“Our Digital Selves : My Avatar is me” is a documentary produced with a large slice of work from Draxtor Despres, well known virtual world filmmaker and also known as Bernhard Drax.
The documentary follows Tom Boellstorff, UC Irvine and Donna Z. Davis, University of Oregon as they lead discussions regarding the connection between people with varied disabilities and their engagement with virtual worlds such as Second Life, High Fidelity and Sansar.
The documentary itself is part of a research project supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology and Science, Technology, and Society). The project is supported by the University of California, Irvine; the University of Oregon; and the National Science Foundation.
Tomorrow, Wednesday May 9th, Congressman Alan Lowenthal will be hosting a Congressional Briefing on Disability, Mental Health, and Virtual Worlds which will discuss the findings of this research project.
The blurb regarding the briefing states :
You’re invited to join Congressman Alan Lowenthal, UC Irvine, and the University of Oregon at an exclusive congressional briefing on findings from a National Science Foundation-funded research project exploring disability experience in “virtual worlds” – three-dimensional, immersive online spaces where people can appear any way they choose and do things they may not be able to do in the physical world. Featuring an excerpt from a forthcoming documentary about the research, the briefing will include a discussion regarding what disability experience in virtual worlds reveals about creative uses of online social interaction. Learn more about this featured work and check out a sneak peek of the documentary.
Alan Lowenthal will provide introductory comments and panelists will include Tom Boellstorff, Professor, UC Irvine; Donna Davis, Assistant Professor, University of Oregon; Jeffrey Mantz, Program Director, Cultural Anthropology Program, National Science Foundation and Fay Cook, Associate Director, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation.
Apparently food and beverages will be provided at this briefing.
I will write more about this research project in future blog posts, the documentary is currently scheduled for an official release on May 18th, here’s a teaser.