Afrofeminist Ethics Concerns in the Design and Use of Avatars

本研究探讨了非裔女性主义者在设计和使用化身，3D视觉表示的用户在数字空间的今天的道德问题。它将化身视为具有设计师和用户嵌入式价值的技术人工制品，旨在探索这些价值嵌入并反映在其创造和使用中的过程。与身份展示和平台，设计师和用户，使他们能够，今天面临的化身，是值得从非洲女权主义的观点进行调查的道德挑战。西尔维娅·塔马利（Sylvia Tamale）将其定义为女权主义的一个版本，“明显寻求创造自己的理论和话语，这些理论和话语与非洲现实的多样性相联系。为了恢复黑人妇女的丰富历史”，非洲女性主义对于揭示人们对化身的理解和影响以及创造解放性的人工制品至关重要。这项研究旨在开发一个框架或工具，以帮助道德设计和使用的化身。本研究采用参与式混合方法，包括投机性设计，旨在让多个利益相关者参与进来，借鉴相关文献，为更负责任和包容性的未来设计化身。非洲女性如何看待化身及其启示？2.设计师的价值观是如何嵌入到头像的设计和使用中的？3.一个非洲女权主义者知情的法律的和道德框架会是什么样子？

This research investigates afrofeminist ethical concerns in the design and use of avatars, 3D visual representations of users in digital spaces today. Construing avatars as technological artefacts with designer and user-embedded values, it aims to explore the processes by which these values are embedded and reflected in their creation and use. Ethical challenges connected to identity presentation and the platforms, designers and users that enable them, confront avatars today and are worth investigating from an Afrofeminist viewpoint. Defined by Sylvia Tamale as a version of feminism that "distinctly seeks to create its own theories and discourses that are linked to the diversity of African realities... to reclaim the rich histories of Black women", afrofeminism is crucial to uncovering perceived understandings and impacts of avatars and to create liberatory artefacts. This research aims to develop a framework or tool to aid the ethical design and use of avatars. Using participatory mixed methods, including speculative design, the research aims at engaging multiple stakeholders, drawing from the relevant literature to design avatars for better responsible and inclusive futures.Research Questions1. How do African women perceive avatars and their affordances?2. How are designer values embedded in the design and use of avatars?3. What would an afrofeminist-informed legal and ethical framework look like?