Talk:Samantha Primack
When pinpointing challenges in creating an online version of an actual person, I never thought about it, but eyebrows really do have the ability to change the way a whole face looks. Depending on the thickness and arch of person’s eyebrows their natural expression can be changed. I agree that creating a more feminine shape was difficult. There was really no option to create wider set hips and a more slender shoulders than male counterparts. While going through, I did not notice that there was no option to change an avatars height.
As for self-representation and expression, piercing, tattoos, and jewelry are simple ways that people can express their religion, beliefs, stories and personality. Evolver lacks these functions when creating an avatar. Without the function to allow for self-expression through piercing, tattoos, jewelry, etc., and additional layer of identity is not able to be fully expressed. From your writing, it seems that you use jewelry as a way of self-expression. Without this, the program is lacking a very important feature. Without the ability to create more feminie features, jewelry, and the high heels option, it makes it exceedingly clear that this program has been created by males with little experience with the female form. These shortcomings in the program made it difficult for many of the female students to create accurate representations of self.
I had never heard of identity tourism before but I find it interesting that to be successful, ones alternative identity must take on the opposite gender and a different race than the person’s real identity. Creating a fantasy character of another identity has the potential to be difficult. In specific, you cited it was because you have little experience as a member of the opposite sex. I found it interesting that you used Fight Club in a discussion of self-portrait. At the end of the movie, it is revealed to the narrator that Tyler and the nameless narrator are both extensions of the same character. In Fight Club, it was difficult to figure out which person represented the true character, adding to the idea that portraying oneself is very difficult.
- E. Brock
1. The use of your outside source to ground your fantasy character was very well done. It opened up a new arena to think about fantasy avatars in that I had not fully seen before. Although I have never read or seen Fight Club, your explanation plus the knowledge from SI 410 made it clear what you were thinking. I like that you use it to show why you chose the purple hair. I think you could expand a little more into the realm of reasons (more so than just authenticity) most people cannot just drastically change their hair when hair color change is something small and superficial but means so much more if it is a crazy color (think job search, stereotypes etc). Other than that, the Fight Club reference was really well used and a great asset to ground your reflection.
2. In terms of describing your difficulties, you did very well. There is a lot to be said about the expressions eye brows give, especially in animated mediums. You really used what the professor said about it being made by men in California a lot - the only thought I had was what if he had not told us this, would you have been so hard on the creators. The men's side of clothing did not have much to work with either (admittedly men are not as picky or have as much variation in their clothing as women) so it may be beneficial to remove a few of the references to what Professor Conway said in class and maybe expand on the clothing (something like that the clothing for either gender stinks). I also think you did a good job hitting on jewelry because a lot of women spend the extra time each day accessorizing and cannot display that at all. Finally, the ideas you give about helpful ways to improve the site also help with emphasis on the problems you had (gradient hair colors).
- R. Bennett
