Youth Culture, Self-Representation and Digital Identity

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication | School of Global Studies

Youth culture, self-representation and digital identity | 20th February 2009

Youth culture, self-representation and

digital identity



How are existing social formations transformed?

What new forms of social interaction have media technologies enabled?

How are conceptions of space and time altered through engaged with media?

Main questions:



The circle of culture

cf. Hall, 1997



How are existing social formations transformed?

„Media technologies do not mediate between themselves and people. Rather, they mediate

between people […]“ Askew, 2002

„Computer-based technologies enable the pro- cessing of more communication, in less time,

across larger distances.“ Stalder, 2006



online media are especially suitable to construct and develop several identities of the self Turkle, 1998

the mobile phone has become a central device in the construction of young peoples individual identity

Castells,Fernandez-Ardevol, Linchuan Qiu & Sey, 2006

What new forms of social interaction have media technologies enabled?



… using Twitter

For what porpuse you can use twitter?Personal updatesSharing linksSpreading ideas

Two levels of representation:Personal events through „own“ specific language:

Short messages – only 140 characters Messages are public

Constructing own images



Symbolic self-completion Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1982

assumption: everyone pursuits to a definition of himself

until reached this self image there is tension Individuals try to balancing a self-deficit

through symbolic things or actions

Impression management Mummendey, 1995

A reaction of a specific audience is expectedand a feedback necessary

Aims: acceptance and sympathy & avoid of

refusal to encourage own self-confidence

Possible motives for usage…



Personal Identity sense of being an unique individual

Social Identity results from being member of a group In former times: nationality, race, gender, occupation,

sport club

Mediatization of the self diversity of interest groups in online social

networks easy transition between those communities

The modern identity concept

cf. Tafjel, 1978; Turkle,1998; Utz, 2002



a person has not just one a stable and homogeneous identity

Identity consists of several fragments that permanently change

multiple, but coharent Turkle,1998

a live-long developing and new conceptualized patchwork Döring, 1999

Digital Identity



Thompson, 1995; Askew 2002

How are conceptions of space and time altered through engaged with media?



ICT enable more communication, in less time, across larger distances

online media are especially suitable to construct and develop several identities of the self

Mobile devices are very important for the youths identity

Twitter could be a useful tool to create and play with your own identity

Conclusions



Discussion

Do you use Twitter or the Facebook status bar?

Have you one or several fake online identities?

Twitter messages are public but are they relevant for the Public Sphere?



References

Askew, K. (2002).Introduction, in The Anthropology of media, A reader, ed. By Kelly Askew & Richard R. Wilk, Malden Ma & Oxford UK: Blackwell.

Castells, M., Fernandez-Ardevol, M., Linchuan Qiu, J. & Sey, A. (2006).Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective, Cambridge: MIT Press.

Ginsburg, F. (2002). Fieldwork at the Movies: Anthropology and Media, in Exotic No More: Anthropology on the Front Lines, ed. Jeremy MacClancy, Univ. of Chicago Press, pp. 359–376.

Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices London: SAGE Publications.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture- Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.



References

Lull, J. (2007). Culture-on-Demand: Communication in a Crisis World. Boston: Blackwell Publishing.

Micek, D., & Whitlock,W. (2008). Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing Is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online. Las Vegas: Xeno Press.

Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2008). Born Digital. New York: Basic Books . Stalder, F. (2006). Manuel Castells -The Theory of the Network Society. Cambridge: Polity Press. Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups. London: Academic Press.

Thompson, J. (1995). The Media and Modernity: A social Theory of the Media, Stanford: University Press.

Tomlinson, J. (2007). The Culture of Speed- The Coming of Immediacy. London: SAGE Publications.



References

Turkle, S. (1998). Leben im Netz. Hamburg: Rowohlt.

Utz, S. (2002). Interaktion und Identität in virtuellen Gemeinschaften. In G. Bente, N. Krämer & A. Petersen (Hrsg.). Virtuelle Realitäten (S.159-180). Göttingen, Bern, Toronto, Seattle: Hogrefe.

Wicklund, R.A. &Gollwitzer, P.M. (1982). Symbolic self completion. HIllsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Winter, C. (2003). Die konfliktionäre kommunikative Artikulation von Identität im Kontext der Globalisierung von Medienkulturen. In C. Winter, T. Thomas & A. Hepp (Hrsg.). Medienidentitäten – Identität im Kontext von Globalisierung und Medienkultur (S. 49- 70). Köln: Herbert von Halem.

http://technology.inc.com/networking/articles/200809/twitter.html

Technology

Youth Culture, Self-Representation and Digital Identity