Avatars as Visibility Artifacts in Digital Work

Avatars are visual representations of actors in digital environments. While avatars are well-established in some domains such as gaming, their role in current and future work environments is still unclear, specifically, when it comes to their potential to facilitate visibility. A systematic review of 53 scholarly articles leads us to identify six key themes (presence, identity, nonverbal communication, proxemics, navigation and cuing for objects) characterizing avatars as visibility artifacts. It underscores the context-dependent nature of avatar usage, demonstrating that varying environments and communicative objectives may require tailored avatar applications. Our study also ventures into the Metaverse's potential, a nexus where gaming, work, and socializing can coexist, and where human avatars meet AI avatars. As the boundaries between virtual and physical and between human and AI blur, this research paves the way for further empirical studies and poses critical questions to deepen the exploration of avatar applications in virtual work environments.