My Final Presentation

For the final presentation, my group of six people all created fake identities with real AIM screen names. These identities were unknown to each other person in the group except the person who created the chatroom and invited everyone into it. We then discussed for about ten to fifteen minutes the topic of sex robots. The reactions to this topic varied from ridiculous to insulted. Some people chose to take on identity who were in full support of sex robots, as well as those who were against the idea of them. We posted the whole discussion onto the class serendip site, and I was not surprised at all when someone asked what the conversation was and what it was doing on the website.

The next day in class we had everyone in class read the online conversation off the website. We then handed everyone slips of paper, and asked the to guess which person created ach screen name and identity. The majority of people failed to guess the right people, and seeing everyone’s reactions when we revealed who was who. I was a little shocked when I found out who was who, as well.

The most interesting part of the final presentation was seeing what different people guessed. I personally felt as if the people I considered close to me in the class guessed who I was accurately, while those I do not know as well. What aspects of my own identity did I put into the screen name identity? Would putting less of myself create a more believable alien identity? I think that may be the key to creating fake identities on the internet- put as little of yourself into it as possible.