Research Topic: Constructing Identity online

• Key quotes (at least five)

-“In sum, the selves that we have are composed of multiple identities and contradictory experiences. In late-modern society, it is almost impossible to have a fully unified, completed and coherent ‘self’; rather, we all tend to have fleeting, multiple and contradictory selves”
(Charles Cheung “Presentations of Self on Personal Homepages”, p45)

-"The cyber space offers the unique opportunity to communicate with one another; thanks to the virtual world it creates. In the world of virtual reality, you can be what you had always wanted to be."

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/visual-art-articles/how-to-establish-a-unique-online-identity-in-the-virtual-world-995452.html#ixzz15R7sUtZZ
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

-"Personas demonstrates the computer's uncanny insights and its inadvertent errors, such as the mischaracterizations caused by the inability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. It is meant for the viewer to reflect on our current and future world, where digital histories are as important if not more important than oral histories, and computational methods of condensing our digital traces are opaque and socially ignorant. " (from official Personas website: http://personas.media.mit.edu/ e

-"The distinguishing character or personality of an individual" (one definition of "identity" from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary) condition of being oneself or itself, and not another"

• Key Links. Add links to at least 5 good webstites/youtubes that give further information about this topic

http://www.annehelmond.nl/2010/01/21/essay-on-identity-2-0-constructing-identity-with-cultural-software/

http://www.pcmech.com/article/construct-your-online-identity-carefully/

http://www.articlesbase.com/visual-art-articles/how-to-establish-a-unique-online-identity-in-the-virtual-world-995452.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity

http://mashable.com/social-media/

• Key Books and Articles. Make a list of at least 5 books or articles that contain interesting material on the topic. Write one phrase or one sentence comment on what you think of this book or article eg "looks easy to understand", "seems to focus mainly on one digital game, Counter-Strike"

"The Presentation of Self on Personal Homepages: A new phenomenon in the post-traditional age" by Yusuf Kurniawan (http://www.slideshare.net/yusuf_k/presentation-of-self-on-personal-homepages)

"The World Wide Web as Social Hypertext" by Thomas Erickson (http://www.pliant.org/personal/Tom_Erickson/SocialHypertext.html)

"Writing Oneself in Cyberspace" by Daniel Chandler (http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/homepgid.html)

"Personal Home Pages and the Construction of Identities on the Web" by Daniel Chandler (http://leahanderst.com/Composition/Personal%20Home%20Pages%20and%20the%20Construction%20of%20Identities%20on%20the%20Web.pdf)

"Essay on Identity 2,0: Constructing identity with cultural software" by Anne Helmond

"Construct Your Online Identity Carefully" by Ryan Passey

"How to Establish a Unique Online Identity in the Virtual World" (http://www.articlesbase.com/visual-art-articles/how-to-establish-a-unique-online-identity-in-the-virtual-world-995452.html)


CASE STUDY: "Personas"
http://www.jazjaz.net/2009/08/personas-art-project-visualize-your-online-identity.html
http://personas.media.mit.edu/
http://web.mit.edu/museum/exhibitions/connections/
http://web.media.mit.edu/~azinman/

• Who is the artist/maker of the artwork/website/game?

-Aaron Zinman, with help from Alex Dragulescu, Yannick Assogba and Judith Donath

• What is its name?

-Personas (http://personas.media.mit.edu/)

• When was it produced/released?

-2009 as a component of the Metropath(ologies) exhibit at the MIT Museum by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT Media Lab

• Describe it in detail

-In contrast to many online personas, this one does not give any power to the person being portrayed. Often the act of creating an online identity allows for some level of manipulation by the individual being identified as seen in facebook or many other examples. With “Personas” the only action the individual can take is typing in his or her first and last name and pressing enter. Personas then scans the internet for mentions of this name and sorts through the words associated with each mentioning, classifying these words into different categories like “sports,” “politics,” or “art.” In a sense, “Personas” is a way of using the internet as a mirror or maybe just a way of stepping back to see exactly how the internet sees you (or at least your name). In the end, the users of “Personas” are left with a color coded horizontal bar running across their computer screen displaying a proportioned representation of their online identities.

• For you, what is interesting/unusual/thought-provoking/aesthetically pleasing/puzzling about this artwork/website/game? [you may choose your own adjectives! These are just some suggestions]. Explain in detail.

-For me, this project is both conceptually and visually or aesthetically interesting. Most basically, I think it is great to see a compilation of our various online identities created in this sort of hands off way. Even when the “Personas” generator grabs information pertaining to a different individual by the same name, it seems to add meaning to the project, reminding us that these sorts of confusions can be made by real people running google searches as well. This also begs the question of how much more “you” is one of these quotes that you believe pertains to the real you than one that you feel is about someone else?

Aesthetically speaking, the colors and the overall layout were clearly selected by someone with a design background as they are very pleasing to the eye and complement each other well. As I watched this program generate its visual representation of my own online identity I was mesmerized by the changing colors of the words and segments of the bar. Both the process and the final product were undoubtedly visually stimulating in my opinion.

• What key issue(s) or questions does this artwork/website/game raise? Explain these thoroughly, making use of quotations and paraphrases from your readings, and other examples, as appropriate

What I found so interesting about this project is that it differs from the ideas expressed over and over again in the articles I found about online identity which stressed the concept of manufacturing an identity for yourself. It seems that the "Personas" project draws attention to the problems that might be caused when dealing with online identities by flipping the equation around and instead letting the computer show you how it perceives your online identity and now how you think you can shape it yourself.

This project addresses the troubles with authenticity when it comes to online identities, showing that many of the people identified as being you while generating your Persona are not actually you at all. It reminds us how this same sort of confusion can happen when we are attempting to analyze the identity of another person online. This project is also an excellent illustration of identity convergence, grabbing an assortment of presentations of one person from across the web and mashing them together into one color-coded bar.