Development of a Virtual Identity and SocialConstructivism Through IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
Development of a Virtual Identity and SocialConstructivism Through IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

Summary/Abstract: IRC has evolved into new strategies to build up an identity in a cyber space as well as to create important systems to be shared. This sharing is done among people who have similar interest and topics from all over the world, and they meet and talk in a virtual meeting point of the Internet. The strategies necessary in the space consist mostly of linguistic resources, since the approach to visual or auditory features such as appearance or accents are crucial factors for identity forming. This paper focuses on establishing the concept of virtual identity from the viewpoint of 'social constructivism', the idea that an identity can be readily changed due to its fluid nature in the cyberspace and by a participant's willingness, unlike the essentialist view of a unified and coherent identity. Based on the theoretical framework of socialconstructivism, it is meaningful to analyze how chat participants may develop and sustain their identity in IRC chatrooms by using several linguistic and/or graphic resources such as nicks, emoticons, actions and gestures, graphic cues, topic choice, and interpersonal strategies on the web.

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