What is an avatar? Why are there nearly a billion of them, and who is using them? Do avatars impact our real lives, or are they just video game conceits? Is an avatar an inspired rendering of its creator's inner self, or is it just one among millions of anonymous vehicles clogging the online freeways? Can we use our avatars to really connect with people, or do they just isolate us? And as we become more like our avatars do they become more like us?

In I, Avata r, Mark Stephen Meadows answers some of these questions, but more importantly, he raises hundreds of others in his exploration of avatars and the fascinating possibilities they hold. His examination of avatars through the lenses of sociology, psychology, politics, history, and art, he will change the way you look at even a simple online profile and revolutionize the idea of avatars as part of our lives, whether first or second.

Mark Stephen Meadows (known in the virtual world as Pighed) is an artist, writer, and engineer with 15 years experience in interactive media. Founder of both HeadCase Humanufacturing (dedicated to developing tools to create intelligent, autonomous avatars) and Echo & Shadow, he also spent time at Xerox-PARC, Stanford Research Institute, and The Waag. The author of Pause and Effect (New Riders, 2003) he helped build the third commercial web server (1992), the first open-protocol 3D multi-user environment (1997), and has won awards such as the Ars Electronica Golden Nica and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's highest honors. Based in L.A., Mark speaks at universities and conferences worldwide.