and practice that
language with other like-minded avatars while also travelling to that country
within the game.
This is particularly
good if you don’t know anyone that speaks Portuguese and you don’t momentarily
have the money to travel to Brazil but are saving for a dream holiday in a few
years time..
The use of avatars can also assist in education of all sorts;
this article discusses 10 ways to
use an avatar in education. I particularly like the idea of bringing historical
figures back to teach their own theories i.e. Albert Einstein.
Not only educational advantages but for entertainment
purposes holograms are being created on stage during concerts and festivals
around the world bringing back singers & entertainers of the past and
future to perform side by side and entertain crowds.
The holograms shown in this clip are pretty amazing..
I stumbled across this post on face book which I though was
quite fitting for this topic.. Hyper reality in advertising and marketing...
brilliant ! Well yes it may mess with your mind but its resulted in an emotion and this is key in my area of
study.
What the people being interviewed see is what they think is
a simulation of real life.. (or not so real life - hyper reality)
Back to reality for me... for now
Daniela
Further reading and references.
Digital Learning Environments, Tools and Technologies for Effective Classrooms.
http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/teaching_learning/10_ways_use_avatars_education.
Meadows,Mark Stephens. I, Avatar: The Culture and Consequences of Having a second life. New Riders, December 2007.
Hi Daniela,
ReplyDeletewhat a great collection of videos in this post! I love the 10 ways to use Avatars in education. I don't know how many institutions and teachers are open to using this tool: it's like they need to get a whole new degree in teaching in order to fully understand it, don't you think? :)
Cheers,
Elisabetta