Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

identity in the online world 237dard, which competitors had never left.) Instead, the industryincrementally built upon what had become known asthe ISA (Industry Standard Architecture), supplementingit with a new kind of expansion card connector called PCI.Currently, IBM is in the second tier in PC sales behindindustry leaders Dell and Compaq, having a market sharecomparable to Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. IBM also didrelatively well in the laptop computer sector with its Thinkpadseries, before selling it to Lenovo.Today’s industry standards are effectively determinedby two companies: the chip-maker Intel and the softwaregiant Microsoft. Indeed, “standard” PCs are now oftencalled “Wintel” machines. The direct-order giant Dell andits competitors HP and Lenovo dominate the “commodityPC” market. However, by creating a standard that was flexibleenough for two decades of PC development, IBM madea lasting contribution to computing comparable to its innovationsin the mainframe arena.Further ReadingDell, Deborah A,. and J. Jerry Purdy. Thinkpad: a Different Shade ofBlue. Indianapolis, Ind.: Sams, 1999.Dell, Michael. Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized anIndustry. New York: HarperBusiness, 2000.Gilster, Ron. PC Hardware: a Beginner’s Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.Hoskins, Jim, and Bill Wilson. Exploring IBM Personal Computers.10th ed. Gulf Breeze, Fla.: Maximum Press, 1999.Ling, Zhigun, and Martha Avery. The Lenovo Affair: The Growth ofChina’s Computer Giant and Its Takeover of IBM-PC. New York:Wiley, 2006.identity in the online worldThere are two aspects of identity in cyberspace, both ofwhich are intriguing but problematic: Outer identity is thename or other descriptors that are identified by other peopleas belonging to a particular person, and inner identity isa person’s sense of who or what he or she “really is.”Users of online systems such as chat rooms or gameshave the ability to use a variety of names (pseudonyms)or to be effectively anonymous (see anonymity and theInternet). In games, the identity used by a player is representedby a virtual representation called an avatar. Otherplayers (through their own avatars) will encounter the avatarand identify it by physical appearance, behavior, andwhat it tells about itself (the “back story”).While opportunities to do this emerged in the 1970s withpaper-and-dice role-playing games such as the very popularDungeons and Dragons, there are significant differencesbetween online identity and these earlier games. Peopleplayed “D&D” in person, so it was relatively easy to maintaina distinction between a character a person was “running” andthe person himself or herself. Also, these role-playing sessionswere fixed in time and place: After slaying the dragon,the players went home. Indeed even the term “role-playing”made the comfortable assumption that the activity was a pretend,make-believe identity assumed by the player.Virtual game worlds began in the 1980s with text-basedMUDS (multi-user dungeons) and similar online environments.Today game worlds are graphically immersive andpersistent. Although there are games focused on the traditionalbattles and quests, others such as Second Life are bestdescribed not as games at all but literal second or alternativelives that persons can participate in for hours a day. Inthese worlds an avatar can own property and make commitments,even a virtual form of marriage. In many cases ingamegoods and money can actually be exchanged for “realworld” money. And crucially, unlike the D&D encounter,in these virtual worlds the “real person” behind an avatarneed never be revealed.Constructing IdentitiesThe online world invites people to construct and try outidentities. Because of the vital role they play in people’ssense of self and their social interactions, sexual or genderidentity is a particularly important issue. The onlineworld has some clear advantages for persons who are experimentingwith different identities (such as transgender). Aman, for example, can create a female avatar that reallylooks female. Further, people can act out sexual encounterswithout the possible physical consequences of violence ordisease. On the other hand, people can still be hurt psychologically,and online relationships can take on added risksand challenges by eventually becoming physical ones.There are also venues where there can be “hybrid” identities.In a site such as MySpace, a person can construct thekind of “face” he or she wants to present to the world andinteract with the pages of other people. Here the onlineidentity is often tied with a physical one (potentially creatingvulnerability) but need not be (creating the potential fordeception).Young people in particular will have to deal with theopportunities and challenges of multiple virtual identities.On the one hand, young people are very adaptable, especiallyto new technologies. On the other hand, youth andparticularly adolescence has always been a time of innerconflicts and a search for lasting identity (see young peopleand computing).The deeper philosophical and psychological implicationsof cyberspace are intriguing. According to some modernpsychological theories (such as Marvin Minsky’s “society ofmind”), the mind does not consist of a single ego perhaps inconflict with unconscious forces, but rather, many separate“agents” that interact as they seek various goals. From thatpoint of view the online world expands that model intosocial space and may lead to a world in which each physicalperson may have many virtual persons associated with it.Online identities are becoming a fertile area of researchin psychology and sociology. Pioneering work has beendone by psychologist Sherry Turkle, who has explored differingmale and female styles of relationship to technology,how technology affects children, and other issues.The social and legal implications of online identity areequally challenging. Can an avatar be sued? Can one avatarcommit a criminal act (perhaps even rape) against another?Might an avatar have privacy rights and the right of publicity?The legal system has hardly begun to consider suchquestions, and they are becoming more urgent as everything