edited by Caroline Maun & Laura Corrunker

Communications/Media  
232 Pages    
ISBN-10: 1-59766-027-2     
ISBN-13:978-1-59766-027-3
Paper: Not Available                

As the term suggests, cyberspace is often thought of as a vast, uncharted realm located somwhere "out there", a boundless terrain of infinite possibilities. Within this new universe are numberless virtual worlds in which the human imagination finds unprecedented scope for self-expression. As we learn to navigate within these virtual realms, be they simple text-based chat tooms or graphically complex, 3D interactive environments, we come to understand identity as something malleable and unstable, and we are invited to consider (and reconsider) who we are, who others think we are, and who we would most like to be.

Caroline Maun teaches writing and oral communication in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University. Her colleague Laura

Corrunker is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology as well as an adjunct faculty member in Interdisciplinary Studies.

The Waste Land in, Not of, the MOO: A Case Study,

David Barndollar

Agent of Civility: The Librarian in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash,

Tim Blackmore

Virtual Worlds, Virtual Selves: Gender and Identity in World of Warcraft,

Erica Conley

The Computer as Dollhouse, or the Seriousness of Virtual Play in Avatar Worlds,

Tobey Crockett

Fantasies of Containment: Archiving Moments in Cyber- and Real Life,

Katherine Harris

Inflexible Identities? User Metaphors in On- and Offline Discourses,

Maren Hartmann

A Plea for Our Future: Language, Technology, and the Masculine Lens,

Claudia Herbst

Retexting Experience: The Internet, Materiality, and the Self,

Burt Kimmelman

Digital Citizenship, Blogs, and Academic Freedom: A Brief History of Academic Blogging, Caroline Maun

Actors or Avatars? The Theatrical Model for Virtual Reality,

Charles Mitchell

Cut and Paste Literacy? Literacy Practices in the Production of a MySpace Profile,

Dan Perkel

Just One Big Slumber Party on the Net: A Pedagogical Perspective on Cybergrrl Sites, Christine Tulley

"Each essay in Virtual Identities explores a different facet of online identities: those personae adapted, imposed, or suggested by computer games, email, chat rooms, blogs, instant messaging software, or other online sites. With great clarity and originality they examine the opportunities, fluidity and problematics of the brave new world of virtual identity creation. This book will be of great interest to both lay and academic audiences, particularly students of technical communication."

—Anthony Flinn, Eastern Washington University