Book contents
- Should You Believe Wikipedia?
- Should You Believe Wikipedia?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Design and Social Behavior
- 1 Are Online “Communities” Really Communities?
- 2 What Can Online Collaboration Accomplish?
- 3 Should You Believe Wikipedia?
- 4 How Does the Internet Change How We Think?
- 5 How Do People Express Identity Online, and Why Is This Important for Online Interaction?
- 6 What Is Bad Online Behavior, and What Can We Do About It?
- 7 How Do Business Models Shape Online Communities?
- 8 How Can We Help the Internet to Bring Out the Best in Us All?
- References
- Index
5 - How Do People Express Identity Online, and Why Is This Important for Online Interaction?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2022
- Should You Believe Wikipedia?
- Should You Believe Wikipedia?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Design and Social Behavior
- 1 Are Online “Communities” Really Communities?
- 2 What Can Online Collaboration Accomplish?
- 3 Should You Believe Wikipedia?
- 4 How Does the Internet Change How We Think?
- 5 How Do People Express Identity Online, and Why Is This Important for Online Interaction?
- 6 What Is Bad Online Behavior, and What Can We Do About It?
- 7 How Do Business Models Shape Online Communities?
- 8 How Can We Help the Internet to Bring Out the Best in Us All?
- References
- Index
Summary
As people interact in online venues, they need to represent who they are to others. The details of how we do this matter. Sociologist Erving Goffman explains how, in the face-to-face world, we are always performing roles. These elements of identity translate into the online world. One of the key questions for online activity is the role of anonymity. The chapter explains the advantages and disadvantages of anonymous interaction. In fact, we’re all really some degree of “pseudonymous” (between anonymous and identified) most of the time anyway. How identity is represented turns out to be one of the most powerful design decisions that you make in creating an online communications environment.
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- Should You Believe Wikipedia?Online Communities and the Construction of Knowledge, pp. 118 - 159Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022