* To what degree - if at all - do you see yourself playing different 'roles' on the Internet?
* What is your own motivation for participating in a course on Web Publishing?
* Why (and what) do you want to publish on the Net?
I like I'm sure most people, have different online persona's depending upon the setting. Its quite obvious and directly related to what Rheingold (I'm presuming that was him) suggests in the video (Goffman and the Internet) that we need to pay attention to the "working consensus" of our actions. We do need private arenas and public persona's, and the unification of both can be accomplished I'm sure, but generally we all mould and melt into different roles depending on our immediate circumstances. No point attending a music festival in the same manner as you would attend a funeral is there..
For me online I'm basically either a greeny/surfer/student/cosmic crusader, or a website developer/manager, so depending upon the arena, I play out roles more dramatically or not at all. I don't really have a unique and common name that unifies my online life, and that's purposely done, I prefer annonymity rather than 'StarDom' or categorisation. Different situations require varying degrees of conformity or individuality or we end up looking and feeling like a 'duck out of water', although sometimes its good to be the 'duck out of water'. Basically most of us act in accordance to the situation and yes "impression management" is a good skill to have when we realise that our internet footprint is permanent and public.
I have a lot to learn about effective online persona management really. My main website has been up for about 5 years now and I still have in the section 'About Us' "Coming soon".. Not a good look so I don't look.
I'd like to harness a more pronounced web presence in my blogs (that I also neglect), and on social networking sites, currently my FB page has an alias name and the profile picture changes from a caveman, to a nerd, to a dreadlocked rasta, and anything in-between. Hopefully I can tie up the loose ends, be more productive, and develop an integrated online public presence so that I can be found more easily (when I want to).
I do see the need to integrate my public virtual persona, I would like the surfer and the environmentalist to unite with the informed internet professional that I am studying towards becoming. I would like to create my public online persona in view of being a '
Symbolic Analyst', one capable of integrating real life and virtual life with the use of imagery. To see beyond the technological abyss, the 'net citizen', the cyborg, the 'internet addict', and to illuminate pathways towards clarity, a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.