On this meeting we had a look at virtual community and individual identity. Virtual community explains the ways in which a group of people communicate via the use of the internet. Individual identity is a way to explain how people express who they are via the internet.
"The internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life. In its virtual reality, we self-fashion and self-create"
(Turkle, 1995, Life on the screen).
WIth the lack of actual face-to-face contact that exists within these virtual communities, users have an unbiased freedom in the way they choose to portray themselves online. They are free from social norms and unbound by restrictions, coming together and meeting others with shared interests.
While we were discussing these today I was reminded of a virtual community I was once part of. Second Life is a virtual world where people from all over the globe are a part of. In this virtual reality, their avatars are free to create and design their own 'perfect world'. One can use real life money to invest in Second Life and buy houses, cars, clothes, start vitual businesses, baisically do anything you can imagine. The virtual community world has actually grown so massive, that many users in Second Life (for example) actually make a living and some lucky few striking millionnaire.
As I thought of all of these things, it all made sense at how much of an impact the internet brings on todays society. Communication is a necessity in todays culture and with the use of the internet, people who were isolated in different geographical areas are now unbound from meeting others. The creation and sale of virtual services and goods is becoming a bigger market in todays world. Virtual sales is not only limited to Second Life, it exists everywhere on the internet in today's world, where you can even buy a new cow to place on your farm in Farmville.
Below is an example of one of the largest virtual communities existing, and how anyone can be whoever they want to be."The internet has become a significant social laboratory for experimenting with the constructions and reconstructions of self that characterize postmodern life. In its virtual reality, we self-fashion and self-create"
(Turkle, 1995, Life on the screen).
WIth the lack of actual face-to-face contact that exists within these virtual communities, users have an unbiased freedom in the way they choose to portray themselves online. They are free from social norms and unbound by restrictions, coming together and meeting others with shared interests.
While we were discussing these today I was reminded of a virtual community I was once part of. Second Life is a virtual world where people from all over the globe are a part of. In this virtual reality, their avatars are free to create and design their own 'perfect world'. One can use real life money to invest in Second Life and buy houses, cars, clothes, start vitual businesses, baisically do anything you can imagine. The virtual community world has actually grown so massive, that many users in Second Life (for example) actually make a living and some lucky few striking millionnaire.
As I thought of all of these things, it all made sense at how much of an impact the internet brings on todays society. Communication is a necessity in todays culture and with the use of the internet, people who were isolated in different geographical areas are now unbound from meeting others. The creation and sale of virtual services and goods is becoming a bigger market in todays world. Virtual sales is not only limited to Second Life, it exists everywhere on the internet in today's world, where you can even buy a new cow to place on your farm in Farmville.
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