Online identity - create

Identity is complex. Online identity is perhaps even more complex since it is more visible, more dynamic and more plastic... than our restricted real life (RL) personas. Online we are who we pretend to be (Turkle). The restrictedness of the RL identity might be what we are reacting to by adopting the flexible and mutable online personas. Afterall, our online identities are built, not received. Whether it is intentional or not, you create your online identity by virtue of what you include and omit. Weblogs give the blogger control. They have control over weblog format (your 'personality'), publication (to what degree people can interact) and content (unmediated, uncensored). In an online context your weblog content is your identity. It is an identity you create, and control. Creating an identity online, and having control within a weblog may be a reaction to the lack of control we have over our RL identities and lives. A parallel identity.

This parallel identity may serve as a safety valve. When you search for Online Identity in Google the results are not what I might have expected. Such a search retrieves Online Identity of a context analogous to Digital Identity Theft. The same type of result is found when you interogate the identity tag within del.icio.us. It would appear that the Real Life You is expected to exactly mirror the Online You i.e. Real Life = Online. However: "Some may be uncomfortable with the idea of being identified at every turn, while others may seek to create false digital identities to protect their privacy" (NS).

The context of the 'online identity' which arose from the Google search is clearly different from the 'online identity' of interest to bloggers. The former is aligned to online security and constraint, and is more accurately Personal Digital Identity. The latter is aligned to online community and choice, and could be regarded as coalition of Cultural Identity and Personal Identity.

[tag: identity]