Archive for the 'Identity' Category

This essay is concerned with the blog as a media-like device and its role as a platform of displaying personal information. Vazire and Gosling (2004) consider websites to be the prime example of identity claims (How I want others to see me). They consider websites to be a highly filtered environment, with the ultimate decision on what to reveal and what not to reveal resting with the author. Consequently, the author’s decisions about self-representation give you a filtered view of that person. While it still allows you to make accurate assumptions about the author’s personality (Vazire and Gosling, 2004), you are essentially only viewing a representation of that author’s identity claims. This perception management makes website an intriguing areas of inquiry as websites are virtually free of behavioral residue, which is essentially a way of revealing things about your person that you do not want to reveal.

While Vazire and Gosling (2004) draw from a previous publication (Gosling, Ko, Mannarelli, and Morris, 2002) that deals with dorm rooms and offices, the methodology used by the researchers in the 2002 study is still valid for making inferences about websites. Vazire and Gosling (2004) conclude that websites are virtually free of behavioral residue, readers of the website can make accurate claims about the author’s personality, websites provide accurate information about an author’s ideal-self views, and there is a high degree of consensus among the readers about the author’s person.

This data allows the reader to get a better understanding of online performance on the author’s part. The ramifications of studies of this nature on our view of internet-based information are immense. While a critical approach to all publications is necessary, online publications have to be considered as being highly filtered and polished, something that also applies to the content. If ‘optimal self-presentation’ is the goal of each author, then that should always be a variable when determining the validity of claims on websites.

claimID performs a linking function between one’s online presence and potential employers or other persons interested in your information. This information is typically scattered all over the Internet and a person searching for ‘Alexander Wrege’ will get a variety of websites, mainly pertaining to my person (if the used the correct parameters). However, a search for a more common name such as ‘John Smith’ will lead to confusion, due to number of ‘John Smith’s’ present on the Internet.
If one John Smith, for example, is a noted sexual offender, their information is listed on the Internet. Naturally, one would like to distance oneself from this particular person with the same name. There is currently no search system in place for this, so consequently one has to use a ‘trust-based’ system like claimID. Here, ‘trust-based’ means that you, John Smith, search the Internet for your name. Once you find websites that make specific reference to your person, you ‘claim’ those as being by or about you. You can enter them into your user account on claimID.com and you can then be sure that people searching for your person will find your pre-approved information among the search results.
What is interesting about claimID.com, is the fact that it very closely revolves around the principle of identity claims and your optimal self-representation. It therefore interfaces with my previous research and allows you, the user, to take necessary precautions for optimal self presentation. An example of my claimID.com account can be found here:

Bibliography:

Gosling, S. D., Rentfrow, P. J., & Swann. W. B. (2003). A very brief measure of the Big Five personality domains. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 504 –528.

Vazire, S. & Gosling S. (2004). e-perceptions: Personality Impressions Based on Personal Websites. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2004, Vol. 87, No. 1, 123–132