critical webliography

Critically assess the ways in which constructions of identity have been extended and/or altered by information and communication technologies.


Identities are social constructs that define our everyday existence. We may represent the role of a companion to some, or a child to our parents. In addition to that, identities are part of our existence. Identities define who we are in our everyday lives. Whether an individual is selfish, exuberant, talkative or kind, who he/she turns out to be affects his/her personal identity in the world.

With the introduction of information and communication technologies, a whole new world of interactions was born. People didn't have to meet in person to interact with one another [1]. Some individuals saw it as an extension of their brains in their everyday lives [2] and others took it as a whole new world and thus formed a new identity as they saw fit. (As cited by Howard Rheingold in “Personal homepages and the construction of identities on the net.”) Information and communication technologies also apply to television and the various types of media. As Mark Dery puts it, media essentially fabricates and manipulates images where "the prime directive is social control [3]" and becomes the "mouthpiece of the government[4]". Our identities may thus be selectively influenced by the representation of information in our experiences.

In Forrest's article , the delights of the world web are highlighted, as well as how small the world has become because of it and how much children can learn with the help of technological media. Without a doubt, the world has gotten smaller with the introduction of the web. However, as we increasingly rely on the Internet to conduct our everyday learning and online interactions, our identities become built around an online-offline environment where the individual can choose which self to present. This dual personality can further extend to selective representation where certain characteristics of an individual like race or sex can be conveniently changed to suit the situation. This altered identity almost always occurs with online interactions with other users of this form of information and communication technology. Forrest’s article fails to consider what would happen to the identity of an individual if one spends too much time online or interacting with the computer, and is merely a biased discussion on the uses of the Internet.


Computers as technologies themselves are capable of holding a realm of information[5] using their massive storage capabilities. Students of today are transformed into cyborgs with their large dependency on computers. In her article, Boese briefly outlines the identity split with both virtual and real worlds. Her article is merely a ledge, from which one steps off into a discussion of information and communication technologies and it’s interaction between the constructions of self. The students in the article view computers as part of their everyday existence. Cyborgs essentially represent another type of identity where human and machines are fused to create an ideal self/other (eg. pace-makers, artificial limbs). How are these identities thus altered? Would the individual be able to function without these technologies? In a more comprehensive paper, Hawthorn's article[6] argues among other things that cyborgs are 'a redundant notion of stripping us of politically useful categories'. I agree with her on the same reasoning that since there is no clear line between being labeled as being a cyborg or not, and that because the virtual space is not 'real', virtual bodies tend not to be real too, and also, that the term 'cyborg' does not represent a certain group of individuals. Her article represents a cynical look at the virtual phenomena of self from someone who is sure who her real self is. She makes a convincing argument on the separation of both worlds and provides a well-rounded argument for the reason or lack of, diversion of identities with information and communication technologies.

With the initial emergence of digitally crafted beings on the net for dating, we start to see the resemblance of the cyber world to our real life. Then confusing this notion, online dating sites like Lavalife try to merge both worlds into one; or at least use the accessibility of information and communication technologies to make our lives easier. Depending on the individual, the experience of dating can take on a whole new dimension. And dating is not the only online activity one can find. If the individual wanted, he could conduct his whole life while in front of his screen in his home with a credit card - from ordering groceries to looking for entertainment.

The merger between the real world and virtual reality is even more apparent when companies like DoubleClick and Abacus Direct merge. Symbolic in the merge is what happens when these two companies combine and millions of online user profiles will be matched with their real-life offline profiles to build a comprehensive database of the individual for advertising purposes. In this report[7], clicking on a weight loss site could mean a link to a host of weight loss banners, and that insurance companies would refuse an individual henceforth insurance because they have purchased his/her online profile and discovered a history of heart disease. The individual would then have no choice but to have one universal identity online, as well as offline. Though this profiling is about to become illegal for Canadians, the report doesn’t say if it will be about to become illegal in the rest of the world too.

For those who see the online world as a parallel universe where a new identity can be constructed, Chandler[8] exemplifies with his discussion on identity construction on web logs. He discusses the different types of representation of selves in the many web logs out in the net as well as the dangers of being represented digitally on the net. He then concludes ominously that ‘virtual homes provide no shelter for anyone[9]' which leads us to think about the boundaries of self representation when we realize that internet has no security and doors, that anyone and everyone may come across an individual’s personal page and participate in his/her life without even having met that person. Chandler’s article takes us through the processes of identity constructions and the reasons it may be altered/extended beyond ‘real’ life but involves a rather personal/informal style. Otherwise, it cites a host of sources but fails to consider the aspect of cyborgs and how identities change as a result of the processes/reasons he outlined.

The influence of media (information technology) in our lives also serves to alter our construction of identity. Though Dery points this out in the early part of his article, the article mainly considers the influence of media on our lives. The article is generously littered with references to the somewhat ‘evil’ influences in our lives and is generally only useful as an example of how powerful media can be.

Of the sites reviewed, there was a range of suitability for the guiding question. Chandler’s proved most useful, though Hawthorns’ appeared more credible. This was partly due to the fact that it was available in print form too. The other sites catered to more specific reading preferences and were generally not ideal for constructing an essay if it were required.



Footnotes listed.

[1] Dave Forrest, “The world is smaller still”, (August 1997), http://www.soleil.com/english/theworldissmallerstill.html (accessed 31/08/04).

[2] Christine Boese, “The screen-age: Our brains in our laptops.” CNN (August 2004), http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/08/02/school.internet/ (accessed 31/08/04)

[3] Mark Dery, “Culture jamming : Hacking, slashing, and sniping in the empire of signs.”, http://www.levity.com/markdery/culturjam.html (accessed 31/08/04)

[4] Mark Dery, “Culture jamming : Hacking, slashing, and sniping in the empire of signs.”.

[5] Christine Boese, “The screen-age: Our brains in our laptops.”(August 2004).

[6] Susan Hawthorn, “Cyborgs, Virtual bodies and organic bodies : theoretical feminist responses” , p11. http://80-cmo.library.uwa.edu.au.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/04155.pdf (accessed 31/08/04).

[7] Gordon Coleman, University of British Columbia site.(September 1999) “Online tracking – Personally identifying information”. http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr500/fall1999/www_presentations/g_coleman/idinfo.htm (accessed 31/0/04)

[8] Daniel Chandler, “Personal Homepages and the Construction of Identities on the Net”, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/webident.html (accessed 31/08/04)

[9] Daniel Chandler, “Personal Homepages and the Construction of Identities on the Net”.