1. Familiarize yourself with the topic
My topic: Why do we feel the need to be someone we are not on the internet?
2. Identify some questions
-Why are people going on sites such as myspace and facebook and posing as someone they aren’t?
-What types of people (age groups) are being attracted to these websites? And what is it about the site that attracts them and makes them want to open up?
-Is there a thrill do it? Do they get something out of it?
-Are these people posing as different genders? Different age groups? Different Interests?
-What are the dangers?
-Are young children revealing too much about themselves on the internet and allowing pedophiles to find them much easier?
-Are people more outspoken on the internet then they are in real life?
-Can people open up more and reveal personal issues on the internet that they can’t share in the real world?
-Do people have more friends on the internet than they have in real life?
-How are people presenting themselves on the internet? (How do they dress, who are their friends, what are they doing in their pictures, what do they say about themselves in subject categories?)
3. Decide what you need to know to answer your research question:
I need to find websites that offer information on people being more outspoken on the internet. I need to maybe talk to people or survey people to see how they feel about the subject and maybe get anonymous information about who these people are. I probably need to go on MySpace and Facebook and similar sites to see how people are using these sites and how people allow these sites to control their lives and how people view them on the internet. Perhaps I can find some news articles that relate to the dangers of people posing as different genders or ages on the internet. I need to find chat rooms or forums where people discuss their feelings about opening up on the internet. I can also relate what I know from personal experience.
4. Formulate a research plan that includes:
Detailed statements of your research questions:
Statement of purpose(what you hope to show/discover)
List of the information you need to gather
Preliminary list of sources
http://abcnews.go.com/technology/story?id=4272721&page=1
Maintaining multiple personalities online…abcnews.com
http://animeost.new/f205/do-people-have-different-personality-internet-31789/index3.html
Blog site; feedback on people explaining their feelings about having multiple personalities online and being more outgoing/outspoken
http://www.fbbook.com/fblog/category/from-the-book/your-story/
Website/blog based on a book written about the effects of facebook, the blog has people
Sharing their personal stories and feedback on how they related to what they read in the book, some very interesting points are made based on what I’ve experienced myself on this website and feelings that I’ve heard other people express about the website itself.
Plan for gathering your information
-Find sites on the internet that hopefully explain people’s desire to be someone they aren’t on the internet
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4 comments:
I like the questions you have on this topic. Myspace is growing and has become a household word. How do you plan on ellaborating on this topic. Are you going to link websites of child predators? Are you going to link news articles in reference to pedohphiles posing as young children on the internet?
I have actually found a website of a child predator that was once sending messages to my younger sister. I tried to report it to TOM on myspace but he did nothing about the issue.
I also had in incident when I was younger, where an older man told me he was a 15 year old boy. I was a young girl and gave him my phone number after hearing how old he sounded on the phone I hung up in fear. It could have been a very dangerous situation. How do you go about reporting these issues especially if you are an ashamed and frightened child?
These forms of mirepresentations can be entertaining but can also be very dangerous. I like your topic.
This is a good topic you chose, you can talk about maybe how people can get away with having a fake identity in the virtual world now (such as on dating websites) as opposed to the physical world in the past.
Are you going to focus on the reason people like to be someone else? Is it because it's easy, fun, entertaining...who knows?
Out of cyberspace you are trapped in your body and have no choice but to be who you are... Do you think that it's ok to "pretend" on the internet. Is it ok if your not hurting anyone, just tring to escape from the real world for a bit? Something to ponder.
I think Myspace & Facebook have become peoples' guilty pleasures. As for people posing as someone else, I think it is them living out their fanasties. It might be helpful to watch Dateline's, To Catch a Predator & you might be able to contact people who work on that show.
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