Mozuku

That animated version of myself in the right sidebar was made at Voki. It is really too young for me and makes me look like my cousin Ronnie 25 years ago, but I shouldn’t complain about something this free (you can compare my Voki with me by scrolling down the page to my photograph where my real age is betrayed nicely). Making my Voki involved a quick trip to the website and then a few minutes to select and color and tweek until I felt I got as close to myself as possible. There are limitations on the choices (Wii’s Mii avatar maker gives you a lot more control by comparison), but the ability to put in a background picture should allow users to get satisfactory results if they are trying to make avatar art imitate what they see in the mirror, which is probably not everyone’s intent. The best part is you can make it speak, though mine seems to require way too much time to load my insubstantial message. Voki’s website says, “Create a character, make it talk, take it anywhere.” I think my students will like this a lot. It adds a new layer of personalization to blogs and websites.