The attempt to define the phenomenon of avatarization

 

Accepting the division of the real and virtual reality, we can confidently say that we call the avatar every personalized and customized actions of a person in the virtual world, i.e. building a network identity, the conversations via communicators or chats, the communication with the help of "the wall" in the social network Facebook etc.

                

The phenomenon of avatarization has been known for thousands of years. According to the Hindu theology the avatar is called the incarnation of God, who descends to the earth as a mortal to restore the order - dharma. The modern Web developers, many of whom are lively interested in Hinduism, derived from this theory and proposed that the network society was recognized not only by IP address, but also  by an avatar, which includes the nickname (Nick) and graphic representational form (usually in the form of a gif file or JPG).

                

Today the avatar takes the different forms, as mentioned by Wikipedia, from small very simplified or symbolic raster graphics, such as appearing in the messages transmitted on the discussion forums serving for easy recognition of the registered participants, to very complex three-dimensional models representing a character in a computer game or the virtual reality such as Second Life, The Entropia Universe and There (Wikipedia 2011).

                

The Avatarization is fitted perfectly into the concept of Walter Ong, who in his book "The secondary orality" presented the title idea. The author of this thesis on the following pages of his book proves to the reader the fact that the twentieth century still was the century, the history of which we read (we-people), when the twenty-first century is a time in which the story would have to be told to us. Ong justifies the conclusion of the contemporary reluctance of human lazed by the media for the “out TV” knowledge acquisition.

                 

The information highway, where we are now, has its pluses and minuses. Today's recipients receive infinitely more information than a decade ago, but the problem arises in the understanding of the information content. To reinforce the message the modern media build the unreal avatarized world, where everything is again simple, black and white, and understandable for the average customer (Andrews 1993).

                 

Participating in the information highway the network user more and more intuitively receives the nonverbal messages. The avatar may be a bottle of cola placed as the page background, logo and The Second Life's virtual character.

                

Today, following the information highway, the main thing in communication becomes to receive the attractive visual stimuli served by the sender. There follows the paradigm - if we learn how to get a better look, to read the images, we will see more, memorize more. The world around us becomes more visual in nature. There is talk about the iconosphere. Some people criticize this term and suggest using the term – pictosphere - the images as something that shapes us. The media have an increasing impact on us, and as the media become more visual and increasingly use the images, we need to know how the visual process runs and what its effects are. We live increasingly in the reality of images. According to Aldus Huxley', if we learn to be more careful observers of the images that arrive to us, to read them carefully, we will see more, learn more and remember more of what we look at. The Latin term video means to see, to be endowed with vision, but also to experience something, to witness, to understand.

                  

According to this paradigm, the most important stimulus becomes a sight that allows perception of reality – the real and virtual - and allows the sender to target the image in the way that is most attractive to the recipient. There are specially created the attractive avatars, which are the simulacra in a cynical and deliberate way to influence the purchase decisions of the customers, for example, setting a model of the brand hero of breakfast flakes in a supermarket.

                  

Returning to the avatarization, there is no way to accept now a conclusion of J. Derrida, that there is nothing outside the text. Currently, the text is only a basis for further consideration of the transfer; an increasing role is played in communication by the context and communication environment, generally understood as modeling and modifying the environment, in which a process of the communication is held.

 

 

Avatarization and identity

    

Both in the real and in the virtual world the problem of identity of the individual is a matter of interest for researchers in the field of the social communication. They admit that the knowledge of the identity of the interactive partner is the basis of the mutual agreement (Pistol 1998).

                   

To term it is only possible through the analysis of the external conditions generated by the other members of the community. The American sociologist Charles Cooley called this relationship reflected appraisal. Such reference means both the comparison of yourself with others (which leads among other things to the development of the personal identity), and identifying yourself with some groups (which leads to the development of the social identity) (Grzelak, Jarymowicz 2000).

                     

The interdisciplinarity of the concept of identity enables us to use it in a variety of the disciplines. Despite the multiplicity of definitions, each of them refers to its essential meaning. In this way you can get the definitions of, for example, legal identity and psychological identity. According to the "Dictionary of the Polish Language" (PWN 1978), the identity (tożsamość) is the synonymous with oneness (identyczność): being the same and not something or someone else. The term, however, refers not to the objects themselves, but to the configuration of features enabling their identification (recognizing) (PWN 1978). As it is indicated, however, by Mandrosz-Wróblewska (1988) the identity as a sense of uniqueness and integration in society gives a sense of integration with the group and becomes the reference point for the study of other social groups. In the social sciences, the concept of identity refers to the recognition of people: different communities and individuals. Determining someone's identity, identifying someone is based on recognizing his specific attributes, that is, the distinctive characteristics of a person or group from all others (Grzelak, Jawryłowicz 2000).

                    

According to the principles of the visual communication the image of face or other physical characteristics enables a person to identify and assess the caller. As the W. Węsierski points out: "The identity is expressed through the attributes specific to the individual. The psychology, however, draws the attention to the fact that people differ in the perception of what typical for someone. The disclosure, however, of own physicality enables, in the worst case makes easier, in most cases, the act of communication." (http://wesierski.w.interia.pl/magisterka/rozdzial4.htm)

                    

The recognized identity is not only the characteristics of the person or group, but their perception and their images formed in the mind of the beholder. This also applies to self-perception. It reflects, as well, on selective self concentration. The refuted myth of anonymity in the network realized the need for more intensive validation of the Internet users by adding the photos, which can be assessed by the community.

                    

Important from the point of view of the space considerations is the fact that, in the social perception, to recognize someone's identity is not only to see features that allow you to identify that a man - physically – is this, not other, person, but to note the features that permit to conclude that the man - mentally - is this or that kind of person (Grzelak, Jawryłowicz 2000).

                    

At the same time, in the network it is difficult to determine whether the presented avatar is identical to its real image. Very often the Internet users authenticate their identity by placing the date of photo recording, the authors, either by including a formula the "genuine photo", what, on one hand, presents an ironic context assimilated with the cultural messages; on the other hand, it is the need to authenticate the individual in the (cyber) community.

                      

Discussing the identity of the network, you have to mention the phenomenon of the group identity. It is not always based on such pillars as the group cohesion, the community of interests, norms and values. It is rather the resultant of public entity identification. It follows a subjective sense of community. This is particularly visible in the network. The community action in groups represents only 1% of all users. In the cyber community the important concept is "We are elite", which is based on the categorization process - finding the similarities and differences between the groups, particularly emphasizing the contrast between the "hard users" and people lacking the need to develop the information and technology skills.

                       

Very often, both in the real and virtual world the individual has a need for social categorization.   During this process he uses the circulating stereotypes. As a result of these processes, a person is perceived "categorically", that is, from the perspective of the characteristics ascribed to the category, not "personally" - the individual features that are not recognized. An example of this assertion can be forums for users interested in the computer games. The individual´s avatar gets the individual ranking, thanks to the number and meaningfulness of expression, evaluated by the forum moderator, which place him on the appropriate place in the hierarchy of this forum. But there the stereotypes appear. When an avatar is placed as its location the city of Zakopane, Internet users are interested in receiving the answer to the question in highland dialect "because in Polish he may not explain himself precisely, and I often visit Zakopane, so I’ll understand."[1] The emergence of the stereotypes, in other words, certain simplifications in mental perceptions of certain categories of persons, institutions or events is natural in closed societies. As the Mandrosz-Wróblewska points (1988), the stereotypes are used to build and protect the own system of values.

                        

 The first interpersonal relationships are the interesting aspect of the interface concepts of identity and avatarization. As K. Pistol (1998) points after Nęcki, both sides seek to recognize each other. This "recognition" is based on the external characteristics such as appearance and behavior, articulation and voice modulation, and taking into account the stereotypes about gender, age, cultural affiliation.

                        

Current duality of the worlds is very easy to mention. In the real physical world the individuals have to deal with the oneness: one body - one identity. On the contrary it is in the cyberspace - everyone can have as many "electronic personalities", as he can create.

                         

In the physical world many aspects of the identity cannot be created in any way by the person. They are kind of given by origin and biology. The communication through the computer networks allows freeing ourselves from the stereotypes associated with these characteristics. Currently, the social contacts between the people on both sides of computer require a large dose of trust. In the world of communication, based solely on the text, the verbal communication is not the only means of communication, but also the only means of self-presentation.

 

 

The communicational processes in the Internet. The avatarization and anonymity.

                         

Avatarization as a phenomenon of the communication is based on two contradictions - the need to present the image and anonymity. The human as a social being tries to develop its position in a social group, he tries to emphasize his presence, and in the network he does so through his virtual identity. Often, however, he uses a pseudonym and drawn from the culture image preventing de facto the recognition of his physical personality.  Necessary is to remember about maintaining the persistence of the relative anonymity among the Internet users (eg, by using only the nicknames). This increases the sense of security of the individual and allows for more openness in interpersonal contacts.

 

                          

The avatar, as I mentioned in the previous sections, does not necessarily have the same identity as the physical form of gender, age, and external features. It is also difficult to determine the motives that guide the individual in dealing with another individual via the Internet.

                         

 However, the relative anonymity coupled with the freedom from many social norms also has the negative effects, such as increasing in the aggressive and unacceptable for this type of the communication behavior. Also it lets hide certain aspects of identity, on one hand it gives freedom from the stereotypes of gender, race, age, etc., but on the other it leads to the identity spoofing. The network users may describe themselves as more attractive, pretend to be experts in the various fields of knowledge, "change" their sex, and even "impersonate" the other users.

                          

Discouraging are also the steps leading to keeping privacy by the anonymity in its most extreme form. Lack of the information beyond an avatar with a picture of the favorite actor leads to inappropriate behavior: the person not stating his name is more prone to aggression, insults, expressing the extreme views, offending other users, as he feels unpunished.

                          

At this point, we should also mention the effective communication in its technical aspect. To make the process of communication successful we should keep in mind the certain elements:

 

a) to fill the relay with the information in one time unit,
b) the conditions for the reception, which determine the possibility of the individual, group, collective or mass reception,
c) the physical characteristics that determine the level of effort that the recipient must spend to receive media,
d) the technical conditions of media that determine the time of availability of the media content,
e) the technical conditions that determine the degree of freedom in the selection of the program by the recipient,
f) the technical characteristics of the relay, which allow to perform other tasks while receiving (Mikułowski-Pomerania, Nęcki, 1983).
 

                           

In the first case, when communicating, we should consider the generational aspect - the recipient in the same unit of time is able to receive the different amounts of information depending on the relay, which he uses. The calculations of Richard Meier, published in 1962, show that, reading a book or newspaper, the recipient gets in one minute 1,500 bits of information, listening to the radio - only 300 bits, using the spoken lecture - 200 bits. The current research by PEW Research shows that a person daily acquires  (scans) about 34 Gb per year.

 

Despite formulated in the 60's by Kurt W. Back argument that where the sender selects and defines the conditions of the acceptance, there will be a better pick up, Mikułowski and Nęcki (1983) state that in most cases the opposite is true, - when the recipient determines the time of the sole and deliberate reception, his results are better. The argument seems to imply that in order to be an effective socially the avatar should closely reflect the preferences of the social group, in which it is located, and reasonably manage personal presence on the communication platforms such as forums and social networks.

 

 

 

Hubs of avatarization

                               

The hub that allows the avatarization can be called any virtual spaces, in which the communication processes occur with the principle of the creation of the image of both the sender and the recipient.

                                

Worth to be noted is the occurrence of the McLuhan global village phenomenon, which allows the user to communicate and create his image through electronic media (McLuhan 2004). The creation through the use of an avatar allows the elimination of the spatial barriers that is the distance. One gets the impression of an intimacy despite separating kilometers (Sieńko 2002). There is also a blurring of the basic barriers resulting from the aspects of education in one culture. The need of the hierarchy, of the geographic and demographic breakdowns disappears (Virilio 1991).

                                 

 The communication platforms, in which a phenomenon of the avatarization occurs, are inherently limited in the actions and emotions of the people creating and participating in the communication process. Analyzing the phenomenon we must also carefully select the places, where the visual communication processes are maintained in. Namely, as A. Ben-Zaev writes, we should focus on the platforms next to the users emotionally. Differently the individual will participate in the communication via communicator installed in corporation, in which he works (except for the marginal elements, the phenomenon of avatarization will not occur), but he will much more actively participate in the creation of his image by using the social network, on which, in his opinion, he may build the social capital. In this theoretical approach it is possible to assume that the most popular hubs of the avatar communication include: the platform Second Life, social networks and the most popular online forums and the user profiles on skype and Gadu-Gadu. Below is a short description of the communication platforms named above.

 

 

SecondLife

                                  

Second Life is the virtual world created in the Internet, which allows its users to "simulate" the real processes in the observable reality. Participating in this world, people form the different types of objects communicating with each other and establishing the social relationships. Practically, there are no limits on the spatial aspects of the world - the possibility of its expansion is limited only by the availability of the servers and creativity of its users.

                                     

It is one of the few virtual worlds, which can be said that the promotion of the participation in this world has been applied by the rule of snowball. The representatives of the company managing the virtual world uses for promotion the interest kindled by this platform in the real world. The popularization of this avatarized world is being developed starlike – the Internet users draw their friends, and those draw the following ones. The simplicity of a solution and its very high potential has attracted nearly 10 million people around the world, from which nearly 500 thousand regularly use SL[2].

                                        

Their presence, in turn, generates the interest of various institutions: in SL “offices” were installed by the hundreds of different companies (many of which are the strongest global brands) and public institutions (especially universities). Own "representations" in SL have been installed by the companies such as Cisco, IBM, Toyota, Pontiac, Adidas and the universities: Cambridge, Oxford and MIT. Some countries opened their embassies in it (eg Sweden), the Reuters have also its office here, and most recently Society of Jesus’ representatives have also "settled" here.

                                    

It worth to be noted, that SL is not just another online computer game network. Something that distinguishes it from the environments like WorldOfWarCraft (offering very similar functionality) is the lack of common rules for the games, in particular, the need for competition (with the system or other players), skill levels, etc. The purpose of SL is to provide an environment enabling for users to create, above all, the objects or places, to communicate and to "travel". So there is definitely more of a virtual world than a game.

                                    

The entrance to the SL is possible through the registration on the website www.secondlife.com and installing a free client application shared there. The first step necessary to participate in this virtual world is to create an avatar, or form that will be taken in SL. After a few minutes (so it may take to create a simplest digital form) comes time for about 10 minutes optional e-learning training, after which the participant has the basic skills necessary to live in the SL: movement, communication with others, moving between different areas and search of the people, events or places interesting for us.

                      

Analyzing the initial content, it is possible to say of some regularity. The avatars are notably better own reflections of the reality. Typically the older people rejuvenate themselves, smooth skin. The younger people give themselves looks better suited to the prevailing trends in fashion. Also notable is the fact of increasing their height among the users of the virtual world.