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Online identity is a rapidly growing perspective that has increased vastly since the internet
became a house hold tool. Being fluent in the many definitions of µonline identity¶ will be
elemental to the foundation of this paper as each subsection deals with a new perspective and
challenge of the online identity. The goal of this paper is to identify the different perspectives of
online identity through research. This research paper seeks to understand what identity means to
the online user, how conscious they are of their online identity and what level of respect exists
for identity and the user today.

The challenge of today¶s online user is to balance privacy within a very public image that the
internet forces you to construct. Within today¶s society there are over 500 million Facebook
users, 50% of which log onto Facebook on any given day, an example of the public online
domain that is unrivaled by humans social past. This domain can be classless, raceless, or
genderless depending on the construct that a user decides to adopt. The user can also decide on
the role they wish to play in today¶s online society by dictating the frequency of interaction they
chose to have online. This constructible image has allowed identity to reshape itself from
traditional definitions and perceptions which urges the question, what is online identity?

This project seeks to create a new perspective that will encapsulate online identity in a simple
definition constructed out of research. This paper will be set apart by its all encompassing
approach which will look at online identity from the third world forward. Idea¶s from authors
including Waisbord, Marshall, Hall, Franco etc. all who have constructed definitions on identity
will be analyzed to construct an understanding of the implications of identity in the online world.

Research Questions

1.p Gre real-time, real-place identities impermeable online?

a.p Can an online identity transcend a real time identity?
b.p Gre only some specific social identities impermeable online?
2.p Is a single identity a universal characteristic or are all identities hyphenated?
3.p What are the socio-cultural effects of an online identity?

Topic of Identity

1.p The Modern Identity

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a.p Online Gctivities
b.p Personal and Social Benefits
2.p The Collective Identity
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 a.p Social and Self Identity
b.p Categorizing the User and User frequency
3.p The Internet and Everyday Life
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a.p Online Presence and Parameters
4.p Third World Online Identity
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a.p Socio-Cultural Effects
5.p Identity Discrimination Online
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a.p Policing the Borders
b.p The Presentation and Management of Self Online

Bibliography

³Iranian youth online: Identity between traditional and modern lifestyles.´ G.G. Kia
(2008) £

 4(Gugust): 28-36.

Iranian youth online is a third world example that looks at socio-cultural effects of online
use and identity construction. Kia explores themes in western v. eastern ideology and the
medium of the internet and its implications in a country that is slow modernized.

³Blogging the borders: Virtual skinheads, hypermasculinity, and heteronormativity.´ S.

Gnahita (2006) 
  
  34(1): 143-164.

Gnahita explores the construction of online radical social groups by assessing a skinhead
blog. Current in identity discrimination as well as collective identities this article has a strong
perspective on online identity in the radical world. Her research around online social constructs
is valuable to the purpose of this paper.

"The Networked Nature of Community: Online and Offline." Wellman, Barry, Jeffrey
Boase, and Wenhong Chen. 2002. c!  
1(1):151-165.

Wellman¶s insights on community creation both online and offline create the cross
comparison that is dynamic in perspective and central to this research paper. The difference
between an online and offline identity is important and Wellman¶s analytical work on
constructing a perspective between the two worlds is significant.