Avatars and reality

Recently I have read 2 posts in separate blogs regarding avatars. 

By this I  am not referring to the Hindu concept of the re-incarnation of a higher being.  Rather, I refer to the little pictures of computer users you see in blogs, bulletin boards, and on places like Twitter and Second Life.

The posts were by:

• Old mate and all-round good guy John Larkin, who writes from the educator's perspective
• Phillip Merrick, a co-founder of VisualCV.com, who is writing from the perspective of the job seeker and the prospective employer

Both posts refer to the need for honesty and transparency in one's online representation.

John writes:

I utilise a portrait photograph as it represents me. What you see is what you get. As an educator, as a teacher I feel that is the correct approach for myself to take if I am to blog and tweet professionally.

Mr Merrick writes from the point of view of the issue of whether or not this clashes with anti-discrimination law - a variation on the "what you see is what you get" policy above:

We spent quite some time before launching the site investigating the legal and corporate HR issues relating to use of pictures and video, and we feel safe in telling job seekers they can use one or more pictures on their VisualCV, so long as they are comfortable [in] doing so. US laws say you cannot discriminate, almost (but not quite!) as simply as that. And of course at VisualCV we do not condone discrimination of any kind. But consider that if someone were prone to discriminate on the basis of age, race, country of origin or gender, many of those characteristics can be deduced from a plain vanilla resume. Not to mention that most recruiters and hiring managers will inevitably google a candidate -- and many people today have images of themselves online (think Flickr, Photobucket etc., in addition to Facebook and MySpace). Finally, with the possible exception of age (do I really look over 40?), all such characteristics are immediately apparent once a candidate presents themselves at the first interview.

(Anti-discrimination law in the Australian State of New South Wales is broadly the same as Mr Merrick states in the USA, except that religious organisations in New South Wales - such as schools and places of worship - are exempt.)

This issue interests me from both perspectives. 

Students in my job-application classes ask about whether to put a picture at the head of the CV;  I have chickened out a bit and said just to do as they feel comfortable - interestingly, making the point that Mr Merrick makes about any latent discriminatory tendencies will come out anyway.

As to John's view about openness and transparency as an educator - I couldn't agree more!  John makes that very point in the Twitter discussion he cites:

John Larkin: ... We teach our students to be wary of those they communicate with as they may not be what they seem. So, what about teacher avatars?

When I started experimenting with all this Web 2.0 stuff, I adopted the username of lysurgis23. This was in honour of my membership name in the Argonauts Club on ABC [Australia] Radio in the late 1960s and early 1970s; alas the sought after rank of Dragon's Tooth and Bar eluded me,  but set me off on an interest in writing that continues to this day.

But I quickly realised the importance of honesty in my online dealings.  I kept the Argonaut name for consistency across my www use (and in honour of the presenters, including Jason, Phideas,  Elizabeth, Jimmy, and the Muddle-Headed Wombat) but nowadays you usually do not have to look far to find my real name.

I agree with both gentlemen regarding the use of avatars, and I will be advising my students accordingly.

But the other issue is, of course, the online environment encountered by women. 

There are plenty of misogynists, dodgy characters and weirdos out there.  I advise my women students to pick a gender-neutral name when registering for a web-based email account (such as jsmith@ rather than janesmith@), and I  consider that there is a case for such neutrality for a woman user of the www if she feels more comfortable about this.  (And most of my students in these courses are women.)

Am I being inconsistent?

• The picture of John Cleese as the hotelier Basil Fawlty at the top of this post is from the BBC News / UK of 30th September 2005.