Talk:Digital Media & Culture: Collaborative Essay Collection 2018/Online Identity/Research Question 2:Bring Me the Bananas

Hi team Bring Me the Bananas!

This is the discussion page for collaborative essay. Use this pages to edit in discussions, decision making, project planning, and information sharing. Invite other groups to add to the discussion, and contribute to others. Ask for advice from others and share your knowledge. This builds contribs considerably. Start off your discussion by recording your decision-making process re: your research question, email the lecturer to get approval/suggested amendments. Once that's done, you're away.

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Good Luck!
 * GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 19:46, 8 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Let's get this discussion going guys - we need to see lots of discussion recorded here for you to amass "contribs" which are used to evaluate engagement. GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 13:27, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Research Question Discussion
Hey guys, does anyone have any ideas for the research question? Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 15:55, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

Hey both yourself,  and I have written about the topic of online identity in relation to videogames, perhaps we could write about something along the lines of that? We could cover the ideas already stated in our annotated bibliographies and perhaps take that out into wider social media? LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 14:19, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Yeah I think this would be an interesting topic to cover, i'm trying to think of a question we can use for the essay, do you have any ideas? are you guys ok with this topic idea? Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 15:31, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Trying to come up with a reasonably good sounding question, how does this sound, To what extent do online gaming profiles/avatars portray true identities? what do you guys think? Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 14:16, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Hi guys, I reckon that anonymity could be an interesting idea to take forward.EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:42, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Yeah i think this would be a really interesting topic to dig into. Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 11:34, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Topic and Essay Question
Online Identity - Question still to be confirmed but perhaps something to do with online videogames and the idea of visual representation of self in relation to online identity.

Possible essay question:

To what extent do people express their online identity anonymously?EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:43, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

How Does Anonymity Act as an Identity for Individuals and Groups Online?"EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:43, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Final Question
"How Does Anonymity Act as an Identity for Individuals and Groups Online?" LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 13:45, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

The line of argument and what we are hoping to show from this collaborative essay is that: "Online anonymity does offer individuals and groups the opportunity of a new, or private, identity. This gift, however, anonymity can be dangerous when used by the wrong people." LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 16:29, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

Brain Storming
We will use this section to pitch ideas, discuss arguments and content:

Hey guys, thought I would make a small table to show what each member of the group will be discussing in regards to anonymity, feel free to add more information to the table or any other topics I have missed. Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 16:07, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Made a slight late change to the table as I do not think the Dark Web links as closely to the idea of online identity as 4Chan and other totally anonymous sites, like YikYak do. LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 22:25, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Think it might be cool to create a short questionnaire on survey monkey to generate some ideas that people have about videogames and online identity, but it might be a bit too late for this Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 13:37, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Sorry about not getting back to the questionnaire earlier, it is possibly a little too late now - we could still talk to people or try and pose a survey to the class? I like the rough essay question outline that you have provided - most of us have done some sort of research into the subject of virtual identities, in particular areas like the 'Avatar Dream'. Do you think it would be possible to link the ideas of the 'perfect' virtual identity, like a Second World Avatar, to how people meticulously craft social media accounts to show their best selves? Like the use of filters on photographs, buying fake likes and followers, or having online personas? Both of the areas seem to be linked to simulated and controlled realities so they do seem to sit in tandem with each other. What does everyone else think? LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 15:43, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Yeah I guess we can create a short survey for the class, just to get a small idea on how people feel about online identity etc. That's a really good idea, I think that would be great to link the two together, it will give the essay more depth. Do you think it would be possible to talk about anonymous vs authentic profiles, such as creating a user name like bananaman23 instead of using a real name, and how that might affect the behaviours of online users? I find this idea really interesting but I am not sure if it fits our topic. Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 21:19, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Anonymity is definitely a good way of taking it! I found an interesting article that discusses the idea of toxic attitudes in online video games. The work that the article is referencing can be found here, I am going to have a scan through it just now. LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 11:24, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

I have been spamming this area but I am not too sure where else to post this. Since we have our topics now shall we try and dictate which areas within those we wish to cover? As in there is going to be some crossovers within our topics (usernames on social media and video games for instance). It might not be an issue if they are linked to different aspects of anonymity online. Just a thought in case we end up with lots of repeated points. LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 12:52, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

I think to deal with the crossovers in anonymity we could deal with each section as having a separate 'motive' for it. Like the anarchic nature of sites like 4chan being built as a free for all with relatively low repercussions - it is designed as a fast paced discussion board site and the identity comes from the community that forms on the popular posts (some users can even assume names associated with posts if they create a big enough stir). If the internet was written like a Freudian theory, sites like 4chan would be the id -might keep that for the essay-.

I have some rough ideas for the other sections too (if you already know where you are going in terms of the anonymity side of things I hope I am not throwing any spanners into the works). Usernames and avatars used in virtual worlds, such as video games, work a lot like roleplaying games - they are created identities for players to project their fantasies and goals of perfection on to, in these virtual worlds they can be who they want and 'escape' reality.

Usernames are also seen in social media, a place rife with a whole lot of 'anonymous' or fake online users; these anonymous identities usually use anonymity to develop 'alter-egos' and act without the restraints of a personal account. They can post about their personal lives or attack strangers and very rarely have the backlash that would be expected with personal public posting.

Then there is of course the 'cat-fishing' and dating app side of things. Users creating profiles as a facade in order to manipulate others. This particular form of anonymity has users project their fantasies onto others for their own needs. Those that create them are not always doing so with the worst intentions, they sometimes just long for companionship, however it is still a grim act of deception. Grimmer and much more disgusting groups, such as peadophiles and crime rings closely associated with them, have also been known to assume similar online identities.

Once again I am not too sure if this will help or hinder anyone, just thought I would share some of the ideas I've had about anonymity and how to avoid overlap within certain subjects. LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 08:25, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Hey guys! I have a brief idea for the introduction, please feel free to edit and add to it!

Introduction: Most people nowadays have an online identity, either through; video gaming, social media, dating apps or websites or even on the dark web. Although we have these presences online, we may not be completely honest in our portrayal of ourselves. In this essay, we will be looking at online anonymity by answering the following question; "How Does Anonymity Act as an Identity for Individuals and Groups Online?"EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:41, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

I also would quite like to discuss a more positive take on online anonymity, such as the police posing as young girls to catch paedophiles and child porn collectors online, is this an angleyou think I could take?EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:41, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

There seems to be a lot of academic reading on dating profiles and how men and women alter themselves to be perceives as more attractive by the person they are interested in. It has become apparent that women will tend to emphasise certain physical aspects to appear more attractive, and men will lie about height, job security and financial status to be seen as more dominant and as a provider. EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 12:04, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Yeah I think you could try to find an argument where anonymity can be used for a positive role for fighting crime, but would that crime be there if anonymity wasn't present online, tough one. Oh that's interesting the part where females will emphasize physical attributes and males lie about height, jobs etc. I wonder if I could relate this to videogames somehow, like do players create avatars which are more physically appealing than their true self in order to please their egos. Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 22:10, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

(Academic) Reading
This section will be used to share and suggest academic sources that could be used for the essay.

Harrel, F. & Lim, C. (2017). Remaining the Avatar Dream: Modeling Social Identity in Digital Media. Communication of the ACM, 60 (7), 50-61 Crs00039 (discuss • contribs)

Lim, C. -U., & Fox Harrell, D. (2015). Revealing social identity phenomena in videogames with archetypal analysis The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and the Simulation of Behaviour (AISB). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.stir.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselc&AN=edselc.2-52.0-84938709410&site=eds-live Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 13:53, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

PINTO, D. C., REALE, G., SEGABINAZZI, R., & VARGAS ROSSI, C.,ALBERTO. (2015). Online identity construction: How gamers redefine their identity in experiential communities. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 14(6), 399-409. 10.1002/cb.1556 Retrieved from http://ezproxy.stir.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=111509324&site=eds-live Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 13:40, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

Found some interesting articles from Chong-U Lim about videogames here Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 14:02, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

(This is not an academic material but it relates to the topic of anonymity vs authenticity) Krotoski, A. (2012, 19 April) Online Identity: is authenticity or anonymity more important? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/19/online-identity-authenticity-anonymity Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 21:37, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Bernstein, M. S., Monroy-Hernández, A., Harry, D., André, P., Panovich, K., & Vargas, G. G. (2011, July). 4chan and/b: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community. In ICWSM (pp. 50-57). A link to the paper LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 13:58, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

"In a seminal study, Donath (1998) outlined four types of online deception: trolling, category deception, impersonation, and identity concealment." https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0747563216304800/1-s2.0-S0747563216304800-main.pdf?_tid=cce2cbe7-6a50-4f8f-8f51-dc716a781b32&acdnat=1522751647_4a038226c5578b041342d3dfa9581f97 EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:58, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Albrechtslund, A. (2011). Online identity crisis: Real ID on the world of warcraft forums. First Monday, 16(7), 2-2. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.stir.ac.uk/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lxh&AN=64404220&site=eds-live Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 21:57, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Essay Outline
Short outline of content and line of argument for our essay. Referencing in APA format including page numbers.

1. Intro- how anonymity is reflected in each main idea individually

2. Main body 1. Social Media 2. Online Dating, Catfishing, and Chat Rooms 3. 4Chan and Anarchic Anonymity 4. Video Games 3. Conclusion- Summary and essay of main points Crs00039 (discuss • contribs)

Once again, I have just updated this reference table to show that I am not going to be focusing on the Dark Web but instead on websites such as 4chan and their development of communities, identification signs and cultures despite full anonymity. LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 22:30, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Paragraph suggestions
Post your draft paragraphs here for peer review, proofreading etc. Indicate where it fits into the essay roughly (i.e. intro, main body or conclusion). Remember to include references with page numbers.

Hi guys, which order should we put the paragraphs in?

Introduction

Social Media

Video games

4Chan and the Dark Web

Dating Websites, Catfishing, and Chatrooms

Conclusion

Thoughts?EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:40, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

How about 1. social media, 2. dating websites, catfishing and chatrooms, 3. 4chan and the dark web, and 4. video games. It think this would be a good layout since it will affect as a somewhat snowball effect. Crs00039 (discuss • contribs)

Multimedia Suggestions
This section can be used for sharing pictures, videos, podcasts that might relate to our essay, remember to include where the sources come from.

Hey guys, found a useful video that gives a good description of the basics of online identity https://www.coursera.org/learn/ethical-social-media/lecture/DTSSn/what-is-my-online-identity Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 11:16, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Brilliant! We could put this is the introduction and link it to Online Identity? like to the two words?EPuxley (discuss • contribs) 11:40, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Yeah some of the topics discussed in this video is relevant to our essay, think it will be good to include it in the introduction. Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 21:50, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Are we allowed to include our own pictures? If we're struggling to find relevant images we can always take some quick selfies of our computers or something? Anyone good with photoshop? Abfunkalicious (discuss • contribs) 21:52, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Comments
Hey  , how are you all getting on, what did you end up going on for your research question? Hope everything's going well!

MTxPrincipessa18 (discuss • contribs) 11:53, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Hello We are getting on quite well, thank you. We decided to go with "How Does Anonymity Act as an Identity for Individuals and Groups Online?" LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 11:34, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Hello Team Bring me the Bananas, , , !

How is your essay coming along? I have seen that you have a few academic resources already. I read an article about online behaviour that might be useful by Suler. (Here is the full citation for you: Suler, J. (2005). The online disinhibition effect. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 2(2), 184-188. Doi: 10.1002/aps.42)

I have also seen that you have not posted anything on your main book page yet. I would suggest doing that soon as especially referencing using the Wiki MarkUp referencing system can take some time. If you are unsure how to format references I have uploaded a short and basic guide in our essay discussion page here.

Will you be including multi media aswell? We found that 3000 words of just raw text can be a bit overwhelming. That is why we have included some photographs in our essay. If you want to take a look at our Collaborative Essay on Always-on Culture you can do that here.

Good luck for your essay! I am really looking forward to reading it! MaryCastoridae56 (discuss • contribs) 09:24, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

Hello Our essay is coming along well, hoping to have it uploaded soon enough.

Thank you very much for the source suggestion, I will have a wee read over of it just now.

We are still completing our personal sections, I think we will be publishing onto the main page soon enough, we just did not want to upload an unfinished product. Thank you for your guide on essay referencing, that will definitely come in useful and help save us a little time! I am sure we will be using multimedia, we are just deciding what it is we want to include. How did you go about picking your pictures? Was it group consensus or did different members pick different pictures?

Thank you for your good luck wishes! I will have a read over your groups essay and leave a comment once we are finished with the work we have! Thanks again LeKinibb (discuss • contribs) 11:41, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Hello !

Thank you for your reply. It is good to hear that your essay is progressing well and that you found my suggestions useful. Good luck again with the referencing. I hope that will be a swift task. If you need any more help with that just notify me as I have inserted so many references by not that I think I got the trick down how to work the Wiki MarkUp.

As for the multimedia we included. If you have a look at our essay discussion page, we have a section called Multimedia suggestions. When we initially started working on the project we agreed that we wanted some pictures to break up the text. We then created this section to upload multimedia to whenever we came across some that were good. As you can see there are not that many. This is because all of us found it rather tricky to find suitable multimedia on Wiki Commons. So I would suggest definitely leaving or taking some extra time when looking for pictures as free to use ones that are also useful for the topics can be a bit tricky. And make sure that even if pictures are free to use that you at least reference where you have accessed them from! The decision of which pictures we would use were made in a face to face meeting with all members of the group present to get a consensus.

I hope this was helpful. I am looking forward to your finalised essay and your visit to our discussion page. Good luck for all your assignments! MaryCastoridae56 (discuss • contribs) 10:15, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Hello there Team Bring me the Bananas, , ,

First of all I need to say, I love your group name- it's very original! I've had a quick look over your essay page and your essay question looks good, I like the idea of thinking of anonymity as an identity- it's not something I've particularly thought of before. Normally those two things are in contrast but you have opened it up for me to realise that people can use anonymity as their identity. That's a really interesting concept and I look forward to reading about it more when you guys have your essay up on your page. As had said above, multimedia is a good breaker of text so it'd be cool to see some as well on your essay page. I think in reply to your question about how we picked multimedia that a few of us just suggested some on a section we had on our discussion page and I think we just went with whatever was most appropriate to the paragraph we were then speaking about. We didn't have an overwhelming amount of suggestions so it was quite easy to chose which were the best for each bit. I hope your essay is still coming along nicely and I look forward to seeing it on your page so that I can have a read over it. Again as mentioned above, if you do get any time to have a look at our page and make any comments/suggestions that would be wonderful! Have a good day! Lauraf303 (discuss • contribs) 04:46, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

{{reply to|Crs00039}: Hey Team Bring Me The Bananas! Do not forget to upload all your content to the Book page. That way you guys get credit for doing the work. Celine Hunt (discuss • contribs) 18:16, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Hey team just wanted to say a big well done, I think we've all done massively well. Good luck to you all!MTxPrincipessa18 (discuss • contribs) 11:00, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK
General Feedback
 * Essays of this standard attain the following grade descriptor for the collaborative essay. Whereas not all of the elements here will be directly relevant to your particular response to the brief, this will give you a clearer idea of how the grade you have been given relates to the standards and quality expected of work at this level:
 * Poor. Among other things, work at this level may just offer links without real comment or apparent point. It may offer nothing more than poor-quality synopsis or description of material of dubious relevance. It may have serious clarity problems (including dead links, random graphics/images) which affect comprehension (or even worse, admin warnings or take-down notices for copyright infringement). Such work might be off-topic, private trivia, or of unclear relevance. The wiki markup formatting will be of a poor standard.

Specific Feedback:


 * You have submitted a fairly well written response to the brief. Here you outline a number of arguments that specifically address the theme of Online Identity, although from what you actually write in the main body of the essay it is unclear what you mean in your question about referring to anonymity as particular “identity”. Your discussion of the research evidences a fairly superficial                           working knowledge of the relevant scholarship on your chosen topic.


 * The essay is written in a fairly accessible and appropriate style, and your argument, although in parts flawed or incomplete (there are one or two place-holders still evident) contains some evidence of engagement with the brief and with the subject matter. Fair use of embedded images and links, although you could make much more of the potential of the medium. There are places where signatures are present on the essay page. These should not be here.


 * Conclusion seems to be missing. Very short essay. Hence, the “Poor” comment above. In addition, the entire Introduction was added after the deadline had passed, so I’ve taken this into consideration and applied the 3% penalty for late submission. The alternative was an even shorter essay without an introduction section, which would have barely received a pass mark.


 * N.B.:’’’Feedback for your Discussion, engagement and contribs elements for the assessment will be given on your individual User Discussion Pages. Grades for all work will communicated confidentially via Canvas.’’’

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 11:30, 23 April 2018 (UTC)