This is a travel and research log for Dr. Eiko Ikegami’s journey through the virtual and real worlds of autistic avatars. Dr. Ikegami has studied the experiences of autistic people in the virtual world of Second Life since 2008, and in 2017, published the book Hyper-world in the Japanese language, which captured the attention of NHK TV to produce a documentary film on the subject. Eiko Ikegami is a Walter A. Eberstadt Professor of Sociology and History at The New School for Social Research in New York.

 

(Image © Nerissa Escanlar)

Eiko Ikegami: Principle Investigator,  Robert Proverb: Research Assistant,  Luis Tsukayama-Cisneros: Guest Blogger and Photographer (unless otherwise noted),  Stephanie B. Currier: Consultant, Contributing Editor, and SL Screen Captures

Date: 13 June, 2017- June 30, 2017

With a crew from NHK TV (the Japanese equivalent of the BBC), Dr. Ikegami traveled across the United States interviewing autistic people that she, along with her research assistant Robert Proverb, met through the virtual world of Second Life over the course of dozens of interviews and more than one hundred community discussions.