An Avatar is a computer simulated environment intended for its users to interact and inhabit in the virtual world. An avatar also means the image or icon of the users while chatting or in Internet Forums.
Published in Chapter:
Online Human Activity Networks (OnHANs): An Analysis Based on Activity Theory
Dan J. Kim (University of Houston-Clear Lake, USA), T. Andrew Yang (University of Houston-Clear Lake, USA), and Ninad Naik (University of Houston-Clear Lake, USA)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 13
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-384-5.ch046
Abstract
Recently, Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis (e.g., Wikipedia), social networks (e.g., MySpace), 3-D virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life), and so forth, have created fresh interest in the Internet as a new medium of social interactions and human collaborative activities. Since the emergence of Web 2.0 applications, Web services that support online human activities have gained an unprecedented boost. There have been conceptual studies on and overviews of individual Web 2.0 applications like blogs, online social networks, and so forth, but there has not been a study to date which provides a theoretical perspective on the online human activity networks (OnHANs) formed by these Web 2.0 applications. In this chapter, we classify various forms of OnHANs focusing on their social and business purposes, analyzing the core components of representative OnHANs from the angle of the activity theory, and finally providing a theoretical discussion concerning how OnHANs provide values to the individuals and the organizations involved in those activities.