Sherry Turkle is rapidly becoming the sociologist of the Internet, and that's beginning to seem like a good thing. While her first outing, <i>The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit</i>, made groundless assertions and seemed to be carried along more by her affection for certain theories than by a careful look at our current situation, <i>Life on the Screen</i> is a balanced and nuanced look at some of the ways that cyberculture helps us comment upon real life (what the cybercrowd sometimes calls RL). Instead of giving in to any one theory on construction of identity, Turkle looks at the way various netizens have used the Internet, and especially MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions), to learn more about the possibilities available in apprehending the world. One of the most interesting sections deals with gender, a topic prone to rash and partisan pronouncements. Taking as her motto William James's maxim "Philosophy is the art of imagining alternatives," Turkle shows how playing with gender in cyberspace can shape a person's real-life understanding of gender. Especially telling are the examples of the man who finds it easier to be assertive when playing a woman, because he believes male assertiveness is now frowned upon while female assertiveness is considered hip, and the woman who has the opposite response, believing that it is easier to be aggressive when she plays a male, because as a woman she would be considered "bitchy." Without taking sides, Turkle points out how both have expanded their emotional range. Other topics, such as artificial life, receive an equally calm and sage response, and the first-person accounts from many Internet users provide compelling reading and good source material for readers to draw their own conclusions.
%0 Book
%1 citeulike:197297
%A Turkle, Sherry
%D 1997
%I Simon & Schuster
%K agency art book bricolage communities community computer computers computing culture cyberculture cybercultures cyberethnography cybersociology digilife digitalyouth ethnography games gender i_own_it ident identity internet iown learning mary-weaver media mmo mud multiple-identities net new-media no-tag online online-communities online-identities play psychology social sociology sts technology theory university virtual web20
%T Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
%U http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike04-20&path=ASIN/0684833484
%X Sherry Turkle is rapidly becoming the sociologist of the Internet, and that's beginning to seem like a good thing. While her first outing, <i>The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit</i>, made groundless assertions and seemed to be carried along more by her affection for certain theories than by a careful look at our current situation, <i>Life on the Screen</i> is a balanced and nuanced look at some of the ways that cyberculture helps us comment upon real life (what the cybercrowd sometimes calls RL). Instead of giving in to any one theory on construction of identity, Turkle looks at the way various netizens have used the Internet, and especially MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions), to learn more about the possibilities available in apprehending the world. One of the most interesting sections deals with gender, a topic prone to rash and partisan pronouncements. Taking as her motto William James's maxim "Philosophy is the art of imagining alternatives," Turkle shows how playing with gender in cyberspace can shape a person's real-life understanding of gender. Especially telling are the examples of the man who finds it easier to be assertive when playing a woman, because he believes male assertiveness is now frowned upon while female assertiveness is considered hip, and the woman who has the opposite response, believing that it is easier to be aggressive when she plays a male, because as a woman she would be considered "bitchy." Without taking sides, Turkle points out how both have expanded their emotional range. Other topics, such as artificial life, receive an equally calm and sage response, and the first-person accounts from many Internet users provide compelling reading and good source material for readers to draw their own conclusions.
%@ 0684833484
@book{citeulike:197297,
abstract = {{Sherry Turkle is rapidly becoming the sociologist of the Internet, and that's beginning to seem like a good thing. While her first outing, <i>The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit</i>, made groundless assertions and seemed to be carried along more by her affection for certain theories than by a careful look at our current situation, <i>Life on the Screen</i> is a balanced and nuanced look at some of the ways that cyberculture helps us comment upon real life (what the cybercrowd sometimes calls RL). Instead of giving in to any one theory on construction of identity, Turkle looks at the way various netizens have used the Internet, and especially MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions), to learn more about the possibilities available in apprehending the world. One of the most interesting sections deals with gender, a topic prone to rash and partisan pronouncements. Taking as her motto William James's maxim "Philosophy is the art of imagining alternatives," Turkle shows how playing with gender in cyberspace can shape a person's real-life understanding of gender. Especially telling are the examples of the man who finds it easier to be assertive when playing a woman, because he believes male assertiveness is now frowned upon while female assertiveness is considered hip, and the woman who has the opposite response, believing that it is easier to be aggressive when she plays a male, because as a woman she would be considered "bitchy." Without taking sides, Turkle points out how both have expanded their emotional range. Other topics, such as artificial life, receive an equally calm and sage response, and the first-person accounts from many Internet users provide compelling reading and good source material for readers to draw their own conclusions. }},
added-at = {2007-08-18T13:22:24.000+0200},
author = {Turkle, Sherry},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2fd8780322cffca1bc23cb6c5ca3a27a3/a_olympia},
citeulike-article-id = {197297},
description = {citeulike},
howpublished = {Paperback},
interhash = {661238f4a905c48c9a436cf38a46d67f},
intrahash = {fd8780322cffca1bc23cb6c5ca3a27a3},
isbn = {0684833484},
keywords = {agency art book bricolage communities community computer computers computing culture cyberculture cybercultures cyberethnography cybersociology digilife digitalyouth ethnography games gender i_own_it ident identity internet iown learning mary-weaver media mmo mud multiple-identities net new-media no-tag online online-communities online-identities play psychology social sociology sts technology theory university virtual web20},
month = {September},
priority = {2},
publisher = {{Simon \& Schuster}},
timestamp = {2007-08-18T13:22:25.000+0200},
title = {Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet},
url = {http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=citeulike04-20{\&}path=ASIN/0684833484},
year = 1997
}