Online Identities

Do you see any of the ideas of the readings resonating with your “construction” of your 2nd life identity?
Response based on the following readings:
Ellison, N., Heino, R.D., & Gibbs, J.L. (2006). Managing Impressions Online: Self-Presentation Processes in the Online Dating Environment. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 11(2).
Summary: This journal article explored a sampling of people participating in online dating, probing decisions they made in how they presented themselves and revealed themselves to others. They closely observed the cues people gave about themselves and how they were interpreted by other users.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday.
Summary: We have a way we want to be perceived and as a result we portray that character. In any interaction, you cannot ‘not’ communicate and as a result we live by inference based on scientifically or statistically based evidence. The persona we put forward is expected to be the best one possible. I use expected because there is a societal dictate associated with how we carry ourselves and interact with each other in semi-formal situations which take place in everyday life
Nakumura L (2002).Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity and Identity on the Internet
Summary: Chapter 2, entitled “Head Hunting on the Internet: Identity Tourism, Avatar, and Racial Passing in Textual and Graphical Chat Spaces.” This text looked at online interactions of users in online role play games and the race/gendered related choices users make when creating avatars. The author argues that being raced in cyberspace is doubly disorienting, creating multiple layers of identity construction.
Suler, J. (2000). Identity management in cyberspace.
Summary: In cyberspace you are loaded with choices, you choose what you do and don’t reveal about yourself, how much you get integrated in your surroundings and even what media you participate in.
Wallace, P. (1999). Your online persona, the psychology of impression formation. The psychology of the Internet (pp. 14-37). London: Cambridge University Press.
Summary: This book chapter explores a myriad of issues related identity development in the online environment. It looks at the different forms of media and how we chose to identify in the forms. It also explores some of the affordances and constraints of the media in respect to identity development.
Synthesis and Overall Discussion Questions:
While developing my Second Life Identity one thing I did which was discussed all the readings was be purposeful in the design of my character. In Second Life, before my group agreed on how we would proceed, I purposely made Akesha Ayres, PhD as close as possible to how I perceived myself, warts and all. I wanted to see how I would be embraced in an online environment. She was a big girl who was slightly taller than the other girls. She shared my glasses and complexion. I realized by creating Akesha with this distinct identity I was indirectly making choices about who would be comfortable in interacting with me. My group has decided to look at how our appearance affects how we are perceived in this environment. We are specifically looking at race (or skin color) and size (body shape).
In the readings it was addressed that some of the impressions made by users we interact with are filtered by biases and stereotypes based on the characteristics we choose. The identity markers that were chosen to look at were gender and age. Race was ignored because “people do not probe about race with the same kind of boldness they inquire about age, gender, or location.” I would note that this parallels life in the fact that in American society race is more of a taboo subject than age sex or location is. Also I would wonder if the digital divide that was responsible for more homogeneity seen in Internet in the 90’s has led to a perceived racelessness of online communities. I would also note that we probe to find out cues to determine whether one is who (s)he says they are; we also make assumptions based on what is presented. I personally have been accused in several environments of pretending not to be Black in online discussions via AOL when I used the screen name of SunniDelta. This accusation comes because of my choice of vocabulary, grammar and usage. We want to know who is ‘passing’. Passing is an old term however Nakumara uses the term in the context to describe the cultural phenomenon of calling identities into question. In a study of the text based LambdaMOO, she argues the decision to leave race out of the description constitute a conscious choice to assume the typical user to be White?
One theme that I saw in all the articles is a question I have been asking myself since the beginning of the semester; what is choice? Can we truly make completely unconscious choices? Is this the same as making an ill-informed choice? It seems that the articles are saying that we have a reason for doing the things that we are doing, however at the same time, we don’t realize the reason. This seems to be a contradiction. Perhaps while I am recognizing that all of our actions are causal, I wonder if they are also purposeful.