Press Enter to “Say”: Using Second Life to Teach Critical Media Literacy

Online simulated environments directly affect the formation of individual subjectivities through the creation of player avatars. Thus, the power relationships that affect subjectivity formation need to be carefully examined by player-participants as belonging to a system with sometimes homologous, sometimes radically different actions and consequences. In this article, we argue that students need to develop critical awareness of their own subject formation and their positions in new media environments. Such awareness is a necessary component of new media literacy. We further contend that composition instructors can look to Second Life, a popular online simulated environment, as a dynamic text to engage students in questions regarding power, ethics, intellectual property, and community.