A case of mistaken Identity...

Online Communities…

There are millions if not billions of online communities on the internet. These communities thrive on a basic trust that people present accurate information and better the community. After a reputation is built the level of trust increases and acceptance into these online communities is gained. Some of these communities are mentioned in Judith Donath’s Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. Donath mentions the Usenet environment and the various communities ranging in numerous topics such as hacking and wedding planning.

Defining who we are…

There are many clues when looking at our fellow “online-neighbors” as to who their identity is:

E-mail addresses- Donath sites this as one of the most straightforward ways to identify those in online communities. The various aspects of an email address can be particularly informative.

Domain names Example: buffalo.edu- This is obviously someone involved with an educational facility, faculty or student. For example if someone gives you information about a particular medicine and claims they are currently a pharmacy professor at UB, you may find him/her more credible if they have .buffalo.edu at the end of their email address.

Voice and Language – While it is easy to simply profess a sex either male or female, it is another thing to maintain the proper mannerisms. Donath talks about “expressions given off,” these she states are much harder to control. There are subtle codes that can come out in writing. Donath for example talks about a member whose posts have an authoritative tone, occasionally using dry humor etcetera. People who first read his writing may not realize that they come to the conclusion that he is male simply from the fact that his writing contains these subtle characteristically male-tones.

Signatures- The way someone signs a post can often give a great deal of information about them. They can convey professionalism, an inside knowledge, websites and other information that can serve to boost credibility.

Who would you trust?

For example: You are looking for information about nutrition

Person A who’s signature follows:

Sally Smith SSmith@harvard.edu

Assistant Dean at the college of health sciences

www.healthandnutrition.harvard.edu

or Person B whose signature follows:

J2@aol.com

…I’m guessing you would probably choose person A, because they have more credibility using that signature. (***these links are not real)

However we must consider that not everyone on the net is who they claim to be:

Part of the intrigue of the net is that you can be whoever you chose to be. For many who are a part of the Second Life world, the thought of a whole new life is exciting.

Many chose avatars that represent themselves in a different way->

For example you may be one of the second life avatars that attended this virtual second life U2 concert:

My online community & identity:

Besides working at Jack FM I am also a nanny. Before I was able to develop a reputation, I needed a way to be in touch with people who needed childcare. I decided to go on Craigslist and post some information about myself under the childcare section. After I had gained a couple of jobs I received good feedback and more people asked for my services. Eventually I stopped going on craigslist because I had more jobs then I could handle. It would be fairly easy for anyone to steal my identity. Craigslist gives its users an option to use an anonymous email system. Technically all anyone would have to do is to pretend they were me because my email isn’t associated with my posts. I created my identity online, although it happened to be in real life there have been instances where I received some questionable responses from craigslist. I received several scam males from someone who claimed to be a model and single mother who needed a babysitter. She apparently was moving from the UK and needed someone to watch her child in a hotel room. The whole thing sounded very shady. It sounded especially strange when during the second email she changed her child’s name. I decided to ignore the emails. Basically you never really know who people are online. You can hope that people are truthful, but more often times there will be people who misrepresent themselves. Sometimes these misrepresentations are purposeful and quite harmless, other times then can cause some major problems.

Sources:

Donath, J. (1996). Identity and deception in the virtual community. Communities in Cyberspace.

www.craigslist.com

Assignment 6 Link