Slide Cast

Things I Am Thankful

View another webinar from MrsLOnlineA2011

Avatars

Avatar: a graphic image that represents a person on the internet. So today, we even furthered our journey in the world of online avatars. Our assignment was to try some more avatar creators. For the most part they had the same intent as Voki, but with much different execution. The first one I attempted was a site hosted by hotels.com called "Clay Yourself." One thing that immediately stuck out to me about this site was then when I began, this site did not offer me the option to create an account or anything of the sort so I knew that I would not be able to save my creation. Besides that, the customizing applications were cheesy so it is nothing I would’ve used professionally even if I could save it. Last, it did not let me customize what my avatar would say, it merely gave me ad-lib cheesy stories to create. The application I used was not much better it was called “GoAnimate.” This one does not simply let one create a person, this one had you create a skit that your animated characters acted out although you did get to decide what they were to say. Considering this one was not an avatar maker I do not believe I can judge it on the same scale as Voki or Clay Yourself. In real life someone could use an avatar to study computer animation, or creatively communicate with a class or group. Personally, I have only ever used avatars prior to this class to create online gaming profiles and other uses along the same lines. Of the thre sites we used, I enjoyed Voki the most because it gave the user a wider variety of options for their avatar. It let you choose what you wanted the base of your character to be, either animal, human or something else entirely. And it let you choose what it was to say, and gave you the option to record your own voice or choose from the many it had available.