Fox Harrell: “Creating identities in the real world is an active creative feat of imagination”
Our thanks to Liz Losh and DMLcentral for writing up Professor Fox Harrell and his CMS course on digital representation:
Fox HarrellFrom ground-breaking work that he began in his Imagination, Computation, and Expression Lab at Georgia Tech, Harrell has progressed to receiving a prestigious NSF CAREER grant in 2009 that brings together work in computer science, digital media, and science and technology studies.
Professor Harrell’s research starts with the observations that “creating identities in the real world is an active creative act of imagination.” He says “everyday people construct and maintain real world identities through how we talk, what we like, what we wear, how we move, what we use, and more.”
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In asking how young people understand the function of a “computational identity,” Professor Harrell described joint work that draws on his AIR research and development and TERC Research Scientist Dr. Sneha Veeragoudar Harrell’s empirical study of students in virtual worlds. They identify three distinct dimensions to how life on the screen is experienced (Veeragoudar Harrell & Harrell, 2009; Harrell, 2010). First, there is the spectrum that ranges from an “everyday understanding” to the perception of “something extraordinary.” Second, there is an axis that ranges from seeing the avatar as an “extension of themselves” to seeing it as a completely “separate character.” Third, they describe a theoretical line that connects the pole of totally “instrumental” approaches, as though the avatar is merely a tool to achieve a specific end, to the one that emphasizes unpredictable experimentation with “identity play.”
Andrew directs the communications efforts for CMS/W and its research groups. A native of Washington, D.C., he holds a degree in communication from Wake Forest University, with a minor in humanities, as well as an M.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College.
His work includes drawing up and executing strategic communications plans, with projects including website design, social media management and training, press outreach, product launches, fundraising campaign support, and event promotions.
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