Constructed identity and social machines (original) (raw)
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Identity Design and Identities Exhibited in Social Networks
Advances in Multimedia and Interactive Technologies, 2020
Identity emerges as a flexible, multidimensional, variable, and slippery concept that cannot be defined through the processes of discussion and understanding. The new construction area of this concept, which is regarded as a process constructed on the social plane, is the social networking platforms. This is because these platforms are the most common communication environments where people and their lifestyles are presented to the outside world, in addition to the cheap and rapid satisfaction of their needs for information and entertainment. Face-to-face communication and language practices are not sufficient enough in the identity presentation anymore. Individuals choose to design and update their identities through social networks and to perform an image-based identity manifestation. This chapter examines how identity was established and manifested through social networks, and analyzes the identities the popular people in these networks designed and exhibited.
Digital Identities: Social Networks & Me
Is the online me the real me or the fake me? On the 1st of October, Beer Bergman shared her views about the world we live in today, where social networking and digital identity creating are sometimes essential. She raised questions about the importance and the accuracy of selfies and avatars; how do they represent us? Are they authentic or only masks? Why do we need to “practice smiling”? What about the issue of sociability or “extimité”? In general, we have three profiles: professional, intimate and public, and they constitute a “multiple quest for identity”. She considers the “me” as a collection: of traces, of persons…And often, the management of one’s profile is dealt with as a real business. Finally, she mentioned the problems of ethics in social media, which are often questioned. Social media may have to be rethought and morality to be developed. But, as she pointed out, there is “no need to say that it is a good thing or a bad thing. It’s the world we live in. (Resumé from http://distinguishedseries.com/2014/10/04/digital-identities-social-networks-and-me/ )
Both Facebook and Twitter emphasize connections but focus less on those connected. Algorithms used by both platforms can lead to depersonalization of individuals in the attempt to create community. User share information on these platforms but may have little control on how they receive information back. The algorithms suggest people to friend, products to buy, and news stories to read under the heading of “personalizaton.” The irony of this is that the “personalization” of information is not controlled by a person but a few lines of code. This paper will take a personalist view of how people might be affected by social media algorithms through the theories of Emmanuel Mounier and Mikhail Bakhtin. Mounier will provide the basis for examining individuals as persons while Bakhtin discusses the details of the development of persons. Both find points, however, where the progression is interrupted or corrupted. These breaking points, I argue, are exacerbated by the algorithms who, as an other, attempts to finalize the individual as an image. If she or he gives in to this finalization, he or she may exhibit characteristics of Jose Ortega y Gasset’s “mass man.” This paper will be presented at the Society for Values in Higher Education annual meeting July 18-22, 2018.
Social Media and the Problem of Identity Construction
For centuries, humans have used their interaction with one another to help shape outsiders' perceptions of them. Often communication experts refer to this as constructing one's "social identity." For many years, this projection of self came through interpersonal communication --face-to-face communication --or other forms of personal interaction. In the progress of technology, this development of one's personal attributes has come to include photographs, letters, published and unpublished writings, hearsay, and physical attributes. Many aspects of a person's "identity" as others see it are difficult and almost impossible to define. In the modern age, such vague characteristics are both helped and hindered by using social media and the internet to "construct" our identities. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Fotolog, Photobucket and LinkedIn help contemporary users develop profiles to project images and facts they would like the public to see. Identity can be constructed with the use of social media; however, it can also be falsely projected, thus causing misconceptions about oneself or misconceptions about others. Therefore, the invention and widespread use of new technologies such as social media has created a new definition of "personal identity" that accepts both realistic and facaded characteristics, but can ultimately destroy one's true "self" and reputation.
Transformation of Identities in the Mediated Landscape of the Network Society
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 2014
Emerging communication technologies have changed both individuals and societies dramatically. With the diffusion of digital technologies in daily life, all users have been forced to create new identities for themselves. Thus, everybody had an additional self in virtual worlds. The users started to communicate with others through their self-made identities proving that technology started to shape our lives. Sometimes this new identity has reflected the real self of individuals while some other times it has been created with no actual reference to the realities of its holders in the physical world. However, one thing is clear: Most users of virtual environments have developed multiple identities and these identities have inherently transformed who they really are. Considering that the contemporary society is an increasingly network society, human beings try to accommodate their social needs through interaction with companions in the mediated environments whom they often don't know at all. Technology plays a mediating role in this sense among people who are temporary companions but actual strangers to each other. Moreover, people think that if they can accommodate their social needs through the net characters, whether they are real or not, then they ask themselves: "Can we escape from humans who demand intimacy and find risk-free virtual buddies?" The search in this regard has even prolonged to sensitive robots as social partners. This paper discusses how this inner transformation of identity has occurred and what the future holds for communication in the mediated landscape of the network society.
The Rhetorical Dimension of Images: Identity Building and Management on Social Networks
Semiotica, 2022
This article proposes a semio-rhetorical epistemology for visual documents, one capable of accounting for both their internal configuration, which we shall call the compositional dimension, and their persuasive force within public space, or their rhetorical dimension. The field of reference will be that of identity-related images on social networks, because compared to other kinds of images, such as artistic or professional ones, they adopt new compositional solutions and new dynamics of circulation. To test this theoretical framework, we will conduct an analysis which has never been carried out in semiotics and which, as far as we know, remains very rare even in the overall field of visual studies, that is, the analysis of the profile of an Instagram influencer's visual production, that of Canadian artist Rupi Kaur. Taking into account the flow of images shared over time, we will focus primarily on the compositional dimension that articulates the specificity of the language of images. The most appropriate model for investigating social network photos seems to be that of the portrait, thanks to which we will identify a first series of regularities and deviations. Secondly, we will turn towards the rhetorical dimension-the persuasive strategies found within, through, and towards images-focusing on the analysis of a single photo: on the one hand, it is a shot which presents greater compositional richness than others; on the other hand, it has greatly impacted the notoriety of the influencer, due to the censorship incurred on Instagram, its abundant coverage by traditional media, and the heated debate it triggered on social media. We will thus propose a reinterpretation of Paul Ricoeur's theory of identity in order to balance the rhetorical and the compositional dimensions through a unitary theoretical hypothesis. Visual identity on social networks is always the result of a negotiation between two opposite tendencies: on the one hand, the experiential pressure expressed through images related to the body and everyday practices; on the other, the algorithmic pressure due to the delegation of the management of identity to software. The case of Rupi Kaur is a rare example of a critical mediation between these two pressures and helps us build a methodology for the examination of images belonging to other social domains.
The Effect of Social Media on Identity Construction
The social media platforms have a growing importance in our lives since they are the places where we "showcase" our living experiences. They also reflect a variety of dimensions regarding our position in the virtual and physical social life. Both of these factors make people to play certain characters in the social arena. The Social Network is gaining more and more importance in today's world and has a deeper impact on the society as to the traditional media. Social media enables identity expression, exploration, and experimentation; something natural for the human experience. It is the agencies in real life, which provide a source of names for different sectors, that inspire the internet communities and the interactions they make within themselves. It is essential to comprehend the motives of agencies to have an understanding of the group interactions on social platforms. The enable individuals present themselves to others and determine the way they would like to be perceives in addition to helping them connect and interact with people, and participate in the activities they wish. Communicating online offers many ways to connect with others: individuals may or may not use their real names, and they can open as many accounts as they want to. This study explores practical aspects of identity construction, relating to issues virtual communities and social media. It also analyzes the probable reasons that individuals feel the need to create a virtual identity for themselves as well as "the spiral of transformation", that is, the creation period goes ahead of the internet to reach the real life. This study also aims at concentrating on the virtual communities appearing in the social networks while questioning their social and cultural qualities and values.