In case you haven’t noticed, I use an avatar (cartoon figure) for most of my pictures.  You can even go to the more serious sites like linkedin and find it. If you google “mark burhop”  under images, I don’t even think you will find me there, just my avatar.  Sometimes I get a bit of flack about this…it is hardly professional, right?

Maybe,  maybe not.  In my case, I have a message behind my avatar.  It is time to start thinking about the virtual world.  I don’t mean “Second Life”, “WoW” and other virtual environments although that is included.  I mean all things virtual… virtual product development, virtual architectural design, virtual travel, any real life things you can simulate on a computer.

For businesses, it can save you money.  The CAD industry is based around designing products in a virtual world.  You might say CAM and 3D printing are technologies for taking virtual products into the real world. Testing with a computer simulation (CAE) is much cheaper than building a real life prototype.  

You will hear most universities talk about virtual education and virtual training and I’ve been a part of a number of virtual meetings. How much will businesses save here in travel costs? It is hard to say but it could be substantial.

Even if there is a neutral cost/benefit, virtual technology is still more eco friendly.  The carbon footprint of  virtual products and virtual people are sure to be less than the volume of burnt carbon created flying and driving real me around or building real life prototypes.

One interesting side effect of using an avatar is that it is makes it harder to make judgments about people.  How old  is the person?  Are they disabled?  What color is their skin?  How much do they weigh?  Are they male or female?   In a real life meeting, these are the first things you learn about someone despite being completely unimportant to most discussions. 

Now there is a negative side. You miss out on certain social cues and body language that is so important to effective communication. Some people like to talk face to face. Since we are talking about my static image, a real life picture really isn’t going to help you much here.  The best it will do is give you a hint as to who I am before you have to find me in a croud.

So while being a white, average, middle aged male would not get ME a second look, I’d at least like to provide some token support to those that would prefer not to be judged by their initial appearance.