Thursday, October 15, 2009

Week 5 Assignment: Avatars and Authenticity

After reading "I See Dead People: Kurt Cobain and The Humanity of Avatars," it struck me how the evolution of technology is shaping the legal world.  Just a few years ago, this would never have been a possibility or issue that would come up and call for legal representation, even among celebrities.  Before reading the article, I didn't even know creating an avatar was that popular or had that much of an effect on one's identity that one would need a lawyer to defend his/her online image -- in this case, Kurt Cobain's.  I feel this issue further proves how essential it is to ensure that you are aware of how you are represented online, and that you take full control of this portrayal on the dynamic social network.

6 comments:

  1. It's definitely a 'case' of tech being ahead of law. But, it's always this way -- from music and video downloads to email harassment and SPAM.

    Definitely another reason for all teachers -- who are, of course public figures -- to keep a close eye on their online identity.

    Shelly

    ReplyDelete
  2. It really does prove how important it is to monitor how you are portrayed online! If our online profiles are going to affect jobs, lifestyles, etc., we need to be able to take control of them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How scary is that, huh? It seems like the digital world is sprinting past us. We can hardly keep up to regulate it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I totally see how this could be very scary in that our social identities could be robbed. However, the idea of "living on" in the virtual world after death in the real world is something that is new to me and I can't quite grasp that concept. What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow, that left me speechless! You need a lawyer for digital representation of dead people these days...who knew!? Well that goes back to the google biography we did in class. Take control of who you are on the internet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Before you know it, we will all be robots! But seriously, have you seen that new movie Surrogates. That seems to be the direction in which we are headed. The only bad part is that I believe we are straying to far some actually teaching real social skills. Our students could one day not even be able to talk properly without having a computer in front of them.

    ReplyDelete