ReciproCity: Construction of Identity and Social Experiences in Online Environments

Candidate: C. Andrew Paulin
Type: Master of Science (MSc), School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Date: December 2, 2009
Senior Supervisor: Lyn Bartram
Thesis: Download Thesis Document

Abstract

In natural communication, people are able to present and perceive social cues through many channels in order to aid the social processes of identity formation and impression management. Many online social environments are poorly equipped for the exchange of social cues, and offer relatively few channels of expression to aid users in these social processes. The focus of this thesis is to gain an understanding of the relationship between online social experience, identity, reputation and representation. This research aims towards the successful design of online social environments that enable identity formation and impression management, and support rich social interaction amongst users.
To this aim, this thesis included an online survey that details how 219 participants present themselves and perceive others in five popular online environments. The result of this research was the design of ReciproCity, an abstract graphical chat prototype that provides persistent reputation cues that are socially constructed and are accrued over time.  The design of ReciproCity was evaluated through a user study that focused on users’ experiences.