PROJECT PROPOSAL

In light of the group discussion last week, here is a summary of the ideas and issues that will be introduced and discussed in our group wiki on the issue of 'Identity'. As we progress with this module our ideas and focus points are subject to change, however at this present point I think its safe to assume that the group members are all in agreement over the following information. Our Project will fall under two main headings, the issue of online identity-what it means, and the idea of deception within online identity. Within these two subheadings will be various questions we may wish to cover:

What is Identity?

• Exploring the question of identity, What is our identity in our real lives, how do we define it and what it means to have an online identity in contrast to a 'real life' identity. Whether there are any differences between these concepts? Does identity change once we enter cyberspace? why? Theorists/sources of interest may include the following:

Understanding Human Behavior in Cyberspace By Yair Amichai-Hamburger (2005, Oxford University Press), (How the Internet enables people to express elements of their personality that they cannot express in the real word, the social psychology).

Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice By Martha MacCaughey, Michael D. Ayers (2003, Routledge), (understanding the impact of the Internet on politics today, collective online identity).

Community in the Digital Age: Philosophy and Practice By Andrew Feenberg (2004 Rowman & Littlefield)

Sex in Cyberspace: Men Who Pay for Sex by Sarah Earle, Keith Sharpe (2007Ashgate Publishing, Ltd), (self-explanitory title! Research based on online forums and chat rooms)
Identity: Cultural Change and the Struggle for Self By Roy F. Baumeister (1986Oxford University Press)

Culture and Identity: Critical Theories By Ross Abbinnett, chapter entitled 'Postmodern and the aesthetic' (2003 Sage Publications Inc).

http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/TGAME.html

www.newmediastudies.com/resourc2.html

http://www.bathtub.yoga.com/blog/myspace-vs-facebook-or-why-facebook-needs-artistpa%20ges.html

www.reviews.digitaltrends.com/guide92.html

• Looking at social networking sites and how they are constructed. Who do they aim at? Is there a 'type' of person who joins these sites, and does it say something about one's 'identity' depending on which site you choose to be part of? eg. The online society you involve yourself with and how this may impact you. Does identity change once a social networking site enters the equation? Sites we may choose to look at (and have already looked at), are primarily facebook and myspace, although bebo and univillage are also of interest, as well as WELL and equivelant sites

• How do Myspace and Facebook differentiate? Myspace and the idea of a 'glorifed CV', which is used by most people for networking and meeting people across the world. Facebook on the other hand being almost in the same vein of Friendsreunited.com because you only add people you know or have known, and it being used by primarily by university students. In addition it is arguably more user friendly.
  Give an example (or two) of a case whereby online identity online has played in key role in changing someone's life. (currently finding examples of this within our group)

DECEPTION:

• Issues that can be covered in this section are ideas concerning online deception in regards to identity. Are people who they say they are? Ideas about Identity theft. False Profiles on social networking sites and how much this really matters, if at all.
• Dating websites may also fall under this category, and how much deception (if at all) is used when trying to lure those of the opposite sex
• 'bands' online, I know through personal experience of working within the online PR of music that myspace music is not regulated and controlled by the 'band' or the artists themselves (once they become well-known), the PR team will usually monitor, change, update and 'add' friends on the myspace of various artists posing as the artist themselves. Is this deception? or Publicity? Where does one draw the line.

Other things to take into consideration:

• The work of Erving Goffman

A furry character in Second Life

Week 3 and Second Life

As I don't know a lot of things about computers and I've never thought about what www meant before I wanted to gather some information that I gained in the last 3 weeks in case I forget it or get confused...

• so first of all it's important to mention Belbin's and Tuckman's name who both wrote about how groups work, how people play and swap roles online. We might have a closer look at their work in our identity online project.
• we also learned how to create a website by putting a code in a simple notepad. It was much easier than I thought it would be. I've never imagined that I could create a website on my own:P
• I also know what is an open source: a software that everyone can edit.
• We also learned about UNIX a computer operating system, like Windows, that was developed in the 60s but was never an open source.
• LINUX is like UNIX
• I think it’s really important to mention Richard Stallman’s name as he is a hacker and a software developer. He started the GNU project to create a free operating system like UNIX in the 80s.
• we also talked about the 'culture of internet', about the Gift economy: where the credibility is based on the contribution, so if you can contribute you can take from it (like Amazon) and it's not necessarily money based. Shareware: use it for a while(usually games) and you can test it whether you like it or not. If yes you start to pay for it.
• Search engines: There are different search engines like Yahoo, Google, AltaVista etc .We should try different ones: AltaVista is good at image search others might be good in something else.
  
  
  The thing that I was most stunned by was Second Life. Second life is virtual world on the internet where you can sign up free and create a character in the way you want it and become a ‘resident’. You can be whatever you want to be: a lawyer, a furry or even a terrorist. Actually you can have a second life there (probably that’s why it’s called like that:P): you can buy cars, house etc. I find this whole thing crazy. First of all it’s incredible what technology is capable of and at the same time I think it’s insane that some people are really living in that virtual world and not in the “real world” and spend real money on things that are not “real” and they can’t even touch. And the craziest is that people are getting rich by selling their lands!!! I think people who are playing Second Life probably lack something, they aren’t satisfied with their life, want to be someone else or I don’t know, maybe they’re just bored…I mean I wouldn’t even have time for this but of course everyone has the right to do whatever they like!! And probably there are loads of good things about Second Life, as it was mentioned in an article on Times Online, that there are places where you can learn life-saving skills, or show off your paintings, as well as places where you can learn how to be a Jedi Knight! I would love to learn that:) (Second Lives and online utopias, 16 May 2007)
  

'Social graph-iti'

As our group project is identity online I wanted to find out why people are using networking sites like Myspace/Facebook etc at what is good/bad about these networks. I know why I’m using Myspace: I can send messages to friends who are living in other countries, I can see how they look like now, I can send pictures to them etc.. so it's in a way help to keep the friendship more update and fresh. And I just speak with people who I know!!
What I don't like is when random people are sending me messages and videos or try to hack my myspace, as it happened with me last week...I don't understand why someone is doing that!!!Personally I don't put on too many personal details on Myspace as my friends already know me. And we also need to be careful how much personal info we let strangers know about us!! I have been reading loads of articles about people who fall victim of identity theft as they giving out their birth place and date, full name etc.. online. I put on a good article about this, the title is: A fresh identity is stolen every four seconds
So this is definitely the dark side of networking!!

But why people like these sites and why are they useful??

An article published in The Economist (18. 10. 2007) tries to find the answer for: why facebook is a ‘masterstroke’? It says that one of the reason is its “mini-feed”, this is ‘an event stream on users pages that keeps users abreast of what their friends are doing-uploading photos, adding a widget and so on’. The article also describes how people are getting addicted to 'spy' on their friends. I found this absolutely true and freaky at the same time..Why we like checking on our friends????

Jerry Michalski, a consultant, calls the mini-feed a “data exhaust” that gives Facebook users “better peripheral vision” into the lives of people they know only casually. This mini-feed is so far the clearest example of using the social graph in a concrete way.’

They also talk about the future of these social networks: as not one big social graph but instead a 'myriad small communities on the internet to replicate the millions that exist offline’. Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley forecaster said in this article:

'unlike other networks, social networks lose value once they go beyond a certain size....The value of a social network is defined not only by who's on it, but by who's excluded' (The Economist 18/10/2007)

So certain people, identities are excluded from these networks: as there are already networks like "aSmallWorld" that is just for rich and famous people!!!

Just something interesting

While I was making research for the ‘identity online’ group project I found a really interesting article on the Economist’s website. The article is from the print edition of The Economist September 2007. The article starts with “IT USED to be easy to tell whether you were in a free country or a dictatorship. “ The writer talks about how nowadays data about people's “whereabouts, purchases, behaviour and personal lives are gathered, stored and shared on a scale that no dictator of the old school ever thought possible”. Then he goes on about how the governments and corporations transform this as they say they just do it for the public good: ‘to ward off terrorism or protect public health’ and to ‘deliver goods and services more efficiently’. (The Economist Sep 27th 2007)
I put the article on the related links if anyone wants to read it, it’s called Learning to live with Big Brother.

blogger the 'citizen journalist'

As I've never wrote and read blogs I was interested who/why were writing blogs. I had a look at Stuart Allan's book Online News (2006) where he talked about the importance of blogging in online journalism nowadays. He studied the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2005. Stuart said that the journalist could just give 'one part of the story, and from a chosen perspective consistent with implicit judgements about access, news values, source credibility, and audience predisposition.' (2006, p.6)
And here comes the importance of the bloggers, some of them were eyewitness of the tsunami and could give a realistic and close coverage of the disaster. This is how the blogger become a 'citizen journalist'. (Stuart 2006)
I won't go that far with my blog..but I will write about my ideas and progress as this blog is a reflective, learning diary since it's one of the assignments for the Multimedia Project module

I find this class really interesting and something new as we don’t really have 'practical' projects like this. It also opens new topics in the media field such as identity online, virtual communities etc. that we talked about last week. I think this module is really challenging as it makes us think about everyday things (almost all of us is using, myspace, facebook etc) in a way we wouldn't have thought about them before: such as how these sites like myspace and facebook are creating 'virtual communities' and how people are sharing their personal information, pictures on the internet and putting on different identities.

I could also link the idea of 'information society', a topic that was mentioned on the New Technology/ New Cultures class, to this module. In this 'information society' the more optimistic view about the internet, high technology (internet connects people, work can be quicker, simpler through the internet and also the internet) clashes with the more pessimistic view that shows the negative side of this always renewing technology (suicide pages, paedophiles etc) and says that modernization is not necessarily good and we shouldn’t cross certain lines even if we have the power to do it.
Personally I don't know which view is the right one (if there is right one) and I hope this class will help me to develop a more complex and clearer view about these issues.
I found this class really interesting even though I am a little a bit scared because I am not really good with computers and we will also need to create a webpage as a group project. I am working together with Ioannis Sarah, Alisha and Miray and our theme will be identity online. I will write about how the group project goes a bit later because we just started to do some research and we are not really sure how and what we will do.

My First Blog

This is my blog that I will be writing in the following 8-9 weeks. As it’s my first blog ever it feels a bit weird to share my thoughts here not knowing who is reading it:p But I hope I will get used to it.