ONLINE IDENTITY: INTRODUCTION AND KEY ISSUES

WHAT IS IDENTITY? WHAT IS DIGITAL OR ONLINE IDENTITY? HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM "IN PERSON" IDENTITY?

• One definition from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary for identity is: "the fact of being who or what a person or thing is, the characteristics determining this." More simply, one might say your identity is the answer to the question: "Who are you?"
• Digital or online identity is a portrayal of who you are in a digital or online format. Like any form of identity, this presents only a slice of who you really are, and in some ways allows a person to more carefully control what that presentation of identity is.

QUESTIONS OF AUTENTICITY

• With the ability to construct your online personas, questions are raised related to the intention behind how this representation is conveyed. Is an online identity a "true" identity or is it something inauthentic, simply constructed by the portrayer.
• "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)

IDENTITY CONVERGENCE is when you have a crossover between different portrayals of your identity. As many people have multiple online identities this becomes a more relevant issues. Some risks that could come along with this would be if one identity is intended for a specific audience but the audience of a different one of a person's identities encounters both identities. They then might question the person's integrity and character through these contrasting portrayals.

PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE SHARING OF PERSONAL INFO

• Online identities can blur the line between what we traditionally think of as public vs. private information. It also can challenge comfort zones regarding what we might consider personal spheres.

ETHICS ISSUES

• By placing your identity in a digital format instead of a living format, it places this information in a place that can potentially be used by others
• People can hide behind a constructed identity to harm others in ways they might not as their "real life" identities.