Research questions

As mentioned above, many questions about online identity are raised in my mind and the following questions are the research questions that I am going to find out the answer.


1) What is online identity? How does it formed?

~concept of ‘self- censorship’, self presentation’, ‘anonymity’ and ‘pseudonynity’ will be examined.


2) Is one’s online identity consistent with his/her real life identity? If they are consistent with each other, what factor(s) contribute to the perception that online identity is more or less ‘true’ to real life? If they don’t, then, what factor(s) contribute to such perception?

~ I will try to get a conclusion through briefly studying artist’s homepages, homepages offering email service, online chat room and blog /xanga.


3) How is the relationship between online identity and social community? Does one’s online identity help him/ her to establish and maintain a social relationship? Or result in social isolation?

~ I will firstly give a description of the relationship between the two and the cases that online identity helps one to establish and maintain social relationship and that online identity causes social isolation respectively.

Lesbian and gay community and socially isolated group will be further illustrated with example. In the part of socially isolated group, a great hit Japanese movie, Denshaotoko, will be used to as an example for illustration.


4) Is online dating possible? Would it have a good ending?
~ I will try to access to the answer with data or statistics.