Digc 101 Essay

DIGC 101 When we communicate online, whether it be by personal web pages, blogging, email, chat forums etc, we are creating a cyber version of ourselves. Presumably, this image of ‘self’ which we create would be honest. As Erving Goffman (1959) described, how one presents themselves, in appearance, speech, and intelligence will help another individual to define the situation, “enabling others to know in advance what he will expect of them and what they may expect of him”. In this way, online identities do allow this, but with the mass communication structure of the web, we are not restricted to only communicating with people who are likely to be found in a similar social setting. For example, I live in Australia, I am not religious and I enjoy drinking, but I am still able to communicate with someone from America, who is a Muslim and doesn’t like to drink.