Avatars shape people’s ability to express themselves and build community in online spaces.
With the recent proliferation of virtual communities and platforms, digital avatars are becoming increasingly important tools to represent people’s identities and self-expression.
Users’ experiences and expression in virtual spaces are impacted by the choices they are able to make when building their avatars, and the language they encounter through the asset labels.
Research also finds that people will change how they interact in virtual spaces based on what their avatar looks like — this is known as the “Proteus Effect.”
A multidisciplinary, systematic literature review, which spanned research from linguistics, anthropology, behavioural sciences, and human-centered computing (citations are provided in the footnotes.)
A landscape analysis of existing products across the tech, video game, and cosmetic industries that seek to represent and label human appearances across the gamut. The products are U.S.-based, but developed globally.
Interviews with Meta researchers working on building inclusive avatars, as well as interviews with experts who build products with a focus on improving representation and inclusion in digital environments, including those who use screen readers.