Topic 2: Reflective Summary

This week’s background reading covered a variety of issues relating to online identity: anonymity and authenticity, presentation and reputation, our online and offline identity, privacy and security, and finally, identity protection.  Initially, I found myself trying to cover all of these topics but I quickly realised this was not realistic – it was never going to fit under the word count!

Instead, I tried to limit myself to the areas that took my interest: online personas and anonymity.  Where I was unable to write about certain topics, I tried to read about them in other UOSM2008 blogs and/or leave a comment.

Bartosz Paszcza’s post had a great point about digital privacy.  The embed video strengthened his argument and I found myself wanting to share one similar that I had seen.  Another thing that struck me about his blog was how it looked forward – he included a theory about potential changes in digital advertising of the future, whereas, in contrast, my blog related back to existing arguments on digital ‘residents’ and ‘visitors’ (topic 1).  I thought this was a good way to conclude a blog post and one which I will myself consider in upcoming topics.

Cheuk Sun’s post was also visually engaging.  The structure and approach was different to others I read in providing both sides of the argument (for and against multiple online identities) and then concluding with her thoughts.  At the beginning, I was initially disorientated by the structure and her argument, but I liked how strongly the post incorporated the blogger’s voice, something I am still working on myself.

Overall, a challenging but really interesting topic this week, and I look forward to the next.