This session explored Personification and Representation in Virtual Spaces for the Accessible Pedagogies training event for Accelerate Bath Spa University.
When selecting or designing an immersive social virtual learning environment, methods of choosing or designing avatars for participants must be considered. This participatory workshop introduced some of the opportunities, problems, and key considerations for creating avatars for use on these platforms that are accessible and represent the diversity present in student groups – while maintaining functionality. The workshop explored the potential for creative approaches to designing personal avatars, opportunities for self-expression and the development of new software skills. The workshop concluded with a co-design activity aimed at beginning to develop a framework for the use and design of avatars for an immersive social virtual learning environment.
Shared virtual or mixed reality environments (e.g., MozillaHubs, AltspaceVR or VRChat) enable users to interact with one another and collaborate in online virtual rooms. Virtual rooms are experienced from a first-person perspective and each user is represented by a chosen avatar. Avatars may be sourced from free or paid for via online marketplaces – an avatar can even be minted as an NFT. Avatars can also be created by users but must adhere to the file standards of the social VR/MR platform on which they will be used.
Immersive social virtual environments create new opportunities for students to construct virtual representations of themselves using avatars. Avatars may resemble an IRL appearance or can be completely fanciful in design – from animals to mythical creatures, or everyday objects to abstract geometric forms. A well-chosen avatar can give a user new confidence to interact in a social environment and build new forms of self-expression through claiming a self-designed online identity, but a poorly chosen avatar may risk increased inhibition and limit positive social interactions.
The application of avatars in virtual spaces can also limit self-expression through promoting the use of avatars that reflect the design and ideology of a platform. For example, avatars based on stylising personal appearance (e.g., Ready Player Me) or on character creation systems made popular in gaming (e.g., Miis on the Wii console) lean on visual archetypes that do not represent the diversity of users and can give avatars a ‘Disneyfied’ quality. Common avatar creation tools tend to ‘beautify’ appearance by drawing personal features towards a curated set of face shapes, body types, skin tones, hair types and symmetrical features. These avatar makers do little to represent the diverse needs of disabled users and perpetuate ableist tropes.
The workshop introduced the necessity of a framework for creating or selecting avatars that do not culturally appropriate the visual appearance of others, promote oppressive attitudes to disability and limited beauty archetypes or breach diversity and the accessibility standards of educational organisations. In the workshop we discussed the role of tutors in guiding students in making positive and socially aware choices in how to represent themselves online – and the lines that may need to be drawn between the ways students already use online platforms for personal activities (e.g., gaming) and the requirements for communication in institutional settings. Key outcomes of the workshops that could feed into the development of a new framework included questions over the necessity of avatars to represent the IRL appearance of a person and the need for new forms of representation in digital spaces that encourage socially engaged self-expression. Outcomes also reflected the importance of helping students of all backgrounds and experiences navigate social online spaces and the importance of defining new community guidelines of self and group representation in immersive social virtual learning environments.
Biography
Dr Coral Manton is an artist-technologist, design-researcher, and curator. She leads the Creative Computing department at Bath Spa University. Her work examines the social impact of new technologies with a focus on artificial intelligence, data visualisation and extended reality. She is co-founder or Women Reclaiming AI, an active live-coder, resident at the Pervasive Media Studio and co-curator of Control Shift.