Contemporary society is characterized by great and irrepressible development of computers, digital technologies and virtual world. This process became so significant that it had even obtained its unique term digital revolution. With this in mind, it is no wonder that a great number of different authors investigating this issue appeared. They just want to understand it better, show readers they own attitude and make them think about blistering development of digital technologies, how they changed our life and mediated our communication. The book Hello Avatar: Rise of the Networked Generation by B. Coleman is devoted to investigation of this issue. The authors main idea is to show how virtual and real world are interlaced and connected nowadays. He cogitates about development of digital technologies and media, stating the fact that nowadays people have more and more ways to communicate with each other in virtual space, sometimes forgetting about real world. “Hello Avatar focuses on what I call X-reality– a continuum of exchanges between virtual and real spaces” [1, p.3].
That is why it becomes clear from the first lines, that the main authors idea is to cogitate with his readers about possibilities which digital technologies give us in sphere of communication. The title Avatar is chosen not accidentally. First of all, it is the term for a special kind of image which can serve as a human substitute in virtual space. Moreover, it is a title of a film which serves as an embodiment of the idea of creating some special virtual image of a person in virtual space. The film became very popular and the author explains this fact giving his own idea of peoples interest in this sphere and their attempts to see their own future in this movie. In his work, the author also touches the question of human-computer interaction (HCI) and cogitates about phenomenon of mediated presence. The author is worried about the future of face-to-face communication. In chapter What is an Avatar the author is trying to describe main peculiarities of a virtual image created for a person in virtual world. He describes the way this virtual world is organized and gives an example of network gathering. It was organized by people which have their own avatars which differ from their real images in life. Having outlined these peculiarities and main details, the author also raises the question of face-to-face communication, its future and the way it is going to change.
Having read this work, it is possible to make some certain conclusions. First of all it, should be said that this book is touching very actual problems of our modern society. The author does not just state a fact, he gives some certain evidences in order to make the reader follow his thought and understand the main authors point. Moreover, the authors speech is very convincing. While reading this work it is possible to agree with the majority of the authors statements. His cogitations about face-to-face and mediated communication seem to be very reasoned and they make a reader think about his own way of communication.
Having read the book, it is possible to say that it is very useful in terms of better understanding of new media and the way it influences our communication. Written in a simple and clear style, it can help anyone to become more informed in this question.
References
[1] B. Coleman. Hello Avatar: Rise of the Networked Generation. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2011.