[Commlist] Animating Digital Identities: Diverse Perspectives on the “Avatar” in the Age of Distributed Digital Environments

Nicola Bozzi is excited to invite you to a symposium about avatars and 
digital identities that is taking place at Greenwich on Tuesday 17 June, 
next week. Please find more information about the event by visiting 
www.animatedigital.co.uk and register on the Eventbrite page 
(https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/animating-digital-identities-tickets-1328324306759). 


The event will also be accessible via streaming on Teams, for those 
unable to reach our location in London:

Join the meeting at 
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NGRiMDIwNzYtZTUwNS00YTZjLTkyNDgtZTI2YmEyMmFlNzJk%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%223516f40a-5ae9-4956-bbab-395162e589ce%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2262a365d8-7ac6-4a23-8c57-81944f9d29f8%22%7d 


Meeting ID: 349 170 467 888 4
Passcode: tV7aF94X

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*ANIMATING DIGITAL IDENTITIES*

*Diverse Perspectives on the “Avatar” in the Age of Distributed Digital 
Environments ***

*Date: *17 June 2025
*Times: *9.30 to 19.30
*Location: *University of Greenwich, 10 Stockwell St, London SE10 9BD 
Lecture Theatre - 11_0003

*/Curated by Nicola Bozzi, Ghislaine Boddington, Tatiana Isaeva and 
Olive Gingrich. Supported by the Institute for Inclusive Communities and 
Environments, School of Design, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 
University of Greenwich, in collaboration with the Hybrid Presence 
Research Cluster. This event is supported as the Annual Symposium of the 
Centre for Spatial and Digital Ecologies. /*

Digital identity has gained unprecedented cultural and social momentum 
in the last decade - both as an individual concern and far-reaching 
asset. From video game avatars to political campaign videos, from family 
WhatsApp groups to virtual health assistants - in our digital everyday 
life, the expression and performance of a wider and increasingly 
accessible range of digital selves and bodies has become commonplace in 
large parts of the world. This has been amplified and complicated by the 
accelerating pace of technical innovation across mediated environments - 
i.e metaverse platforms, AR, XR, generative AI, all linked to 
increasingly hyper-targeted recommendation algorithms. At the same time, 
the cost and speed of data in developing (low and middle- income) 
countries remains a sometimes-existential factor, making sustainability 
an issue for these evolutions.

//

/- What implications do these omnipresent platforms for representation 
have in terms of inclusion, well-being, and overall social good?/

/- What kinds of new practices of the “avatar” are emerging, between 
gaming platforms, social media, and the many metaverses inhabited by our 
distributed digital bodies?/

We need interdisciplinary discussions, not only about the societal 
repercussions of these technologies, but the opportunities they expand 
for the creative renegotiation of our relationship with technology, the 
self, and each other.

For this reason, this event approaches digital identity as a prism 
through which the social and the cultural are refracted, *inviting 
diverse perspectives to examine theories and practices of the “avatar” 
in the age of distributed digital environments. *

---

**

*PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY*

**

*9.30***/–/* 10:00 **/ REGISTRATION *

**

*10:00 – 10:15 **/ OPENING REMARKS */by the curators Nicola Bozzi, 
Ghislaine Boddington, Tatiana Isaeva and Olive Gingrich /

**

*10:30 – 12:00 **/ Panel 1: Animating Platformed Identities *

How are avatars and digital identities becoming a global 
political-economic asset? This panel explores different theoretical and 
artistic ways in which gaming technologies and social media affect the 
expression of identity and how digital identity itself shifts from 
individual bodies/characters towards distributed commodities and 
communities.

/Speakers – Aleena Chia, Alexandra Anikina, Nicola Bozzi, Nina Davies
Chair – Jane Frances Dunlop /

**

*12.00 */–/* 12:30 **/ BREAK - *Student Showcase

**

*12:30 – 14:00 **/ Panel 2: Animating Avatars for Social Good *

How are animated digital identities, increasingly connected to real-time 
data, pushing forward connected access to our individual and group 
social needs as living beings? This panel focuses on a diverse range of 
digital bodies working across time and space, rapidly evolving and being 
adopted in a range of social need sectors, for example education, 
health, social connectivity and wellbeing.

/Speakers – Sarah Ticho, Camille Baker, Ghislaine Boddington, Olive 
Gingrich/
/Chairs – Ghislaine Boddington and Olive Gingrich. /

**

*14:00 – 15:00 */*LUNCH and SHOWCASE *

**

*15:00 – 16:00** / Round Tables: Animating Futures
*Rotating discussion around the themes:
/Identity/Representation, Technologies/Infrastructures, Posthuman 
Creativity//, Digital Human Twins - Our Future Data Selves/

/Mediators - Eric Wong, Ryan Flynn, JC Kristensen//, Ghislaine Boddington/

//

*
*

*16.00 */–/* 16.30 **/ TEA BREAK

***

*16.30 */–/* 17:00 **/ Sharings from Round Tables

***

*17:00 – **17:5**0 / Conversation: Digital Spaces & Digital Bodies*

/Participants – //Dian Joy, Tatiana Isaeva, Ghislaine Boddington/

**

*17.50 */–/* 18:00 **/Conclusions *

**

*Student Showcase */(running parallel) - /curated digital art showcase 
of works by students and alumni of the School of Design, University of 
Greenwich

**

*Reception and Networking *

*//*

*/Supported by the Institute for Inclusive Communities and Environments, 
School of Design, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of 
Greenwich, in collaboration with the Hybrid Presence Research Cluster. 
This event is supported as the Annual Symposium of the Centre for 
Spatial and Digital Ecologies./*

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