Withholding your identity can be seen both as both ethically right and wrong. I find it strange how you can withhold aspects of your identity on the internet, where as in real life it can be seen a bad thing to withhold information about yourself or somebody else especially if you are involved in law breaking. On the internet withholding your identity can be seen to be okay as there is the idea of having to be more aware or cautious with your identity on the internet to help prevent incidents such as fraud.
This links to the idea of using your full name on the internet. With the high popularity of the internet incidents such as internet fraud, paedophilia and plagiarism are only a few aspects that need to be highlighted. It is very easy to type in someone’s full name on a search engine browse a few websites and end up finding information about them online such as where they live, their date of birth and so on. I too am very careful when using my full name on the internet or any of my details on the net for that matter. I have no E-mail addresses that include my surname and instead resort to using my hotmail address which has a nickname in it. On social networking sites and instant messaging sites you don't really have to use your full name as the people who you are talking to will know who you are and either have a nickname for you or something. Also these methods are more laid back and if you called people by their full names all the time your friends may think its a little strange and it seems very professional especially when you're having a casual conversation. I personally don’t have an online banking account as even though the sites are said to be ‘safe’ you can question how safe they actually are. The only time I use my full name is when I’m paying for something online, but even then I am still cautious as it is so easy for other companies to obtain personal information about you. I have my name on my Facebook page, but that is set to private and I only have people that I know added.
I feel that sometimes when you are online you can feel more confident and want to express yourself in various ways. For example when talking on social networking sites you may speak in a certain way towards other people so that you fit in with them and the topic of conversation. However I wouldnt necessarily speak the same way to my friends as I would lecturers or my family. Also I would probably speak about different topics that engage the various groups of peope that I talk to. This also fits in with the ideas of fitting into a group to shape ideas and expressions around the particular group. For example I wouldnt discuss some of my favourite mucis with my parents as they probably wouldn't have a clue who I was talking about. I feel it is nice that you can mix and involve yourself in all of these groups, I suppose its just a new way of socialising online.
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Yes, I'm with you. As we get used to using CMC we use various different levels of 'openness' and 'self protection' don't we? (Experimentation & 'persona play' {my term} is a different thing isn't it? I'm not sure how many of us can be bothered?)
ReplyDeleteDo you think that it would be a good thing to teach young kids about openness/self protection online (a bit like we teach literacy nowadays?) When you were first encountering cyberspace, would YOU have listened (I'm not sure I would).
I read something that a couple of other people on the course were talking about, and this was the idea that when we write (as in notes in lectures and essays and such) we're almost a different person to how we are when we speak, and there's nothing we can do to change this. The thought processes we go through to write and to speak are always going to be different, so d'you recon the internet (the 'chat window' or whatever) might create a medium that we have to go through which automatically changes our way of speaking/thinking, without us knowing it? PS.... RINCY.
ReplyDeleteI think you've got a good idea goping here sam. I think because you're not talking to people face to face, but screen to screen there is a new air of confidence , which would affect our way of speaking and thinking. Especially when there are no awkward silences or things like that. I feel that we use the IM etc so much know that this way of thinking and speaking becomes a 'normal' part of life.
ReplyDeleteAs for writing essays I think I agree with the point that you and others have made; when we take down our notes we pretty much just copy from the screen and try to take it in that way as sometimes there isn't time to write it down in your own words, and with essays I always try to write with a better structure and style of language to create a good quality essay.
Yes sam, there might be a 'special' forum/SNS way of thinking/expressing that is different emerging? If there is, it will probably be subject to historical and cultural change -as 'phone' speak changed with the general distribution of landlines to all and sundry, then the rise of sms, which promotes voice to a different level of 'embodiment'?
ReplyDeleteThe thing with Cultural Studies is that EVERYTHING & ANYTHING becomes interesting when one engages with it as a factor in the reproduction and change of what it is to be (particular) humans.