Virtual Identity & Virtual

Community

Virtual Identity & Virtual

CommunityConcepts& History

RHET334 Spring 2011

Concepts& History

RHET334 Spring 2011

Who studies Virtual Identity and Virtual

Community?

Who studies Virtual Identity and Virtual

Community?

Scholars of the Virtual

Scholars of the Virtual

• Sociologists

• Psychologists

• Philosophers

• Literary Scholars

• Scholars of Cultural Studies

• Scholars of New Media/Digital Humanities, etc.

EmergenceEmergence

We have computer technologies for decades before we have the emergence of theories of virtual identity.

Virtual community precedes virtual identity as a concept.

EmergenceEmergence

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) developed in the late 60’s and early 70’s by members of the defense research branch of the US military (DARPA) in collaboration with MIT scientists.

ARPANET pioneered packet-switching and paved the way for the 1982 standardization of Internet Protocol Suite, TCP/IP, the basis for the Internet as we know it today.

EmergenceEmergence

The combination of the emergence of the Internet and the popularization of desk-top computing enables the wider emergence of the concepts of virtual identity and virtual community in the 1980’s.

EmergenceEmergence

WWW: 1989, following a proposal by Tim Berners-Lee a research scientist at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, or European)

The first “virtual community” was the WWW constructed by scientists, for scientists to exchange information on the Internet in a standardized format.

EmergenceEmergence

In the general literature on identity, scholarship, work on virtual identity begins appearing in the 80’s particularly in sociology & psychology (Cerulo 397)

The concept of VI does not yet exist--but scholars focus on the changing relationship between self and others/self and environment/self and technology

Meyrowitz (1985/1987)Meyrowitz

(1985/1987)

Looks at NCT’s (new communication technologies) and how they affect identity as they transform the “sites of social interaction” and “reconfigure the boundaries that distinguish collectives.”

Altheide (1995)Altheide (1995)

NCT’s reshape social activity & create new environments for self development and self identification.

Focuses on the keyboard as a technology which opens new interactions but again blurs boundaries between traditionally divided “sites” like work and play.

Beniger 1987Beniger 1987

The impact of NCTs on community formation and resulting collective identity

Media generated communities provide a “psuedo-gemeinschaft” experience.

The power in these communities in unevenly distributed/

Cerulo, et al 1992 Cerulo, et al 1992

Later work describes technologically generated communities as more “real” and tangible, creating a feeling of “we-ness”

And tracks various types of “techno-links” that bring together diverse and disparate participants

Postman 1992 &Schlesinger 1993 Postman 1992 &

Schlesinger 1993

Others are critical of and skeptical of NCT’s ability to bring people together in positive or productive ways.

Haraway, 1985,1991Haraway, 1985,1991

“A Cyborg Manifesto, “ and Simians, Cyborgs and Women .

Dibbell, 1993Dibbell, 1993“A Rape In Cyberspace, “ on of the first major articulations of the issues related to virtual identity.

Precipitated in the text-based virtual reality environment, Lamda Moo--big focus on Virtual Community.

Can there be rape when there are no real bodies?

Big focus on issues of community as the Lamda Moo Moo community is ripped

Reid, 1994Reid, 1994

“Cultural Formations in Text-based Virtual Reality.” (MA Thesis)

Focuses on: 1. Methods of textualizing non-verbal aspects of communication

2. The problematizing of the nature of the body & sexuality (lots of discussion of gender switching.)

Turkle, 1995Turkle, 1995

Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet is one of the first comprehensive studies of Virtual Identity and Virtual Community.

Impact of computers on identity. Includes many interviews with people who are spending time in MUDS.

Turkle,1995Turkle,1995

Self is multiple, fluid, and constituted in interaction with machine connections; it is made and transformed by language.

Blurring of boundaries between human and machines. Early instance of citing the shift from “machines are like people” to “people are like machines.”

Turkle, 1995Turkle, 1995

Much on the psychology of online life, the possible psychological benefits of virtual identities and the risks

Reeves & Nass, 1996

Reeves & Nass, 1996

Approach NCT’s as objects relevant to identity building. Technology becomes a “viable other” in the building of the self. Human to machine relationships can mirror purely human relationships.

Suggest that the human brain needs to “evolve” in relationship to technologies rapid advancement.

Porter, 1997Porter, 1997Internet Culture, an edited collection, focuses issues pertaining to virtual worlds, virtual community and virtual bodies

Identity is cyberspace is more fluid, allows for experimentation with selves, may allow us to break out of the dominant social order and construct truer identities

Hayles, 1999Hayles, 1999How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics.

Develops a new theory of the “posthuman”: computers have compelled us to redefine our individual identies and our understanding of what a human is.

Presence Vs Absence, gives way to pattern and randomness

Hayles, 1999Hayles, 1999• Draws on cybernetic and information theory

rather than sociology or psychology or cultural studies

• Norbert Weiner (Cyberneticist) Draws similarities between living systems and digital systems

• Information loses its body Becomes a quantity separate from the materials that carry it

• Bodies are “information” (such as DNA)

Smith & Kelleman, 2001

Smith & Kelleman, 2001

• “Community and its ‘Virtual' Promises: a Critique of Cyberlibertarian Rhetoric”

• Cyberlibertarians have misinterpreted the idea of community emphasizing too much the “disembodied individual.”

Smith & Keleman, 2001 (cont.)

Smith & Keleman, 2001 (cont.)

• Cyberlibertarian rhetoric (Turkle, for example) emphasizes liberation from earthly and embodied constraints.

• Says that it encourages new forms of self expression, democracy, etc.

Smith & Keleman, 2001 (cont.)

Smith & Keleman, 2001 (cont.)

• Critique: this perspective is technologically over-determined. Emphasizes too much the “cyber-alternative” to a society in decline.

• “‘Virtual community’ is constructed (like any other ‘community’) through individuals’ (temporal and partial) engagement in the production and the consumption of a sense of sharedness and belonging.”

Miller, 2004Miller, 2004

• “Blogging as Social Action”

• The Kairos of self-exposure

• The development of the blogging genre as a venue for self expression and community building

Jordan, 2005Jordan, 2005• “ A Virtual Death and a Real

Dilemma: Identity, trust, and community in cyberspace.”

• Virtual identity in Virtual Communities

• Issues of anonymity and trust

• Identity construction & RL/VL

Brabman, 2008Brabman, 2008• Crowdsourcing as a Model for

Problem Solving: An Introduction and Cases (Human Intelligence)

• “Outsourcing” of work related tasks (usually data collection) to an outside group or community

• Amazon “Mechanical Turk”

Konsa, 2008Konsa, 2008

• “Artificialisation Of Culture: Challenges to and from Posthumanism.”

• Technology has moved from the reorganization of the physical environment to man’s biological body, genome and consciousness.

• This article focuses on the ways that culture has been artificialized. The loss of boundaries between artificial & natural.

Davis, 2010Davis, 2010

• Social Networking Sites as Virtual Communities of Practice.

• Connectedness and learning are important factors in creating a sense of community. Learning and trust may develop when community exists and is essential in sustaining VCoPs.

• Knowledge transfer to workplace

Davidson, Zappen & Halloran, 2011

Davidson, Zappen & Halloran, 2011

• “On the Formation of Democratic Citizens:Rethinking the Rhetorical Tradition in a Digital Age.”

• The role of new media technologies in the construction of citizenship