Me, You, and My Avatar: Composing Real Identities in Virtual Worlds

Alvin Sherman Library, Second Floor Gallery

From social media to online dating sites to video games, we now have the ability to "curate" our online identities, much like a curator would select only certain paintings in a museum's collection to be viewed publicly. But what kinds of identities are created in these online spaces, and to what ends? What kind of roles and relationships are we pushed towards within the constraints of today's digital media? Are we, as Sherry Turkle suggests, increasingly narcissistic recluses who are merely "alone together"? This presentation will explore the role of digital spaces in the processes of identity formation and curation.