“Our Digital Selves” is scheduled for a full release on May 18th, I’m blogging about it a little early because I’m actually on holiday on a Mediterranean Island right now, hopefully enjoying some sun.
The man behind the documentary is Draxtor Despres, AKA Bernhard Drax. The documentary follows 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.
The lead investigators are Tom Boellstorff, UC Irvine and Donna Z. Davis, University of Oregon. The research project has so far been going for three years, so it’s quite an in depth project.
To get some insight into what this project is about it’s definitely worth following the earlier link, but here’s some of the blurb :
This research will have implications for improving health care and social support for people with disabilities. But it also will use the insights of people with disabilities to better understand how new online technologies influence how we think about our bodies, how we think about social interaction, and how we think about the role of the internet in everyday life.
The documentary certainly captures the essence of this as we see people using technology to connect with others.
The documentary follows people who have varying disabilities, including physical and mental disabilities. This is a very personal documentary, it really gets behind the avatar and into the world of the real person.
We also see people who create virtual worlds, such as Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg and High Fidelity CEO Philip Rosedale meeting the contributors and stars of this documentary and that makes for some absolutely beautiful viewing.
All too often in virtual worlds we get a sense from some that it’s not real, watching this documentary will certainly unveil just how real it is behind the curtain.
The documentary is a rollercoaster ride, it’s emotional, heartbreaking, heart warming but a striking message from this documentary is the empowerment that virtual worlds can provide people with.
The stories are so wonderfully personal, people express not only their own views but their views on how they feel people view them inside and outside of the virtual world.
This is an extremely powerful documentary, it exemplifies how technology can empower and it also exemplifies how power ultimately comes from the person utilising the technology to express themselves.
A major message from this documentary is how important accessibility and inclusivity are for all of us, whether we use the features that aid accessibility or not, a virtual world that is more accessible will immediately become more inclusivity.
This is well worth watching but be prepared, it’s a very personal journey but most importantly, it’s absolutely beautiful.