Avatar Expression

I am still chewing over some comments on metrics and while I think it over I decided to take a quick look at avatars and expression. A question was asked in a forum along the lines of whether Second Life is a good medium or not for education?

I believe that yes for raw creativity, accessability, presence and simulation it is a great medium, but as learning relies heavily on communication it is hampered because much of human communication is non-verbal, we are hitting a hurdle and most do not realize it.

Someone asked if “non-verbal” communication would dissappear?

No. We will find work arounds for now. We have been for years.

IM and Micro Chunking

For example with Instant Messaging (IM) language has become compressed and we use emoticons to express emotion. Micro-chunked formats like Jaiku, Twitter, or Pownce also incite compression because in many instances Web to SMS services limit characters to 140 or so.This also exerts a force on how we express thought and use language. We adapt our messages and form “work arounds”. It is so common as to permeate popular cell phone commercials.

I have even played Uni-code characters in Twitter and thought how that might be used like a pseudo-cuneiform script. Cuneiform is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Created by the Sumerians from ca. 3000 BC it started as as a system of pictographs. The pictorial representations faded and became simplified and more abstract.

Cultural Illiteracy

The same holds true in the work place and in different cultures. In other cultures there are numerous non-verbal cues as an American I never pick up on, because I do not know the language. Either we misunderstand or we adapt and find workarounds.

Online Board or Strategy Games

Even online card games or chess game strategies force us to relearn or change tactics. Even in logic games like chess opponents can “read” critical non-verbal feedback. A furrowed brow over moving a rook, or a smirk as a knight forks a king with check and limbs a queen. If chess is subject to this, it is no surprise that poker or blackjack or card games which use “tells” or non-verbal cues are really affected. I don’t know if anyone has monitored say “cursor” or “mouse behavior” or even eye tracking, but I think we send these signals because we are conditioned too.

The Misleading Avatar

Avatars, and there are many forms, can be extremely misleading. Even in expressive worlds like Second Life where customization is paramount. The Avatar may look healthy and fine, but the person or personality driving it might actually feel sick or have a disablity or send signals we cannot read because they do not translate.

I came to realize this when I realized how difficult it was for an avatar to express grief or another to provide solace to that Avatar and this has happened twice.

As a society we have not really “scripted” for that yet…we have scripted for lots of other stuff though…hugs, kisses, and other “behavior”, but a wide range of emotions or expressions are missing. Perhaps they are still too “synthetic” so we have to rely on overt behaviors and interpret them.

Somehow I think we will get there, or get closer, as 3D worlds become more integral to our lives because non-verbal communication is critical to everything we do. We cannot afford to “work-around” too much.

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