Identity in Cyberspace
"In the story of constructing identity in the culture of simulation,
experiences on the Internet figure prominently, but these experiences can
only be understood as part of a larger cultural context. That context is
the story of eroding boundaries between the real and the virtual, the
animate and the inanimate, the unitary and the multiple self, which is
occurring both in advanced scientific fields of research and in the
patterns of everyday life. From scientists trying to create artificial
life to children 'morphing' through a series of virtual personae, we
shall see evidence of fundamental shifts in the way we create and
experience human identity. But it is on the Internet that our
confrontations with technology as it collides with our sense of human
identity are fresh, even raw. In the real-time communities of
cyberspace, we are dwellers on the threshold between the real and the
virtual, unsure of our footing, inventing ourselves as we go along" (Turkle 10).
volume 2, issue 2
SN 219
