Thursday, March 31, 2011
Identity versus Self-Disclosure (blog #10)
After reading these articles I honestly believe there should be different levels of identification. The reason being is, there are different ages groups who surf the internet . Now one might say teens, younger children, and adults should be on different sites but the truth is one never knows whom is on the website. The well know role play game called, World of Warcraf (WoW) has been the enterainment for many people since 2004. This game reach out to different cultures and the fantasy life of others; which allowed this game to become the number one game in the world. This game has massively mutiplayer (MMORPG) which gives a player ( such as yourself) to hide your identiy. The funny thing is over 12 million people are on this site from different age groups hiding their identity but is this ethical. The CMC that is used whitin these games , blogs, and chatting ect should not be hidden identity. If it's a child one should know and if it's an adult one should know and so forth with a teen. It's important for each age group to use their lanuage in a sence others would know when palying the game or on a blog. Qian and Scott expresses self-disclosure and how it is self communication. Anonymity and CMC allows a person to express their feelings, information, and thoughts to others in ways they probably couldn't do face-to-face. I believe this is why you see people expressing themselves a lot on these blogs because it is a releases; a matter of freedom. Then there are others whom chose to stay anonymous because of personal reason such as: married, insurced, and their age group. These types of people only expesses things to a limit to keep their identiy safe. Bower and Tuffin decribes the danger of having online talk with strangers can lead to serious situations such as trust and realtionships (take the movie Cathfish for example). Greater identity is always good for someone is trying to be in the lime life. In other words someone who is trying to become an artist, model, paniter ect someone whom is trying to make a name from themselves not a relationship. This is when a person photoshops their life into what they want it to be (fantasy life). On the other hand; if you are a person that just blog on social networks, I really think you should be yourself, after all it wouldn't hurt. :)
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I think that the debate on online anonymity should really include the discussion of online safety. Just because you are anonymous online doesnt mean you dont have to withhold person information and do whatever you want to whoever you want to on the internet. There are skilled hackers that could find out every bit of information on you and try to get back at you for saying something they didnt agree on or for "wronging" them in some way.
ReplyDeleteWasn't it Nancy Baym who said she had different identities for different kinds of sites? I think she listed at least three different times she used different online id's, depending on who the audience was. Problem is, what happens when you get them confused, like when she's on a site that she doesn't want the audience to know her profession and she slips and says what she does for a living? Create another ID? If you're not schizophrenic when you started, you will be by the time you're done.
ReplyDeleteYes, Dan, that was in the Baym book. Think, though too, about gaming. If you are a female playing many of the online games, you may be harassed if people know your gender. So in that case, being more anonymous can be helpful, can't it? Of course the flip side is that the anonymity also helps the people doing the harassing, so...
ReplyDeletethere is no escaping harrassment. The dark become darker, the creep becomes creepier, ect..it is a vicious cycle, really.
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