ITC SIG of STC Article
Problems of online identity

By Kirk St. Amant

As online communication reduces human interaction to words alone, the absence of  non-verbal feedback means that many cues about an individual's identity (for example, race, gender, status, or physical appearance) are not available. This anonymity allows many cyber media users to re-create their identities in whatever image they desire.

An individual may alter and re-post a message to any number of people sharing the same news group or listserve. In the re-posting, the identity of the originator of an online message can be blurred. Individuals may also modify a message by inserting or deleting text, and thus change the originator's identity by changing the message.  Individuals may create a new personal identity by co-opting the words of another.

According to anthropologist Edward T. Hall, in many cases the people who are present in a situation determine the context and how people are expected to interact. By removing cues essential to determining identity, computer-mediated-communication can remove the cues needed in some cultures for interaction. Thus, a lack of online identity can cause discomfort, frustration, or reserve.

In some cultures, a discernable identity is essential to getting an audience to listen to a particular message. Where communication involves interacting with others though relatively large and complex social networks, based on long-term relations or strong family ties, individuals often base their decisions to listen to or to ignore information on the identity of the speaker. If the speaker can be identified as part of the social network, then a certain level of trust and disclosure is permitted. The identity of the speaker is of paramount importance, and has great influence over how the listener will receive and respond to a message.

If individuals from a social network culture lack essential identity cues, will those individuals trust the identity someone claims in an e-mail message? If people from such cultures see how easy it is for online messages to be altered and re-posted, will they be willing to use the online environment to become acquainted with new people or new ideas, or to give advice? How will resistance to using online media to disclose information be perceived by individuals from other cultures? These are questions that technical communicators must address in the new "digital century."

Kirk St. Amant received an M.A. in Technical and Scientific Communication from James Madison University, and at the time of writing was working on his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication at the University of Minnesota and a student member of the Twin Cities chapter of the STC. He has conducted seminars on distance learning and online education for the USAID-sponsored Consortium for Enhancement of Ukrainian Management Education. Kirk's article Online identity in the Spring, 2001 Global Talk addresses how to clarify one's identity online.