Difference between revisions of "Talk:Kevin Carpenter"

Latest revision as of 07:06, 17 November 2011

Comment 1

1) How did the author use an outside source(s) of information to anchor their reflection.

Great incorporation of The Crucible into your reflection! The message certainly rings true to the assignment and really captures the essence of avatars that we've been discussing in class. Although it was not required, It would be nice to see you elaborate more on that relation and possibly tie another source into your reflection.

2) How well did the author describe the issues that he or she faced in creating the two avatars.

Very honest and human reflection. I find it very easy to relate to your reflection because I too felt disappointed after spending hours attempting to create a realistic avatar and was not able to express much creativity with regards to my fantasy avatar. From my perspective, your reflection is only limited by the Evolver software itself.

On another note, It would be nice if you included some details regarding your previous experience working with avatars. You reflection does a great job of documenting the main task but I am left wondering what your experience level and expectations were going into the assignment. Have you used any platform similar to Evolver before? Do you frequently use avatars? If so, in what environments? How does your experience using the Evolver platform relate or compare to your prior experience using avatars?

-W.Garza

Comment 2

I liked how you incorporated your outside source into your reflection. You used a great quote from a very well known book, so most people could really grasp the comparison you were trying to say. You went in depth about how you worked with the software and how you created your self-portrait avatar and your fantasy avatar, however I don’t think you related virtual worlds and virtual selves to the real world. It may have made an interesting reflection piece if you had talked more about how people make avatars to reflect who they want to be. Highlighting good qualities and downplaying poor qualities, and possibly talking about whether or not you did these things.

V Greene

Comment 3

Your reflection shed light on various issues you ran into throughout the avatar creation process. One thing I could particularly empathize with--and I'm sure most others could too--was the simplicity of the Evolver tool. Its limitations weren't obvious on the surface, but I can definitely understand your frustration as you spent more time using it. I found it interesting that your idea of a fantasy avatar, what you described as an idealized version of yourself, stemmed from the difficulty you had separating who you are and who you want to be. While I also had difficulty doing so, I never thought to use it as the framework of my fantasy avatar.

As someone who has never read The Crucible, I appreciate you taking the time to provide a little bit of context to the otherwise curious quote. Between the background information and the analysis you provided, I was really able to see how it compared and contrasted identities in the real world with identities in the online environment. Both of your avatars demonstrated the point you made at the end of your reflection--you focused on your true identity and, even in the case of the fantasy avatar, you were honest in your depiction of self.

-B. Brock