Who am I? Representing the self offline and in different online contexts

The present paper examines the extent to which self-presentation may be affected by the context in which is it undertaken. Individuals were asked to complete the Twenty Statements Test both privately and publicly, but were given an opportunity to withhold any of their personal information before it was made public. Four contexts were examined: an offline context (face-to-face), an un-contextualized general online context, or two specific online contexts (dating or job-seeking). The results suggested that participants were willing to disclose substantially less personal information online than offline. Moreover, disclosure decreased as the online context became more specific, and those in the job-seeking context disclosed the least amount of information. Surprisingly, individual differences in personality did not predict disclosure behavior. Instead, the results are set in the context of audience visibility and social norms, and implications for self-presentation in digital contexts are discussed.     

So who am I really? Personal identity in the age of the Internet

The Internet has become a field of dragon teeth for a person’s identity. It has made it possible for your identity to be mistaken by a credit agency, spied on by the government, foolishly exposed by yourself, pilloried by an enemy, pounded by a bully, or stolen by a criminal. These harms to one’s integrity could be inflicted in the past, but information technology has multiplied and aggravated such injuries. They have not gone unnoticed and are widely bemoaned and discussed. The government and private watchdogs are working to protect the identity of citizens though at least in the United States both the government and individuals all too often side with prosperity when it conflicts with privacy. Still, these information-technological threats to identity have been recognized and can be reasonably met through legislation, regulation, and discretion. There is another kind of danger to our identity that is more difficult to define and to meet, for it has no familiar predecessors, has no criminal aspects, and exhibits no sharp moral or cultural contours. Still that threat to our identity haunts us constantly and surfaces occasionally in conversations and the media. It makes us feel displaced, distracted, and fragmented at the very times when to all appearances we seem to be connected, busy, and energetic. At the same time, the culture of technology, and of information technology particularly, has opened up fields of diversity and contingency that invite us to comprehend our identities in newly responsible, intricate, and open-minded ways.     

Who benefits from virtuality?

For educational software to take advantage of contemporary views of learning, instructional designers need to employ design models that incorporate the variety of ideas that are based on constructivist frameworks for developing learning environments. These environments, if well designed, can support learner construction of knowledge, however, such frameworks are based upon arguments that learners should be placed in authentic environments that incorporate sophisticated representations of context through such constructs as “virtual worlds”. Within these environments the learner is supported by visual metaphors constructed to represent the information structure and how the “world” operates. This paper will discuss the framework employed in the development of several virtual solutions and the process by which they were constructed.     

Shall I Tell You Where I Live and Who I Am? Factors Influencing the Behavioral Intention to Disclose Personal Data for Online Government Transactions

The success of an online transaction with a government organization depends on citizen's willingness to share personal data relevant for the transaction. However, disclosing personal data online is oftentimes considered risky. It has been substantiated in a number of empirical studies that perceptions of the risks involved in sharing personal data in the virtual environment could hinder Internet users from engaging in online transactions that require the disclosure of personal data. Results of a large-scale online survey with 2,202 Dutch Internet users reveal that trust in government organizations is a very important determinant of personal data disclosure intention among users with and without e-government experience. Low perceptions of risks, high expectations of the benefits of e-government services, and strong beliefs in the adequacy of legal protection mechanisms could also positively influence users' intention to share personal data for e-government services. The negative relation between trust and risk perceptions is also established, as citizens' trust in government organizations could reduce perceptions of the risks involved in disclosing personal data online.     

Who discloses the most on Facebook?

With the development of new media, the issue of privacy and its determinants has become the subject of a large body of literature in recent years. The main objective of this study was to check whether loneliness is a predictor of putting private information on Facebook. The participants were 887 young people. Facebook Privacy Scale and Loneliness Scale were used. We showed that young age and loneliness are predictors of disclosure on Facebook. Moreover, junior high school students more often put private information on their Facebook profiles than senior high school and university students.     

What kind of floor am I standing on? Floor surface identification by a small humanoid robot through full-body motions

This study addresses a floor identification method for small humanoid robots that work in such daily environments as homes. The fundamental difficulty lays in a method to understand the physical properties of floors. To achieve floor identification with small humanoid robots, we used inertial sensors that can be easily installed on such robots, and dynamically selected a full-body motion that physically senses floors to achieve accurate floor identification. We collected a training data-set over 10 different kinds of common floors in home environments. We achieved 85.7% precision with our proposed method. We also demonstrate that our robot could appropriately change its locomotion behaviours depending on the floor identification results.     

Who to Trust? Applying Trust to Social Commerce

Organizations have recognized the revenue potential for social commerce (purchasing products via social networks), but such transactions only comprise a small percentage of revenue. Companies have yet to determine the factors that contribute to social commerce failure. In social networking, trust is established when two parties have a history of trustworthy interactions. Acknowledging that social commerce represents a fundamentally different purchasing environment than typical business transactions, we examine the role of trust in determining consumers’ decisions to engage in social commerce for their purchases. We apply trust transfer theory to the social commerce context to assess whether trust in known entities can be transferred to business transactions facilitated through a social network with unknown parties. Using a field survey, we found that trust in the Internet and trust in firms significantly influence consumers’ trust and ultimately their intention to engage in social commerce. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Who are the users? Who are the developers? Webs of users and developers in the development process of a technical standard

The paper presents an empirical study of user involvement in developing a technical standard for a scientific community's information system project. The case illustrates how multiple perspectives are involved when considering the user role in practice. The case presents a situation where both developers and users were pre‐defined in the design and development phases of the standard as homogeneous groups of actors. Groups of actors changed to become more heterogeneous and ‘fluid’ in the deployment and implementation phases, thus forming ‘webs of developers’ and ‘webs of users’. Detailed analysis of the process in its entirety shows the blurredness of boundaries between ‘developer’ and ‘user’ categories and roles, and reveals challenges at social and organizational levels. Three models pertaining to the system development process are presented in order to illuminate differing perspectives on the user and on the development process itself. The paper draws theoretically from information systems, social informatics, and science and technology studies. The research contributes to a deeper, interdisciplinary understanding of ‘the’ user, of multiple roles in systems development, and of dynamic sets of user–developer relations.