Digital Final Thoughts

Final thoughs on digital identities

Internet users in many part of the world present themselves in many ways through websites, blogs, email, and forums. Each online medium differs in the amount of identity information that users can reveal and the amount of information observers use to form identity impressions. Users express and present themselves based on what they want to present, how much they want to present, and on the environmental factors in which they live. The environment in which one lives influences the content or intent of a website or blog. The intent ranges from identity presentation to identity management. The technology of the internet allows users to experiment with this range and the identities within themselves to create meaning that is continuously evolving.


For additional reading: Not every society is allowed to freely self-express and experiment with identity. China has implemented regulatory internet laws that censor content and block websites that contain objectionable material. The government, with cooperation from internet service providers (ISP), search engines, and content providers, censors websites, blogs, forums, bulletin boards, and email. Google and Yahoo, now in China, have rewritten their policies and programs to follow China’s regulations. Internet users are forced to censor the information that is included on their personal websites and blogs that are used for self-expression. If users do not comply, they loose internet connection or are imprisoned.

Other Reading:
Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China
Google to censor itself in China, CNN.com
Internet censorship gathers steam, CNN.com







Yang, K. C. C. (2007). A comparative study of internet regulatory policies in the Greater China Region: Emerging regulatory models and issues in China, Hong-Kong SAR, and Taiwan. Telematics & Informatics, 24, 30-40.

Online Public Image Maintenance

Internet public relations for image management of celebrities and corporations

Internet public relations (PR) research covers litigation public relations , political public relations, and the media. Litigation public relations and and online political PR explores the use of websites that attempt to improve or maintain the reputation of a public figure or corporation and explores websites used to influence the public image of political figures and government (Reber, Gower, & Robinson, 2006). Political candidates use websites to improve their ratings and attempt to manipulate their public image. Celebrities, like Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart, use websites to improve public image during high profile lawsuits (both website are now down). This tactic is affective in influencing an audience because the media reports what can be found on the sight, which is carefullly chosen information from the website owner. Haggerty (as cited in Reber et al., 2006), defines litigation PR as managing communications during a legal dispute proceeding to “affect the outcome or its impact on the client’s overall reputation” (p.24). Many researchers in this field agree that the two goals of litigation PR are to influence the outcome of the court case (Butler, 1996; Fitzpatrick, 1996; Haggerty, 2003; as cited in Reber et al.) and to “protect the client’s reputation before and during the trial” (p. 25). Websites using reputation management for litigation PR achieve these two goals through managing the public’s attitudes toward a client and not simply focusing on knowledge or facts about the client (Reber et al.).
The design, content depth, and complexity of websites, elements that create credibility, is of great importance to the future reputation of the website owner. Website observers have a range of perceptions when viewing different types of sites. Flanagin and Metzer (2007) discovered that genre influences credibility levels, news website had the highest perceived credibility and personal website had the lowest perceived credibility. Trustworthiness and expertise influence credibility; however, credibility is not an automatic characteristic and it is judged by the observer of the information presented on the site (Flanagin & Metzger). Websites effective in influencing credibility perceptions contain “well-designed, reputable genres of sites, … [and] involve messages of low persuasive intent” (Flanagin & Metzer, p. 338). Those who design effective websites for litigation PR follow these characteristics and would also incorporate Kent and Taylor’s (1998) five principles for building dialogic websites. The researchers suggest:

1. Create a dialogic loop that allows observers to question the organization, which in turn can respond to concerns.
2. Insure that information on the website is useful to allow the public to be involved as an informed participant.
3. The website must encourage return public visitors by using desirable elements like updates, downloads, mail information, and forums.
4. The website interface should be easy to navigate and include a table of contents.
5. Preserve visitors by not leading users away from your website through links to other sites. (Kent & Taylor, 1998, as cited in Reber et al., 2006).

Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson successfully used websites for their image management by using Kent and Taylor’s principles. The celebrities’ sites included “press releases, open letters, formal statements, downloadable court texts, responses to media coverage, a vehicle for sending notes or letters to the defendants via email, recently updated information, and prominent home page links” (Reber et al., 2006, p. 36). The sites also used framing to “[counteract] negative publicity, … [balance] media coverage, … [make] the defendant’s viewpoint known, and to [contest] the defendant’s [innocence] (Reber et al., p. 37).

Other reading:
Martha's Website, USA Today.
Jackson and Stewart, Online journalism review.


References:
Reber, B. H., Gower, K. K., Robinson, J. A. (2006). The internet and litigation public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18, 23-44.

Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2007). The role of site features, user attributes, and information verification behaviors on the perceived credibility of web-based information. New Media & Society, 9, 319-342.

Identity Experimentation Online

Gender and age online identity experimentation

The online world is a magical medium that allows individuals to create and experiment with identities and break out of the stereotypes of age, gender, or race. In their online identity experiments, adolescents attempt to gain popularity, men and women experiment with gender-switching, and older adults attempt to overcome stereotypes (Lina, Hummert, & Harwood, 2004). In online self-presentation, individuals choose information about themselves to present to others online (Valkenburg, Schouten, & Peter, 2005). Jones and Pitmann (as cited in Valkenburg et al., 2005) recognized self-presentation strategies to include: ingration to be well liked, intimidation to be feared, and self-promotion to gain respect (p. 384). Valkenburg et al. found that adolescents engage in identity experiments more often in early rather than late adolescent years, younger girls tend to present themselves as older, and boys often present themselves as macho. In gender-switching, presenting a gender to others online that differs from the individual’s actual biological sex, individuals “desire to play roles of people different from one’s self” (Roberts & Parks, 1999, p. 521). Roberts and Parks (1999), in studying the social role playing websites of online MOOs (object oriented MUDs), found that 40% of social MOO participants and 60% of role play MOO participants have tried gender-switching yet infrequently. LambdaMOO and Ghostwheel are popular social and roleplay MOOs where participants are in an online house setting or a fantasy-world game setting. These studies also found that heterosexuals and non-disabled individuals “were less likely to gender-switch” (Roberts & Parks) and younger users were not in the majority of this behavior (p. 536). Individuals that had experimented with switching were usually experienced with MOOs. The most frequent reason for not gender-switching is “the belief that it is dishonest and manipulative” (Roberts & Parks p. 537). In their books, authors Rheingold, “Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier” an online book (1993), Turkle, “Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet” (1995), and Stone, “The War of Desire and Technology at the Close of the Mechanical Age” (1995) (also online), examine the impact of computer-mediated-communication and the attraction of gender-switching identity experiments.

Older web users over 65 are increasingly online. Websites dedicated to web surfers over 65 are appearing in many corners of cyberspace, including SeniorResourc.com, SeniorJournal.com, and SeniorCitizenBureau. Seniors are attracted to this medium and use positive themes in their online communication to overcome age stereotypes, express their views uninterrupted, and use social creativity strategies (Lina et al., 2004). Positive themes include “mind-over-body attitude, active engagement, wisdom and maturity, and the freedom of age” (Lina et al., p. 262). Overcoming stereotypes by using social creativity strategies include emphasizing one’s ability to make good decisions (Lina et al.). These strategies are used to reconstruct age identities. Lina et al. found that “negative age stereotypes were positively managed, and positive identities were constructed within a negative framework … Themes and framing tactics illustrate the complexity of age identity, a mix of chronological, health, and personal identities” (p, 272).

New technology surfaces frequently that all types of people use to express or experiment with online identities. The instant messaging programs Yahoo and MSN now have a display for a pictures or avatar. Imvu is an instant messaging community dedicate to using graphics like 3D avatars, personal websites, typing in bubbles, and animation.

Other reading:
SeniorNet , LambdaMOO and Ghostwheel

References:
Lina, M. C., Hummert, M. L., & Harwood, J. (2004). Representation of age identities in on-line discourse. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 261-74.

Roberts, L. K. & Parks, M. R. (1999). The social geography of gender: Switching in virtual environments on the internet. Information, Communication and Society, 2, 521-540.

Valkenburg, P. M., Schouten, A. P., & Peter, J. (2005). Adolescents’ identity experiments on the internet. New Media and Society, 7, 383-402.

Self Presenation and Personality

Self presenation on blogs and personal websites

What does your blog for this assignment or you personal website say about you? Are you narcissistic and extraverted or are you open to experience and neurotic? Authors of personal websites include large amounts of personal information on their web pages. Website owners design their pages with the intent to give an observer an idea of who they are, an impression of who they are. This can be in the form of a text narrative, photos, color selections, interests, links to other pages, or video clips. Some internet users and researchers view “personal web sites as a garbage depository, filled with useless information that mainly serves the purpose of demonstrating the owner’s vanity” (Marcus, Machileck, Schütz, 2006, p. 1014). Others believe that website authors are exhibitionists that crave attention or introverted individuals who find comfort in computer-mediated communication (Marcus, et al., 2006). The internet is a medium for self-presentation and expression. As the technology of computer-mediated communication evolves, internet users are inspired to invent new uses for the technology in communication and entertainment. Personal websites began consisting mostly of text and minimal visual effects. Now, these digital identity pages have evolved into professional looking works of art utilizing the latest technology that exposes as much information about the author as viewing his or her bedroom or office (Vazire & Gosling, 2002).

Studying online self-presentation focuses on an individual’s presentation style in a personal website, blog, or in chat rooms. The presentation style and the amount of details displayed online gives the observer a great deal of information about the presenter (Marcus, Machileck, & Schütz, 2006). Personal websites are abundant in information where the author explores self-presentation identities and observers form ideas of a person’s personality traits. Vazire and Gosling (2004) found that “personal websites provide more information than brief interactions, but less than long-term acquaintanceships” (p. 129). Websites do not provide traditional nonverbal social cues usually present in face-to-face communication. It is limited to the edited information the author wants to present. However, the impressions of a variety of personality traits that the observer forms of the website author are surprisingly accurate (Marcus, et al., 2006; Papacharisi, 2002).Despite the narcissistic reputation, studies have found that website authors do not differ significantly from the rest of the population (Marcus, et al., 2006). A study conducted by Marcus et al. compared website owners to the general population and compared them to non-website owners. The study found that website owners scored slightly higher on openness to experience and lower on extraversion (Marcus et al.). In a general population of students, female students scored less on narcissism and self-monitoring than male students (Marcus et al.). However, Marcus et al. revealed that female students who are also website owners are “almost identical to male website owners on these traits” (p. 1021). Websites, designed by the author, contain “both the authors’ ‘true’ personalities and … ideal-self views,” (Vazire & Gosling, 2004) from which observers form a personality-type of the author (p. 130). Vazire and Gosling found that the observers’ impressions from information on personal websites are accutate.


See blogs: Blogorreah, Neurastenia

Other readings:
Jill/txt is a research blogger, associate professor at the University of Bergen, researches how people tell stories online. Categories include: How to create blogs and Blog theorizing.

Sean Rahman, Michigan State University created Blogs for Learning. Topics include: Self-presentation online and Criminals caught online.

References:
Marcus, B., Machileck, F., & Schütz, A. (2006). Personality in cyberspace: Personal web sites as media for personality expressions and impressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 1014-1031.

Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The presentation of self in virtual life: Characteristics of personal home pages. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 79, 643-660.

Vazire, S. & Gosling, S. D. (2004). E-perceptions: Personality impressions based on personal websites. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 123-132.

Introduction: Digital Identities

How do you express your digital self online? The internet, becoming the fastest growing medium for communication and entertainment, has produced new ways in which we communicate, explore identity, self express, and view entertainment. The popularity of online activity, virtual interaction, and communities has produced a new field of study, cybercultural studies or internet studies (Silver, 2004). An interesting topic internet researchers have explored is online identities.
Online identity research includes studying online self-presentation, online identity experimentation, and internet public relations (PR). Studying online self-presentation focuses on an individual’s presentation style in a personal website, blog, or in chat rooms. The presentation style and the amount of details displayed online gives the observer a great deal of information about the presenter (Marcus, Machileck & Schütz, 2006). Research on online identity experimentation includes internet based experiments with or changes in age, gender, or personality (Lina, Hummert, & Harwood, 2004). Personality experiments include an individual experimenting with his or her extraversion, emotional presentation, and physical appearance (Marcus et al, 2006). Internet public relations research covers litigation public relations and image management, which explores the use of websites that attempt to improve or maintain the reputation of a public figure or corporation (Reber, Gower, & Robinson, 2006). Exploring these topics give insight to the human side of the technological cyberculture of the internet.


References:
Lina, M. C., Hummert, M. L., & Harwood, J. (2004) Representation of age identities in on-line discourse. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 261-74.

Marcus, B., Machileck, F., & Schütz, A. (2006). Personality in cyberspace: Personal web sites as media for personality expressions and impressions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 1014-1031.

Reber, B. H., Gower, K. K., Robinson, J. A. (2006). The internet and litigation public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18, 23-44.

Silver, D. (2004). Internet/cyberculture/digital culture/new media/fill-in-the-blank studies. New Media & Society, 6, 55-64.