Identity is an essential part of the human experience, but for adolescents, identity
marks a developmental milestone (Calvert, 2002; Erikson, 1993). Identity has been
approached in terms of the relationships between the internal experience, such as
personality and self-definition, and the external world, such as social relationships and
shared values (Erikson, 1993; Freud, 1989; Jung, 1976; Lacan, 1986). The Internet has
provided even more context for identity, as the virtual world provides an even more
complex set of relationships, as well as opportunities for exploration, flexibility and
even anonymity.
Similarly, the language on the Internet represents a new type of discourse that is shaped
by the creativity and innovation of its community (Crystal, 2001). Weblogs represent a
computer-mediated communication (CMC) environment where both identity and
language are interesting areas of exploration. Not only are teenagers using weblogs to
present an online identity, but also as a way to express their ideas, experiences, and
feelings using an adapted language. In some cases, these blogs also interlink to form
online communities, similar to the peer relationships observed in the real-world.
The finding that teenagers reveal a considerable amount of personal information such
as name, age and location highlights how blogs are used as extensions of the real-
world, rather than a place to explore new identities. An exception is the case of
homosexual males, which use blogs to discuss their sexual identity or to come out.
Teenagers are using blog spaces to share intimate details of the real-world influences
and experiences that impact their development.
Interestingly, gender use of blogs is more alike than different. Perhaps blogs are easy to
use for both males and females, or perhaps this generation of Internet users is
becoming more adept at online communication and interaction. For instance, the trend
that males are averaging more emoticons than females contradicts early literature on
emoticon use in instant messaging applications and newsgroups (Lee, 2003; Witmer &
Katzman, 1997; Wolf, 2000). Similarly, females are not using language that is more
5
passive, accommodating or cooperative as depicted in earlier studies (Eckert &
McConnell-Ginet, 2003; Herring, 2000; Savicki, 1996).
Identity is also understood in terms of physicality. Physical constraints such as the
body, biological sex, race or age can have a profound effect on self-definition and self-
presentation (Collins & Kuczaj, 1991). Yet physicality is intertwined with sociality,
and categories such as sexuality, ethnicity or morality may have an equal impact on an
individual’s identity (Freud, 1989). Therefore, the concept of identity is awash with a
variety of relationships between the inner and outer world, between the physical and
immaterial, between the individual and society (Lacan, 1986).
The Internet and other digital technologies, however, have revealed another world to
investigate ideas regarding identity. Free from the physical constraints of the body, the
virtual world provides an environment where anonymity can be easily acquired, and an
online persona, similar to Jung’s (1976) notions of a public “mask” (Jung, 1976), can
be easily exploited. For instance, when a person logs onto the Internet, she may choose
a new name, one that can be either realistic or fantastic a name that can reflect her
identity in the real-world or stray from it. More emblematic, in virtual worlds such as
the multi-user domain or the computer game, The Sims
2
she may even create a new
body. She can be any age or race. She can be a he. She can even be a nonhuman. In the
virtual world, she can create any identity she desires. This freedom from physical
restrictions, alongside a chance at anonymity, provides an exploratory landscape where
constraint and consequence vary dramatically from the real-world (Gee, 2003; Turkle,
1995).
Even with these opportunities, it is important to understand how often people take
advantage of anonymity or flexibility when they are online. Is the virtual world a place
where people “try on” new characteristics or personalities, or is it a replication of the
nonvirtual world they already inhabit? This question is meaningful in light of the
increasingly interrelated borders between the virtual world and the real-world. As the
2
See http://thesims.ea.com/ for game description.
6
digital age continues to reveal itself, with promises of ubiquitous technology, virtual
reality and a cybercultural
3
transformation, understanding the impact of technology on
identity becomes a momentous task.
Similarly, the language used on the Internet demonstrates an evolution of discourse
(Crystal, 2001). Often referred to as netspeak, the language of the Internet entails both
traditional linguistic forms, and adapted ones. In short, netspeak has become an
emergent discourse that is shaped entirely by the creativity of its community (Crystal,
2001). The introduction of acronyms (e.g. “lol = laugh out loud,” “brb = be right
back”), plays or variations on words (e.g. “cya = see you”, “latah = later”), graphical
icons that represent emotions, called emoticons (e.g. :) or ;-{} ) or graphical icons that
represent a real person in a virtual context, called avatars, are all examples of a
language produced by the online community. This language continues to evolve and
remains an important area of study when considering the ways in which Internet users
interact.
The study of computer-mediated communication (CMC), which refers to the process of
using computers and other digital technologies to communicate, explores many of
these issues. Current research in CMC includes the construction of online identity
(Calvert, 2002; Turkle, 1995), dialogue and online interactions (Calvert, Mahler,
Zehnder, Jenkins, & Lee, 2003; Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2003; Herring, 2000),
and the impact of technology on child and adolescent development (Roberts, Foehr,
Rideout, & Brodie, 1999; Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut, & Gross, 2001). As new
computer-mediated communication applications are developed and utilized on the
Internet, new opportunities to add to this body of research emerge. It is important to
understand if new CMC contexts resonate with the findings of past studies or reveal
new modes of representation and interaction.
3
From Dictionary.com: “The culture arising from the use of computer networks, as for communication,
entertainment, work, and business.”
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As new computer-mediated communication applications are developed and utilized on
the Internet, new opportunities to add to this body of research emerge. It is important to
understand if new CMC contexts resonate with the findings of past studies or reveal
new modes of representation and interaction.
At this time, however, the majority of blogs still adhere to the format of a personal
journal with a concentration on the individual (Herring, Scheidt et al.,
2004).Adolescents make up a large part of the blog community. Several recent studies
suggest that 40 – 50% of the total blog population are under the age of 20 (Greenspan,
2003; Henning, 2003; Herring, Scheidt et al., 2004). Similarly, Livejournal.com, one of
the oldest and most popular blog sites, discloses that the largest distribution of its users
is also below 20 years old
4
. Because blogging is so popular among youth, the ways in
which adolescents interact or communicate when using blogs, as well as the ways in
which they present themselves online, become important considerations.
2.3. Gender and CMC
The Internet is widely hailed as a democratic force that levels the playing field between
gender and socio-economic power (Herring, 2001). However, early research into
gender and CMC suggests that power struggles and gender bias found in the real-world
is replicated online (Herring, 1993, 2001). Because the Internet is still embedded in the
same climate as the offline world, it would seem evident that some cultural
reproductions are inevitable — at least in the Internet’s earliest stages. There are,
however, disagreements on gender differences in CMC (Gunn, 2003). Some research
argues that females are disadvantaged by socio-cultural reproductions, a lack of access
to technology or even inferior technological fluency (Gunn, 2003). While most CMC
research is consistent in noting gender differences among interaction styles and use of
technology, this does not necessarily correlate with success in learning or cognition
(Gunn, 2003). For example, in a study of 475 children interacting in a CMC context for
a period of five years, the findings suggest that while girls spend considerably more
4
See http://www.livejournal.com/stats.bml.
8
time communicating than boys, computer programming performance is not
significantly different (Bruckman, Jensen, & DeBonte, 2002). Similarly, when boys
and girls design and program their own video games, Kafai (1996) finds that boys’ and
girls’ games were similar in sophistication of graphics, animation and interactivity, and
only differed in game genre, character generation and narrative construction, all
elements of personalization (Huffaker, D. A. & Calvert, 2003; Kafai, 1996). Therefore,
differences do not necessarily equal disadvantages.
Gender issues do exist online, and their analysis remains important. For instance, when
given the opportunity, females may be more apt to mask their gender within CMC
contexts (Jaffe, Lee, Huang, & Oshagan, 1995). One reason may be a fear of being
stalked by males or sexual harassment (Gilbert, 1995). Another reason may be
intimidation or attempts at dominance by male participants (Herring, 1993).
Introducing females to computer science classes or programming language may not be
the perfect catalyst for equalizing a gender divide in technology; changing computer
culture to be more appealing and address central concerns of girls, such as the types of
computer interactions they experience or their dislike of violent computer games, may
be a better concentration (AAUW Educational Foundation Commission on
Technology, 2000).
Issues regarding gender and language in computer-mediated communication (CMC)
have been an important interest for research (Herring, 2000; Rodino, 1997; Savicki,
1996). These issues not only surround the dynamics of social interaction (Herring,
1993, 2001), but also emotional expression (Witmer & Katzman, 1997; Wolf, 2000)
and online identity (Calvert, 1999, 2002; Calvert et al., 2003).
Gender and language in CMC contexts are not very different from face-to-face
interactions and include similar features of “verbosity, assertiveness, use of profanity,
politeness (and rudeness), typed representations of smiling and laughter, and degree of
interactive engagement” (Herring, 2000). There are, however, differences in the
mediums of CMC, which may produce some natural linguistic devices or social
9
interactions. For instance, online chatting is not consistent with the turn-taking
sequences of face-to-face or telephone conversation, impacting language coherence
(Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2003). The medium of Instant Messaging (IM), as
another example, may actually foster intimacy among users, including self-disclosure
and sentimental feelings, because it cultivates a social connectedness (Hu, Smith,
Westbrook, & Wood, 2003). Robin Lakoff’s theories on women’s language suggest
that most females use a language style that promotes diffidence, shyness, and lower
self-confidence, resulting in a lack of commitment or strong opinion (Eckert &
McConnell-Ginet, 2003). One device is euphemism, where a person would use words
such as “fudge” or “heck” instead of profanity. Another device is the use of tag
questions and hedges, such as “This weather is terrible, isn’t it?” or “I kinda got
angry.” Another device is indirection when there is a reluctance to commit to
something, for instance “Well, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment around that time.”
Finally, for Lakoff, women’s language represents an overall conventional politeness
(Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003). How do Lakoff’s theories relate to gender within a
CMC context? A study of 2692 messages of Internet discussion groups finds that
groups dominated by females tend to ‘self-disclose’ and avoid or attempt to reduce
tension (Savicki, 1996). Similarly, Herring (2000) finds that women are “more likely to
thank, appreciate and apologize, and to be upset by violations of politeness (Herring,
2000).
In contrast, discussion groups dominated by males tend to use impersonal, fact-
oriented language (Savicki, 1996), and males seem less concerned with politeness and
sometimes violate expected online conduct (Herring, 2000). In an analysis of personal
web pages, females are found to be “friendly” and “smiling”, while males present
themselves as “confident” (Arnold & Miller, 1999).
Michelle Rodino (1997) disagrees with conceptualizing male and female language use
in terms of binary opposition (Rodino, 1997). In her study of Internet-Relay Chat
(IRC), she finds that IRC participants construct and express gender in a variety of
10
ways, and language use remains flexible and dynamic (Rodino, 1997). Therefore,
comparing traditional gender and language research oversimplifies language online
because being “virtual” allows more freedom and flexibility (Rodino, 1997).
In either case, studying CMC can provide a variety of insights into the ways males and
females present themselves and interact with others in online settings. For purposes of
this study, differences in language represent an important aspect in which adolescents
form an online identity. If gender differences are indicated, they are not meant to
oversimplify issues of gender in society, but to provide insight and understanding into
the ways children and adolescents portray themselves. This is not limited to language
use; online persona is also revealed through names, avatars and emotive features.
*
* *
2.4. What a weblog?
One new area of computer-mediated communication is the weblog. Blogs are personal
journals or chronological commentaries written by individuals and made publicly
accessible on the web. Blogs can technically be defined as a reversed chronological
chain of text, images or multimedia that can be viewed in a web page (Winer, 2003).
Individuals or communities post blog entries through manual or automatic software,
which instantly publishes content to the Internet. The resulting viewable page looks not
unlike a personal diary, with entries sorted by date and hyperlinks to other web sites or
weblogs. Bloggers also take part in a larger blog community that is often referred to as
the blogosphere. Weblogs are one of the newest Internet applications to represent a
computer-mediated communication context. Weblogs, often referred to as blogs, are
personal journals written as a reversed chronological order of web posts and made
publicly accessible on the web. Blogs are different from traditional personal web pages
for two reasons: first, their format is stricter, resembling a paper diary made up of a
chain of text and multimedia organized by time and date; and second, the authors,
referred to as bloggers, can post chronicles onto the Internet without a sophisticated
11
technical understanding, making it accessible for many age groups and levels of
technological fluency and ability (Blood, 2002, 2003b; Winer, 2003).
People are using blogs in a variety of contexts. Journalistic and scholarly writings not
only surround the effect of blogs on self-expression and individual.
Blogs have distinctive technological features apart from other forms of CMC. These
features include: 1) ease-of-use, as users do not need to know HTML or other web
programming languages to publish onto the Internet; 2) ways to archive information
and knowledge; 3) opportunities for others to comment or provide feedback for each
blog post; and 4) links to other “bloggers” to form online communities.
Emoticons, also referred to as smileys, derive from the hybrid of “emotions” and
“icons”. They are composed of punctuation characters, and indicate how a message
should be interpreted (Huffaker, D., 2004). For instance, :) means happy, and :( means
12
sad. Because online interactions lack the facial expressions and body gestures vital to
expressing opinions and attitudes, emoticons and smileys were introduced to fill a void
in online communication (Crystal, 2001). Emoticons are not only used to express a
single emotion, but to enhance the tone or meaning of a message. See the following
examples below:
Sarcasm
A) Oh yeah, I really enjoyed that movie.
B) Oh yeah, I really enjoyed that movie. :-(
Shock
A) Did you hear what Joe did today?
B) Did you hear what Joe did today? :-O
Encouragement / Congratulatory
A) I think you did a great job.
B) I think you did a great job : )
Flirting
A) I’ve been thinking about you.
B) I’ve been thinking about you ;)
The meaning of an emoticon is more evident in pure graphical form, which is
prominent in most instant messaging, email and message boards. Some examples from
AOL Instant Messenger:
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How do emoticons and smileys affect the interpretation of a message? While one study
suggests verbal content still outshines emoticons in the interpretation of a message
(Walther & D'Addario, 2001), the impact of emoticons and smileys are not relegated to
the message itself. They also help form impressions of the author’s disposition or
attitude. For instance, in a study of chat room moderators (who monitor chat rooms and
have the ability to block messages deemed inappropriate or remove improper users),
the use of emoticons caused the moderator to be perceived as more “dynamic”,
”friendlier”, “valuable” and “talkative” than moderators who did not use emoticons
(Constantin, Kalyanaraman, Stavrositu, & Wagoner, 2002a). When comparing male
and female moderators, a similar study finds users formed significantly stronger
impressions of female moderators when emoticons are used (Constantin,
Kalyanaraman, Stavrositu, & Wagoner, 2002b).
Are there gender variations in the use of emoticons in CMC? In a study of 3000 online
messages, Diane Witmer (1997) found females used more graphical accents, including
emoticons, to express emotion in their discourse than males (Witmer & Katzman,
1997). In a similar analysis using instant messaging dialogues, males rarely use
emoticons in conversations with other males, but will use them with females, while
females use an equal amount of emoticons in both male and female conversations (Lee,
2003). Similarly, an examination of online newsgroups finds that women are more apt
to express emotion, but males will adapt in mixed-gendered newsgroups and express
more (Wolf, 2000).
In sum, emoticons offer another way for online users to construct and express their
identities. Emoticons not only enhance the meaning of messages, they provide insight
into the attitudes and perceptions of the author.
2.4.1. Blogs and Computer-Mediated Communication
Other computer-mediated communication environments demonstrate a variety of ways
in which adolescents present an online identity, including names and nicknames,
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