To promote its forthcoming users' conference in Boston next week, Blackboard, the academic-software company, has posted to YouTube a video that parodies the awkward ways in which avatars — digital characters — move around and communicate in Second Life. That virtual world has become a popular venue for colleges to advertise their programs and for professors to conduct research and provide online instruction.
In the two-and-a-half minute video, Blackboard employees play the role of jerky avatars, who bump into objects and each other, and sit on tables. The video was produced by Adrian Alleyne, a Blackboard manager. —Andrea L. Foster
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