Ethical Challenges with Personalized Avatars in Higher Education of the Metaverse Era

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 1, 74 - 96, 29.06.2024

Nurten Gündüz Mehmet Sincar

https://doi.org/10.46423/izujed.1378968

Öz

One of the first revolutions of Web 3.0 technology has been the metaverse, which is an alternative world formation where people can experience three-dimensional virtual realities through their avatars. The only way for higher education to survive in the metaverse era is to do an in-depth examination of the current situation and create strategies, regulations, and policies for all segments of this novice field considering also the ethical challenges it will bring to humanity. In a metaverse environment, there will be personalized avatars that represent real people, and in a university setting with virtual classes held in the metaverse, many ethical dilemmas and moral concerns can develop due to the utilization of avatars. The study narrowed its attention to examining these ethical issues raised by avatar customization and potential solutions to design a healthy metaverse in higher education. The study conducted an in-depth exploration with fourteen higher education lecturers, who are also key people specialized in the metaverse and web 3.0 technologies. The data obtained from the interviews were clustered under seven thematic nodes including anonymous identities; socially equal & diverse avatars; avatar policy; honesty & transparency; non-resemblance with the physical realities; avatar clothes codes; and avatars’ intellectual property.
Key Words: Avatar, Ethics, Metaverse, Higher Education, Metaverse Universities

Anahtar Kelimeler

Avatar, Ethics, Metaverse, Higher Education, Metaverse Universities

Metaverse Çağının Yükseköğretiminde Kişiselleştirilmiş Avatarlarla İlgili Etik Zorluklar

Öz

Metaverse Çağının Yükseköğretiminde Kişiselleştirilmiş Avatarlarla İlgili Etik Zorluklar
Öz
Web 3.0 teknolojisinin ilk devrimlerinden biri, insanların avatarları aracılığıyla üç boyutlu sanal gerçeklikleri deneyimleyebildikleri alternatif bir dünya oluşumu olarak görülebilecek olan metaverse olmuştur. Yükseköğretimin metaverse çağında ayakta kalabilmesinin tek yolu, mevcut durumun derinlemesine bir incelemesini yapmak ve insanlığa getireceği etik zorlukları da göz önünde bulundurarak bu yeni alanın tüm segmentleri için stratejiler, düzenlemeler ve politikalar oluşturmaktır. Bir metaverse ortamında, gerçek insanları temsil eden kişiselleştirilmiş avatarlar söz konusudur ve metaverse'de sanal derslerin yapıldığı bir üniversite ortamında, avatarların kullanımı nedeniyle birçok etik ikilem ve ahlaki kaygı gelişebilir. Çalışma, avatar özelleştirmesinin ortaya çıkardığı bu etik sorunları ve yükseköğretimde etik temelli, sağlıklı bir metaverse tasarlamak için potansiyel çözümleri incelemeye odaklanmıştır. Çalışma, aynı zamanda metaverse ve web 3.0 teknolojileri konusunda uzmanlaşmış kilit kişiler olan on dört yükseköğretim öğretim görevlisi ile derinlemesine bir araştırma yürütmüştür. Görüşmelerden elde edilen veriler, anonim kimlikler; sosyal eşitliliğin ve çeşitliliğin saplandığı avatarlar; avatar politikası; dürüstlük ve şeffaflık; fiziksel gerçekliklerle benzerlik göstermeme; avatar kıyafet kodları ve avatarların fikri mülkiyeti olmak üzere yedi tematik düğüm altında kümelenmiştir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Avatar, Etik, Metaverse, Yükseköğretim, Metaverse Üniversiteler

Anahtar Kelimeler

Avatar, Etik, Metaverse, Yükseköğretim, Metaverse Üniversiteler

Kaynakça

• Araullo, J. (2013). Educators’ Experiences: The Process of Integrating Virtual World Technology in Higher Education [Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University]. ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/
• Arıcak, T. (2015). Siber Alemin Avatar Çocukları (Avatar Kids of Cyberspace). Remzi Yayınevi.
• Aydın, İ.H. (2022). Beyin Sizsiniz 5.0 Metaverse Holistik Çağ (You are the Brain 5.0 Metaverse Holistic Age). Girdap Yayınevi.
• Bailenson, J. N., Yee, N., Blascovich, J., Beall, A. C., Lundblad, N. & Jin, M. (2008). The Use of Immersive Virtual Reality in the Learning Sciences: Digital Transformations of Teachers, Students, and Social Context. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17, (1), 102-141.
• Baker, C., Wuest, J., & Stern, P.N. (1992). Method Slurring: The Grounded Theory / Phenomenology Example. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 17, 1355-1360.
• Ball, M. (2022). The Metaverse and How It Will Revolutionize Everything. Liveright Publishing Corporation.
• Bibri, S. E., & Allam, Z. (2022). The Metaverse as A Virtual Form Of Data-Driven Smart Cities: The Ethics Of The Hyper-Connectivity, Datafication, Algorithmization, and Platformization Of Urban Society. Computational Urban Science, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43762-022-00050-1
• Biocca, F. (1997). The cyborg’s dilemma: Progressive embodiment in virtual environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(4).
• Brocki J. M. & Weardon, A. J. (2006). A Critical evlauation of the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in health psychology. Psychology and health, 21-98-101.
• Brunnbauer, J. B. (2022). Ethical Challenges for the Metaverse Development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(8). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120481119
• Cannavale, F. J., Scarr, H. A., & Pepitone, A. (1970). Deindividuation in the Small Group: Further Evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 141-147.
• Cho, Y., Seunghyun, H. Kim., M. & Kim, J. (2022). Dave: Deep Learning-Based Asymmetric Virtual Environment for Immersive Experiential Metaverse Content. Electronics, 11(16), 2604. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11162604
• Clemens, A. (2022). Metaverse For Beginners A Guide To Help You Learn About Metaverse, Virtual Reality and Investing In NFTs.
• Dayarathna, R. (2022). Ethics in the Metaverse. Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science Proceedings of the 78th Annual Sessions 2022-Part II, 79–86.
• Dickey, M. D. (2005). Three-Dimensional Virtual Worlds and Distance Learning: Two Case Studies of Active Worlds as a Medium for Distance Education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36, (3), 439-451.
• Diener, E. (1977). Deindividuation: Causes and Consequences. Social Behaviour and Personality, 5(1), 143-155.
• Fernandez, C. B., & Hui, P. (2022). Life, the Metaverse and Everything: An Overview of Privacy, Ethics, and Governance in Metaverse. Proceedings - 2022 IEEE 42nd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, ICDCSW 2022, 272–277. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDCSW56584.2022.00058
• Festinger, L., Pepitone, A., & Newcomb, T. (1952). Some consequences of deindividuation in a group. Journal of Social Psychology, 47, 382-389.
• Frey, T. (2021, September). The History of The Metaverse. Futurist Speaker. https://futuristspeaker.com/future-trends/the-history-of-the-metaverse/
• Fox, J., Bailenson, J. N., & Tricase, L. (2013). The Embodiment of Sexualized Virtual Selves: The Proteus Effect and Experiences of Self-Objectification Via Avatars. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 930–938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb. 2012.12.027
• Gawlik-Kobylińska, M. (2023). The Proteus effect on security and safety exergamers. Interactive Learning Environments, 31:5, 2707-2721. DOI:10.1080/10494820.2021. 1898988
• Geping, L., Gao Nan, H., & Hanlin, Q.Y. (2022). Metaverse, E.: Features, mechanisms and application scenarios. Open Educ. Res. 1, 24–32.
• Hayes Jr., P. (2014). Virtual Environmental Factors and Leading Global Virtual Teams [Ph.D. Indiana Institute of Technology]. ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/
• Hew, K. F. & Cheung, W. S. (2010). Use of Three-Dimensional (3-D) Immersive Virtual Worlds in K-12 and Higher Education Settings: A Review of the Research. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41, (1), 33-55.
• Huynh-The, T., Pham, Q. V., Pham, X. Q., Nguyen, T. T., Han, Z., & Kim, D. S. (2022). Artificial Intelligence for the Metaverse: A Survey. arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.10336. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2202.10336.pdf
• Johnson, R. D., & Downing, L. L. (1979). Deindividuation and Valence of Cues: Effects on Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1532-1538.
• Johnson, D.G. (2015). Technology with No Human Responsibility?. Journal of Bus Ethics 127:707–715. DOI 10.1007/s10551-014-2180-1
• Joye, S. R. (2016). Ethical Implications of a Virtual Reality Metaverse: The Pribram-Bohm Hypothesis.
• Kahraman, M. E. (2022). Blok Zincir, Deepfake, Avatar, Kripto Para, Değiştirilemez Belirteç (NFT) ve Sanal Evren -Metaverse- ile Yaygınlaşan Sanal Yaşam. Uluslararası Kültürel ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi (UKSAD), 8(1), 149-162. (Blockchain, Deepfake, Avatar, Cryptocurrency, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and Virtual Life Spread by Virtual Universe – Metaverse-. International Journal of Cultural and Social Research, 8(1), 149-162).
• Kaddoura, S., & Al Husseiny, F. (2023). The rising trend of Metaverse in education: challenges, opportunities, and ethical considerations. PeerJ Computer Science, 9, e1252. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.1252
• Kivunja, C., & Kuyini, A. B. (2017). Understanding and applying research paradigms in educational contexts. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(5), 26- 41. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v6n5p26
• Kshetri, N. (2022). Policy, Ethical, Social, and Environmental Considerations of Web3 and the Metaverse. IT Professional, 24(3), 4-8. https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2022.3178509
• Lee, L.-H., Braud, T., Zhou, P., Wang, L., Xu, D., Lin, Z., Kumar, A., Bermejo, C., & Hui, P. (2021). All One Needs to Know about Metaverse: A Complete Survey on Technological Singularity, Virtual Ecosystem, and Research Agenda. 14(8). http://arxiv.org/abs/2110.05352
• Li, Y., Wei, W., & Xu, J. (2022, December). The Exploration on Ethical Problems of Educational Metaverse. In International Conference on Metaverse (pp. 29-38). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23518-4
• Marr, B. (2022, March). A Short History of the Metaverse. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/03/21/a-short-history-of-the-metaverse/?sh=594d9c075968
• Mennecke, B. (2011). An Examination of a Theory of Embodied Social Presence in Virtual Worlds. Decision Sciences Journal, 42(2), 413-450.
• Moor, J. H. (2001). The future of computer ethics: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!. Ethics and Information Technology, 3, 89-91.
• Moore, R., Ducheneaut, N., and Nickell, E. (2007). Doing Virtually Nothing: Awareness and Accountability in Massively Multiplayer Online Worlds. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 16(3), pp. 265-305.
• Nadler, A., Goldberg, M., and Jaffe, Y. (1982). Effect of Self-differentiation and Anonymity in Group on Deindividuation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 1127- 1136.
• Navarro, J., Pena, J., Cebolla & Banos, R. (2022). Can Avatar Appearance Influence Physical Activity? User-Avatar Similarity and Proteus Effects on Cardiac Frequency and Step Counts. Health Communication, 37:2, 222-229. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1834194
• Nisiotis, L. (2015). A Cyber Campus to Support Students Experiencing Barriers Accessing Education [Ph.D. Dissertation, Sheffield Hallam University]. ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/
• Nowak, K. L. (2004). The Influence of Anthropomorphism and Agency on Social Judgment in Virtual Environments. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 9, (2).
• O’Nolan, K. (1960). The Proteus Legend. Hermes, 88(2). 129-138.
• Owens, D. (2012). Understanding The Adaptive Use of Virtual World Technology Capabilities and Trust in Virtual Teams [Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Nebraska]. ProQuest. https://www.proquest.com/
• Patsantaras, N. (2020). Virtual Bodies (Avatars) and Sport Exercises: Some Important Thoughts. European Journal for Sport and Society, 17(4), 339-356. https://doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2020.1792087
• Patton, M.Q. (2014). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods: Integrating theory and practice. Sage publications.
• Pena, J., Hancock, J. T., & Merola, N. A. (2009). The Priming Effects of Avatars in Virtual Settings. Communication Research, 36(6), 838–856. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650209346802
• Peterson, M. (2005). Learning Interaction in an Avatar-Based Virtual Environment: A Preliminary Study. Pacific Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning Journal, 1, (1), 29-40.
• Reicher, S., Spears, R., & Postmes, T. (1995). A Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Phenomena. European Review of Social Psychology, 6, 161-198.
• Schonning V., Hjetland G.J., Aaro L.E., & Skogen J.C. (2020). Social Media Use and Mental Health and Well-Being Among Adolescents – A Scoping Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:1949. https://doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01949
• Seggie, F.N. & Bayyurt, Y. (2015). Nitel Araştırma Yöntem, Teknik, Analiz ve Yaklaşımları (Qualitative Research Methods, Techniques, Analysis and Approaches). Anı yayıncılık.
• Smith, J.A. (2011). Evaluating The Contribution of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Health Psychology Review, 5:1, 9-27. DOI:10.1080/17437199.2010.510659
• Spence, E. H. (2008). Meta ethics for the metaverse: The ethics of virtual worlds. Current Issues in Computing and Philosophy, 175(3).
• Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research. Sage publications.
• Szolin, K. Kuss, D.J., Nuyens, F.M., & Griffiths, M.D. (2023). Exploring The User-Avatar Relationship in Videogames: A Systematic Review of The Proteus Effect. Human–Computer Interaction, 38:5-6, 374-399. DOI: 10.1080/07370024.2022.2103419
• Tseng, J.J., Tsai, Y.H. & Chao, R.C. (2013). Enhancing L2 Interaction in Avatar-Based Virtual Worlds: Student Teachers' Perceptions. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 29, (3), 357-371.
• Unreal Engine, (2023, August). High-fidelity Digital Humans Made Easy. Epic Games. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/metahuman
• Wankel, C., & Kingsley, J. (2009). Higher Education In Virtual Worlds: Teaching And Learning In Second Life. Emerald.
• Watson, R. I. (1973). Investigation into Deindividuation: Using A Cross-Cultural Survey Technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25(3), 342–345. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034218
• Williams, M., & Moser, T. (2019). The Art of Coding and Thematic Exploration in Qualitative Research. International Management Review, 15(1), 45-55.
• Yee, N., & Bailenson, J. (2007). The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior. Human Communication Research, 33(3), 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00299.x
• Yee, N., Bailenson, J. N., & Ducheneaut, N. (2009). The Proteus Effect: Implications of Transformed Digital Self-Representation on Online and Offline Behavior. Communication Research, 36(2), 285–312. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208330254
• Zalilo, M., & Clarkson, P.J. (2022). Designing The Metaverse: A Study on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Safety for Digital Immersive Environments. Telematics and Informatics, 75, 101909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2022.101909
• Zallio, M., & Clarkson, P. J. (2023). Metavethics: Ethical, Integrity and Social Implications of The Metaverse. Intelligent Human Systems Integration, 69, 683–691. https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002891
• Zimbardo, P.G. (1969). The Human Choice: Individuation, Reason, and Order versus Deindividuation, Impulse, and Chaos. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 17, 237-307.