My student Anastasia Salter’s final project Avatara, in which she asks (and even more impressively, starts to answer) some pretty tough questions:
The motivating force behind the project is a question of language. Of all the terms that could be used for the presence of a user in cyberspace, the term “avatar” has risen, a word that comes from the presence of a god moving from divine realm to the world of his construction. By adapting a word that carries with it the idea of divine power and responsibility, what have we constructed in ourselves in cyberspace? And what roles do the new myths of the avatar play in defining the self?
Anastasia is off to CCT at Georgetown next year. Wouldn’t surprise me to see her giving Mr. Johnson (see post before this one) a run for his money one day soon.
Posted by mgk at May 23, 2005 02:14 PM