Do You Know Who I Am? Avatars & Identities
Assumptions and biases towards the person behind the avatar may be based on the experience or lack of experience a person has with avatars in virtual spaces. While those of us who have been in virtual worlds for a long time tend to have fewer assumptions about avatars in general, a recent experience with university administration resulted in a total shutdown of a space dedicated to student mental wellness. This demonstrates that avatar bias has consequences in the physical world. We will present our plans for a research survey designed to elicit information about assumptions and biases based on experience with virtual worlds and games. This survey will be embedded in a Hubs VR room and plans to analyze that data in spring 2024 will be discussed. Finally, we will gage audience interest by handing out the URL for the Hubs VR room and asking for participation.
Speakers
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Marie Vans / Amvans Lapis (Poster Booth #11)Marie Vans is an an associate professor in the department of Systems Engineering at Colorado State University where her research is focused on the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality for education. I am currently teaching a course on design and implementation of educational experiences using social virtual reality platforms. She is also on the faculty of the San José State University, School of Information.
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Bethany Winslow (Poster Booth #11)Bethany Winslow is the director of online learning for the School of Information at San José State University. Prior to joining the iSchool she worked as an instructional designer consulting with faculty to assist in revising high quality online courses, and also to integrate a variety of teaching technologies with the curriculum. Bethany studied sociology at the University of California Santa Cruz, graduating with honors. She earned a master’s degree in education, specific to online teaching and learning, from the California State University at East-Bay.
