Digital Ethnography at Kansas State University

This chapter will address the problem of teleidentity: how do we - or do we - "know" another person whom we have encountered in a mediated environment?

Knowing something about a person's social identity is fundamental for knowing how to act toward them, for the complex rules of social conduct that govern our behavior toward each other cannot function in the absence of information about the other

When we first meet someone, we perceive only a few details about them: perhaps their appearance, a few words they utter, the context in which we meet them. Yet our impression of them is much deeper. As George Simmel wrote in his influential 1908 article How is Society Possible? we do not see merely the few details we have actually observed, but "just as we compensate for a blind spot in our field of vision so that we are no longer aware of it, so a fragmentary structure is transformed... into the completeness of an individuality."

Paperlilies remembers the earlier days of YouTube when it was interesting to watch people talk honestly about their real lives.

But the mundane was once interesting on YouTube as people were newly able to peek into lives of ordinary people. He finishes by observing that poets have always been able to make something special of the mundane - and reads a poem to illustrate his point.

Stevie Ryan (LittleLoca) hosted a TV show, HotForWords has been on Bill O'Reilly's show (and will be on it again soon!), Esmee Denters was signed by Justin Timberlake's company, Paperlilies has sold paintings on eBay.

As with the Emo kids, it seems that these two women are not real people. Littleloca is actress Stevie Ryan and her friend is named Monica.

Last week he announced that he had signed up with a TV production company and will no longer be making videos for YouTube.

In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity. ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.

Anonymous broadly represents the concept of any and all people as an unnamed collective

none of us are as cruel as all of us.

Anonymous is everywhere. Anonymous is legion. Anonymous is nowhere

Mr. Shuman and the FoxLA News Team, True to your vociferous journalistic fashion, you recently ran a piece on Anonymous and the "Internet Hate Machine". In your zeal, you've distorted the truth. We, Anonymous, have been victims of a gross mischaracterization. Anonymous is a docile beast, and never attacks without provocation, or just cause. Over 9000 strong, Anonymous is legion. Anonymous is NOT a terrorist. Anonymous is not a gang. Anonymous is not a hacker, and Anonymous if not a racist. Anonymous is the sick little bastard inside all of us. Anonymous giggles at accidents and cackles at tragedies. Anonymous is humanity when the spotlight of society is shining elsewhere. Anonymous is your neighbor and your grocer, your doctor and your friend. Anonymous is not to be feared, but respected and ignored.Anonymous wants to be left ALONE. "...and he ashed him, What is thy name? And he saith unto him, My name is Legion; for we re many." ANONYMOUS is legion. Anonymous doesn't forgive. Anonymous doesn't forget. EVER. United as one, divided by zero.

Anonymous is a docile beast, and never attacks without provocation, or just cause. Over 9000 strong, Anonymous is legion. Anonymous is NOT a terrorist. Anonymous is not a gang. Anonymous is not a hacker, and Anonymous if not a racist. Anonymous is the sick little bastard inside all of us. Anonymous giggles at accidents and cackles at tragedies. Anonymous is humanity when the spotlight of society is shining elsewhere. Anonymous is your neighbor and your grocer, your doctor and your friend. Anonymous did the mash. He did the monster mash. The monster mash. It was a graveyard smash. He did the mash. It caught on in a flash. He did the mash. He did the monster mash