Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Will the real Laurie Fowler please stand up?

Which one of these should be my online avatar?




But on to the challenge of this week, I played with many different sites.  Avatars are a great way for me to explore my many sides.  I would not go as far as to say I have multiple personalities, maybe different digital personas is a better term.  


For example,  I love my Wii games, but I had almost as much fun creating avatars based on the Greek and Roman Gods as I did actually playing the games.  There is something very satisfying about playing a digital game with the mythology characters I used to teach in my Latin class.  For a long time, I used a Mii as my blog avatar made from this site.


I changed it to a picture of myself this week, but I don’t really like the picture. I thought I wanted a picture of myself, but now I can’t decide after seeing all the cool avatar creation tools out there.  And I really don’t know if I want to use only one of my creations on everything digital and online that I do.  I’ll have to think about that.


    
I highly recommend using avatars with students.  It is not only a fun and creative activity, but it also is a great way to begin talking about online identity and Internet safety.  By using avatars with students, they can post a picture with their work or multimedia creations, but they are protected from unwanted attention.

Here is a collage of more avatars.  Upper left is from BlessThisChick, upper right is from Build Your Wild Self, lower left is from Photofunia, and lower right is from BeFunky.
So, readers of Fresh Fowlers, which avatar do you like?  I am really not sure now that I know all these other cool avatar makers are out there waiting to be explored!




12 comments:

Mrs S said...

I like the one with cat looking at your picture.

Kay said...

So many choices! It's hard to pick this one. I like the photofunia--with the cat looking at your picture.

Theresa Allen said...

I like the be funky one - it looks like you with a little twist! Thanks for showing the great avatar sites! So many!

Laurie said...

Thanks for the feedback. I just wish the cat in the Photofunia one was black like my cat, Hissy. I sort of like the cartoonized one too, Theresa.

loonyhiker said...

I like Bless This Chick one. I also use one from that site when I don't want to use my real picture. :)

Lydia Schultz said...

Thanks for the lead to the site to recreate my Mii online. I have been exercising with WiiFit for more than a year now, so my Mii is also one of my default selves. It was fun to have that as a computer option too.

Anonymous said...

Most of all I like your photo. I like to see what people look like and to be able to recognize them in real life, should I get the chance to do so. However, I think it is fabulous that you are sharing all the avatars. The post looks really good with all these images and makes for engaging exploration. I assume you already had some made and then had a go at some others. Is that right? Have you used avatars with your students?

Anonymous said...

Meant to also say I love the title! Wouldn't students love to do that too.

Unknown said...

I like the third one. Starbucks drinker I see ;)?

Anonymous said...

I made a similar post as you for the avatar assignment. I don't know which is my favorite of yours! I think maybe the cat one! I think I will try that site. Thanks!

http://mrssarno.edublogs.org/2011/01/27/avatars-are-what/

Jessica said...

I have the same problem, but in a way it is good. Last year I had students make avatars and they liked seeing an example of everything that was out there.

Jamie said...

I like the actual picture. I wish we had more time to learn about blogging. I would like to learn how to make my blog more interesting.