Avatar and Olly

Discovering the impact of ICTs on youth social engagement

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary research work of the Avatar Project, a Victoria University and VicHealth project dealing with young people’s use of technology within an online multi-user environment. The paper outlines the Avatar project, reports on experiences in establishing a 3D online world for youth participants, and presents the project’s research protocol/methodology for its in-depth three-year study. The paper also presents the Olly Tool, a new browser-based instant messaging tool that enables researchers to establish a secure [closed] instant messaging network for collaborative classroom work-shopping in an online setting.