technoculture314-09

For my final blog I wanted to look back on some of the things throughout the course. From gender issues through technobodies, issues of trust, social supernets, ‘indymedia’, privacy problems and piracy, there is one theme that seems to be a commonality: Identity. And for me, I think that has the most interesting and complex issues that surround the internet. Perhaps not all, but certainly a vast majority of internet use is done for purposes of identification, but at one point in the readings I found myself doubting the very concept of identity. Why? Helen Kennedy’s article Beyond anonymity had me unsure whether maintaining identity in such a fragmented way was possible. It wasn’t until I realised that identity is not fragmented, but the representation of the whole identity as mediated through the technology of internet, at this stage, has to be. It’s still developing, and quite possibly, social networking websites may help to bridge the gaps between the disunited identities of the self.
In the final reading by Jose Van Dijck, his ideas about the movement into a more commercialised arena of user generated content may signify a new challenge for the unified online identity, but similarly, it could present a new opportunity for it. Many think that commerce changes user generated content, and it most certainly does, however money has always made the internet world go around, quite literally. And commerce is undoubtedly a significant part of identity. As is just about everything.