Avatar

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Introduction

See also Avatars, Social media glossary, Social media landscape and Web 2.0

An “avatar” is a visual representation or digital stand-in for a user when he or she interacts with others online especially in immersive environments. The term avatar can, more rarely, refer to a user’s textual name or personality. The first use of “avatar” to describe an online persona was in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snowcrash. The word’s origin is Sanskrit (avatara), and means a descent of a god or goddess from heaven to earth. As the definition of “avatar” has changed since its translation from Sanskrit, it has expanded with the complexity of Internet use. It initially referred to 2D images that accompanied and identified a user on message boards or chat clients. These graphics can be very literal representations of the user (a personal photo) or display an image that captures from aspect of the user’s personality, interests, or beliefs. The term “avatar” has come to imply a 3D representation of a user. These avatars are, obviously, capable of much more detail and customization than their 2D predecessors.

It's almost impossible to use social media and not know or use avatars. Additionally, avatars say a lot about our psychological and emotional connections to online personas.

References

• Avatar. Avatar_(computing). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
• Sites related to avatars and library 2.0: http://www.imvu.com/ http://www.slideshare.net/skwang/librarian-avatars-in-second-life-a-review-of-the-literature-presentation

See also

• Answering health and medical reference questions
• CAPHIS | Top 100 Health Websites You Can Trust
• Consumer health information
• Multilingual resources for patients
• Patient education
• Top 100 Canadian Health Websites
• Top Ten (10) Canadian Health Websites 2010
• Top Social Media Websites in Medicine - 2012
• WikiPatient

Disclaimer

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